As the 08-09 season was winding down, I made the trek to Breckenridge to spend one day watching the Good Wood Test to get a feel for what the test was like behind the scenes and document the experience on shayboarder.com. Now the results are out for the 2010 Good Wood Test with the Transworld Gear Guide hitting mailboxes and stores.
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I’ve ridden 6 of the men’s winning boards and 6 of the women’s winning boards and when I look at the list of boards none of them really surprise me especially ones that I have ridden in previous years and know what the board is like. When I was able to first try 09-10 boards at the Keystone demos in February, there were a couple boards that stood out like the Park Pickle, Extr-eco and B-pro that were solid boards for any rider and I’m glad to see them on the list. There are other boards I have ridden that I was eh about because I’m not the rider that should ride them. It’s no surprise to me that K2 is a heavy hitter on the list this year, with such a variety of camber/reverse/rocker/flat types to their line there is literally a board for everyone to love. Mervin Manufacturing with their assortment of Lib, GNU and Roxy also cleaned up between the men’s and women’s nominations.
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This is just a list of what rode best for these testers during the days they were tested. It’ll be interesting to check out the tester’s thoughts in the magazine to see what is said about each board. I know that some of the boards I love are in this list and others aren’t in this list, at the end of the day it’s a good way to see what will be popular this year but the best way to tell what you like is by trying it yourself.
There is no perfect snowboard…but as a rider, you can try boards to find what suits you. No list can tell you what you will like on snow but it’s a good place to start when you begin your search for the next board.
Top Ten Men’s Boards Under $400
Artec Gabe Taylor $349
Burton Blunt $370
Capita Horroscope FK $349
Forum Youngblood Chillydog $399
K2 Darkstar $399
K2 WWW Rocker $379
Nitro Swindle $379
Omatic Extra-eco BS $389
Rossignol Angus $399 (All-Mountain)
Salomon Drift $360
Top Ten Men’s Boards Over $400
Buron Custom V-Rocker $589 (All-Mountain)
Burton Easy Livin’ $550
Burton Joystick $530 (All-Mountain)
Forum Destroyer Chillydog $450
Gnu Park Pickle BTX $489
K2 Parkstar $429
K2 Slayblade $549 (All-Mountain)
Lib Tech Skate Banana BTX $489
Nitro Rook $469
Ride Machete $430
Top Ten Womens Boards Under $400
Burton The Social $350
Capita Space Metal Fantasy FK $349
DC BFT $359
Endeavor Boyfriend Series $375
Gnu B-Nice BTX $399
K2 Va Va Voom Rocker $379
Rome Detail $360
Roxy Ollie Pop BTX $399
Signal Vita $329
Technine Womens Jib $320
Top Ten Womens Boards Over $400
Arbor Cadence $495
Burton Lipstick $470 (All-Mountain)
Gnu B-Pro BTX $539 (All-Mountain)
K2 Eco Pop $499 (All-Mountain)
Lib Tech Skate Banana BTX $489
Nitro T1 $409
Rome Lo-Fi $450 (All-Mountain)
Roxy Eminence BTX $539 (All-Mountain)
Soloman Gypsy $450
Technine One Love $400
Top Five Men’s Pipe Boards
Burton Vapor $1,200
Forum Seeker $530
Gnu Danny Kass $499
Lib Tech TRS BTX $559
Saloman Official $550
Cristy
August 24, 2009 at 9:39 pmThanks for posting this Shay! I look forward to reading the riders’ comments as well. With all the fuss about Never Summer over the past few years, I’m surprised that I never see them on any Good Wood lists. Why do you think that is?
ghostovan
August 24, 2009 at 10:45 pmThose listings are really useful to watch were it all goes. Thanks Shay, keep us in touch!
PS No NS boards in the list?!((
FLuiD
August 25, 2009 at 12:28 amHmmm. no NS but no C2 BTX as well. Interesting to see the 2 chillydog’s there!
banana
August 25, 2009 at 3:47 amWere any Never Summer boards tested?
Grill
August 25, 2009 at 9:44 amI don’t think NS tests at Good Wood.
I call shenanigans on the Vapor always winning top pipe board. It rides like a cardboard box.
masl
August 25, 2009 at 9:47 ammmh, burton blunt is one of the top ten??? what haves the testers ridden…
good wood is not as good as it was since the riders know what they ride…
nothing special, like every test…
Shay
August 25, 2009 at 9:53 amI’d have to look back to see what year NS did take home Good Woods, it has happened.
Banana and Grill, Never Summer was at the Good Wood Test this year, they submitted the Infinity, SL, Circuit and Evo to the test.
It’ll be interesting to see the comments from the testers. Here’s my personal thoughts with NS not taking home a Good Wood Test this year. A lot of the test is first impressions with a board and personally even with me, I’d ridden some of the NS boards where my first impression isn’t favorable but as I adjust to it I like it a lot more. The Good Wood Test is first impressions, each board gets 1 maybe 2 runs so you have a lot of boards to go through and boards with great first impressions by the majority of riders will end up with good results.
At the end of the day, people still love how the NS boards ride and not getting a GW test won’t change that.
ghostovan
August 25, 2009 at 11:15 amGood point, Shay.
Btw, if you’ll get some reviews from riders who tested new NS sticks please post them at your blog.
Shay
August 25, 2009 at 11:22 amNo problem.
I only put my reviews up on here but I’m sure you can google NS reviews and see a good collection of reviews from various riders on NS sticks. I’ve still got to put up the premier/infinity review and I have the circuit to ride for this year.
ghostovan
August 25, 2009 at 12:00 pmFair enough.))
