Venture Helix Snowboard

Venture Helix In Depth Review

The Venture Helix Snowboard Review by The Good Ride

Days 5
Size 158
3 Riders

Venture is a company that isn’t very well known outside of CO and doesn’t even try to market on the east or west coast which is a shame.  They make a good board but almost don’t even want to tell you about it unless you are in CO.  We took out the Venture Helix for a few runs and have to say we were impressed for it being a flat/rocker ride.  It was very aggressive for a twin and rode with the speed of many high end aggressive boards. It also held a very good edge which surprised us.he shape that we call flat/rocker is is actually closer to a flat camber board than a rocker board.  It has stability at speeds but isn’t the best when it comes to carving or generating a lot of pop.  It would be nice to have that good carve option but this is a freestyle all over the mountain kind of snowboard.  It would be great to have both the rocker and camber to enjoy the rocker for Jibbing/Powder and have the camber for most days. Venture puts a lot of time and effort into makings a quality US manufactured snowboard.  The Helix is one of the better flat/rocker snowboards out there. In 2010 there was a pretty big change to the design of the Helix but since then not much has happened in 2011 or 2012 except for a few minor tweaks. the 2013 is pretty to the 2012 too.

Groomers- If you like riding a twin board on groomers then the Helix will be a good time.  We had fun riding regular or switch and felt this could enjoy just about any condition you want to ride in.  It almost had the feeling of a directional board it rode so well and felt like the old Rome Design if it was still in production and maybe flat/cambered out.

Powder-  We had no powder to speak of but based on our experience the Helix is not going to be the best powder board due to it’s twin shape but it’s pretty good compared to a camber board.  The Helix might be on the bottom end of good but like many flat/rocker boards it will plain well even though it might take more work than continuous rocker board.

Turn Initiation/Carving- This took a bit of work. The Turn initiation was fun and we enjoyed taking this board through some tight turns.  It’s pretty responsive for such an aggressive board and will turn well in tight spots.  When it came to wider turns it almost had that camber feel.  Carving was very fun too.

Speed- We were very impressed with the speed associated with the Venture Helix.  It had a solid stable feeling that was pretty much chatter free.  The base was fast as well and we had no issues getting to the point we didn’t want to go any faster for fear of injury.

Weight- well built but pretty light.

Edge Hold- It held in the hard pack well and is definitely on the high end of good and maybe even border line excellent.  We really didn’t expect this from the Helix but all their back country riding in varying conditions might of helped them get much more out of this rather standard side cut.

Flex- This is a pretty stiff flex for a twin.  It’s still a bit playful but nothing like most twins of this shape. Very similar to the old Rome Design.

Switch- we felt this to be just the same switch as it was regular.

Rails and Jibbing- No where close to ideal with this board. It’s flat center will make for an easy slide across a box or a mellow rail but we wouldn’t even bother trying to hit a very technical jib. faagetaboutit!

Pipe- Many people like us prefer a more stiff board in the pipe.  This has enough edge hold and we really enjoyed this in the pipe.  some might like a softer ride but most will like it in the pipe.

Jumps- We found it to be more poppy than we thought a flat/rocker board would be but it was still lacking when it came to generating your own air compared to other boards we tried that day.  The stiff flex seems like it would be great for going big but we diddn’t.  What small jumps we hit we found the Helix to be more than adequate and we had a lot of fun with it here.  We just feel that the med/stiff flex might be just a bit to much for all around park play.

All in all this was one fun board for having a playful experience on groomed runs and it’s nice to see a stiff twin on the mountain.  This isn’t for everyone but some will really enjoy this board.

Venture Helix Gallery

2013

2012

2011

Venture Helix User Reviews