phile00

Update 3 Below

I'll keep updating this review, for anyone interested.

Rider stats
Hair: Dirty blond
Facial Hair: Mutton chops in the shape of california
Physique: Massive guns
Eyes: Hazel
Height 5'6"
Weight: 130 lbs
Favorite Look: Magnum
Pleasure: Enjoys long carves down the slope
Board: 2010 153cm Never Summer EVO-R
Bindings: Ride Nitrane Contraband
Boots: Thirty-Two Ultra Lights
Underwear: Boxers

Now that you're all sufficiently aroused, I'll get to my review.

Conditions: VARIABLE! Ice/Loose Granular/Machine Groomed/Powder on top with wind.

Yesterday was the first day I used it. I decided to buy the 151cm version, which seems long for a park board given my dimensions. I did so because I thought it would fare better all over the mountain. Vince at Never Summer told me that the slightly longer boards are "burlier" and can take a slightly better beating.

After I got the151 in the mail I was kind of regretting it at first. My "all-mountain" Goliath is only a 149, and this is supposed to be a park board.

Let me just get this right out of the way; I love it. It's the most fun board I've ever ridden. It had a skate-like feel at slower speeds and when trying to butter around, but really dug in when you wanted it to. Smooth is the best way to describe it. It's such a smooth board. Now I don't know if getting a slightly longer board for my size made the difference there, but it was so fun to ride I just didn't want to stop.

-It really carves like a champ.
-It has pretty good pop when ollieing
-Flexes nicely also.
-Not very damp. Jump landings were definitely harsher than a regular cambered board, but not a big deal.
-Felt nice riding switch. The rocker really bailed me out of some awkwardly linked turns (I'm trying to learn to be as precise switch as I am regular while carving).
-Took it through powder, loose granular, ice, chop, etc. and didn't have a problem handling any of it.

Things I didn't do:
-Didn't Jib
-Didn't ride steeps

I'll update that next time I'm out.

Bindings: The Nitranes were pretty comfortable considering my foot problems. They were a pain in the ass to set up, and the V-strap even at it's longest setting didn't go through the center of my toe. Still, they were flext, but supportive, and overall comfy. I'll get into more detail about these later.

DC5R

Has this turned into a dating forum, LOL

Birk

I can add:

Steeps:
Handles real well, i was suprised how steady it was going down blacks. There was no chatter and it held an edge extremly well.
It's a 151 with rome 390's, and i'm 5,74 and 143lb. My previous board was a Burton Jeremy jones 07/08 156, and the Evo is better at carving (and everything else)

__________________
zeBirk.
ASL?

phile00

hahah. I was trying to be funny, hopefully everyone got that. I figured the mutton chops bit and all of the other random stuff I said gave that away.

MASTER SHAKE

nice review

phile00

So another update incoming!

Only my second time using it, I didn't want to jib with it yet. I left out of my last review that I had to have the board ptexed (somehow I forgot). The snow conditions were all over the place the first day I took out this board because it had rained there, and it ruined a lot of the snow. The continued snow making and fresh snow made the conditions variable.

I was riding switch, and I reverted back to my regular stance, and I was right by one of the poles holding up the lift and it looked like it was covered in fresh powder. But when I rode over it, it felt like a mogul with spikes. Grip was impossible on this icy spike demon. I don't care if you have serrated edges, weigh 1500lbs, and can euro carve down an embanked ice skating rink. Anyhow, I didn't bail or anything, but it really sounded like it ruined my board. It sounded like I coasted through a parking lot for a couple of seconds. I took it to the board shop to have a wax (the factory wax was so slow it was insane) and have the base looked at. It had a couple of deep scratches. One scratch was right on the inside of the edge, and it looked like it could have pulled the edge right off. True to their claims, NS makes pretty tough boards.

