Salomon Drift Review And Buying Advice

Salomon Drift Snowboard Video and Written Review Review by The Good Ride

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Ethics Statement: We don’t get paid by the manufacturer to write these reviews.  We do make money from the “Where To Buy” links, but this is our best attempt at an honest and objective review from an average riders’ perspective.

Size 154

Days: 2
Conditions: Harder Sierra Snow one day and softer practically perfect sierra snow the second.
Riders: James, Peter, and Kyle
Bindings: Salomon Hologram
Boots: Burton Ion, Nike Kaiju, DC Judge

In this Video, Kyle and Peter thought the Drift was a continuous rocker but it got a little bit of flat between the feet.  It feels almost like a continuous rocker board though.

The Salomon Drift is one of those forgiving and playful freestyle boards that all of us liked a lot.  For some reason, it never really shined over a lot of boards in its category but when you factor in the price range you see it in a whole new light.

On Snow Feel: The Drift will be loose and playful but a little more stable in flat sections and on harder snow than a continuous rocker board. This is a great butter around the mountain kind of board and it isn’t made for higher speeds and carves. If you like to butter/press/play around the mountain, hit the park a lot and are on a limited budget the Drift Rocker is a great freestyle choice.

Powder: Even though there was no powder when we tried this board you can tell this will have a very good float for a twin with a centered stance.

Turn Initiation and Carving– This was borderline super easy and we never felt like we had to work for anything.  The flat between the feet is minimal had Kyle and Peter feeling like it was a continuous rocker.  Still, there is more stability here between the feet than most continuous rocker boards.  It’s not that much fun to carve but it’s wash out point is later than you would think.  This is all about short to medium radius turns.

Speed: Nothing to boast about here but look at it from this perspective.  This is a soft board in the same realm as something like the skate banana so for it to get a good rating is pretty impressive.  It’s just on the border of average to good but we’ll give it a good because it’s one of the faster boards in its class.

Uneven Terrain: Great for slowing down and getting through crowded rutted up areas or dealing with bumpy snow.

Approximate Weight- Didn’t feel like a problem on the chair or on the mountain.  Just a down the middle kind of board.

Edge Hold: The Drift also has the same sidecut as the Salomon Grip which makes for better edge hold than a regular sidecut, but it’s lacking when it comes to ice. Now we like this sidecut and it’s borderline great but it’s not how Salomon Markets it.  We hit many snowment patches (step up from pure ice but pretty hard) and had no problem with keeping an edge.  Still, we felt it didn’t grip as well as other boards like the Sabotage or Villain.  Still, it’s a good all around hold that can work with most conditions you want to ride in.  I wouldn’t hesitate going out on the mountain when it’s hard.  If it’s icy like the east coast I’d rather have something else.

Flex: This is a soft and playful flex throughout the entire board. We loved the feel. You can butter with ease and it’s a blast to play around on.

Switch: Very easy like all true twins.

Jibbing– We don’t destroy the jib park but this gave us a confidence booster. We had a fun time anywhere in the jib park and it was easy to bonk around anywhere.

Pipe: This doesn’t have the drive between pipe walls to really shine here but the edge hold is pretty good and the ride is forgiving.  If you like the pipe but aren’t obsessed with it the Drift will do well.

Jumps: Flat to Rocker boards have their design play against them when it comes to generating pop so they have to create extra tech to make it spring. Some of us felt it was average pop and others felt it was more on the good side.  It’s pretty easy to ollie but we all unanimously felt it couldn’t spring with boards like the Salomon Sabotage. Going off a kicker was easy and forgiving.  It felt easier to spin with this than most boards out there.

All in all, we had a great time on the Drift and it’s one of those solid do anything in the park kind of boards that many will like.