Snowboard Review: 09-10 Drake DF1

Location: Whistler, BC

Snow Conditions: Bluebird to overcast on hardpacked snow, choppy snow and ice in spots.

Setup: I rode the Drake DF1 with Union Forces and my Rome Vamps size 8.

First Impression: Camber is like coming home…it won’t die and the DF1 proved that for me.

Size: 155cm

Weight: average

Flex: The DF1 was on the stiffer flex side for a freestyle board, but that made it stable at higher speeds and still great outside of the park for freeriding.  It was a tad stiffer in the tail and torsionally stiff between the bindings.

Turning: It took me some personal adjustment to turning on a camber board again, just getting used to initiating and driving the board through the turn.  The DF1 has a radial sidecut so once one edge, it is very predictable and won’t force you into some extreme turn you weren’t expecting.  I rode the DF1 after the Bataleon and even though the carves weren’t quite like TBT (nothing is) it still handled carving and held an edge.

Stable: I didn’t encounter any stability issues with the DF1, handled speeds and choppy snow very well, good dampening in the board to absorb any rougher terrain.  Riding camber again felt good and I felt confident on it, the board wouldn’t surprise me.

Pop: Good pop from the tail of the board and it felt good to know exactly where to pop off the board and have a stable landing without any surprises.  I was surprised on the pop, didn’t require much effort to get it out of the board.  It was interesting pressing on a camber board again, just had to put more into it than I’ve previously had to.

Switch: The DF1 is a directional twin, there was some adjustment to the flex being different when I went into switch riding but for turning there was no issue it rode the same when turning switch or regular.

Overall Impression: I wasn’t expecting to ride the DF1 but when I took it out, I really liked it and it was fun to ride a Drake camber board that I liked.  It handled turns and speed but still had good response and pop to it for the freestyle fun.  It was a stiffer park board you could ride outside of the park and an option for camber board riders.  My one regret with the DF1 is not having a halfpipe to ride it in, it would have been ideal with the stiffer flex.

Shay’s Honesty Box: It’s becoming rarer for me to ride a camber board and this was the perfect example of riding a camber board between riding a whole lot of non-camber boards.  The best part was, it reminded me that camber won’t die…it doesn’t suck to ride camber, it can be fun and very predictable.  I’ve snowboarded longer with camber than without it, so when I went back to it…it was like ahhh I remember you, I missed you and we still have fun together, high 5 and then ride on.

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