Summary

The Arbor Coda has a very poppy continuous rocker shape that also has great edge hold. If you like to make carving turns this will not be your board but if you love to Butter, Ollie and play around the mountain you will love this board.

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Riding Style All Mountain Freestyle
Riding Level Beginner - Expert
Fits Boot size (US) 8-10
Manufactured in Dubai by SWS
Shape Directional Twin
Camber Profile Continuous Rocker
Stance Centered
Approx. Weight Feels Normal
Split No
Powder Average
Base Glide Good
Carving Average
Speed Average
Uneven Terrain Excellent
Switch Great
Jumps Excellent
Jibbing Good
Pipe Good
On Snow Feel

Loose

Turn Initiation

Fast

Skidded Turns

Easy

Flex

Medium/Soft

Buttering

Easy

Edge Hold

Hard Snow

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Arbor Coda 2016 - 2010 Review by The Good Ride

Ethics Statement: We don’t get paid by the manufacturer to write these reviews.  No one is perfect and we do make money from the “Where To Buy” links below, but this is our best attempt at an honest and objective review from an average riders’ perspective. 
How This Review Happened:  
We borrowed this for a very long extended demo and then returned it.

Size: 160
Days:  20+
Conditions: Loose light Rockies snow with some pretty hard spots in places.  Soft perfect Sierra snow.
Riders: James, Peter, Mary, and a few others.
Boots: Burton Ion, Nike KaijuBurton Ruler, Salomon SynapseBurton Imperial, Burton Hail,
Bindings:  Burton Cartel, Burton GenesisFlux SF, Flux DS, Flux TTUnion Contact ProBurton Malavita, Burton Cartel Limited,
Set Up: 23″ Wide 15 front -15 back Centered Stance

The 2014 and 2015 Arbor Coda’s nose was extended making the size 1cm longer than the older models and the effective edge was shortened but the general ride is very similar.  Now it’s just a more playful and one of the better centered stance twins when it comes to powder play.

On Snow Feel: So even with the new shape the Coda offers the same loose almost semi-stable between the foot kind of ride. The soft flexing core with bamboo in it is very distinct and unique. It is soft but very springy at the same time. It’s got this kind of bouncy ride that seems like you wouldn’t like it until you ollie.  Then you really like it. Arbor describes this as an all mountain to freeride board but to us it doesn’t feel at all like an a typical all mountain board.  Instead it feels like a big loose freestyle board for the mountain.

Powder: The change to the nose is pretty significant. The Arbor Coda went from a traditional round nose in 2013 to a pretty massive shovel nose in 2014.  You loose a little contact with the snow but you gain a lot more float. We had no powder with the 2014 Arbor Coda but based on our powder experience with the 2013 combined with the potential of the new shovel tip/tail in deep thick powder. Even if you are more of a directional rider (like me) you can still have a great time in deep thick powder with a centered stance and even have a bit of a surfy experience.  This is an excellent powder board for those that take a switch/freestyle experience to powder and a great board for those that like to ride set back/surfy and directional in powder.  Nice upgrade here.

Turn Initiation and Carving: Short radius turns are very quick and loose edge to edge.  You don’t have that stable groomer board feel when making turns but it still has a fun turning personality.  It’s just different than what you expect.  It’s not a board to carve with and this is one area where I’d love to see some improvement. The edge grips more than fine but there is no tip/tail there to help you spring out of a turn. Instead of a butter, ollie, carve all over the mountain kind of ride you have more of a butter and ollie kind of board that can make moderate but not really carvy turns.

Speed:  The 2014 Arbor Coda has the same speed issues as the old Coda. The same springy flexy core that allows you to ollie so well makes speed not that ideal. It feels like car with soft bouncy shocks as you pick up speed.  You can still go fast like Peter does but it’s just not the kind of stability you are use to.  Some won’t mind and others might find this less than ideal.  For me I didn’t mind the lack of speed because all I wanted to do was find something for my beat up old body to Ollie off.

Uneven Terrain: So this isn’t ideal at speed but dealing with a bumpy end of the day groomer is about as good as it gets.  The soft shock feel combined with the somewhat narrow waist makes this incredibly easy to deal with bumpy uneven snow.  It’s not a chunder buster like the Steepwater but instead it’s an incredibly slower speed mogul negotiator.

Edge Hold: The Arbor System technology provides in my opinion the perfect amount of grip for those that ride in a wide variety of conditions. If you see ice most of the time something like Magnetraction is better but if you see thick powder one day, soft to medium groomer snow and hard to icy snow the next the Coda is a great board for keeping the ride fun.  It holds an edge very well between the feet but doesn’t give you that overly grippy feel that some aggressive magnetraction side cuts offer.

Flex: Pretty soft and playful.  The bamboo in the core allows the board to just keep flexing and then it springs back.  Great for playing around and big board buttering all over the mountain.

Switch: Same feel either way.

Jibbing: The length of the board is the only thing that makes this not a great jib board.  Still it can be very fun in the jib park.

Pipe: Great easy grip in the pipe and most riders will really like this board here.  It’s just missing that wall to wall drive than many great to excellent pipe boards have.  It’s very forgiving though and many who aren’t that strong in the pipe will really like this forgiving good gripping ride.  So a good technical pipe rider will find this good but an average pipe rider might find this great to excellent.

Jumps:  Just pops and pops and pops. All the spring is right between your feet so it’s not like ollieng from a camber board. Once you figure that out you realize that this springs big. All we wanted to do on this board was find something on the mountain to ollie off. The lack of any camber in the tip tail does make it a little less ideal for a bad landing but with all that bouncy spring in the board it’s hard to really fault it.

