Ride Qi

Stickered up my Hero with Ride Qi die-cuts

noreply@blogger.com (DC) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:40:00 +0000

Along with a few other custom-designed die-cuts. Any photos from you guys?

Quick shill! Thanks for the review Ray!

noreply@blogger.com (DC) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:24:00 +0000

I was just browsing through my Tweetdeck earlier today and noticed a tweet that linked to the following review by Ray. A fellow Sierra Snowboard forum member, he first caught wind of our α masks in the thread Stefan (Forsnowboarding) started to mention the free mask contest he was running. Ray ended up purchasing six masks over three orders and wrote a great review for them, here's an excerpt below. For the full review please click here, Ride Qi Alpha Facemask Review.

I used the Ride Qi α Facemask during a two week snowboarding trip in Utah. I wore the mask in windy, 9 degree, weather as well as on 40 degree bluebird days. The mask performed well in any condition. It does let a fair amount of wind through the breathable material, but not enough to make it uncomfortable. The breathability actually keeps the material dry and is a welcome change to the suffocation you feel when wearing a balaclava or bandana.

Ride Qi Alpha Facemask Silent Film

noreply@blogger.com (DC) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:56:00 +0000

Filmed and edited this video over the holidays (hence the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree). We Tweeted about it and mentioned it on Facebook. But just in case you didn't come across it, here it is below. And no, it's not Hitler. It's a silent film. Toothbrush mustache was inspired by Chaplin. Didn't do any video editing in years so it took a little longer than I expected. Thanks to everyone that helped out! So for those of you looking for more views of the mask or want to see how the elastic ear bands work, check the movie!

Ride Qi Alpha Facemask Silent Film from Jonlin Pei on Vimeo.

By the way, if you want to win some schwag, check the previous entry.

Happy 2010! Win some schwag!

noreply@blogger.com (DC) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 16:26:00 +0000

Happy New Year everyone! So you are probably sitting at your computer right now hungover wishing you hadn't drank so much so you could go our riding right? No worries, let's make this little computing session productive. How about some free schwag from Hoon including an Alpha mask?

A few weeks ago Hoon and I talked briefly about Ride Qi and the Alpha mask. Also dropped some other tidbits such as the correct pronunciation of our name =T. Head on over to Sierra Snowboard's Media section to read the interview!

So how do you win the schwag? Easy just give a shoutout! From Hoon himself: "The best "promotion" or shout-out of Ride Qi will win a free Alpha facemask plus stickers and maybe some other stuff from the Hoon closet. Get out there and promote Ride Qi, then report back in the comments section of this article. We'll choose a winner on 1/31/10."

Easy! Get on FB, Twitter or your favorite forum!

Happy Holidays! Get your shred on!

noreply@blogger.com (DC) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 22:42:00 +0000

First Ride Qi Advert

noreply@blogger.com (DC) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:27:00 +0000

Credit: Elmo, 2° Events

Heads-Up Displays in Goggles

noreply@blogger.com (DC) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:05:00 +0000

I want HUDs everywhere, in my glasses walking down the street, in my cycling eye wear and especially in my snowboarding goggles. While contact lenses with HUDs are still far off, it looks as though snowboarders will have access to HUDs as soon as next year via the Recon Instrument Goggle. It's not all that promising though. The mock-ups on the site look horrid but as long as the hardware is there, some enterprising interface designer will probably make it work.

It's been discussed in the past in various threads on the Sierra forums, wouldn't it be sick if we had radars showing where our buddies are, conditions, congestions and of course mountain maps as a HUD unit that you can attach to your goggles? Then in the future perhaps the goggles could analyze conditions warning of avalanche dangers, or even on an approach tell you how far back you need to be and how much speed you need on take-off.

A lot of riders are purists who don't really care for tech on the slopes (other than avalanche beacons and transceivers for the backcountry) but they could easily just ignore it if it was actually available. Sign me up!

Enter to win an α (Alpha) Mask!

noreply@blogger.com (DC) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:31:00 +0000

10 seconds of your time to win a free mask. You get some sweet snowboard / design related content too! Sound good?

