So now that it's spring break I finally had the chance to get around to finishing up my board reviews. They arn't SUPER specific because I only got two or three short runs on each, but you at least get my impressions from the short time I rode them. Also while writing the reviews I'm sure there are details I couldn't recall at the time, but please ask me any questions you have about the products and I'll do my best to recall the more detailed issues with each board. Lastly, don't ask too many questions about the bindings, I have a seperate review of those coming soon and will answer any questions about them then.
Snowboards
- K2 WWW Special Edition 155 (K2 Sweater)
The Special Edition version of the WWW features what K2 refers to as “punk rocker.” This means the board mostly flat and the tip and tail rise up about 1cm so that the contact points remain off the snow. This allows the board to pivot on the snow without catching an edge and thus makes park riding a whole lot more fun. Pressing this thing was ridiculously easy, it was even to the point that when I tried to do a nose-grab nose press I almost fell right over the nose of the board. This thing was a blast to ride in the jib park and was surprisingly stable when bombing down groomers. The biggest downfall to this board is that when trying to land from spinning it is very easy to continue the spin once you land on the snow. Because the contact points are not catching the snow as they normally would, I had a tendency to spin an extra 180 on the snow by accident. The other issue I had with it was when I was trying to take a moderately steep blue at high speeds. I felt like the board was on the edge of washing out on me the whole time, but it never did. This is kind of a positive and a negative all in one. The edge hold and stability are awesome one you get the board up on its full edge it felt very surfy, however if you feel like it is going to wash out, you won’t ride as hard or as confidently as you would otherwise. All in all this board was outrageously fun and came in bright neon pink which you pretty much needed sunglasses to look at. This board came in as my #2 board of the day and I would highly recommend it to you jib fiends out there.
- K2 Jibpan 156 (K2 Sweater)
As soon as I finished riding the WWW I swapped boards with a friend and rode the newly redesigned K2 Jibpan. K2 overhauled this board and made it much more park and jib oriented than in previous years. The shape has been changed and the board is now the same shape as the ever-popular WWW. The flex pattern has also been changed and made slightly softer and more jib friendly. This is by no means a soft board; however it flexes more like an agent than it did before. The Harshmellow dampening system is also a really nice feature. I have never ridden a Jibpan before, so I haven’t been able to ride the old dampening system, but the Harshmellow works very well. I didn’t get to ride the board with Harshmellow bindings and boots, but my understanding is that with all 3 components it is one of the smoothest rides on the market. The graphic is collaboration with an artist that I am unfamiliar with, however it definitely is a big graphical change from previous years. That being said, I think the board looks absolutely awesome for the upcoming season. This board is fast, stable, poppy and jibby all in one. It is a great board for the all mountain freestyle rider who wants something to bomb black diamonds and shred picnic tables all on the same board.
- GNU Riders Choice 154.5 Magne-traction (Bent Metal ??)
The GNU Riders choice was not a board I originally intended on riding. The rep told me he wouldn’t let me get onto a banana until I had ridden regular magne-tration so I could feel what it really rode like. Always looking for the full experience I obliged and decided on this board because it wasn’t a super noodle and it was something that I had heard the name of before. I almost fell the first few turns I made with the board and even as I began to get used to it I still felt like it was almost too responsive. When I make a mellow cruising turn on a green trail the MT made it feel like the board trying to tear off in the direction I was attempting to mellowly turn. With all of that being said, I think magne-traction is something I would definitely get used to and enjoy riding; however with the few runs I took on this board I wasn’t crazy about it. Overall the board had a nice medium flex and was pretty buttery in the flats. It rode very well at high speeds and was definitely stable and fast. I would like to spend more time on this board and try to get used to the magne-traction for a few days.
- GNU Street 154 Banana-traction (Bent Metal ??)
