Now into its 20th year, the Burton Custom is truly one of the classic snowboards, not to mention one of the best selling of all time. It has spawned many offspring – the Flying V version, the Custom Twin Asym… – but the daddy-o of them all (at least in terms of price) is the Burton Custom X. So which is best?
After testing both back-to-back on the same day, it became clear that whilst they share a lot of design features – cambered profiles, sintered bases, directional twin shapes, Squeezebox Technology – neither really comes out on top overall, they just perform better in different environments.
Whilst the standard Custom felt at home over most of the mountain, performing well both in the powder and the park, for us the Custom X excelled as a high speed piste machine, the additional stiffness from the carbon stringers turning it into something that was truly a joy to ride on fresh corduroy. That makes it a dream for halfpipe riding too, creating Christian Haller‘s contest board of choice.
Meanwhile, the classic Custom still does what it always has done best: providing a cambered, freestyle-focused stick that pings off side hits and sucks up landings off any booter, be it in a terrain park or the backcountry. Little wonder then that Mikkel Bang was able to hold onto the same board when he transitioned into a fully fledged powder hound.
Which should I buy?
“I want one board that’ll do a great job all over the mountain – park, piste & powder – and like something soft enough to play around on, though far from a noodle” – Classic Custom
“I like charging, hard. When I go riding I like to rack up the miles on the piste, going the distance rather than playing around on side hits” – Custom X
Watch our video review below, then check out the full, in-depth reviews of both boards with the links below:
