Kitesoul Magazine #26 International Edition

A niche market, close to craftsmanship
Splitboards are no longer rare on the beach and nowadays when about
to buy a new board a kiter who is a frequent traveller definitely considers
it. And what does he find? The current international market offers a good
choice of assemblable boards, although not unlimited. In fact, despite
the technological development, the splitboards’ industry remains a niche
sector where only few big brands decide to invest, the rest is for small
artisan factories. There are various reasons for this.
To start with, there’s been a general continuous downsizing of one-piece
boards that from long and narrow became shorter and wider over time.
Today a freeride board is between 130 and 136 cm long and 40-42 cm
wide. Also, the use of composite fibres such as carbon or Kevlar greatly
reduced the weight. In other words not every enthusiast feels the real
need to use a splitboard. The inevitable doubts about its performance
remain, as well as about its robustness, load and torsion resistance compared
to boards that were born one-piece not by chance and are now
offered let's say as a kit. Proof is that pro riders keep well far off from
splitboards, at least during competitions.
David Ingiosi
Reliable and versatile, but expensive
Another factor that hinders the market of assemblable boards is their
rather hefty cost, although justified by a slower, more complex work
compared to the traditional ones. Finally, many brands aren't interested
in this sector due to the objective difficulty of developing 100% reliable
technical solutions, particularly for the assembling systems. In other
words, is it worth risking the brand's name?
All valid arguments. Anyway, the splitboard's market keeps rolling and
those looking for a space-saving board can easily find the object of desire.