This was definitely my top pick of the day. My rep made me ride the regular magne-traction before he let me test out the banana-traction as I had never ridden either before. This board surprised me with how well it rode not only in the park but on the whole mountain. I took a few laps through our Hessian park jibbing picnic tables, flat boxes and dance floors. This thing was an absolute blast and very easy to ride. The original hookiness of regular magne-traction is gone when you add in the banana camber. Pressing and buttering with this board was a joke, but in a good way. With the WWW ltd I felt like presses were too easy, basically I felt like once I pressed it was tough to get out of the press. With the banana camber the presses were easy, but not in the same way as the WWW. The other big benefit of the banana is that with rocker camber, the contact points are out of the snow, and I found it difficult to stop rotations when landing. With the banana I didn’t have this problem at all. In fact, it felt just like an old broken in board that you never want to get rid of. I was able to do all my normal tricks without hesitation which is an attribute that I like in a board. I hate having to feel like I really need to get used to something.
After my laps through the park, I went on to ride a couple of trails, including my favorite headwalls. The first thing I noticed as I hit the headwall was the ridiculous amount of pop that the camber allows for. I surprised myself with how high I was able to ollie off the headwall and how far I actually went. About halfway down the same trail was a “powder” stash in a group of trees that was heavy and had a crusted layer of ice on top of it. I was able to slice right trough it and still float on whatever a normal person would call the crap that was underneath. Lastly, I was very surprised at the stability of the board. When bombing down groomers, I figured the board would become squirrely as it is described as a urban jib and park board. The edge hold was incredible (Duh) and the stability was there to boot. For my 80% park 20% freeride east coast board, the GNU Street Series was DEFINITELY my pick of the day and will most likely be my board next year. On a side note however, I’m not too crazy about the graphic.
- Ride Crush 155 (Ride Contra-Band)
Next on my list of never-ending reverse camber boards to try is the new Ride Crush (DFC Kink). I rode this board with the highly publicized Ride Contra-Band, but I’ll talk more about those later. Aesthetically speaking this board is sweet. Maroon striped membrane topsheet looks awesome and adds dampening to the board. It comes equipped with 85a sidewalls, cleve edges and the rest of Ride’s Mobility features. The big differences between the Crush and the Kink are that the Crush has them membrane topsheet, carbon array 3, and this year it has a slight skate rocker. At this point in the day I was beginning to consider myself fairly well verse in altered-camber snowboards as I had been on two that day and own one myself. I went straight to the park because I knew that this board was designed to be a jib machine. I have to be honest and say that I was fairly let down. It was stiffer than the WWW ltd which was nice; however it actually made the board ride worse. It was decent for pressing, butters and jibbing, but not so great at high speeds. The edge hold was mediocre and the board definitely was still chattery. I took it through the same semi-powder crud as the GNU Street Series and I felt completely out of control the entire time. It did not cut into the crud, and I felt like I was skipping out of control across the top of the piles of crappy snow. For the jib kid dedicated to Ride this board may be a good choice, but in the world of reverse camber/banana/skate rocker snowboards, it falls short on performance.
- Rome Solution 156 (Rome United)
For purposes of possibly bringing this board into my shops inventory, I decided to test out the Rome Solution. I rode this board with the new uni-body Rome United binding, which will be discussed later. This board by far was the biggest surprise of the day for me. I’m not the type of rider to ever even consider a directional board, I ride true twins all mountain because that’s how I’m comfortable. I was a bit skeptical as to how this board would ride because it’s a bit of a price point, directional intermediate all mountain board… way out of my comfort zone.
You will not find a better ride for $400. I was blown away by the edge hold and performance of the Solution. It was fast, stable and felt like a $500 board. I know that I give up some edge hold by riding park boards all the time, but I have not carved like I did on the solution in a long time. It was a little bit stiff for my liking and the stance did not go as wide as I would have liked, but for an intermediate rider looking to do a little bit of everything, the Solution is where it’s at.
