RIDE BUCK UP SNOWBOARD 2013/14 REVIEW

Ride is one of the best-respected snowboard companies around, with a heritage that stretches back more than 20 years. Over the years their boards have been ridden by many of the sport’s legends including Jeff Brushie, who they somewhat controversially poached off Burton in the 90s. These days their Seattle base is HQ to an equally stellar bunch of modern pros including powder Jedi Jake Blauvelt, Japanese wunderkind Yuki Kadono and the man many are tipping to win the first slopestyle gold medal at the Olympics, Canada’s Sebastien Toutant. He’s been described by none other than Team GB’s coach Hamish McKnight as “probably the most technically proficient snowboarder in the world at the moment”, and won pretty much every contest going in the last few years. This is his pro-model board.

As you’d expect from someone who spends most of his time in the park, Seb’s board has a mid-soft freestyle flex and a true twin shape. To this, Ride have added their ‘hybrid twin’ profile, which features ‘micro-camber’ between the bindings, with a slight rise towards the tip and tail to make snagging on rails and scorpioning more difficult.

While the Buck Up isn’t quite as comfortable in powder as the slightly stiffer Machete GT (it doesn’t have as much lift at the nose for starters) you can still ride it in most conditions comfortably, and our test team loved the way it felt on the piste as well as in the park. As such, it would probably suit intermediate riders as well as those who (like Seb) are looking to nail their next triple cork.

BUY THIS BOARD AT: granitereef.co.uk, absolute-snow.co.uk, snowfit.co.uk, snowlab.co.uk, theboardbasement.com

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