Just follow @Forsnowboarding, Tweet a message containing the following: I want the Ride Qi Alpha Mask. Via @Forsnowboarding. And... just do that before Thursday night at 10pm EST (12/3). SIMPLE! Make sure to check out the Forsnowboarding blog which focuses on the art and design subcultures within the snowboard industry. For the full contest details, check this post.

Oh and while you are at it, follow @RideQi to keep up to date on what's happening on our end.

Oakley X Fragment Design = mask cantilever?

noreply@blogger.com (DC) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 08:20:00 +0000

Forsnowboarding just posted an entry on some limited Oakley goggles. I'm not a big fan of Oakley but what caught my eye was the 'motocross-inspired nosepiece for added protection against the elements'. One of my peeves with wearing any face protection is the fact that the fabric touches my mouth. If we attach the top portion of the mask to the underside of the nosepiece on that Oakley goggle I wonder if it'll be enough of a distance to pull the mask away from the face. Just have to make sure ventilation is good enough to prevent fogging... guess I'll have to cobble something together with one of my beloved Dragon Mace goggles.

Some shots of the mask from last season

noreply@blogger.com (DC) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:20:00 +0000

I was browsing through Sierra earlier tonight as usual and came upon a thread Forsnowboarding started regarding the α mask. Fellow Sierra members posed a number of questions which I'll try addressing with the photos below. Had to dig through my old Facebook and Flickr photos to find decent photos of the sample mask I rocked last season.

The first photo on the right gives you a better idea of the length, fortunately I must've just done a face-plant so you can see the bottom border of the mask against my black DC jacket.

The mask stays in place via the velcro in the back. Like other masks, just pull the mask tight on your face and velcro up the rear. The elastic ear bands which you can barely make out in the second smaller photo is optional but totally recommended if you either have a small face or you pull the mask up and down a lot which I do constantly. Yeah I know, I look like a dork with the mask tucked into my jacket. I don't usually do that but I got caught this time... but hey, to each their own. I'm not going to judge as long as you rock an α mask!

There's also a short crappy Qik video I posted up last year when I took the mask out for a bike ride in 20 degree weather.

Once I get my hands on my brother's PowerShot SD780 (I only have my phone right now which has a pretty terrible camera) I'll post up some photos of the elastic bands and a video of me putting a mask on.

Until then keep doing that snow dance because we need it... bad.

What happened to the pink mask?

noreply@blogger.com (DC) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 13:03:00 +0000

It's not for sale because it didn't come out right. While the samples we got from the factory were okay. In the end when the final shipment came in the pattern was incorrectly printed (after we approved the samples with the correctly printed pattern) and the pink just wasn't bright enough. Really wanted a neon-ish pink but that didn't happen. So no pink α mask. Chalk it up to our inexperience dealing with factories *@)$ moving on...

Burton Method & Fish Sidewalls

noreply@blogger.com (DC) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 15:06:00 +0000

In a previous post I trashed Burton for their unoriginality when they seemingly copied Dakine's backpack designs. Well tonight I'm going to give them some props for pushing board tech. Though I just purchased a Hero and Fish last year I'm by no means a Burton fanatic. I rode my first five seasons without ever purchasing Burton hardgoods. I still think their products are priced too high but more power to them if they can find consumers to pay their premium.

I stopped by the Burton SoHo Store earlier today to pick up a copy of The Good Book. Since I wasn't in a hurry I perused the store checking out all the new equipment. The new Method caught my eye and I couldn't believe how light it was. The only other light board I ever saw in person was the Vapor and next to the Method it feels like a bag of bricks. Not sure how the Elan Inverse compares but I can't imagine any other board being as light. The new sidewall, new slimrail, is a nice touch, it feels and looks a lot sleeker than the traditional sidewalls. Don't know about the performance benefits but according to Hoon, overall, the board isn't very lively.

The new Fish also caught my eye and gave me some heartache. I saw the design earlier in the spring and already knew it was a step up over last year's Fish (in terms of graphics and the new rocker) which I purchased at the end of the season. The killer detail was its new sidewall as well, similar to the Method's, the surf rail really ties the board together nicely giving it a much higher quality feel. I couldn't help but think about a car's finish as I ran my hand down the edge. Anyone want to buy my unused Fish so I can pick this year's model up? Again, I have no idea about the performance benefits of the sidewall but as a total package it just feels so much better!