- Burton Fix 156 (Burton Triad EST)
Continuing my crazy camber testing experience I went back down to the demo tents and got myself set up on a Burton Fix 156 with Triad EST bindings. This is a true twin freestyle board with no camber to it at all. I went into this test with certain expectations about this board. From everything I had heard it was supposed to be Burton’s new un-cambered super noodle. I have to say, this thing is not a noodle by any stretch. It was fairly stiff, not un-pressable, but stiff all the same. I didn’t notice a huge difference in how it rode as compared to a board with camber. I only took a couple of runs on this because I was so disappointed in how it rode. Not necessarily because it rode poorly, but more because it was not even close to what I had expected. I would like to give this board another chance now that my expectations have been altered. All I can say is please be aware that this is NOT a super jib oriented board.
- Atomic Hatchet 156 (Rome 390)
After everything I have heard in the past two years about this board, I was definitely excited to get on it. My overall impression of the board was that it was a lot of fun and very easy to ride. There was nothing about this board that was jaw dropping or amazing, but keep in mind I had been on every type of ridiculous camber available before I rode this board. The best thing about it however was that you can just get on it and ride. It was the type of board you immediately feel confident on. I was able to jib and butter around both on boxes and on the flat ground, and then bomb down steeper trails on it and still feel stable. I hit a couple smaller jumps with it and felt very stable and balanced. All in all this is one of the best park boards around for the money, especially for the rider looking for the kind of board to just go out and ride. Lastly, in my opinion, the graphic is the best that it has been in years, as is the same with most of Atomic’s new line.
- Rome Agent 154 (Rome 390)
One of the boards I have never personally gotten a chance to ride is the Rome Agent. Towards the end of the day I snagged one from the Rome rep and just check to make sure my boots fit into the bindings. Unfortunately being the moron that I am, I decided not to check the width or the angles of the stance, and rendered myself more or less incapable of forming any real opinion about the board itself. Expect a more in depth review once I get a chance to spend some more time on this board.
- DC XBF 156 (Raiden ??)
One of the most highly anticipated releases of the upcoming season is DC Snowboards. I have to say I was definitely excited at the chance to test one out. I went into the day with my mind set on testing the Lauri pro model, however the rep didn’t have any with him. He explained to me that the Lauri is nothing more than the XFB (The DC Chain Board) with a different graphic. At first flex, the board felt about the same as a Ride DH or a Rome Agent, a solid mid-flexing park stick. We took a couple of laps through the park and I was definitely impressed with how well the board rode. It had a ton of pop, pressed very easily and was stable off of jumps. The board was extremely playful and I can see why Lauri would want the shape/flex pattern in his pro model board. Lastly we took a nice fast run down one of the longer green trails, just buttering around doing some sweet slashes and so forth. When we were trying to go as fast as you can go on a green the board held edge well and felt pretty stable. It was fun to mess around on, but after riding a banana and the LTD Weapon, it just didn’t compare. All in all this was one of my favorite boards of the day and I would recommend it for someone looking to pick up a new park board for next season.
- Salomon Sick Stick 156 (Salomon Relay Pro)
Honestly my absolute no questions asked least favorite board of the day. I’m going to be honest and say I know nothing about this board other than the fact that the nose and tail are pointed and the graphic looks pretty sweet. I asked the rep what it was for and he replied “Getting Sick.” With that in mind I took this board out with a pair of Salomon Relay bindings. I felt like an absolute noob to snowboarding, I was off balance the entire time I was on the board and felt like I couldn’t ride at all. If I had to describe this setup in one word it would simply be “awful.” It may have been the relay bindings which I personally don’t like the feel of, or it may have been the board. I hated it so much I only took one run on it so I really couldn’t discern which if not both products were to blame.
- Salomon Sanchez 154 (Salomon SPX Pro)
Not wanting to leave a bad taste in my mouth from Salomon, I decided to try something a bit more traditional and took the Salomon Sanchez out for a spin. This board was an absolute blast. I had a lot of fun screwing around on the various trails and in the jib park. It was fun to press, easy to spin and had a decent amount of pop for such a soft board. At the end of the day there isn’t a ton for me to rave about with the board because it was much like the Atomic Hatchet: A solid fun board that has little to no learning curve and is just fun to ride right out of the plastic.
