This review was done at the Transworld Good Wood test as I tagged along with the test and tried out boards.
Location: Breckenridge, Colorado
Snow Conditions: Overcast with hardpacked groomers to icy groomers.
Setup: I rode the YES with my Union Forces and my Rome Vamps size 8.
First Impression: It has a more freeride feel to how it rides. Not what you would expect from a rocker board.
Size: 156cm
Weight: average
Flex: It’s defined as a mid flex board but I’d have to say for me it felt a tad stiffer than mid flex but mostly from the torsional stiffness of the board. From the flex, it made for a very stable and smooth ride when charging. I can see this board being the ultimate backcountry board in how it handles. On groomers, it did fine but with a more freeride flex than I was expecting.
Turning: With the camber in between the bindings and rocker towards the tip and tail it rides like a consistent cambered board when turning. I can see how with the rocker it would help with better float in pow and it gives it a little extra freestyle focus on the tips and tail. Between the bindings, you have a full consistent edge to use in turning. It was stable on edge and it holds the edge throughout the entire turn. I noticed it was a bit slower edge to edge that took some adjustment but that was just from the stiffer torsional flex of the board.
Stable: This was the first board of the day for me when conditions were hardpacked and icy on the runs. I had no problems holding an edge on some really icy conditions including in the halfpipe where it was very stable. When trying to catch up to the other riders, it handled speed with no chatter. It never felt unstable with the runs I took on it.
Pop: I was feeling pretty ballsy on the YES, so much that I rode up onto the wall box that I hadn’t yet ridden all year and ate shit. It was my riding, not the board. When I took it into the halfpipe, it held an edge on the icy walls and I was able to get good pop. I didn’t play with the board on jumps or rails other than the box. Unlike the other rockers where the rocker is centered making it easy to press/butter this rocker is at the tip and tail so it raises them just a tad, making it less catchy.
Switch: I was trying to keep up with the testers and Annie so I didn’t try any switch riding with it. It’s a true twin so I wouldn’t expect any differences when riding it switch.
Overall Impression: I went into riding the YES completely blind on what features it had and what to expect from it. As soon as it hit snow, I knew it wasn’t a typical reverse camber…it wasn’t rocker in the center and it didn’t ride like it was. I also noticed how well it held an edge on icy conditions that morning, without feeling grippy like MTX. This was a little less freestyle focused than those because of where the rocker lies.
I felt like the 156 was actually longer than it was because of how it handled and definitely with a freestyle focus, it wouldn’t be hard to go down in size.
Shay’s Honesty Box: The YES has camber between the feet and rocker towards the tip and tail and reminded me of the Atomic prototype I rode last summer with how it handled and rode (different flex though). It makes it a bit less freestyle focus but at the same time it handles freeriding very well, stability and speeds very well. I liked riding the board, definitely was a board that needed more than just groomers.
*This Review was done in April 2009, please be aware that products may change.
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YES Description
hoon
May 11, 2009 at 7:19 pmi’m bummed that you didn’t try it switch. even though it is (they say) it’s a true twin, i’ve found some “twin” boards really just plain suck ass switch. note: not saying this board sucks ass switch, just saying it’s an important feature.
the first board of the day during a test is a hard one… you’re still warming up the legs and you’re not quite in the groove (or at least that’s me)… but sometimes you find magic on that first run too.
thanks for the sneak peak shay.
Shayboarder
May 11, 2009 at 7:35 pmhaha i know, I’m hoping that it’s the same but yeah didn’t take it switch. Definitely an important thing that I missed out on doing with the review. Crush was one board that rode different switch even though it was a true twin…so totally understand it.
I took one run with my own board before going to the Good Wood Test so I was a little warmed up ahead of time but since I had my nice camera that first run, I just cruised and took it easy.
I definitely hope more people get to try out the YES board, just another way to look at camber/rocker.
Anonymous
May 11, 2009 at 8:17 pmSweet, thanks shay! So is that fact sheet the true specs for next year?
Shayboarder
May 11, 2009 at 8:25 pmThat’s the info I was given from YES, so it should be correct.
