Tested - 2011 Burton Sherlock 157
The Burton Sherlock is a very different snowboard; that much is certain as soon as you lay your eyes on it. That’s what is so good about the big powerhouse in our industry, Burton want to keep snowboard technology progressing. Who bought us extended binding highbacks? Which company was instrumental in the development and boom in popularity of tapered powder boards like the famous Fish? Yep that’ll be Burton. So what’s so exciting about the Sherlock and its new shape? Well to start with it’s pretty much a true twin and you don’t often call a twin a powder board. Then there’s the Flying V profile, again not particularly revolutionary; Burton, Nitro, Rome, Never Summer and Mervin have been combining a rockered profile with cambered tips for the last couple of seasons. Where the Sherlock differs from all of these boards is that it uses a really deep sidecut with a standard waist width, on the 157 I was riding the sidecut radius was around 6m. So that the tips don’t get super wide at the start of the effective edge Burton have cut the sidecut short meaning that the sidecut blends into a flat section before it blends into the nose and tail radius, Burton call these flat sections “Side Effects”. This little design tweak gives the Sherlock three unique properties. For a twin shape the nose and tail have a relatively large volume under at the nose and tail providing a bit of extra float for riding deep days. Secondly, these flat sections reduce the boards drag in deep powder making switching edges much less catchy and less effort too, at least that’s the theory. Thirdly the super tight sidecut and relatively soft flex mean that in softer snow the Sherlock can turn on a dime, the Sherlock will switch direction faster than a London Cab. So what does it ride like?
Video Review of the Burton Sherlock 157
I’d read a couple of reviews before I stepped on the Sherlock, some raving about it and others less keen so I was extremely intrigued to find out what this new radical shape and particularly the 6m sidecut would ride like. To be honest I think Burton really hit the nail on the head with their description of the Sherlock. The flex is quite soft, particularly in the nose and tail, pressing was ridiculously easy and at first I went over the back a couple of times just because I wasn’t expecting it to be as soft as it was, I’d probably give it a 4/10 for longitudinal flex. Little jumps along the side of the piste were fun and the Sherlock was ridiculously easy to ollie, even the wiriest Chicken Legs should be able to get pop out of the Sherlock and it’s light construction made it spin with minimal effort. Tight turns initiated easily and in softer snow the Sherlock was responsive. When I took the Sherlock on to the hardpack I didn’t have quite as much fun. The problem with the Side Effects flat sections at the tip and tail and the tight sidecut is that when you are carving larger radius turns on hard snow, it feels like all of the boards grip is coming from these flat sections, the Frostbite edges are so minimal that I felt like I had almost no grip at my feet, which was the complete opposite to how the cambered Custom X with Frostbite edges felt. In addition to the lack of grip through the length of the sidecut the Sherlock like most of Burton’s reverse camber boards is a little light on dampening so when I was riding hardpack with choppy soft patches the Sherlock didn’t know if I was coming or going, I didn’t feel particularly secure. Unfortunately I didn’t get to ride the Sherlock in anything you could consider powder, but from the way the tight sidecut reacted to tight pumpy turns in the windblown at the side of the piste I can imagine it would be amazing in the deep stuff.
Again I’m guilty of testing a board in hard conditions, but hey I live in the Alps and apart from the odd epic powder day, hard snow is what is available to ride. The Sherlock was easy to ride, fun and lively in the softer snow and jibbing about. On the harder snow its powder biased shape and lack of dampening did have a few negatives which meant it was a little underpowered for Vitelli carves, but what do you expect from a powder jib board. Burton labelling the Sherlock a powder board for jibbers is spot on, a nice soft flex, light construction, tight sidecut and poppy nose and tail make the Sherlock ideal for playing around on jibs and jumps and the Side Effects shape and Flying V profile should take care of float. If you’ve been looking for a snowboard to do laps of the park on, fly through the powder in the trees jibbing trunks and boosting off cliffs and for sticking switch powder landings on the Sherlock is an awesome choice, if you are a freerider looking for a new powder stick to add to your quiver the Sherlock might not deliver the carving performance you need or are used to.
Big thanks to Vanessa & Philipp @ Blue-Tomato.com for hooking us up with the test board.
Posted by Rich Ewbank in Features.
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