2017-2018 Good Wood winners Niche STORY and THEME snowboards utilize basalt stringers for added pop, stability, and crazy vibration dampening properties. Niche have eliminated fiberglass in several of their models, replacing it with Magma Fiber™ crafted from basalt. At Niche Snowboards, their goal is to create quality snowboards using environmentally conscious materials and manufacturing practices.
Quotes from Niche Snowboards’ website
Basalt is the product of volcanic activity. The fiberization process is more environmentally safe than that of glass fiber; the greenhouse gases that might otherwise be released during fiber processing were released eons ago during the magma eruption. Basalt is also 100% inert, which means it has no toxic reaction with air or water, and is noncombustible. And basalt is much easier to recycle than glass.
• Our Magma Fiber shows 15-20% higher tensile strength than regular fiberglass. This means better impact absorption, strength, and elasticity.
• Because basalt has a greater strength to weight ratio, less is needed to produce a snowboard. And less material means a lighter board!
• Basalt does not absorb water. So if you chip your topsheet jibbing some gnar, your board will not absorb water and delaminate!
Other earth friendly features of Niche Snowboards
• Water based inks – non-toxic, solvent-free, uv-based inks for printing graphics on all snowboard production.
• Fully recyclable using their RECYCLAMINE RESIN SYSTEM
• Recycled materials for base, steel edges and ABS sidewalls
• Sustainable wood cores
• Flax Stringers using Flax Fibers
• Snappy Sap™ Bio-Resin made from bio-renewable materials
For more details go to NICHE Snowboard’s website
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