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Salomon Sabotage 2015-2016 Snowboard Review

Listen alla y'all

The Details:

A favourite of both Jamie Nicholls and Matt McCormick, the Salomon Sabotage is an unashamed freestyle stick that’s light, poppy and detuned at the nose and tail. Put simply, it’s park ready from day one.

It’s a mid-flexing true twin with what is essentially a camber profile, albeit with a flat section between the bindings for extra stability (albeit with a little trade-off in carveability).

Unwanted chatter is dealt with by rubber pads incorporated into the core, which will also come in handy if you come up short on a kicker. There’s also plenty of carbon, too – some at the sidewall for added response when turning, as well as stringers that improve the already considerable snap of Salomon’s Popster core.

You don’t need to stay in the park with this though; its sintered base will have you charging down the groomers, and you can’t beat camber for laying out carves. Torsionally it’s been slightly stiffened this year with the addition of triax glass, so it’ll hold your line at high speeds without the twitchiness you sometimes get with park sticks.

Still, you really should get this in the air or on the metal wherever possible; and with the high-density wood at the inserts and edges, there’s no need to hold back.

TESTER’S VERDICT:
Ed Blomfield – Whitelines

“Once upon a time boards were simple to categorize – you either did tricks on them (freestyle) or went really fast (freeride). The Salomon Sabotage is a perfect example of the way that line has been blurred.

Ostensibly built for the park, it is in reality a genuine all-rounder, thanks to a stiff-ish flex coupled with a twin tip shape and a typically rapid Salomon base.

This thing is supremely confident at speed without ever feeling like a plank, though personally I couldn’t be sure if the Equalizer sidecut (basically a series of angles down the edge) offered any tangible benefit.

Switch riding is a breeze and there’s plenty of spring in the board’s core but you’ll need to be a powerful rider to truly unleash it since the Sabotage is no wet noodle – it’s aimed more at the kicker crowd than the loose-limbed jib kids.

It’s easy to see why the aggressive Jamie Nicholls favours this model, although even if you lack his rail slaying skills there’s still plenty to like about such a versatile and lively board.”

Ostensibly built for the park, it is in reality a genuine all-rounder”

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