Hi All,
I recently bought a 2015 limited run Never Summer Ripsaw 156. I thought I would post a brief review in case it might help others considering it.
I'm about 185lbs, 5'9", with a size 10 Burton Driver X, and Burton Diode bindings riding at +18F/-9B angles. My riding style is very aggressive and I tend to charge most runs at full throttle. I race boardercross when the opportunity arises and competed HP/Slopestyle for my college snowboard team back in the day when I was a young buck. My last board was a K2 Slayblade 158 and before that, a whole bunch of Salomons (got them for pennies or sometimes free).
In a nutshell, this board is like having your own little pet monster. I have lapped Killington and Jay Peak on this through 2 pow days last week, and a bunch of groomers and a few park runs thrown in. Its my first NS board so maybe other owners already know this but...I don't think I've ever ridden a board that holds an edge as good as this one. On an early morning corduroy run, I basically laid down full body rooster tails the whole way without the deck even hinting of washing out. The pop off lips on park kickers was like raw kangaroo meat. Made me wish I would have done more squats at the gym last summer.
We had a pretty solid storm system come through last week so I rode the board in 2 days of pow too. The float on it was ... meh. I think the Slayblade floated a little better but at the same time, my stance was set back about .5 inches on that board and I'm totally centered on the Ripsaw. I'm not sure .5 inches would make that big of a difference though. Also, it has zero forgiveness. If you get lazy on this, you WILL be punished. Catching edges at speed almost happened so I found myself having to really concentrate the whole time, especially in the trees. Its was a more intense experience for sure...almost zen-like but not laid back at all. The board wants to charge full speed at everything all the time. I'm not sure how fast I got it up to but suffice to say I don't think I felt a limit or high speed chatters...even through crud.
All in all, the ripsaw is a very aggressive board for hard-charging riders. For my style of riding; its definitely the best board I've ever owned.
Hope this helps anyone considering it for their next axe. Cheers,
I recently bought a 2015 limited run Never Summer Ripsaw 156. I thought I would post a brief review in case it might help others considering it.
I'm about 185lbs, 5'9", with a size 10 Burton Driver X, and Burton Diode bindings riding at +18F/-9B angles. My riding style is very aggressive and I tend to charge most runs at full throttle. I race boardercross when the opportunity arises and competed HP/Slopestyle for my college snowboard team back in the day when I was a young buck. My last board was a K2 Slayblade 158 and before that, a whole bunch of Salomons (got them for pennies or sometimes free).
In a nutshell, this board is like having your own little pet monster. I have lapped Killington and Jay Peak on this through 2 pow days last week, and a bunch of groomers and a few park runs thrown in. Its my first NS board so maybe other owners already know this but...I don't think I've ever ridden a board that holds an edge as good as this one. On an early morning corduroy run, I basically laid down full body rooster tails the whole way without the deck even hinting of washing out. The pop off lips on park kickers was like raw kangaroo meat. Made me wish I would have done more squats at the gym last summer.
We had a pretty solid storm system come through last week so I rode the board in 2 days of pow too. The float on it was ... meh. I think the Slayblade floated a little better but at the same time, my stance was set back about .5 inches on that board and I'm totally centered on the Ripsaw. I'm not sure .5 inches would make that big of a difference though. Also, it has zero forgiveness. If you get lazy on this, you WILL be punished. Catching edges at speed almost happened so I found myself having to really concentrate the whole time, especially in the trees. Its was a more intense experience for sure...almost zen-like but not laid back at all. The board wants to charge full speed at everything all the time. I'm not sure how fast I got it up to but suffice to say I don't think I felt a limit or high speed chatters...even through crud.
All in all, the ripsaw is a very aggressive board for hard-charging riders. For my style of riding; its definitely the best board I've ever owned.
Hope this helps anyone considering it for their next axe. Cheers,