Similar logos to Ride Qi's

noreply@blogger.com (DC) — Sun, 24 May 2009 02:31:00 +0000

Was on a flight earlier from NYC to Hong Kong (actually typing this in HKIA while waiting for a ferry to the mainland) and saw a commercial for the Far East Organization (http://www.fareast.com.sg/). Very similar to our logo, are there any others out there we don't know of yet?

Alpha Mask: Final Four Prints

noreply@blogger.com (DC) — Sun, 24 May 2009 02:11:00 +0000

Back in April we finally sent in the final four designs for the Alpha mask. Since then Jonlin and I have been busy jumping through hurdles to make Ride Qi, LLC official. As you can imagine, dealing with the government and dated industries like the local Brooklyn newspapers (a necessity due to the asinine NY publication rule) has been a drain mentally and fiscally. I'll save all the details for a future post after everything has been finalized. For now, check out the final prints below. We'd like to hear your feedback so we can start incorporating them into future versions / products.

Snowboards, development and manufacturing

noreply@blogger.com (DC) — Sat, 16 May 2009 04:47:00 +0000

Angry just posted up some old insightful videos regarding the snowboard manufacturing process. Never saw the K2 R&D video, thought I posted the Elan video a while back but a quick look through the archives turned up nothing. Elan has always been very open about their manufacturing process. My first year riding (five years ago), they had short videos on their website showing each step of the manufacturing process, enjoy!

THE ELAN SNOWBOARD FACTORY IN AUSTRIA from snowbroader.eu on Vimeo.

European Love (Bataleon and Elan)

noreply@blogger.com (DC) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:12:00 +0000

Bataleon team video

Season is pretty much over for those of us on the East Coast. So now we all must live vicariously through videos until the next season (or for the lucky few, South America in a few months). I've been a fan of the Bataleon boards since discovering their triple-base technology (can you believe TBT has been around since 1998?) and I totally dig their matte graphics. Unfortunately they hardly ever go on sale here in the States. Viewing the video above, I'm now a fan of their team too. I'm not sure why as the video seems pretty generic, maybe someone else can explain the team's pull.

Over in another part of Europe, Snowbroader has a great interview with Elan's John Colvin which sheds a lot of light on the industry. I remember my first season getting into the sport, Elan had some great videos up on their site showing each part of the board build process. Looks like a tradition of openess which they've continued.

Credit for the video goes to Angry.

Snowboard Virgins Contest

noreply@blogger.com (DC) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:06:00 +0000

Whenever the conversation turns towards snowboarding, those not in the know always seem to get that clueless look on their face and retreat to another group not talking about riding. I feel sorry for those individuals. I do my part in trying to get them to ride so they can experience the powder ecstacy for themselves. I even offer rides and equipment but alas some just don't want anything to do with snowboarding.

So what do these individuals think of our lingo? Apparently Hoon, MD (who by the way is the only brand to make it out of the Arnell rebranding for the better) and SS (my favorite store) want to know too. The contest is simple and you could win some awesome prizes including a board. So what do you do? Read on to find out how you can enter...

Nifty advertising for a ski resort

noreply@blogger.com (DC) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:40:00 +0000

Tryvann Winter Park is a modern and highly equipped ski resort only 15 minutes from the center of Norway’s capital city, Oslo. Whilst downtown can be completely free of snow, Tryvann can be a winter wonderland with perfect ski conditions.

A smart technical solution made it possible to create a mini snowstorm inside transparent billboards. Every time it snowed at Tryvann Winter Park, mini snowstorm was started and stopped by sending an SMS.

Snowboarding personal accident insurance

noreply@blogger.com (DC) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 03:51:00 +0000

Jonlin forwarded me the following information a few days ago so I thought it would be worthy to share it with my fellow unemployed / uninsured riders. Outdoor Recreation Insurance provides a year of snow accident insurance for a measly $75. But the coverage is pretty limited and you have to be a member of your local National Ski Council Federation club or one of these other organizations to join. Not the greatest coverage but it's something on the cheap. If anyone else has information on better coverage at a decent price please let me know as I'm definitely looking into coverage of some sort.

