Location: Mission Ridge, WA
Snow Conditions: Hardpacked to softpacked groomers.
Setup: I rode the Ride Buckwild with Flux DMCC bindings and Vans Ferra boots size 8.
Size: 157cm
First Impression: The Buckwild probably has my favorite base graphic of 2013 and the actual ride of the board proves the fun you can have.
Weight: Average.
Flex: The Buckwild is built for freestyle but with a stiffer flex that generates a lot of pop and power through riding. Overall stiffer freestyle flex (it has a 6 on the scale and I’d agree with that). Stiffer flex from the bindings to the nose/tail of the board with a softer torsional flex for easier turning and response. The Buckwild features twin rocker with a minimal rocker featuring a long, stable flat zone that extends well beyond the inserts into the tip and tail.
Turning: Consistently an easy board to engage into turns and handled very well on edge/carving down the mountain. I liked immediately that I could charge with it without feeling unstable at any point, it handled the longer turns very well and you could just rip around on the board. The slimewalls helped absorb the mountain and good edgehold with the cleave edges.
Stable: When it came time to lap with the boys, it was the Ride Buckwild underneath my feet on the mountain. It held up for the hauling runs down the mountain, felt secure and stable. I snapped a lot of photos while riding this board and that to me is the most important review of stability, when I feel comfortable enough to ride while taking photos and trust in the board completely to not surprise me. Good edgehold with the cleave edge.
Pop: I played with the pop only on the mountains rollers and natural terrain, it felt pretty poppy and definitely an easier board to ollie than some others I had ridden. I noticed the board wasn’t as playful for buttering but it made up for it with the pop and stability factor.
Switch: The Buckwild is a true twin and rode like a true twin on the mountain. Didn’t encounter any differences in how it handled.
Overall Impression: The Buckwild offers up a park ride with the stability of the flat zone with Ride’s technology. It’s a good all-around snowboard, whether you want to ride the park or lap the groomers. The stiffer flex combined with the twin rocker and slimewalls, helped give it a really good stable ride down the mountain.
Shay’s Honesty Box: The Buckwild did a good job of standing out from the crowd at the demo and it received quite a bit of ride time because I didn’t want to get off of it. It was memorable, it was fun and it was one of my favorite boards of the Mission Ridge demo. I really liked the base graphic as well, pretty funny and at the time it was very true.
Review Disclosure: I demoed this board at the WWSRA On-Snow at Mission Ridge, WA.
Rob Hyslop
July 22, 2012 at 11:19 pmI totally agree about the buckwild
I had the pleasure of spending a day on it at mont tremblant in QC,it snowed all day so we had soft conditions. I normally ride a yes jackpot or a ride dh2.3, I found the Buckwilde to be marginally stiffer than the dh and charged and carved really nice, but was super stable when it came to jumping around, gave me so much confidence when landing too. I demo’d it with the seb toots signature bindings too which felt great and were a perfect combination. I think it’s a little lighter than previous ride boards and that made throwing it about real easy despite the stiffness.
It’s high on my list of possible boards to ride next season.
I have included a link to my flickr account where you can find a pic or two of me with the board….. And yes, I did feel like I was having more fun that most other folk on the hill.
Frank
July 23, 2012 at 9:47 amHi Rob,
I was curious, did you test also the Macheta GT? if so, how do will compare the two snowboards?
Thanks
Frank from Montreal