This month we caught up with Sean Martin over at Donek Snowboards, a custom board manufacturer based out of Denver, Colorado. Donek specializes in boards built for racing and they are ready, willing & able to build your dream deck.
When did Donek form and what is the company mission?
I first conceptualized Donek in 1988 while still in Highschool. I wrote a rudementary business plan for a social studies class. The plan involved manufacturing snowboards and selling them direct to the end user. That basic concept still holds, but we are very focused on providing the customer with exactly what they need by custom tailoring every board to meet the individuals needs as precisely as possible.
What features do you see as the most important for a Boardercross/race specific board?
For the last few years, our goal with building race boards has been to listen to the best racers and develop what they ask for. As board builders, we do not race, so it’s vital that we listen. There are some pretty universal concepts that seem to work though. Camber and taper are pretty key to producing a board with the required control and predictability. We also incorporate a rolling decamber in the tip and tail and variable sidecut radius. These are all features you’ll find in the top BX boards.
What features/technology do your custom built boards incorporate that are tailored specifically for Boardercross and racing?
The flex profile we use in the saber series, only appears in that series of boards. We develop so many technologies for our other lines that they wind up spilling from one to another in various ways. We first developed our Continuoulsy variable sidecut for GS racers and freecarvers, but it was tested with BX riders and received very well. Our rolling decamber was the same, but re-engineered around a BX board. Our carbon construction was initially developed to meet the needs of BX racers requiring a board wider than can be produced with titanal (it only comes in 31cm widths). It’s now more popular than the metal construction.
How customizable are your boards?
Length, width, sidecut, stiffness, dampening, construction (fiberglass, carbon fiber, or metal), and graphics. Insert spacing is fairly common as well. We occasionally have requests for strange shaped shovels and tails.
It looks like you already have some BX racers as part of your team, have they given you any ideas on how to shape your boards?
We’ve taken a lot of feedback from Mick Dierdorf in the last couple years as well as one of his coaches, Mark Harris. We are always interested in getting feedback from racers though. As I said, the racers are the key to helping us produce the board they want. Without their input, we can’t move forward.
We hope you enjoyed the read on Donek. They are super stoked for the upcoming winter season. If you have any questions or inquiries about getting your own custom built board, check out all they have to offer at www.donek.com.
For more information on this seasons line up of boards, check out The Quiver 2012 
