Tested - 2011 Burton Supermodel 164
Firstly, I must apologise for the delayed posting of this review. Since finishing the video for the Supermodel review Austria has had one of the best early season dumps for some time so I’ve been away from my computer making the most of the epic conditions. Four thigh deep powder days before Christmas isn’t bad going! If I sound smug, it’s completely intentional.
Unfortunately when I took the Supermodel for a spin the snow was yet to fall and the conditions were a little hard, to say the least. First impressions of the Supermodel were pretty good. The board is very well put together and the ICS system continues to impress me with the cheeky dial hidden under the foot bed that tells you your angles it makes finding the right stance completely effortless. I paired the Supermodel up with Burton’s top of the range C60 bindings, together the package was extremely light, in-fact so light that my girlfriend insisted I carried her skis too.
Burton Supermodel Review Video
Having ridden the brutal Salomon Burner all morning I could feel the differences between the boards immediately. The Supermodel has a very narrow waist which means edge to edge response was incredibly fast although I did feel an immediate loss in stability at speed. Burton have introduced the Smooth Ride dampening to this year’s Supermodel, unfortunately I didn’t really feel the benefits of it, like the Custom Flying V I rode at the board test in May the Supermodel was one of the least damp snowboards I have ridden this year and so riding over small boulders of ice was pretty sketchy as was carving on anything that wasn’t soft. For me one of the major issues with the Supermodel is that the lack of dampening is made worse because the Supermodel has a medium twin flex. It’s an incredible board to ride when the snow is softer as the flex really allows you to pump through carves and work those short radius turns, so in powder the Supermodel is undoubtedly going to make you feel like Kelly slater, but when you are riding hard early season pistes the relatively soft tail and chatter-filled ride causes the tail to wash out. Like I said as soon as I got the board into anything that resembled snow rather than ice the Supermodel was in its element, providing an incredibly surfy feel, the slight pin tail just loved a snappy slash and cut-back. Unfortunately I didn’t get to ride the Supermodel in any powder, but I could tell from riding it on little stashes of wind-blown that it would respond well to deep pumping turns, perfect for open powder bowls and tight trees alike. Oh and don’t worry about getting caught out on any flat spot run-outs the base on the Supermodel was Greased lightning.
The conditions I got to take the Supermodel out in were the complete opposite to those that the board thrives in. On the hard snow, the narrow waist felt a touch unstable, the board’s soft flex and lack of dampening made the board feel even sketchier when I turned up the speed and dug in some heavy carves. However, in softer, lighter snow I caught glimpses of the Supermodel’s potential. To really enjoy it you have to be riding powder. In soft snow it dances from edge-to edge effortlessly and the soft-ish (compared to other freeride boards) flex will have anybody with a bit of powder experience pumping through their turns and setting about producing roosters on every powder bank. I’d recommend the Supermodel to someone who rides a lot of fresh snow and wants an effortless ride to cruise around on or an intermediate looking to add a powder board to their quiver. For those freeriders riding difficult lines on variable snow conditions I’d suggest you look at a board with a bit more muscle.
Big thanks to Blue-Tomato.com for providing the test boards.
Posted by Rich Ewbank in Features.
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