Burton softgoods inspired by Dakine?

noreply@blogger.com (DC) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 03:31:00 +0000

I'm pretty neutral on the Burton stuff. I know that their higher end stuff is decent and carries an acceptable warranty level by industry standards. Their lower end stuff though, I wouldn't touch with a stick. Burton pricing for substandard product. Jonlin and his brother have broken a few pairs of Burton Missions, I've gone through more Burton gloves than I care to remember and recently, the zipper on my Burton backpack broke and since it was outside of Burton's crappy one year warranty, I tossed it out (forgot that I purchased it from Backcountry, could've just returned it to them since they have an amazing lifetime guarantee).

Contrast that with Dakine's lifetime warranty on their products and you know which way I lean now when I purchase softgoods such as gloves and bags. In fact, I'm on my second Mission backpack, only because Elmo forced me to sell him my first one. While browsing Brociety earlier I was surprised to see a backpack by Burton that totally apes Dakine's styling.

Now just because it has a plaid design, or an earthy color scheme, or that the straps and pockets are similar, that doesn't mean it's a complete imitation. But when I first saw it, as a total package I thought it was a complete rip of Dakine's design which has remained largely the same for the last few generations. You Burton fanboys care to voice your opinion on this?

Shayboarder & SierraSnowboard: Win a Capita

noreply@blogger.com (DC) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:25:00 +0000

Interested in winning a free Capita Indoor Survival courtesy of SierraSnowboard? Head over to one of our favorite shredders' blog, Shayboarder, and leave a comment telling her why you love snowboarding. Easy isn't it? Just make sure you leave your comment (written, photo or video) along with your name and email address by Sunday at midnight (3/22). Oh and while you are there, check out her reviews and request some free die-cuts so you can rock them on your board.

Ski Toilets

noreply@blogger.com (DC) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 09:29:00 +0000

Leave it to the brilliant Japanese to come up with this awesome promotion for coffee of all things. The stall wrap was apparently executed in the bathrooms of a number of ski resorts in Japan. The only branding is on the toilet paper holder, how restrained of them. Read more about the promotion at Coloribus.

Liftopia (variable pricing for resorts)

noreply@blogger.com (DC) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 04:18:00 +0000

Saw Techcrunch's coverage on Liftopia a while back but it's been an insane two and a half weeks for me so I haven't had time to post about it. The site basically brings the variable pricing that we all know so well from the airline industry to resort lift tickets. Seems as though it has Utah pretty well covered, too bad we already purchased all our vouchers for our upcoming trip already. I think I might have seen this site in the past but quickly moved on since I didn't understand their business model until actually reading the Techcrunch post. Let us know if you have any success getting cheap tickets through it.

The print that started it all

noreply@blogger.com (DC) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:31:00 +0000

Thought we'd share the original print with you guys, it was the first one we settled on and the one printed onto our sample masks which you saw in action on my bike. Unfortunately while riding, we rarely stop to take photos so though I've worn the sample on every trip since we received them, we still don't have a photo of us rocking them on the slopes.

We've gotten a lot of comments about how it resembles a certain stigmatized symbol when the bottom half of the mask is zipped up into our jackets. We discussed dumping the print but ultimately decided to stick with it and instead introduce three additional designs. Yup, we are printing four patterns for our first run. Overall, the additional costs at the factory are negligible.

We are still working on the final print but nothing has been clicking. Trying to create something in homage to NYC, though Tomo has a point in the comments of a previous post, we should consider a print for Pittsburgh too. Comments on this print and your thoughts, ideas for the final print?

Thoughts on the blue print?

noreply@blogger.com (DC) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 03:08:00 +0000

Hello all! Thanks so much for the feedback regarding the prints in the previous post. Looks like the pink mask is in the lead as I type this. Here's a preview of one of the other prints. This is obviously the blue one and another take on a print consisting of the logos. Our request is more open-ended this time, what would you change? Move the pattern, resize it, pick another shade of blue, move or get rid of Rider-Born? Let us know and thanks in advance!