Reviewed By:  John Park
Age:     30
Riding Style:  Freeriding

First, my idea of a 10 is a board that will ride pow and ice effortlessly, not fatigue me riding for more than 6 hours, carve hard, no chatter, look sweet, goes fast and doesn’t make me think, “I wish this board did XX or I wish this board didn’t do YY” essentially the true all in one board; the board that I would ride EVERYWHERE. Is the Concept UL such a board ? Not quite. Let me mark the positives. + true light weight gives it great agility (spins, turns, throw it around and way you want, super control through the trees) + great pop + beautiful top sheet + excellent control + butter flex, but not wet noodle like + you can ride all day on this thing and not feel like your legs are strained, I’m still spinning and stomping by the end of my sessions + effortless landings Now the wish list or negatives – the on edge carve is something to be desired, does not hold a candle to my Arbor A-Frame 162 – coldest wax on this thing still does not go as fast as I would like it to (acceleration wise its just not there); the scare factor is a 0. – if you want a stiff board, THIS IS NOT IT. Its a great all terrain board, but if you want stiff look elsewhere (the concept TMS is stiffer). Items to note ? I have not taken this out in deep powder, am very curious what it would be like in BC but I think my A-Frame will be the choice for that type of riding. Conclusion : if you ride east / middle north america snow you know ice is more abundant than powder. This is my east / middle north america board. It can ride through the crud, makes park and pipe days great, is easy to ride ALL DAY LONG. Would I trade my A-Frame for this ? Simply no, both are great but neither is my perfect 10.