Your review already pushed me towards Evo-R 08/09 once.. i’m so happy with it. Anyway Premier is smth i wanna read about.
Grill
August 25, 2009 at 12:23 pmI was unaware, thanks for the clarification. I hear what you’re saying about riding NS boards, they can certainly take adjustment.
Aside from the Pipe test, this years test is a bit more to my liking. Slayblade, Rook, Angus, and Parkstar are all fun sticks. Now if only they can pull their fingers out and do a freeride test…
Shay
August 25, 2009 at 1:21 pmGhost, I know I considered it but it would be a bit too much to deal with for the site. The premier is coming soon…in fact all the reviews will be up for 09-10 by September since I’ve been slacking on getting the last ones up.
Grill, No worries I had to check to make sure since I couldn’t remember what got submitted. Some adjustment, both the lotus and evo I had to adjust to the first time riding them. If you only have one run it’s all first impresssions. Just a thought, definitely some boards I have great first impressions and others are not so great.
They did an all-mountain test this year, those are the boards with the all mountain next to them that won…they were taken through the trees/freeriding and then the jump line. They’ll be a big write up in the main TWS issue about the Good Wood Test
kim
August 25, 2009 at 7:39 pmno BATALEON… 🙁
….oh well i luv my new 2010 violenza, Yeah for it!
JT
August 25, 2009 at 7:46 pmI agree about most of the NS boards. The boards I’ve ridden, especially the heritage, took several runs for me to really fall in love with the board. I initially disliked the heritage, until I spent a good two hours really riding it. After that time I fell in love with the board, and how it responds. Perhaps the good wood test would be better suited with more in depth testing? Boards do tend to have a break in period, in which I would be interested to see how people respond to the same boards after riding them for a longer amount of time. Just my two cents 🙂
lisevolution
August 26, 2009 at 5:37 amOne thing that always irked me about the good wood and other magazine board tests like it is that they never do a section specifically on wide boards. As a big footed guy that’s the info i’m interested in. I know the majority of wide boards are counterparts to the regular width decks, but they rarely ride exactly the same. On a different note, I totally agree about riding time making a real difference in how much you like a board. When I first switched to my Flag a couple of seasons ago from my Yukon the first 5-10 runs I was begging for the old ride. By the end of the day though I was totally in love with the flag and already had mentally out the Yukon for sale on craigslist!
VancityAllie
August 26, 2009 at 2:20 pmThanks for posting this Shay!
Seems like a pretty good roundup.
P.S. Congrats on all the coverage you’ve been getting lately 🙂 You DESERVE it!
P.S.S. When are you going to review my 2010 Malolo? 😉
Shay
August 26, 2009 at 2:39 pmJT, it would be rad with more indepth testing but I would guess it would be so much more costly and much more difficult. 153 models between 20 something testers within a period of 5 days, is rough. A whole season of testing would be insane, a job and i doubt it would ever happen with that many board models and riders. Reviews in themselves are just a starting off point, no list or reviews should be final other than your own opinion on the board you ride. If you love it, no test can tell you differently.
Lis, definitely big footed riders are still getting some of the shaft when it comes to reviews, tests and just finding boards for you guys.
Allie, Thanks! Appreciate all the good words. I already did review your 2010 malolo right before you bought it 🙂
lisevolution
August 27, 2009 at 6:44 amShay, I do have to give credit to the board manufacturers for at least bringing to market more high quality wide boards in recent years. I remember riding when it was a fat bob or nothing! Then it was the risers which totally sucked. Every step for us big footed people out there is a big one in the right direction
Adrian
August 28, 2009 at 7:37 amI’m getting a couple of that list, I can’t wait for that horrorscope flat kick, and I guess that DK pipe board looks good too! thanks for all the info shay, I’m gonna post this list in the shop
Vince
August 28, 2009 at 12:43 pmShay is right on about Transworld only testing a run or two. I have been going to dealer demos since they strted for snowboarding and know it takes more than a few runs to really get a feel for a board. Especially when your riding so many different boards in a day. I now work for NS and know we’ve won the platinum pick in Snowboarder the last 2 yrs and Future snowboarding FSN top picks. These mags test boards for weeks! We believe our customer testimonials mean as much or more than any award. By the way Shay, I worked The BC Swap(we killed it by the way) and a woman named Michelle came back the second day and purchased an Infinity on your recommendation.Thanks for that!
Shay
August 29, 2009 at 7:30 pmLis, definitely although I am surprised when companies don’t step up with wide models most recently with reverse camber wide models…surprising is all.
Adrian, rad! The DK is always on my list but I always save it for a pipe day and that never happens. Hopefully this year!
Vince, definitely the more runs the better, I know my best reviews are when I can ride them for a longer amount of time and get a better feel for them than on a demo day. Awesome to hear, I hope Michelle is stoked on the board this year!
Carl Hungus
September 1, 2009 at 12:08 pm@Vince
Just FYI, I bought my 09 SL-R because of Shay and then bought a NS Eclipse for the summer because I ended up loving SL-R so much. Shay is the goodwill ambassador for NS, I’m now hooked because of her…
Eiki
September 10, 2009 at 6:46 amWhat about the other Mags, that did a Boardtest? Will they publish their results online?
Anybody here that has some infornations? I know that Snowboarder Magazine published some results, but they just got 3 top boards and than the top 3 boards of a certain region.
What about the Snowboard-Mag and their Platium Picks ?
Thanks
Shay
September 11, 2009 at 5:49 amCarl, that’s awesome to hear you are enjoying them!
Eiki, Snowboard Mag and Snowboarder have their board tests. I just put up the post on the Snowboard Mag Platinum Pick winners here. I’ll be doing a write up about the snowboarder results as well probably next week.