So yesterday's trip: I took it through much better conditions this time, and it performed well. I rode the steeps this time however. It wasn't too bad, but for some reason I got a lot of heel side chatter and skipping. The steeps were very very choppy, but I never seemed to encounter skipping and chatter with my Goliath on the steeps even if it was a little choppy. I power through that normally. It really felt like my heel side technique was bad, and trust me, I know how to carve. I wasn't really at the top of my game yesterday, though. I was very tired and not feeling well.

I'm going to go again Thursday. I'm taking the EVO-R down the same steeper run 3 times in a row, and I'm immediately going to switch it out for my Goliath and do the same thing. I'll post my findings here. This way I can decide if it's the board or if I was just tired. The EVO-R is after all heavier on the park side of things as shown on NS's website, but I am a light weight rider and I bought a longer board. I'm convinced I could call this an all-mountain board for me. Then again, I should probably take it to a bigger mountain, which I will do in the next two weeks.

Aside from my problem with the choppy steeps, oddly the 149 Goliath and the 151 EVO-R are pretty evenly matched. In terms of fun factor, the EVO-R is winning so far though.

I'm going to review the Nitrane bindings in a separate thread, since there's a minor problem with them.

phile00

UPDATE

I've ridden the board a couple more times again and have since shortened my stance width.

A few more observations and some reiterations:

1) It presses fairly easily

2) Jump landings are noticeably harsher than my Goliath. Maybe I'm crazy but it feels like landing on a plank. I used the same bindings on both boards to confirm this.

3) When riding regular, I haven't even come close to catching an edge (I normally don't though anyhow). The skatey feeling I described above seems gone now, even before I changed my stance width. I think when I get used to a board it just becomes normal to me, rather than different from another board.

4) When riding switch it really saved my ass a few times!!
I'm putting some serious work into riding switch, with the end goal of being able to ride either stance effortlessly and able bomb steeps like I do regular footed. One time, however, when I was spinning from regular to switch, I did catch a nice edge and ate it.

5) It's not great on the steeps when it's choppy/moguly bullshit. It's fine in chop if you're not flying. Eliminate the chop, and I can bomb down a steep run with no chatter (despite the fact that it's not an overly damp board). Keep in mind I bought a board a couple of cm longer than I normally would for a park board for this very reason. My logic worked out nicely. Vince pretty much indirectly confirmed that at NS as well by saying their longer boards are a bit "burlier". I'd also like to say, this board really digs in when you want it to. Very impressive for a "park board".

6) This thing really sucks up wax. I was doing a simple 50/50 on a box and I freakin' slowed DOWN before I came to the end. 5 hours of use and it needs another wax.

This is a great board, and has made me a fan of Never Summer. If this is indicative of their whole line, they are truly one of the top quality board companies.

earl_je

It's fine bombing down steeps. I'm guessing you're probably just not used to the early kick the board does doing sudden turns. It's hard for me to describe. It feels like the board kicks from the mid-rear end upon transitioning(kinda like a mid-engine/RWD vs a front-engine/RWD). This probably explains the 'skatey' feeling you're experiencing. Hit the pipe and you'll actually want this control, well, at least I did.

Agree with it needing waxed constantly! Rode for about several days non-stop last weekend, got lazy and didn't wax. On the third day, started out at the park and did a simple 50/50 on a box. I about stopped at the middle coz the thing slowed down bad... I'm like, WTF?? might have been the wet snow sucking the board down though, it was a rather warm day.

phile00

No, I never said it had a problem bombing steeps. In fact I said it's great at it. I was talking specifically about steeps that were choppy with skier made moguls (you know the kind that form when pretty much only skiers are going down a particular slope and it never gets groomed).

Hahah. I'm glad I'm not the only one. You gave me an image of a snowboarder at dead stop in the middle of a box looking around like "Does this thing have breaks?" It wasn't wet when it happened to me though, it was about 14 degrees.

RickB

y'all need wax designed for sliding on a box instead of snow maybe
</old guy>