Contract Cobra - 2011

Snowboard Review:

I’ve been fortunate enough to test the Contract Cobra a few times now. And I think my opinion is now fairly settled. After my first time I thought, hey this board is awesome, then after another day in harder conditions I was thinking, yeah it’s ok but it does chatter when you are gunning it, now I’m back to thinking it’s a pretty good piece of kit that after a few tweaks could be awesome.

To start with the graphics, not how they look because that’s just personal opinion, by slight beef with the graphic is that it appears to be printed on top of the topsheet meaning it scratches a little bit too easily especially if you’re not the type that likes to use a stomp pad. I think I can count most riders above intermediate in this category. The second issue I have with the Cobra is that the stance options are limited as there are only 8 inserts under each foot, this means you can have a large stance, a really large stance or a ridiculously gargantuan stance. The default centred stance was too big for me and on most boards I run pretty much as wide as the board will go… so if you have a narrow-ish stance look elsewhere.

So to how the board rides. The Cobra is very light weight and lively it snaps out of carves pops big without an enormous amount of effort. On an edge I wouldn’t say that the Snake Transition Tech gives a noticeable increase in edge hold from increased torsional rigidity but it carved nicely and I didn’t feel like the board would wash out when I bounced over some hard pack and chop. Longitudinally I’d give the Contract a flex of about 6.5/10 and torsionally it is about the same, making the Cobra a good choice for experienced park and pipe riders.  The Cobra is noticeably directional but I didn’t have any problems riding it switch. After my second day riding the Cobra at the UK board test in May I felt the nose was a little chattery, having ridden it in some softer conditions in February and raved how it was chatter free.  To get my mind straight I took the Contract out for a ride about a month ago and I can safely say that Chatter isn’t a problem unless you are riding refrozen corduroy. That said the Contract is definitely one of the least damp snowboards I have ridden, which keeps it lively but also means that it can find really bumpy terrain a bit much to handle. I’d like to see some rubber film or edge shock absorbers incorporated into next year’s Cobra.

After mulling over the Contract Cobra for a while, I’m a bit of a fan. It’s super light, poppy and has a more reactive and conventional <8m sidecut which will have kicker and pipe riders loving it. However to make it a bit more all-mountain it does need a bit more dampening and some narrower stance options.

Posted by Rich Ewbank in • Contract