Nitro Riders changing teams

Seb Toutant is simply an incredible rider...being such a freaking rider, it was just a matter of time before other snowboard companies try to pull him out of Nitro...The winning company is Ride Snowboard.



O-matic was down the street where I used to live in Encinitas, and Todd Richards has always been a rider I looked after when I was a teenager. So quite frankly I only seriously heard about Andreas Wiig when he cofounded O-matic with Todd, Jason Kanes and Tara Dakides. Then Tara and Andreas left. He went with Nitro and even had his pro-model. He has now joined the Forum team.

Ride Snowboards launched iPhone application

With iPhone being the new favorite toy for kids and teenagers, it seems natural that businesses want to make their website more user-friendly for iPhone users. My wife has a G1 and I have used iPhone many times, so I know the frustration when you are trying to go over websites to get information and other good stuffs.

On October 1st, Electric Visual was awarded the Accessory Product of the Year for its iPhone application at the SIMA Surf Summit in Cabo San Lucas. The Electric iPhone application showcases our Sunglass and Snow Goggle line as well as up to date news, advertisement previews, videos, downloadable wallpapers, and a dealer locator so that you can find the closet retailer to your actual location.

Ride Snowboards has launched their new free application for all snowboarding iPhone owners. The app features all sorts of Ride products (including boards, bindings, outwear, boots, etc) and also entails some cool live news updates and other interesting features.

"Design wise, the application is ridiculously easy to browse around and uses the iPhone’s gestures to help you flip through from product and product and screen to screen more easily. Snowboard and accessory shopping is a cinch with the application, with descriptions and specs on all sorts of different snowboarding products available within seconds". In addition videos and dealer locator features are a really sweet.

Limited edition

Limited edition goods are always an excellent purchase for those who are looking for uniqueness. Some snowboarders look for group acceptance while others seek authencity and/or self esteem when buying a snowboard, so getting a board featuring distinctive work from influential artists can help fullfil this quest.

Limited edition is not new and has been all over the place for the past couple years from goggles, headphones to snowboard bindings.

The latest artist serie is DH2.3, featuring Shawn O'keefe work will be available in selected stores on December 1st.


Another Brand using the limited edition is Rome SDS with the Shop Kid contest.
"the idea was to let the shop kids create the art for the SK—Designed By Shop Kids, For Shop Kids. More than ever, the idea was to listen to kids on shred.
Meat Justice is the result of Forester’s creative genius on the 2011 SK."

Ride "Vstrap"

Last year Ride came out with the ContraBand, an easy in/out binding. Watching their video on their site, there are couple of details that have bugged me. I have worked five years in Product Development as a Material Engineer and what I have learned the more screws and setup options , the higher the chances of screwing up.
You can't expect a consumer to do it perfectly...it needs to be dumb proof. As Albert Einstein said: " Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler" and I would agree with him, it is quite challenging to invent something that is complicated but is simple to use.

So to go back on the binding, the Vstrap doesn't have cushioning on the vstrap, which could be definitely uncomfortable if you do anything more than street rails. Then I don't think it is well enough designed so that your foot is completely secure. And finally all those screws in the cold, humidity could get loose and put too much pressure on strap when riding. I would give a A for effort, a C+ for design.



Looking at the new Ride Nitrane for 09/10...it seems they have put more cushioning and increase the width on the toe area so that it doesn't pinch on one spot. It sure look like a good way to save five seconds to get in/out and the next year binding sounds more solid than this year.

Ride in collaboration with Tokidoki

Tokidoki started from a Italian artist who created a web to share his love for stuff from Japan, then was approached by two entrepreneurs from the States and soon after Tokidoki became a lifestyle brand in 2005.

So nowadays collaboration are very popular, here is Ride snowboards and Tokidoki creating a complete women collection, Limited of course. If you love pink and original design, this collection is for you.