By Andrea
Board Model and Year: Gnu B Nice BTX 2010
Board Size: 145
Age: 30
Riding Style: freestyle
I bought the GNU B Nice BTX 2010 freestyle board in August of 2009 for my snowboarding session in Chile. The 2010 boards had just arrived in the local shop so I bought it. Wow, this board is incredible. My trip consisted of 7 nine hour days in a row on the snow. We had the slopes all to ourselves. You would not see another rider on the mountain for five or ten minutes. Also in Chile you can ride out of bounds at you own risk. It was like a dream. I did all sorts of riding, park, out of bounds, powder, early morning ice, and afternoon slush. Normally this intense riding would leave me extremely sore but, with this board it was a breeze.
The main reason this board rocks is the two new technologies engineered into the board. The first is banana technology. This is a reverse camber built into the board so it rocks or bends up. Gnu does something special and different from the other brands by keeping the banana rocker between your feet. When you stand on it the board goes flat so you will still have full contact with any hard packed snow conditions. If you are 50/50 in a rail or box you will have full contact there too. The second technology is the Magne-Traction. Which is a gentle wobble in the edge that creates 7 biting points of contact along the edge. When carving with this board in hard packed or icy snow it is so easy because of the super glue grip. This is the best grip you can get in a womens board right now. As soon as you pop it up and do a turn it is predisposed to turn. This makes snowboarding easier to learn on this board. For a more advanced rider it just takes less effort to turn. I also love the pop on the board and my landings stick.
Another cool attribute is the base. It does not require much waxing, is easy to maintain and repair. The board is entirely hand built in Washington state buy snowboarders. Consequently it has an excellent factory finish. The best I have seen out there today. It has a 4×2 insert pattern for a really great stance with adjustments. It has a nice wood core with plastic tip and tail bumpers. This is great because if someone puts a big slice in the nose or tail you can get it repaired. If the board was all wood you could not fix it. The flex rating on the board is 4 and will work for 90% of the riders. It is a great park board but, with the Magne-Traction it also works well as a carving board. With the banana technology it also works well in the powder too. I love this board it just makes everything so much easier, from tricks, to carving, to powder. Thank You Gnu.