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Snowboards

Good Rotor 2019-2020 Snowboard Review

  • Sizes:158W, 161W
  • Flex: 4
  • Profile: CamRock
  • Shape: True Twin
  • Price: €589
  • BUY ONLINE
  • Starting up your own snowboard company and naming it Good Boards was maybe a little presumptuous for its opening season. Now, ten years on and the German based brand is living up to its name comfortably. The Rotor offers all-mountain freestyle versatility, with a bit of a spin on some of the more established conventions in snowboard construction.

    This was the first twin tip snowboard to come out of the Good factory and features elongated rocker profiles on either side of the central camber. Where the traditional bend delivers more pop, they’ve also made this section relatively softer than the ends of the board, which are reinforced with carbon and kevlar power stringers. The forgiving nature of the profile won’t be compromised with a loose or washy feel in the tip and tail. This is where the Rotor’s flex is at it’s stiffest.

    “Bucking the trend from traditional sintered bases, Good have opted for a new material, known as Nivylen. Not only is it harder and lighter, they claim it absorbs up to three times more wax than its counterparts”

    Bucking the trend from traditional sintered bases, Good have opted for a new material – known as Nivylen. Not only is it harder and lighter, they claim it absorbs up to three times more wax than its counterparts. No doubt, it bumps the price up a little but in the long run it could save those flat, one-footed, missions where you find yourself cursing your board, cursing your mates, and cursing whoever told you “extruded bases do just as well as sintered ones in the snow”.

    Both sizes come in at the same waist width (160mm) which is wider than the industry norm and will be a blessing for anyone above a UK size 10 who feels limited in their options out there. Even for the smaller footed riders, the sidecut is tight enough to keep Rotor agile enough between turns, so that extra surface area might end up becoming your best friend when you wake up to a fresh layer of the good stuff.

    With a natural wood topsheet and a fresh approach to sizing and construction, Good’s snowboards offer something a little different from the somewhat repetitive production line regulars. It’s fortunately backed up by being just as capable of ripping up the rest of the mountain as the best of them.

Tester’s Verdict

Rob McCreathWhitelines

“They’re ten years old now, but this was the first Good snowboard I’d ridden. Actually, this was the first Good snowboard I’d ever seen, which is surprising as the wood topsheets and graphics and are all really eye-catching.

This was the first true twin added to the line and, for me, it rode right up there with the best of them. I think Good have been a brand focussed more on the all-mountain freeride scene, but they’re proving their diversity in this year’s lineup.

“Stable enough for landing tricks, and capable of putting it right over the edge without too much boot drag, but still pretty nimble between the turns”

Both sizes (the 158 and 161) come in a mid-wide only – around 26cm across the waist. Worth keeping in mind if you’ve got only got little stumps like half of this year’s test team seemed to, but being a UK 10.5 the width on the Rotor was perfect. Stable enough for landing tricks, and capable of putting it right over the edge without too much boot drag, but still pretty nimble between the turns.

Good reckon it flexes at around a 4/10. I reckon as most of their line is more freeride oriented that’ll be why they’ve gone so low. But I felt it flexing more along the lines of a 5 or 6, like a lot of other all-mountain freestyle boards on the market. Don’t forget, you’ve got triax glass with carbon and kevlar additives. It’s pretty snappy.

It’s probably worth mentioning the base on these snowboards. The tried and trusted sintered base goes out the window for Nivylen, which is a newly designed plastic specific for ski and snowboard bases. They claim it holds up a lot better and absorbs more wax. To me, it felt like a pretty standard sintered base, but if it needs to be waxed less often then that saves me more trips to the workshop and then I’m all for it.

I don’t imagine they’ll be the easiest brand to source in the shops, and some people might prefer to go for something a little more familiar and established. Then again, they’ve been around just about as long as Jones and YES snowboards. And they’re German. And one of their owners has 20 years experience as a carpenter. I’d say they know how to glue bits of wood together as well as anyone.”

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