Anonymous
May 11, 2009 at 8:47 pmIs Ultimate grip like MTX? Do you have any tech specs on this? I’m a huge fan of the MTX living in icy central Canada. I just bought a Salomon to try out their equalizer, but unfortunately I’m not David Benedeck and its akward getting on edge and slower speeds.
Anonymous
May 11, 2009 at 9:27 pm_/ \_/ \_ this is a rough outline of what ultimate grip is. They are fairly shallow serrated edges located at both binding areas on the edge. You can look at it on nidecker’s website.
Anonymous
May 11, 2009 at 10:16 pmWere you drunk when you wrote this or do you just severely lack grammatical skills? Also you evidently don’t know the difference between rocker and reverse camber either. I think you need some remedial lessons in board construction.
Shayboarder
May 11, 2009 at 10:36 pmHere’s the link to the Ultimate Grip info. It held a edge better than normal, hard to say if it was better than mtx…but definitely comparable.
Well since everyone else understood it and you didn’t, I think you might be drunk. I am sober and currently typing sentences so thanks for the advice.
Anonymous
May 11, 2009 at 10:46 pmIsn’t a Stable something you put a horse in, not the way to gauge if a board has chatter?
Fairly sure stability and instability would be the words you would use to describe that attribute.
Shayboarder
May 11, 2009 at 10:52 pmHere you go.
Anonymous
May 12, 2009 at 1:19 amawesome shay! Good work.
Anonymous
May 12, 2009 at 3:36 amgreat review.
do you think that you could take a picture of the rocker in the future? maybe hold the board up against the wall or a tent pole or something so there is some reference.
i live a long way from the mountains and often cant make it to the test weekends to try it myself. every company seem to have thier own ideas on rocker and it would help me if i saw the rocker you are talking about.
Anonymous
May 12, 2009 at 4:20 amAnonymus right over me there.. A
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Check this link: http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b57/spenserak2/album2/yesboard3.jpg
Its from Spenser at the bmb. Its the YES 59 board.
Jonny
May 12, 2009 at 6:07 amShay did you have the opp to ride any other Yes boards and get a baseline for the flex or is the mid flex/stiff point based off opinion of other boards you’ve ridden?
(which leaves the wide open question do you measure the flex of the board in it’s respective line or against all other twin tips etc)
Nice sneak peak and interesting to learn about ultimate grip.
Marc
May 12, 2009 at 7:14 amAnonymous:
Stable – adjective
(also stabler, stablest)
not likely to fall or give way, as a structure, support, foundation, etc.; firm; steady.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/stable
LateBloomer
May 12, 2009 at 8:09 amDid you notice anything with the asymmetric edge? I assume that means the heel sidecut is different than the toe sidecut. Heelside turns a little different or not?
Huckleberry Hart
May 12, 2009 at 11:45 amWow. People are going nuts about this one. I like your bit about eating shit. I do that a lot. But I ALWAYS blame the equipment.
Shayboarder
May 12, 2009 at 7:53 pmThanks for the link to Spencer’s photo, that captures it very well.
Jonny, that was the only YES board that I rode and comparatively I was expecting the flex to be similiar to the uninc series since that’s where the riders are from. So compared to the uninc it’s a tad stiffer but I believe that’s from the rocker/camber they incorporate.
Latebloomer, I didn’t notice the heel sidecut being any different from the toe sidecut like I noticed with the park pickle. YES only uses asymmetric in the name so not sure if it’s just to describe the rocker or what.
Hart…yeah first run with Annie I eat shit but I’m one to admit it. Can’t blame the board when I suck at boxes, haha
Spenser
May 13, 2009 at 4:09 amhaha i bet that dude that gave you shit about “not knowing the difference” between rocker and reverse camber was ilikepie from the BMB. its the same thing dood, just accept it. it doesnt matter if its one point in the middle, flat in the middle and rockered after the bindings, full curved rocker, or what…. its all bent the opposite way. its rockered.. its reverse camber…….. thats all there is to it.
the yes boards are definitely one of the stiffer rockers ive come across. best i have to compare to is the k2 gyrator, which is rated as k2s stiffest board besides a wide version of another board thats rated the same as the gyrator… the yes boards.. at least the one i have.. is definitely stiffer, no doubt.
the rocker is also pretty mellow compared to most, i think, but compared to camber, its still gonna be pretty different.
looks like they kept the sick nose and tail cuts from unincs on them, and the steeper tips (wu-tips).
