Agonising over a new board and bindings? Should you go for an all-mountain, park or free-ride? Should it be directional or twin tip? Should it have camber? What length is best? Then you start thinking about which brand.
It can be a confusing and expensive time. With this in mind I thought I’d give you my thoughts on one of the boards I rode most last season and what I’d like from Santa this year…
08/09 Ride Society 160cm:
I’d been eying this board up for a good while and having done some homework on it (I basically asked people I saw with one what they thought about it) the general consensus was that it’s the mutt’s nuts I brought one in January.
The Society is a twin-tip freestyle board with a sintered base (hard wearing and fast) As all you usually read in reviews is about the tech spec I’ll not bore you with all that and just tell you how it rides instead.
The Society is a dream. It charges through all types of snowy lumps and bumps with minimum chatter thanks to its base and slimewall technology. A fairly narrow waist helps it edge to edge in an instant while its relative stiffness keeps you feeling safe at high speed which is important cos it’s a pretty fast board. Riding switch on this puppy is a doddle too but in powder it really makes you work hard to keep the nose afloat – you’re gonna need a strong back leg.
However, the true joy of the Society is in its eagerness to launch off anything you fancy. I have never been so high off the ground so many times and the landings felt so soft on impact – brilliant. Apparently it kills rails too but I can’t tell you about that cos I’m too fond of my teeth to try them that much…..
In conclusion: Buy this board if you want to get airborne. It’s suited to very good intermediates and up. Don’t buy this model if you are just looking to charge the piste or get in the real deep stuff.
09/10 K2 Slayblade
The mighty K2 Zeppelin replacement. Dying to try one!
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