Last month I talked about some new stuff coming to Lib Tech and briefly mentioned GNU getting their own food to the snowboard line up. Today was the day that the Park Pickle came out and lets see how the pickle impacts snowboarding.
The Patent Pending Proprietary Park Pickle Product will be included in the 09/10 Gnu Snowboard line. Based on the idea that heelside turns require more leverage than toeside turns, the Park Pick will have a deeper sidecut on the heelside. The board is a true twin shape with a centered stance so it can be ridden with either goofy or regular and includes Mervin Mfg’s exclusive use of Banana Technology.
Pete Saari, VP of Marketing at Mervin had this to say. “The Park Pickle achieves perfect balance through asymmetry, a deeper sidecut and asymmetric core on the heel edge balances your foots asymmetry and the different turn mechanics between heel and toe turns. Twin Asymmetric Banana Magnetraction design is the future of all terrain freestyle performance snowboards. Pickle Power!”
A limited run of 300 Park Pickles for North America will be built and released for sale to select Authorized Gnu Dealers in mid December.
Anonymous
December 2, 2008 at 12:56 amSo this board going to be super flexy? Because I know that Gnu doesn’t have a super flexy board like the signal park rocker or the capita horrorscope (street btx maybe close). So how is this board? Is it for straight up park riding? Also, what sizes is it going to come in?
Craig
December 2, 2008 at 1:23 amThis is an interesting idea, seeing as I’m a goofball I guess I would be riding it “backwards” (yes i realize its a true twin) to have the sidecuts work as intended for me. Hopefully Salty Peaks will get one so I can check it out.
Arsham
December 2, 2008 at 1:41 amconsidering gnu would probably have this on some boards next year and it wont be as exclusive as just 300 park pickles, do you think this new tech is worth the wait? because im planning on getting a new board this year but if this tech is really that good i guess ill wait
Anonymous
December 2, 2008 at 7:06 amThe name says ”Park” … Pickle instead of Banana 😉
It that means it’s kind that new style of Skate Banana or only a board that is made for Park only?
Thanks
Marcus
December 2, 2008 at 9:39 amThis is exactly what Santa Cruz did with their freestyle boards back in the early ninties. I have my brothers old Santa Cruz 151XXX from -94 in my basement and the stance is centered and the heelside edge has got a deeper sidecut and the board is meant to be ridden with the same edge as heelside edge no matter if you are riding goofy or regular.
Marcus
December 2, 2008 at 9:40 amThis is exactly what Santa Cruz did with their freestyle boards back in the early ninties. I have my brothers old Santa Cruz 151XXX from -94 in my basement and the stance is centered and the heelside edge has got a deeper sidecut and the board is meant to be ridden with the same edge as heelside edge no matter if you are riding goofy or regular.
optionrider
December 2, 2008 at 10:21 amYep, Lib biting on SC? That’s weak. I call it right now. This will fail. It’s basically an attempt to equalize Gnu sales with Lib Tech’s due to the immense success of the Skate Banana.
Anonymous
December 2, 2008 at 11:36 amThe Park Pickle should be more on the soft side, similar to the skate banana. Ideally this board will be for freestyle use due to the softer flex. Having BTX as well will make it versitle in all conditions though. Salty Peaks will most definitely have one, or Dennis would freak. It’s also rad to have a 09/10 board a season early and the technology IS that good, the asymmetry is just another performance enhancing additive. Yes, lots of companies have done a asym heelside edge. Gnu has just adapted it and refined it to work for their board. Just like rocker is not new, the version that Mervin is doing is “new” to GNU. And I guess if you want to hate on companies for adapting technology from other brands… Well, there’s a lot of others out there doing their own version of BANANA technology. So don’t hate, we’re all just trying to make a better product for everyone. (And you can’t always please everyone.)
hoon
December 2, 2008 at 12:22 pmwhat’s old is new again Part Deux. first rocker and now Asym. Santa Cruz (thanks for the reminder Martin), Burton and even Sims. whoa. i will have to make sure i try this…
Marc
December 2, 2008 at 12:53 pmSo am I understanding this correctly: the Park Pickle has rocker, magnetraction and an asymetric sidecut? Pretty soon snowboards won’t look like snowboards anymore. I don’t entirely agree that the “Twin Asymetric Banana Magnetraction design is the future of all terrain freestyle performance”, however, sidecut won’t give you much in pow; let’s not try to be everything to everyone. I like the fact that it looks like a pickle though… mmmm garlic. What next? A Groomer Gerkin? A Winter Wiener? A Shred Sausage? The possibilities are endless.
Marcus
December 2, 2008 at 3:30 pmPersonally I am most definitely not hating on Gnu for this. I am just pointing out that this snowboard geometry is nothing new in the industry.
optionrider
December 2, 2008 at 5:14 pmYou can’t really be sure how good it be until you ride it for yourself. Gnu is a big box brand nowadays and maybe next year, this is Mervin’s way of getting Skate Bananas into Sport Cheks without alienating “core” people.
Joe
December 3, 2008 at 10:41 pmThis is pretty interesting. When Stepchild was developing their JIB stick, I had heard they were calling it pickle technology. Mervin had to have known about this, it’s kind of a bum out to see a company which is synonymous with innovation and cutting edge board tech just regurgitating tech from SC, and not even spinning it in the clever way we are used to seeing. I wonder if the Corpo heads over at Quiksilver are putting the heat on GNU to make up market share after selling off Rossi with huge losses to recover. I’m sure this board will do well, but making it asym and calling a banana a pickle is a far cry from the tech advances from their Lib counterparts.
Anonymous
December 30, 2008 at 11:01 pmAre you guys retarded? Gnu and Lib are the same freakin company and make basically the same boards (I say basically because they are handmade by a different crew). To call Libtech a counterpart to Gnu is stupid. You watch, Lib will have this too. While I do believe all boards will eventually have some sort of rocker and mag (you need mag for rocker to REALLY work), I’m not sure if this tech would be good for pow. But that’s what I said about BTX, now I own one. I’m just gonna trust that Mervin know what they’re doin and buy one next season. And for the record, who cares about who is biting off of who, just ride whatever board makes you happy. Mervin makes me happy 🙂
Bring on PTX!
Anonymous
December 30, 2008 at 11:11 pmJoe and Optionrider, you guys are so confused as to what is going on in the industry that I suggest you start with actually reading a magazine instead of just lookin at the jib photos and maybe you, Joe will find out that Lib and Gnu boards are made in the same factory, and you, Optionrider will clear your mind of this illusion that Gnu is a “big box brand these days”. Quit worrying about who is stealing tech and go ride your Cartels with ICS. Do they even make Craptels with ICS? WHO THE FUCK CARES! Do some reasearch and ride the best board for your buck. hrrmmpphhh cough*LIBtech*cough something in my throat
Anonymous
January 14, 2009 at 6:13 pmFUCK BURTON! RIDE A MERVIN!!
Jon
March 2, 2009 at 7:29 pmI have been riding the pickle all season, and all i can say is it is identical to the skate banana. All i ride is mervin products and everyone know gnu is the generic version of libtech. They always have the same boards just a season later. They are made in the same factory. Only complant i have about this board is it sucks if you want to ride anything other then the park, it is to flexable… which is why i have a lib tech skunk ape.