PR: Burton Snowboards New Technology In Snowboarding

Twenty years ago, when company founder/owner Jake Burton wanted to source some new technology for his snowboards, he would browse the local hardware store. One special order in 1979 was for a promising new material: ordinary birch plywood. Today, you won't find the cutting edge snowboard materials in a hardware store, but rather in the R&D lab of Burton Snowboards in Burlington, Vermont. Next season, you'll find them on snow.

For example, Burton launched the first successful carbon-fiber snowboard binding last year. The lightest freestyle binding made, it returns in '98 with new strap technology and closures. The hi-back is constructed of a new material developed with DuPont, Tepex, which is lightweight, rigid, and sleek. The new Carbon Race plate binding is a product of the same research program.

Some manufacturers have been using carbon-fiber in their boards, near the edges. Burton tested this configuration and found the stiffness of carbon-fiber at the edges of the board can make it difficult to handle. Rather, they found the opposite approach, with stiffness down the centerline of the board, is the optimal arrangement. This allows the board to flex "naturally" down its center axis, for smooth handling, weight reduction, and strength.

The FL Projects and the Ultra Primes are the first Burton Snowboards to use this "Carbon Beam" technology. The FL Projects, developed with riders Bryan Iguchi and two-time world halfpipe champion Nicole Angelrath, are the lightest full-strength snowboards ever made. The Ultra Primes, developed with riders like world alpine champions Dieter Happ and Christine Rauter, are freecarving snowboards with excellent energy return and smooth control.

But carbon fiber and Tepex are wonder materials that weren't practical options in 1977, and Burton's R&D effort is not solely based on the introduction of exotic materials. Team-inspired development, testing, and prototyping is the ongoing loop that has pushed development ahead year after year.

For example, wood continues to be the core material of choice--but it isn't birch plywood anymore. Burton manufactures its own cores and has been able to refine the wood selection, lamination process, and shaping year after year--with the help of fast prototyping and a team of riders that is on snow year-round. Though it is still wood, the Super Fly II Core is as strong as the standard wood core of three years ago, but it's 45% lighter. Likewise, all of the components that go into a board have been optimized with proprietary Burton advances: 45-Weave and Triax Glass Laminates, stainless steel inserts, Lightspeed Bases.

The Custom Freestyle Binding for '98 is considerably lighter and stiffer than its predecessors, yet it has the stiffest, highest hi-back yet, and new super-comfortable straps. This is not the product of a new material, but rather hundreds of subtle design refinements that were brought back from thousands of rides. The new Viking Boot is the lightest, lined freestyle boot yet, developed closely with world halfpipe champion Terje Haakonsen.

Burton's unique ability to combine engineers who ride, with riders who ride has created an R&D environment that leads to great products. The '98 line, just 20 years and a few miles down the road from that hardware store, continues the progression.