Comments on: Snowboard Review: 11-12 Never Summer Raptor

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 23:24:45 +0000

Setup: Never Summer Raptor x 161
Burton Driver X Boots Size 12
Burton Diod Reflex Bindings
Binding Angles +12/+3 Forward
Background: 2nd season snowboarding. First board was K2 Slay blade which was absolutely terrible on the east coast hard pack ice. Needed a board for those condition d/t most if not all my riding is on hard pack/ice. Inquired at the Goodride.com (James) who told me out of the 3 boards I was interested in (custom x, Rossi onemagtek, and raptor) the raptor had the best edge hold. Used the Raptor X (6 times so far) on hard pack/ice and it holds an edge without any issue of washing out. I would just bail out on the slay blade which would ruin my time boarding in those conditions. Not with the Raptor X, I hold edge at fighter jet speed (lol) and I have nothing but confidence when on this board. I am charging hard, fast and carving short/long radius turns ripping the mountain up while passing other boarders who have to bail in those conditions on the steep. It feels so good to ride through those conditions. The board can be ridden switch easy but I don’t have much use for going switch (no park for me). Has good pop for straight air and easy torsional flex where you can really bend the board when you want to. Needs new wax with every 10 hours of boarding… Disagree with reviews that you need to be and advanced or expert boarder for this board or that this board will buck you off etc… 2nd year boarding and I have no problem with this board,,, I feel this board raised my boarding ability up a few notches and don’t waste $$ on something so called more forgiving. Very happy with this board!

By: Frank

Frank — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:14:51 +0000

Hi Shred,
So you must like the Arbor A Frame… looks like your type too of hard, solid charging board… 😉

By: Shred

Shred — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 05:09:34 +0000

Raptor more like Craptor. Not a fan of R.C. tech at all. Loved the Titan and it is an absolute joke that this POS is supposed to take its place. They are nothing alike. R.C. is totally unstable at high speed compared to full camber boards of the same stiffness. I can’t believe NS did this to their entire line of boards. Snowboards are big and fat the float great in pow regardless. The R.C. is only an advantage in dense low angle pow, and I don’t want to sacrifice high speed stability and superior high speed edge hold for a little extra float in flat pow. I feel what you sacrifice is way greater than what you gain. Lines I have pointed comfortably a million times on my Titan all sudden became scary riding R.C. I also felt like I got bucked around way more in the chop. Instead of having a full bow of camber to transfer all the energy throughout you have three shorter sections i.e. camber, rocker, camber; that just don’t dampen the ride nearly as much; especially when the transition points of the rocker to camber are so close to the inserts where all your weight is. To be honest I feel like the R.C. even held me back in pow. Instead of being able to shut it down going really fast this board wanted to skip and surf sideways instead of dig into a powerful turn. I feel the reason this technology is getting so popular is that intermediate to advanced intermediate riders love that it can slide sideways really easy and makes washing your turns out less tiring AKA “it turns so easy, it’s so responsive” Iv’e heard it from mediocre riders all too often. If you really want to rail a turn R.C. is less efficient. There is a reason all the top Big Mountain riders are riding boards with camber under foot, Xavier DeLaRue, Jeremy Jones, and Bode Merrill just to name a few. I’ll end my rant with this analogy a Cadillac (boards w/R.C.) is way easier to cruise around town with but bring it out on a racetrack and its going to get smoked by a Ferrari (cambered boards) that might require a little more skill to drive. Not to toot my own horn, but to give a background as to who this review comes from I have been riding for 20 years and compete in big mountain comps and have even won a few, so I’d like to think I have a clue as to what I’m talking about.

By: 2011-2012 Snowboard Review – Shayboarder.com

2011-2012 Snowboard Review – Shayboarder.com — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:43:24 +0000

[…] 11-12 Never Summer Raptor […]

By: Shay

Shay — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 05:04:22 +0000

Martin, awesome stoked to hear your input on the board as well! Love your videos!

By: Frank

Frank — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 19:49:13 +0000

Hi Martin,
What do you think between 159 or 164 size…. since the radius is 7.9M and 8.1M which is pretty fast radius on the 164 too…. I am 5’10” 175pds… 9US and like to go fast …
I think I can ride both size but I guess the 164 will shine well on groom fast (boardercross style) and Powder and the 159 will be more agile in tight trees? I do you suggest here.

By: Martin Drayton

Martin Drayton — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 05:41:14 +0000

Great review as usual, absolutely spot on. A great board, after 30yrs riding, definitely in my top 5. Got one in the April before release, see YouTube “Raptor tames double blues with ease”. Remarkably versatile board considering it’s intended purpose, but then that’s Never Summer for you! There is a reason most of the Staff Trainers at Park City switched over to NS after trying them…and no, we didn’t get them free!
Love the vid too Shay!