Category Archives: Snowboards

Arbor Abacus

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By John Park

Board Model: Abacus

Board Size: 160

Age: 30

Riding Style: Freeride

If you ride east coast ice, hard packed, groomers and never see powder days nor yearn for them. The Abacus will not be your friend, Arbor has many others to fit your needs the Abacus is not it.

However if you are looking to ease out those bad ass pow days with something that will ALWAYS perform on the fresh, be it on the groomers, in the trees, slaying a bowl, dropping into the fresh stashes .. this is your new companion on the mountains no matter how large or small.

Riding Revelstoke during a 30cm snow and accumulating was spectacular. The Abacus slayed the pow, kept me up top and grabbed as much speed as possible. It split the tight trees with ease, sent me off rollers and landed without any nose dive. Carving ?? Who needs that in the pow, just lean back and cruise. However, throw a spin and watch your landing gear ! The Abacus sits you so far back in your stance that rotations soon become corked and off axis. Even BIG AIRS will tend to lean towards the back … grab a mute to correct or else you’ll be rolling down some windows !

Riding the day after and following sessions without fresh snow saw the humidity, cold, groomers, and chop to create a packed surface. And it became clear this board does not like to hold an edge. As well, the edge it does hold is pretty weak. This is not a carving board, if you know you are going to be in more than 4″ of snow this is the board for that day, otherwise leave it at home.

Slay the fresh all day long and love it with this board, keep it at home if there is no snow in sight. There is an old adage of “No friends on pow day”, on pow days the Abacus is your only friend.

Nitro Blacklight 157

2 Replies

By Coog

Board Model: Nitro Blacklight

Board Size: 157

Age: 37

Riding Style: All mountain

Took the Blacklight out to Colorado and the board was an absolute slayer. Rode in pow through the bowls,trees,cruisers, groomers and traverses and the board killed it on all. The pow was a bit deep the first few days so I put it in the back seat and let her rip. The base is super fast as I blew past people they were standing still and came in handy on those dreaded traverses.
The board has a medium flex so it’s real stable on jumps(pops) and hauling ass but you can still play around with it buttering and hitting the park. Board is lightweight but doesn’t chatter oh and did I mention you don’t have to wax it!

2009 Rossignol One-Magna Traction

9 Replies

By Chris

Board Model: Rossignol One-Mag

Board Size: 163

Age: 41

Riding Style: Freestyle/all mtn

I’m a little surprised to see that nobody has reviewed Rossi’s latest Magne-traction boards. This is the latest technology to hit snowboards and I can tell you it gives you awesome control in even the crappiest conditions. I’ve always been a big fan of Burton boards and when I went out to purchase a new board for the 08-09 season I was introduced to Rossi’s magne-traction technology. Living in Idaho we get tons of light fluffy powder here so I was rather hesitant to purchase a board that’s made for riding ice and hard crummy conditions. This board works great in all conditions. I’ve been riding light fluffy powder all season until last weekend. It warmed up enough to melt much of our base and re-freeze that evening. The next day I took my Rossi One-Mag out and absolutely shredded the mtn. The side cut on this board is like a serrated knife and cuts through the crude like nothing I’ve ever ridden. I had so much control I thought I was riding on fresh powder. If you get a chance try one out or you’re in the market for a new board try out Rossi’s Magne-Traction, you won’t be dissapointed!

Nitro Pantera 169

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By Steve

Board Model: Nitro Pantera

Board Size: 169

Age: 39

Riding Style: Freeride

This board is amazing… it is superfast, super-responsive, and carves like a mother. Took a couple runs to get used to, but after that, its awesome. I was used to a more “intermediate” board with more flex and less response, so I found that putting the same amount of “turn/lean” input into this board, was overkill… once that was figured out, it was sweet… seems to be built very well, time will tell I guess… the sticker on it said it was made in Austria… Better than China or Taiwan….

2008 Burton T6 156

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By Fes

Board Model: T6

Board Size: 156

Age: 36

Riding Style: Freeride

I bought a 2007/2008 T6 156 as a beginner-teetering-on-intermediate all-mountain freerider. And I couldn’t have been happier. First things first. This is NOT a freestyle park board. You try to go on a rail or box, you will split your head open like a coconut. The sintered WFO base is blazing fast. I’ve been able to charge down whole runs and even slalom them. When you hunker down and ride it properly, there is no chatter. The pressure distribution edges work great. PDE is Burton’s version of Magne-traction. Great edge to edge responsiveness. I have yet to set my bindings back and take it in to powder (well we really haven’t had much pow days here). I am not a freestyler but I have hit some jumps. T6 has amazing pop.

2009 Ride DH2

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Reviewed By: Joe Gardiner

Board Model: DH2

Board Size: 155

Age: 24

Riding Style: Everything

This board is everything Ride claims it to be. The slimewalls and transitional radial sidecut ensure smooth turning even on a choppy groomer. It is a very lively board with a lot of pop. It is very easy to pop out of presses making it a very maneuverable board on jibs. The base, yet a little harder to wax is very fast and worth the extra time to give it a proper wax job. The DH2 is also very light also helping the maneuverability of the board. Although designed for park, given the width of the series it handles very well in powder. A very fun and relatively easy board to ride. Seems to be a very durable board too. Weighing 195 lbs. I’ve had problems in the past with snapping boards on some not-so-hard landings. I’ve given this board a couple hard landings and so far no problems. This board along with the Ride Beta bindings is among the best boards I have strapped into.

Check out this Board

2007 Illuminate Iguchi signature 157

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Board Model: 07 Illuminate Iguchi signature

Board Size: 157.5

Age: 47

Riding Style: all-Mountain

When I bought this board it was almost too stiff, but it has loosened up nicely.It is fast with a very firm ride, a lot of pop and solid landings. It is very agile in glades/moguls, and holds a great edge on east coast ice/hard pack.But you better man up and ride this board or it will throw you. This is not a beginner/low intermediate board at all.

2009 Lib Tech Mc Kink BTX 153

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By  Matt P

Board Model: Lib Tech Mc Kink BTX

Age: 27

Riding Style: All-Mountain

The 2009 Lib Tech Mc Kink is my favorite ride yet. The board is super light and can do it all… probably the closest board I have rode that is like a skateboard. I take the board all over the mountain and I have not seen a difference in performance whether I am in the park or the power.

Overall this is a sick board and I would recommend it to riders who love to do it all.

2007 Burton Vapor 157

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Reviewed By:  Tom Hall
Age:     47
Riding Style:  All-Mountain

2007 Burton Vapor 157

In my opinion, the standard issue deck graphics are uugly they get a “2” although for another buck fiddy you can get custom graphics. The board itself gets a “10” handsdown this puppy has power steering. It has upped my game and I fell in love with it instantly. It’s like an extension of your body, you dont ride it, it rides you, like you almost forget its there! It turns everything into butta’ rich creamery butta’ hand-churned by Amish bitches in the Black Forest of Pennsylvania, then waxed by hobbitts, Old world craftsmanship baby!