Graphic is awesome. It rides great as well! I’ve ridden them on on parks and grooms.
There was nothing that I could possibly complain about. It carves great and very stable in the park as well. And people will look at you when you show the bright yellow base. Awesome! haha
Rider – Jeaho Park – Intermediate Skiboarder
Hey guys. I haven’t had a whole lot of time with the ALPs, but there are some unmistakable characteristics of both the hard and soft ALPs that I love so much I feel I can talk about them.
Concerning bumps, uneven terrain, and moguls: The ALPs are great because you can choose to flow with terrain, using your knees and shifting your balance to ride whales, moguls, and drift through the trees. When you don’t feel like working with the terrain, just go over it! The boards are long enough and flex enough that you can keep your knees loose and absorb the impact of choppy lines without wobbling all over the place or getting thrown. Your speed also is maintained and increases while doing this as well.
Crud: I don’t think the ALPs are so great at cutting through crud, but they get the job done. This is coming from a guy who used Woodies, which cut right through like nothing at all. Honestly, more experience is needed to make an unbiased call on this one.
Powder: The only powder I’ve gotten to ride through is New England early season powder, and I was dodging trees, so I can’t really talk too much about that. I did hit a line at Bolton through the trees, and there were a few drops (about 5 feet) which the boards landed no issue at all. That was something somewhat new for me, though. Definitely had more float than my 99s, which I actually thought handled powder pretty well themselves.
Speed: Properly tuned, your ALPs are fast. Not gonna be breaking any records, but on steeper runs you’ll be passing people.
Bottom line: ALPs are great all-mountain skiboards, which I think perform best on dynamic terrain (steep, curving, choppy).
Rider – Brian – Expert Skiboarder
Well I finally rode the 110cm Alp’s! Specifically the ’07 Soft Model. I am 5’4″ and was very much use to your sub 100cm Skiboard and loved the ’08 BWP’s(still love them) BUT… my new favorite board is in deed the Fabulous Alp! Heck no there is no issues going from sub 100cm to 110cm, side by the BWP & Alp are very similar and length is hard to really telling looking at them. The difference is in the riiiiiide! Oh yes, the smoothness and stability is back for me and the higher speeds!
The ’07 Soft Alp even went through the mushy soft stuff better than I expected… but not enough to ride the mush all day. No powder to try these in, so had to put no opinion and I didn’t hit up any park stuff so, no opinion on that either. Groomer runs were perfect, bumpy crud was perfect. Ice, I had a little bit of ice first thing in the morning and the fabulous Alp held just fine for me, I feel I can push these boards and myself next season for sure! As much as I love the sub 100cm Skiboard, this 110am Alp met my needs more. I am very happy for the investment. I was also using the Spruce Pro Prime Risers.
Rider – Shredfest Shelley Pinkkid Bright – Intermediate Skiboarder
Rider Info: 6’3″ 190lbs aggressive on groomers with much less talent in the park
Bindings: Bomber Elites
Conditions: Groomed artificial, ice, chop, small amount of artificial “powder”
The Loken CT8 at one time held the title of widest skiboard design until RVL8 and Spruce upstaged it. At 15cm wide, however, it still is quite impressive compared to many other models. It is also one of, if not the, stiffest skiboard that I’ve ever ridden. This has it’s ups and downs.
Groomers: The CT8’s are great for carving on nice groomers with a decent turning radius and very stable handling. The width is actually not all that noticeable, and I’ve often used these boards to introduce newbies to the sport if they’re on the bigger side. The edge grip is quite good, and I had no problem keeping them under control going over PA ice. The stiff flex makes them very stable at higher speeds, but it also means that bumps are not very pleasant. I happened to get a chance to ride the CT8’s in some very choppy conditions, and my legs were begging for mercy after a few runs. Instead of absorbing the imperfections in the snow, they transmit everything directly to your body. This is not nearly as bad at lower speeds, but I like speed, so I really noticed it. At high speeds on a perfect groomer these things are great, but once the going gets rough they can be quite a bit of work.
Park: I’m not big in the park, but I found the CT8’s to be very easy to use. On boxes, they are nice and stable, and for basic sliding they work very well. The stiffness of course means that any moves requiring flexing of the boards don’t work too well however. On jumps, I personally liked the solid feel. I felt as though they helped to keep me stable on landings, and would keep me from going backseat as I sometimes do. Landing 180’s in particular seemed very easy with the CT8’s.
Powder: I’ve never ridden the CT8’s in proper powder, but I did get a chance to run them through some machine-made powder. The width means that there is plenty of float available, but the stiffness means that the tips don’t flex up over the snow. Instead, they have a tendency to want to dive down, so sitting back is a must. Also, again, any imperfections in the “powder” were directly felt through the boards.
