Snowboard Review: 11-12 Arbor Coda

Location: Mammoth, CA

Snow Conditions: Mostly hardpacked conditions with some soft spots.

Setup: I rode the Arbor Coda with my Union Team and Bent Metal Mortal bindings and Vans Veil Boots size 8.

Size: 155cm.

First Impression: The Mountain System gave the Coda a lot more life

Weight: Average.

Flex: The Coda is built for all mountain riding so the flex overall is on the medium side. It’s not as soft as the park boards in the Arbor line nor as stiff as the freeride boards. Good center of the range on flex. The torsional flex is responsive and softer so you get responsive edge to edge turns from the board and longitudinally it’s a tad stiffer so you have stability while riding. The nose is softer with a stiffer tail so you can still power through powder and freeriding. The Coda features Arbor’s Mountain System Technology designed to ride the mountain with grip-tech, parabolic rocker, directional twin shaping, power ply topsheet, toro tips and rocker flex. The mountain system reverse camber which has parabolic rocker which has more rocker in the center of the board and decreases the rocker to the tip and tail of the board.

Turning: I rode this board during some of the more busy holiday days when you need quick response to handle the mountain. The Coda’s torsional flex did great, offered up quick edge to edge turning when I needed it and when I did find myself with room around me to ride, the board carved S turns in the hardpacked without thinking twice. Easier to ride than the past 09-10 cambered version, a bit more forgiving but also featured the Arbor tri-radial progressive sidecut so you really get the best of both worlds on turning.

Stable: I took the Coda down a couple icy hardpacked runs where the grip tech came in handy on it but overall it held up through the rock hard snow spots. On some bumpy assortment of soft snow, the board charged through but also didn’t have a ton of dampening to absorb it all. On groomers, there was no stability issues with speed or riding fast, it was very comfortable with it.

Pop: I’ll be coming back to this one with the Coda because I didn’t take it through the jump line and only played on small stuff around the mountain. The stiffer tail did help with snap when you did ollie but also made presses a bit harder to get rise out of. I got a photo of one of the presses to show the stiffer tail flex.

Switch: The Coda is a directional twin so some adjustment to switch riding but totally capable.

Overall Impression: The Coda is Arbor’s mountain rocker board designed to handle varied terrain from groomers to steeps, pow to trees. Unfortunately for the board, there’s a lot of hardpacked man made conditions to test it in right now so it got a full on groomers test and won me over with the handling, quick response and smooth riding it offers.

Shay’s Honesty Box: It’s fun to get back on boards after they’ve been upgraded in the line-up. Last time I reviewed the Coda was in 09-10 with camber and it wouldn’t have been a board I’d ride all the time, this year I found it to be a perfect choice for all mountain riding because of its handling and mountain system. Also I don’t normally judge a board by its graphics but the Coda’s topsheet is pretty damn beautiful in person.

Ready to buy? Head over to evo for the Arbor Blacklist or shop their full line of Arbor snowboards

 

On Snow Photo

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Arbor Coda Description

Review Disclosure: I borrowed this snowboard from Arbor Snowboards. It will be returned to them.