Location: Mission Ridge, WA
Snow Conditions: Hardpacked to softpacked groomers.
Setup: I rode the Lobster Freestyle Baord with Flux DMCC bindings and Vans Ferra boots size 8.
Size: 154cm
First Impression: Lobster takes on TBT and delivers with a fun freestyle baord.
Weight: Average.
Flex: The Lobster Baord is on the stiffer medium flex of the spectrum. It’s not as playful as the jib baords but it’s certainly not a freeride board on the mountain. I noticed due to the TBT design, that the board felt stiffer on the toe and heel of the board with a softer torsional flex. The Lobster Baord has twin TBT which has a wide center base that’s flat with a symmetrical nose and tail TBT. It’s great for park riding but offers stability thanks to the wider base and a forgiving rider on the contact points.
Turning: Can always count on TBT to be easy to engage the board onto edge and into turns. I liked how easy the board was for rideability, much more forgiving and fun to carve. It could handle quick turns the best while riding the mountain. Longer ones felt like they wanted to be turned out of quicker.
Stable: Thanks to the wider center base, you felt more secure and stable on the board when it came to carving. Definitely on the icy spots, I felt the board slide and want to give out easier which I wasn’t expecting. Overall for a freestyle baord, it did pretty good on on-mountain stability.
Pop: The pop felt good and easy on the rollers and natural terrain. Its medium flex helped make it a bit more playful but not too soft for the mountain.
Switch: The Freestyle Baord keeps with tradition, offering a true twin that rides like a true twin. I didn’t notice any differences in the handling from regular to switch.
Overall Impression: The Lobster Freestyle Baord makes it easy to decipher the riding this board is meant to handle. I heard it was based off of the Bataleon Airobic but with the Lobster take on it. It’s built for freestyle riding, in and outside of the park. The twin TBT helps with the handling and stability of a wider base so you can take the board out of the park.
Shay’s Honesty Box: It’s fun to see TBT expand to other brands and it’ll be interesting to watch Lobster create and build upon the boards in the series. The Freestyle Baord was good for handling with the park attitude but for the conditions and style of riding during the demos, it wasn’t remembered as easily as other boards that I’ve tried with TBT.
Review Disclosure: I demoed this board at the WWSRA On-Snow at Mission Ridge, WA.
