Snowboard Review: 09-10 Burton Lip-stick

Location: Loveland, CO

Snow Conditions: Hardpacked to icy conditions on the mountain.

Setup: I rode the Burton Lip-stick with my Burton Lexa bindings and Bonfire Geo boots.

Size: 154cm.

First Impression: A stellar women’s park board that is the definition of playing on the mountain.

Weight: Average

Flex: The Lip-stick was definitely a tad stiffer between the bindings and softer on the nose and a tad stiffer tail making it really an easy ride.  The edge to edge was still quick and you could torsionally flex the board to get into quicker turns but it’s still overall on the soft side of the flex scale and it’s meant for park.  The lip-stick is V-rocker, so a 3-stage rocker with one rocker between the feet and rockers outside of the foot to raise up the contact points.

Turning: The lip-stick is a very easy board to manuever on the mountain, it’s forgiving and easy to go on edge with.  For a park board it handles freeriding decently but I wouldn’t expect to charge and rally turns on this board, it can hold turns on the mountain but the quicker short radius turns felt better for me than the long drawn out S turns.  On edge, it held the board throughout the turn but if I hit some icy spots, I felt the board slip out immediately…wasn’t as good on the icy spots as the Hero or Feelgood V-rocker which surprised me.

Stable: Since I had just rode the feelgood V-rocker in the same size, the lip-stick wasn’t as able for charging or handing icy conditions.  I also didn’t expect it to and while it was a really fun ride, it felt better to actually slow down and enjoy the board than charge on it.  It was probably the worst board for holding an edge on the icy spots which as the last board of the day there were more of them on the mountain.

Pop: The lip-stick has pop and plenty of it, really easy to ollie and felt best landing between the bindings on this board.  The contact points are lifted up so a forgiving ride and I found it ideal for boxes and boardsliding without worrying about catching an edge.  Super easy to press and butter on the lip-stick.

Switch: Despite it being directional, I didn’t have an issue with going into switch riding from it catching or from how it handled.

Overall Impression: I had a blast riding the Lip-stick for exactly what it was, a park focused women’s board that could be very playful and fun on the way to the park.  My only complaint was the edgehold which surprised me since I’ve ridden the men’s version, the hero and didn’t encounter problems with the edgehold.  Burton says you can downsize from your normal size and I found that quite true, I’d normally ride a 155-156 for park and I found the 154cm perfect for park lapping without losing a board that can be fun the rest of the way down the mountain.

Shay’s Honesty Box: When the lip-stick was introduced to the market, I was bummed there was only one size but now there’s multiple sizes to choose from.  As a park board, it was one of the most fun women’s park boards I’ve ridden this year and I didn’t want to give it back (always a good sign at demo’s).  It’s not perfect though and I’d only ride it for park laps.
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On Snow Photo

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Burton Lip-stick description

Review Disclosure: I rode this board at a demo day.