_REVIEWS2008-2009_BOARDS

Snowboard Review: 08-09 Ride Concept UL

2008-2009 Ride Concept UL

Location: Keystone, Colorado

Snow Conditions: A mixture of hardpacked groomers, soft powder and bumps.

Setup: I rode the Ride Concept UL with Ride ZETA bindings and my Vans Omni Focus boots.

First Impression: Yay! It isn’t a bad ride, still doesn’t grip on ice as well but not hating this board at all.

Size: 159cm

Weight: Light

Flex: Definitely not a soft board but it’s not a stiff board either. I found it with a really forgiving flex. Torsionally easier to maneuver for carving and the longitudinal flex definitely softened towards the tail. I found it a lot easier to butter the tail than the nose.

Turning: I found it easy to lay into each carve, allowing the rider easier carve initiations while still holding a good edge in each turn. Had very quick edge to edge response with the lighter weight.

Stable: The Concept UL rode smoothe on groomers and handled fine through the bumpier terrain. The only time it wasn’t stable was hitting ice, where it didn’t grip as well as other boards I rode that day. Definitely noticeable. No problem with chatter or handling higher speeds, definitely a fun board to just bomb down the runs with since it holds speeds very well.

Pop: The Concept UL definitely had some pop to it, I had no problems with ollies and butters even when I was getting tired since it was the last run of the day.

Switch: I had no problems riding switch on the Concept UL, it was actually really easy to swing around and ollie into switch riding with the board then lay it over into carves switch.

Pipe: I did not take this board into the half pipe. It was the last board of the day and by that time, just tired overall so skipped on the halfpipe run. I did take the board on the icy patches popping up over Keystone, still washed out on the snowboard but felt it grip better than some other Ride snowboards I’ve been on.

Overall Impression: I don’t know the price tag on the Concept UL for 08-09 but I was surprised that it is $750 for this year. It was a lighter board that still rode very well carving and giving the rider some good give for more freestyle fun. But even then, I don’t see why it costs so much. It’s light which is nice but seriously ride needs to invest in magne traction for the boards.

Shay’s Honesty Box: I hate that Ride snowboards don’t grip the icy snow that well…it’s not just one board it’s a lot of them that I’ve rode. Invest in magne traction…you know you wanna!

On-snow Photos