2020 Model

WHOA! Yea, this thing is sweet. If you're a park person probably not the board for you but if you're looking to bomb groomers and take this thing all over the mountain then look no further. Powder?? yea cool, easy, set the stance back. Is this the best powder board? Probably not, compared to a pure powder-centric board, can you ride pow with confidence? YUUPP. I've done a little bit of everything on this and it does it all well(except park). Sure, there are style specific boards that may outshine this but a better all rounder that excels at stability, jumping, carving, and just pure getting it on the mountain I have not found. Proud to own the Iguchi Pro; i'll probably buy this board whenever mine needs an update for the rest of my life; or until arbor goes out of business.

Mid Year release was stiff

Have to agree with Rich as well. I am guessing that if you
Purchased the mid season release, it was a stiffer board than the 2016-2017 full release. I bought my during the winter of 2015 in December, and this board is stiff. Like Lib Tech T Rice stiff. Guessing they made it less stiff to appease more riders? Makes me happy because I like the flex as is.

It’s a phenomenal board. And I don’t neccessarily agree with the review. It’s obvious this group loves directional free ride boards. This is a twin that is built to rip turns, land switch, but still have solid capabilities directional in powder, and I cannot think of many twin, camber dominant boards with a tail meant to sink should you find powder.

The review mentioned that they would like it better with more of a directional build, and some early rise in the nose. Well, that’s not who this board was built for. This is built for the guy that wanted a little more powder friendly twin in a cambered stick. This was built for people who ride like Guch. Landing switch on a flight attendant sucks. I’ve done it. The Guch was supposed to cover that. But if you wanted to go hike and hit a shoot, you could do that too.

No offense to the review. We all pick out poison. But as a long time reader, it’s obvious this group likes side cut tech for grip, directional freeride sticks with early rise noses, and damp boards.

While that is great, many other riders like different things. So to try and alter this board into a Pick Your Line, or Mullair doesn’t make sense to me. That’s not what it was built to be. And as a guy who really appreciated a twin, it’s a really neat concept to add some tech to this board to also gives it some big mountain ability. You can ride this from shoot to glade, to slack country, while having a free style flare.

If I could request something for future reviews. Focus less on forcing boards into categories of boards you enjoy, and talk more about the build, snap, Sweet spot, flex pattern, where the play is and where it stiffens up, dampness, etc. Snap is huge here. Some sort of description off a tranny and amount of “send it” ability would be great. Amount of spring out of carves, etc. Less about how about how you would build it to be a Burton Flight attendant. Because if I wanted that, I would buy that. Constructive criticism...

Response: Thanks for the review Pete and your feedback. You have some valid points and I\'ll take into consideration your suggestions. Also your review reminded me I didn\'t finish up the written portion which often rounds out the review so just did that. Thanks! I think it addresses more of your critique but just to be clear we never want it to be a PYL, Mullair or Flight Attendant style of ride. We like the shape but just wanted more from their fender/lifted tech in the tip and tail since it already takes that part of the effective edge out of play.

Mine is stiffer than yours!!

Hi James!

I just seen your Arbor Bryan Iguchi Pro review. I actually got my 162 model in December 2015 and have riden it for 14 days in the Austrian alps. Dude! It is one of the siffest boards I have ever riden! On your review, you say it has a nice medium flex and I can see you prove that when you flex it with your palm when you are standing with the guys. So why is mine so stiff? Is it a dud? Does it need breaking in? Has the flex changed since the early prototypes? I am not kidding you mine is as stiff as a door. I can't flex mine even a quarter the amount like you did with your demo. These are the previous boards that I have owned…

Burton Iguchi 155 (1996)
Burton Custon 159 (1997)
Burton Olofsson 162 (1998)
Nitro Shogun 166 (1999)
2x Lib Tech Emmagator 165 (2000 -2001)
Ride Timeless 164 (2002)
2x Nitro Darkhorse 165 (2003 – 2005)
Unity Ultra Light Series 164 (2008)
Jones Mountain Twin LTD 160 (2014) - current board
Arbor Bryan Iguchi Pro 162 (2015) - current board

The most stiff boards I had owned previously were the Nitro Darkhorse and the Unity ULS. I have progressively gone stiffer with my board choices in the past when I was riding a lot more, up to 40 days a season. Now I get maybe 20 days, I am older, 42, and I like cruising with my own two kids. The Jones is awesome. Still reasonably stiff, but about a third less stiff compared to my older decks. So that was a nice transition down for me. However, as I said, the Arbor is super stiff. I was not expecting that! I like the board, but I am kind of bummed because I was expecting a more mellow board like the one you tested.

That said. The thing absolutely rocks at warp speed and has great pop, but it took a bit of adjustment when loading up for a big ollie. It takes a lot of power to get it to pop, then it really takes off. Basically, everything works better above 40 mph! It's not a board for morning legs or tired legs.

I really don't like the 'uprise fender system' though. I like the way the contact points bite on a traditional camber board. I find it reassuring either as I rebound from edge to edge or when I edge into a spin. I felt that the additional grip provided by the 'grip tech' was wasted by the addition of the uprise fenders. I felt the board lose grip for a split second between turns, which I guess is the purpose of it, but when I was pushing hard it washed out a couple of times. It also washed out a couple of times when I was edging slightly off kickers or into spins. Combined with the Jones I suppose I have everything I need, but it's a shame the Arbor is so far towards stiff end of the scale.

I have written to Arbor to ask if it is possible that there could be a difference in flex between an early test board and production board, but I have not yet had a reply. I almost wonder if my board accidentally got the core from one of the stiffer boards in the Arbor range during a power black out?! I am pretty sure the boards are partly hand made, especially when it come to laying up the fiber glass and the carbon stringers. I have done a bit of this and it is not an exact science, so I could imagine that one board could feel slightly different to another to a very experienced rider, but not the difference I believe my board has compared to the board TheGoodRide tested.

I'd be curious to know what anyone else thinks of this board.

All the best. Rich in Sweden.