Board: Nidecker Smoke
Size: 158
Camber Option: Camber with micro rocker in the tail and early rise in the nose
Bindings: K2 Lien AT medium
Stance: Goofy, 21in wide, 21/+3
Boots: DC Tucknee size 8
My Weight: 155lbs
Resort: Breck
Conditions: Late spring. We had a storm somewhat recently so the snow wasn’t hard or shit, but it was slushy soft and firm in the shadows. Fast in the shadows and a little bit slower where it had been baked.
Flex: Directional stiff flex. Medium to stiffer nose, stiffening up under foot and continuing to stiffen through the tail. Pretty demanding flex with an evenly demanding torsional flex. The type of flex and feel that requires you to drive it with your weight, not your feet.
Stability: The stiffer flex and more damp feel make for a very stable board. It doesn’t get bucked around and holds its composer through varying conditions and feels confident at speeds.
Ollies/Pop: It takes a little bit of thought and some effort loading the camber, but when you do it boosts. Like really boosts. Quick snaps don’t get much at all with the stiffer flex but loading the camber and pushing through the tail produces fantastic results.
Butterability: I tried, not worth it. Not happening.
Carving: This really should have been the absolute highlight of the board and something that pretty much every other Nidecker I’ve ridden is at least decent at. This one not so much. The sidecut doesn’t really like to be initiated from anywhere but between the feet and heelside turns are really hard to hold onto if you put your weight anywhere outside of your base. Even putting too much weight towards your tail on follow through makes the board just chunk out. It really limits the turns to medium or longer more high speed drawn out turns. Really laying into the turn and laying it over doesn’t produce much without a lot of precision and effort, and even then it’s really less than desirable.
Rider in Mind: Someone looking for a classic Euro-carver for digging trenches.
Personal Thoughts: The combination of rad shape and my past experiences with Nidecker gave me very high hopes for the Smoke. It fell short. It just did not have the carving capability I wanted or expected from a Nidecker. Honestly if you’re interested in this, have a look at the Mellow instead.
