jojotherider

I couldn't find any discussions on the Burton Nug so I wanted to start one.

Picked up a 2012 152cm Burton Nug Directional the other day and got a chance to ride it tonight at Snoqualmie. Thought I'd share my initial impression. Since its a nug board, this is supposed to be the equivalent of a 160-162 board. Bindings are the Union Contact Pro, which I really really like. Normally, i like to have separate bindings on each board, but I'm going to be moving these back and forth between this and my park board.

Conditions were super light snow over some hard pack with the occasional ice patch. On any of those ice patches this board has almost zero edge hold. Not sure if I'm just doing something wrong, but every ice patch had the potential for disaster. My Ultrafear does a pretty good job on the icy days so this board definitely isn't going to come out those days.

Outside of those ice patches I really enjoyed riding the board tonight. Not sure if its the design of the board or the wax job on it (i haven't waxed it myself), but it seemed to fly when pointed straight down the mountain. I also felt surprisingly confident pointing it straight down. I certainly don't have as much confidence straightlining my Ultrafear. Rode through a couple really choppy sections and the board seemed to take it and keep me moving in the right direction. In one section, I had to do a heelside traverse on a steepish run. I have trouble traversing on my heelside and this board certainly didn't help anything. I don't think it was any worse than on my other boards, but it definitely wasn't better.

One of the areas I was concerned about was getting pop off of the tail on a reverse camber board this short. A couple years ago, I had a 152 Skate Banana. For the short time I owned that board, I never felt like I could get enough pop off the tail. it just felt like the board was going to slip out from underneath me when I applied pressure. I'm not sure what Burton did to the tail on this board, but I certainly felt comfortable trying to ollie off the tail. I don't think I get as much pop as on my Ultrafear, but the tail feels like its there and I just need to figure it out a bit more.

I'm looking forward to the next big pow day to hit (which sadly seems like a long time from now according to WA forecasts). Since this is supposed to ride like a 162, I might be able to downsize my quiver and get rid of my 162 Gyrator. I really like that board, but if I can get the same kind of float from a 152 board that would be awesome. I went off a drop tonight and landed about 5-6' down in knee deep. I was pretty worried the board would nosedive and I was going to go over the front. Surprisingly that wasn't the case and the board just floated to the top. The board slid out from underneath me on that landing, but I think that was more my own fault. I'm pretty sure I would've done the same on the Gyrator. So, the pow test will have to wait another day. I kind of hope it will be a heavy pow day so I can see how this board handles it. If it doesn't I'll keep the Gyrator. If it does, I'm going back down to a two board quiver with the Ultrafear for park and firm/no-new-snow days and the nug for everything else.

In short, I can really dig this board for how I ride.

-joel

Optikal_Illuzion

I think this belongs in the Reviews section of the forum But great review!

jojotherider

oop! i'll PM a mod.

djpuma

can you give me some more feedback on this board.

I was looking at this one or the burton restricted (non-directional) 2012 and not sure what the main differences are (still a noob at boarding)

Fergatron2000

Don't chuck your Gyrator. The Nug is pretty rad on powder days but has it's limits. I got one last season and had the same notes as you on the reduced stability (esp. comparing to a Riders Choice). In addition, the board struggles with wet heavy cascade cement. You will want your other board for Spring dumps and anything super deep. Super fun on slushy bluebird days though.

Nug is an awesome change of pace.

jojotherider

I think the main difference is that its directional.

I think the tail is a little more blunted also (as in, not as round). I know they did that on this year's Burton Root which is the directional nug successor. A friend of mine has the restricted nug. I'm not sure if i'm riding with him this week, but I'll take a look when I do.

I rode it again last Saturday at Snoqualmie Pass. low-mid 20s, sunny, no new snow for 4 days. very firm conditions. I wouldn't say it was an icy day, but there were a couple spots of just ice here and there. I think this board as your only board would suck. I've never been on a board with such little edge hold on firm conditions. My old Gnu Riders Choice was full rocker, but it had the magnetraction which helped a great deal on the ice. I think the Burton Root with its flat section would be better than this board on ice. Not sure how it'll float compared to v-rocker though.

Thankfully I've got another board I use for firm days so I won't have to use this board. At the same time, we're in a bit of a precip break right now and I'm not going to ride a board I just bought. lol

-joel

djpuma

I was up at Hayak on Saturday and off the trails was amazing.
I'm riding my friends 147 lib tech which is way too short for me but for some reason works.
That's why I'm looking at the nug, cause I like shorter boards as my 161 twin feels like a boat

jojotherider

Yeah, i'm pretty curious about riding it in the heavy stuff. The gyrator will plow through anything. Its a beast. I'll definitely give it a shot on the nug. I think its going to be weird riding a 162 though. My smaller boards are 152 and 154. 162 is going to be huge.

Are you still riding the nug this year?

jojotherider

which Lib is it? they have a reduced size board also. I think its the box scratcher. Meant to be ridden 5cm smaller.

-joel

Fergatron2000

Oh yeah. Still throwing the Nug in when I want a little more play and less chargin.