Shayboarder
May 13, 2009 at 9:18 pmThanks Spenser for your input! It’s rad to hear you had a chance to ride the boards as well. I’d definitely agree, stiffer than the gyrator I owned.
For the correct wording…rocker/reverse camber, yeah that made me laugh.
I overheard one guy at an industry demo that couldn’t tell the difference between camber/bananatraction. I’m glad I know that difference, can feel it and talk about it. Terminology for each rocker/reverse camber…it’s all anti-camber with different names.
JMT Colorado
May 26, 2009 at 1:56 pmI just wanted to leave two more cents about these boards. I have been riding them since March. First I rode the 156.5 in Vail during some of the sickest snow of the year. We had over 60 inches in 10 days a the end of March. Needless to say, I was super stoked on the reverse tip and tail. I was dropping rocks and sticking it. I was also hit some decent size gaps and step downs landing switch. Good stuff for sure. Not much more can be said about rocker, it makes everyone sick in the deep stuff.
I also rode the 156 at Breck. The edge hold in the pipe is awesome, I hit the jumps and cruised the hard pack the Breck is known for. That is where that good old camber came into play. I like camber, always have, I had a lot of trouble riding the full reverse boards form othere companies at demos on the hard stuff. The edges are just not there when you want them. Back to the Cam-rock though, I actually felt that I had more edge hold with the the new edge and camber between the feet on that 56 versus many of the standard camber boards at that price-point. It held a perfect line up the pipe wall.
After Vail closed, I switched to the 154. This is the all-around park killer. It obviously flexes softer than the 156, so the jibbing and buttering has all of the trademarks of reverse camber. Switch and regular is the same, and I even got a few “hot pow” turns on Loveland Pass with the 154 2 weeks ago.
I think the best take on these boards is the 156 is the pipe and jump stick and the 154 is the all around freestyle ride. I weigh 175 and the 154 definitely still held my weight.
Just remember on reverse boards when you land….Think BOLTS!!!
looped norway
September 12, 2009 at 5:07 pmis “Asymmetric Rocker” like lib tech’s “Power Banana” aka “C2 Banana”? (so many names) and can you only get Asymmetric Rocker aka Power Banana aka c2 banana as a 156? 156 is too big for me(as a bc kicker/park board) i allready have a 156 lib-tech mullet for big mountain riding and super deep powder…..great review btw!
dashredster
October 1, 2009 at 7:23 pmAsymmetric rocker is not the same as the powerbanana/c2 banana. the Asymmetric part is the heel side edge which may not be as extreme as the Gnu park pickle. the c2 rocker is reverse cambered between your legs with camber on the outside of your bindings. the yes rocker has camber between your legs and reverse camber on the outside of your bindings.
D
December 14, 2009 at 4:09 pmWhat about the pop? How does this compare to the Never Summer SL-R?
I heard rave reviews about the SL-R and demo’d the board. While I didn’t love it, It was a great board. The SL-R had more pop than other reverse cambered boards but not as much as the reviewers were saying…
would love to hear about the pop…
rickywood
December 28, 2009 at 2:52 amthe 162 it say its going to be directional. what does that mean? and why is that the only one
I have the 158 or is it 159 YES.
January 15, 2010 at 2:33 pmaccording to the top sheet on my Yes it is a 158, but if you look at the edge the board says 159 I dont really care the board has been sick but it would still be nice to know.
Vito
January 23, 2010 at 4:03 pmDo you think it could be a good board for a beginner?I spent only ten days on slopes so far..
(sorry about my english and if i made a mistake but i’m italian…)
dee
May 8, 2010 at 3:09 amwill the 2011 156 be same as the 2010 ?