Tested - 2011 Good Boards Flash 185

It’s been a busy weekend of board testing at Snowboard-Review.com, but the first board of the weekend was certainly the most unique. Being an all-mountain snowboarder the range of board lengths I’ve ridden varies quite considerably. I’ve ridden boards as small as the 148 Stepchild Jib Stick and as long as the 165 Palmer Crown LE. The first board I picked up from the Good Boards Test stand towered over the Crown by a mighty 20cm. At 185cm the Good Boards Flash is without a doubt the longest board I have ever ridden, by a considerable margin.  There are very few brands producing boards of this magnitude, Rad-Air build the mighty Tanker which has a very loyal following and reaches a mighty 2m and other brands like Prior and Rossignol have reached the mid 180cms in the past with their pow specific swallow tails. The difference with all of these boards to the Flash is that their sidecuts are absolutely enormous with radii of 11m-12m meaning that you are restricted to turning like an oil tanker, at 9m the sidecut on the Flash is relatively normal.

Video Review of the Good Boards Flash

Unfortunately being such a unique board design I have very little to compare it too, riding the flash 185cm it’s a very unique experience. The test was based in the tiny resort of Hochkonig in Austria’s Salzburg region; with four pistes and 3 drag lifts I wasn’t expecting much. Overnight we’d had a little fresh snow and more importantly the Piste Bullys had been out in force grooming the pistes into perfect corduroy.  The benefit of being at such a small resort was that there were literally only the testers there to make the most of it. My first run of the day was a real eye opener I pointed the Flash and held on for dear life. There is fast and then there is Flash fast, the board accelerated like a dragster, the Graphite Nano sintered base on Good Boards is Greased lightning. Before I knew it I was traveling at speeds that made my eyes water through my goggles. Putting the Flash on an edge was equally exciting, the enormous effective edge of approximately 150cm offered unparalleled edge hold, I honestly couldn’t tell you if I was riding corduroy or ice at some points, because the grip was immense regardless of the snow quality. At slower speeds you won’t be surprised to hear that the Flash was cumbersome, but as soon as the speed crept up it felt pretty nimble and responsive to medium and long radius carves. I did power off a couple of Rollers, take-offs were stable and landings were like setting down a jumbo jet on autopilot. As soon as I tried to pop with an ollie I felt much less stable. With a tail as long as most big freeride boards nose’s you won’t be surprised to discover that popping an olly isn’t the best way of getting airtime.

Although it had snowed, the fall was not significant enough to cover up the crusty base layer. I put a couple of long turns in an area with 15cm of untouched fresh and the Flash glided over it without a second thought, unfortunately the run-out was choppy and although I weigh 70kg and I ride nearly every day of the season I didn’t have the strength in my legs or weight to keep the Flash under control, it bucked me like a rookie on his first Rodeo Bull. If you are looking at a board of this length to take into the backcountry you’ll need big open faces and untouched snow to make the most of the Flash, it really needs to be unleashed and left to its own devices. Riding out tight bumps and transitions and reigning in the speed on less than good snow conditions will almost certainly end up with a crash.

The Flash is an ideal board for an experienced freerider ranging between 80 and 90kgs who wants to ride at ridiculous speeds and put down enormous carves on pistes or untouched powder all day long, on a stiff and powerful board with unbeatable grip. If you don’t fit into this category but you are looking for something a little different to add to a quiver, I thoroughly recommend the Flash. I had a fantastic morning tucking into the speed position and pushing what I believed to be my personal speed limit, not once did I feel the board wasn’t capable of the speed I was travelling. For making the most of corduroy carving days there’s no experience like strapping into a 185 Flash.

Posted by Rich Ewbank in Features.

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