Board: Ride Wildlife
Size: 157
Camber Option: Directional Hybrid Camber. Rocker in the nose and camber throughout the whole board.
Bindings: Rome Black Label
Stance: 21.5 Wide 15 Negative 12 Goofy
Boots: K2 Thraxis Size 10
My Weight: 200lbs
Resort: Copper Mountain
Conditions: A mix of grey skies, low visibility, and clouds with colder temps. The snow was fast and firm, icy, or had pockets of death cookies scattered throughout.
Flex: It’s not that this board is stiff it’s just very reactive and lively. You notice that right away that when you load it up to engage a turn or to pop it just instantly rebounds. So some might say it’s stiff but it’s not. The overall flex of it is a middle of the road freeride directional flex with the nose being ever so slightly softer than the center of the board. From there it progressively gets stiffer to the tail. The torsional flex is there and you’ll notice you can twist the board but as mentioned it instantly rebounds right back.
Stability: There’s a little chatter in the nose at high speeds in rutted out terrain but it’s nothing serious. Through the body of the board it does a great job of dissipating chatter and staying on top of everything. Basically if you want to charge go for it and don’t worry about anything in your path.
Ollies/Pop: The snap is there and while you do have to aggressively load the camber up, what you put in gives you back double what you get out. This board is very reactive when loaded and wants to spring off and out of everything.
Butterability: The nose is obviously going to be the best place to lock in a press that’s just a given with the immense rocker zone it has. With the tail you want to go fast and lean back hard to do high speed wheelies. This board is not meant for buttering for the most part.
Carving: Speed is obviously the key with riding this board. It gets twitchy if you’re not paying attention to how it engages. Yes you can start the carve off the front foot but you have to shift your weight to the back foot and drive it from the middle of the board. That’s when you hit the optimal level of carving with this thing. Short tight quick carves or long hard drawn out ones it has you covered. When you really push into this board you’ll notice how much power it has out of any turn. This is a deck that wants to slingshot in and out of turns.
Rider in Mind: The freeride loving carving cruiser guy.
Personal Thoughts: This reminds me of an older Berzerker. It’s a very reactive board that wants to drive in and out of turns. It has so much power due to the camber profile and carbon array and you notice it. It’s stable where you want it but not dead by any means. This deck is just phenomenal for ripping turns.
Comparable Boards: Libtech TRS, Rome Ravine Select, Capita Black Snowboard of Death
