Never Summer was never slow.
On-snow like none other.

Art on display at Red Alert

Art on display at Red Alert

Crotched Parks – Block Party 2012 from Sean Mitchell on Vimeo.

Steez Alaska’s Chris Gadomski recently caught up with the guys from Boston based Bean Snowboards.

How is everybody?
We’re doing great! Just finished making all our snowboards for the season so we’re working on next year’s designs, looking forward to getting out and riding.

Word is you guys started making boards in 2006, what was your motivation?
We all kinda felt like it couldn’t be that complicated so we started doing some research. We found a huge subculture of people who make their skis and snowboards on the web. It looked reasonable, so we set out just to see if we could do it. The first one came out pretty haggard looking, but it rode as well as any board you could buy in a shop. We started thinking; if out west you have places like Signal and Never Summer, shouldn’t New England have a small independent snowboard brand? So we got cracking.

People change, things change, how has Bean Snowboards evolved over the past few years?
It’s tough working with your friends and it took a few years to really understand how to hash out the constant decision-making and keeping things professional. At this point I think we all kinda have it in our minds that we were friends before and we’ll be friends after (hopefully there is no after), and if we disagree to just argue and move on. Graphics can be especially tough since there’s no right or wrong answer, it’s all preference and everyone’s got a strong opinion. Working well together has definitely helped us keep up with the industry and find more time to work on the board designs, tech, and improve the manufacturing process too. In the first 2 years we found it really hard to keep up with all of it in addition to our day jobs, but now we’re able to focus on growing the company and making the best snowboard possible.

I have to say guys, this year’s Bean line looks great, big ups! Besides graphics, what’s new for the 2011-2012 season?
We updated our Commonwealth design by adding more carbon fiber from the binding area to the contact points to improve edge hold on the icy New England slopes, and to give a little more pop to your ollies. We also changed the wood cores in the Comm to shed about 10% of the overall board weight. We’d done it to the violator last year and decided to extend it to the Comm this year. We try to only change technology when there’s a damn good reason for it. It seems like nowadays everyone expects break-through technology every year, but it’s just not possible. We spend a lot of time drinking beers and talking about cool new ideas, but only some of them make sense and can be used. Break-throughs are spontaneous and can’t be put on a fiscal year schedule.

We also made a few more of our bamboo boards but there’s only one left at this point. It’s something we did last year in small numbers, but we hope to bring it on as its own model soon. It’s basically built so the only plastic on it is the base; bamboo top sheet, bamboo sidewall, and soy based epoxy.

How many boards is Bean turning out annually?
Right now we’re keeping our production small at between 75 and 100 boards per year. As the brand grows and we get more efficient at making them we hope to increase that number each season. As we expand we’ll also be looking to get into more and more retail shops around New England.

Bean Snow presents… “Part-A” build sesh from Bean Snowboards on Vimeo.

Bean Snowboards are handmade in Boston, what influence does New England and its riders have on the development of your products?
From day one we designed the boards to be fun. Most of the riding we do around here is either park, or hunting out some left over powder in the trees. To best do that you need a twin shape, with aggressive side-cut, a little extra width and most of all, edge hold. We picked our shapes and composite designs with that in mind and it seems to work well.

Graphically we get most of our inspiration from the region. This is actually the first year none of our boards have iconic Boston imagery, and I’m sure you’ll see it come back in the designs in later years. We also look at a lot of local street art too and try to incorporate that culture in our graphics.

We’ve also stuck to our guns and kept making cambered boards through the reverse-camber phase the industry has been in. We’re poking fun at that a little this year with our “Reverse Reverse Camber”. Positive-camber boards are more stable and responsive for cruising the mountain and have more pop off jumps; we don’t get enough powder here on the east to need the extra float you get with a reverse-camber board. The style, attitude, and name of our company are all based on our experiences living in and around Boston. It’s who we are and we hope it comes out in our products.

All Bean Snowboards leave the factory with an environmentally safe wax job, can you elaborate?
We hand-wax all our boards with Green Wax as a little added bonus to our customers. Green Wax is petroleum and PFC-free, which is important because most people don’t think about where the wax goes when it leaves your board. Onto the snow, which melts in summer and goes straight into the local ecosystem, so the more natural it is the better. It’s also made in Massachusetts so it falls into line perfectly with our mantra of “Buy Local, Shred Local”.

Eugene Stancato FULL PART from gene bean on Vimeo.

I hear you guys just picked up our boy Alex DeGrechie, who else is on the team?
Right now we just have two riders, Alex DeGrechie and Eugene Stancato. Geno’s been riding for us for a few years now and has been a great fit. He’s from Dorchester, MA so he spreads the Boston pride far and wide. We’re super excited to have Alex onboard this year too, and can’t wait to see the two of them push each other to new levels this season. They’re doing a lot of filming already this season, so keep an eye on the Bean website for some great edits dropping regularly.

How is Bean Snowboards being accepted in markets outside of New England?
We haven’t really focused on spreading to other parts of the country, our goal is to become New England’s primary local board brand and do what we do. That being said there’s been a good response to Bean all over the place.

Blow up, or stay small? How many people does Bean employ?
Right now we have zero paid employees, but obviously we’re hoping that’ll change soon! Our biggest short-term goal is to be able to pay ourselves to build boards, and then as we expand we’ll be on the lookout for skilled workers to help out in the shop. Ideally we’d have a dozen or so employees and that’s it, keep it grounded, sustainable and fun.

What’s next for Bean Snowboards?
We’re looking forward to another great season of demos and contests starting with the demo weekend at Okemo December 10th and 11th. We’ll also have the new artist series dropping soon with graphics from Stephen Holding and Ryan Lombardi (Enamel Kingdom), and other than that we’re going to keep improving our designs and getting our boards in front of as many people as we can.

Anything you’d like to add?
Can’t wait to do some events together! Readers: Check us out online or at a demo stop this winter. Buy Local. Shred Local.