Bumps: I never had a chance to take the CT8’s through moguls, so I can’t say for sure how they’d do. If I had to guess though, I’d say they’d suffer from the stiff flex.
Quality: The CT8’s are a very solid design. Mine were beat when I got them, and I’ve beat on them even more. They aren’t pretty, but they’ve held up quite well. Your legs will probably give out before the CT8’s do.
Overall: The CT8’s are a decent design overall, and for a heavier rider with access to nice groomed runs they’d be a great choice. They’d also do well for someone looking for a good pair of park boards to beat around on. If, however, you tend to have choppy conditions, or if you’re fairly light weight, then I’d suggest going with something else.
Rider – Tim – Expert Skiboarder
The first word that comes to mind when you ride these boards is STIFF. The Loken CT8s are probly the stiffest boards ever created. They are 99.5 cms long, which is a great length, but are relatively wide and take some getting used to. They are also alot heavier than any other skiboard I have ever used. They are pretty much indestructable, and when you ride them you can sometimes feel like your riding on 2 by 4s. The graphics on them are odd, but look decent when you are riding them. These boards serve their purpose, but they are alot less forgiving than the other skiboards out there.
Rider – Ty Bereskie – Expert Skiboarder
I really like these boards. They are extremely stiff, but are slightly more forgiving than the Cruise Tool 8s. They are also not as wide and are a very good jibbing board. The length of 97.5cms feels really good in the park. These things feel solid on rails and relatively stable on airs although they are a bit on the smaller side, and are pretty nimble when carving. In powder, you really have to work to get these bad boys to float because they seem to want to plow through everything. They look pretty cool with the white backround and burning monkey, although I wish there were base graphics.
Rider – Ty Bereskie – Expert Skiboarder
These boards are tanks. I got these boards around 2006 and they were a big upgrade from the Line Weapons I was riding for several years. They were much wider and way more stable. I was able to plow through anything and the stiffness was great for added stability and riding in choppy conditions. These were my go to boards for a long time, only to be replaced this season by my 2010 KTPs, which are even wider. The Apetorch held up really well and are still in use today by my friends and as loaner boards. You don’t see too many of these up for sale, but if you find a pair in decent shape I’d highly recommend grabbing a pair while you can.
Rider – Courtney – Expert Skiboarder
These boards were a great innovative board of their time, but by todays standards are short/thin and unimpressive. They pretty much suck in any amounts of powder because of how small/thin they are. However they are extremely durable and feel smooth on rails because of the grindplate…which is a nice feature but i dont feel like it is necessary. They look pretty cool with the black sparkles. All in all these boards are tanks, they feel good in the park, but anywhere out of that they are simply subpar.
Rider – Ty Bereskie – Expert Skiboarder
The way these ride depend a lot on where you’re coming from. They’re rather skinny compared to modern skiboards. If you’re upgrading from snowblades, older Lines would be good transition boards into modern skiboards.
The grind plate makes riding rails smooth, but doesn’t help you “lock on” to the rails as some people may think. Grinding anything wider than the built in grind plate is kind of awkward, because you slide well in the middle, but not as well on the board’s edges. Wider rails and boxes seem very awkward and uneven because of this.
The low surface area makes these boards a lot of work in powder. They’re also very stiff which may be a good or bad thing depending on what you’re riding and your preferences. I found the stiffness to be a good thing.
Overall, the quality of these boards is very good. They took several years of abuse and are still solid, with only top sheet chipping (which is normal with sidewall construction boards).
These boards were made in sidewall, and capped construction models.
Rider – Courtney – Expert Skiboarder
The Line MNPs were my first venture into a true pair of skiboards. Prior to this, I owned the original version of the Salomon Snowblades. This was a world of difference in performance, speed, stability, and overall fun. This was my favorite skiboard until a few seasons ago when both Summit and RVL8 starting making their own skiboards and have taken the sport to a new level. What I enjoyed about the MNPs were their speed and their agility. The could handle all east coast conditions, flying down the mountain. The only problems I ever had with them were in powder, where I would get stuck in deep powder and that was no fun. With the evolution of skiboards being wider, this problem has now been solved.
For their time, the MNPs were the best skiboards out there, and if you can get your hands on a pair cheap, they are still a great skiboard to get yourself introduced to the sport or to have a pair to abuse, but with the evolution of the current crop of skiboards, the MNPs are now a skiboard of the past, a dinosaur that has been surpassed.
Rider – Edward Ho – Expert Skiboarder (Joshua Tree 98cm model)
