Arbor Draft - 2011

SB-RV Review

The Arbor draft proudly flies the flag, along with the Westmark, for Arbor’s freestyle range of boards. Like the Westmark, the Draft also features griptech rails – basically protruding points along the edge underneath the toes and heels which add to the boards grip (Think magnatraction but only around the bindings). Arbor’s ‘Jib system’ also features what they call a ‘parabolic rocker’, a ‘power spine’ and ‘robust tips’. The board is a true twin with a soft flex and boasts a ‘Sumo Stance’, which really does mean you can get your legs wider than Jenna Jameson for that park-rat gangsta steeze. Add to this the bronze edges – designed to give on rails rather than catch and send you flying to a painful death – and you can see that Arbor are taking their foray into the freestyle market very seriously indeed. And to be honest, there was absolutely nothing I could fault with this snowboard, I loved every minute I spent on it. The Sumo stance did make my feet look dangerously close to the tips of the board, and I wasn’t even riding the widest setting, but I felt instantly comfortable on the Draft as I rode through fresh powder to the park. The board handled the jibs perfectly, as you would expect, and felt pretty stable over 5m kickers but a snowskate would feel stable lining up to those. There was a fair bit of powder around when I rode it so I didn’t really get to check it’s carving capabilities or piste performance but the torsional flex felt snappy and longitudinally the board pressed and buttered smoothly. I really enjoyed this board, like all Arbors it looked amazing with super-cool graphics and it was great fun to ride. The Draft isn’t an all round board, it would suit serious park riders and indoor jibbers best, and it makes no apologies for this, which is good, because it is a great freestyle board. This board was great fun, soft and good looking but don’t expect to win any slalom races on it!

Posted by Ben Molloy in • Arbor