So all in all the 2014 and 2015 Arbor Coda offers a big change and really emphasises the freestyle in all mountain freestyle. If you like speed and carving you will want another board but if you live to treat the mountain like a park in deep powder or on harder snow you will really like this playful springy ride.

 
Arbor Coda Past Reviews

2013 and Below Arbor Coda Review

Size 161 and 157
Days:15+
Conditions: just about everything.
Riders: James, Peter, Jimbo, Kyle and Eli
Boots: Burton Ion, Burton SLX, Nike Kaiju
Bindings: Burton Cartel RE:Flex and Flux DS 30
Stance Width: 23 inches centered and 22.5 inches set back
Stance Angles: 15 front -15 back

The Arbor Coda is a very interesting board.  It has the length of an all mountain board but the flex and characteristics of a softer freestyle board.  So this is very interesting to us. We had a almost every condition and were pretty impressed with the all around freestyle approach you can take to the mountain with the Arbor Coda. The best way to sum it up is it’s a great all mountain freestyle board for those who  like to take it slower and pop off every natural feature possible.  If you are that guy then here is one of the better choices.

On Snow Feel: The Arbor Coda didn’t have that ultra loose feeling that many continuous rocker boards had but it still was missing something that made it even semi-stable.  You can feel that rocker underfoot . If you have big, steep wide open groomers that invite speed you might not like this but if you ride more narrow slower groomers with intersecting runs and cat tracks you might love it.  It’s very fun to take a freestyle approach to the mountain.

Powder: Even though this is a directional twin with a centered stance the Coda rides very well in the thick sierra cement that we encountered. It’s continuous rocker shape along with the longer length is very floaty and great for anyone who likes to ride switch alot in the pow.

Turn Initiation/Carving– The Arbor Coda is super easy to turn as are most continuous rocker boards out there. The boards feel like they turn a few cm’s smaller and we had a good time making quick edge to edge turns on this.  When it came to carving the Coda was better than many continuous rocker boards but it was still missing something that many hybrid shapes and camber shapes have. Still it was fun to make more mellow short and even medium radius turns.

Speed: Bamboo is great for pop but not the best for dampening and keeping a board stable at higher speeds.  None of us were impressed with the way it handled higher speeds.  It felt like a car with bouncy shocks when you started picking up decent speed.  It felt like a light Caddy or a car that’s filled with shit for a move so its shocks are working over time.  The Arbor Coda has a fast base though so you can accelerate quickly and also keep your speed in flat areas rather well.

Uneven Terrain: What makes this a pretty chattery board at higher speeds makes this a great board at slow speeds through uneven terrain.  It just bounces through everything like a big ass american SUV with soft shocks. It’s super easy to maneuver if you make a wrong turn into a bumpy run or even if you seek that shit out.  Usually the worst day of the week is Saturday and the runs can get pretty chewed up near day’s end.  If you are one of those that likes to maximize your weekend riding time the Arbor Coda will keep you happily popping off bumps down to your last run.

Weight– This is just an average weight that isn’t too light or too heavy. There is no scale or consistent scale work but I’d say it’s probably on the lighter side for it’s size. Sturdy but not tank like would be a good description.

Edge Hold:We all felt we never had an issue anywhere on the mountain where we felt like the Arbor Coda needed more grip.  It has the edge hold of a mellow magnetraction board and it’s not grippy in thick sticky snow.  We all were very impressed at how this soft board could hold an edge in just about anywhere we took it.

Flex: Arbor says this is a medium flex but to us it felt pretty soft and playful.  This isn’t a bad thing but it’s a bit of a surprise when you get it on the mountain and it’s very flexy.

Switch: Even though this is a directional twin we didn’t notice any difference riding either direction.

Rails/Jibbing: This was a lot more fun than we expected in the jib park and we had a pretty good time there. It’s longer length is not ideal for the jib park. It’s just not as fun as a shorter continuous rocker board like the Draft.

Pipe: The Arbor Coda held an edge very well and was very forgiving.  We spent a lot of time in the pipe with the Coda and had a pretty good time despite the fact we were riding a rather big 161 on that day.  We had a lot more fun on the Arbor Westmark but it’s not bad by any means.

Jumps: Ok the Arbor Coda is one springy fucking board.  It’s possibly the most springy board we tried.  When we switched from the Coda to almost any other board we thought the new board was dead at first compared to the Coda. You just had way more ollie power with the Coda and this was by far our favorite part about this flexy/springy board.  Maybe it’s the Bamboo or a combination of the Bamboo and other tech but what ever it is we really liked it.  Hitting Kickers was really fun as well the Arbor Coda is forgiving and very playful in a spin.  If you are all about hitting natural jumps all over the mountain the Arbor Coda is ideal.  If you like lapping the park roller coasters this is great too.  The bottom line is the Coda will help you do more when it comes to jumping in and out of the park. This was just as if not more springy as any set up out there. If you want too ollie off everything you see then here you go.  There are only a few other boards out there I can think of that can compete with the Arbor Coda here.

All in all the Arbor Coda is a very fun board but we felt it was more of a soft all mountain freestyle to freestyle board compared to the all mountain label Arbor gave it.  It could use some work on speed or carving but I’d say don’t do it if you sacrifice the pop.

 
Arbor Coda Specs

 
Arbor Coda Images

We try to get as many images of the Arbor Coda, but forgive us if they're not all there.

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

Arbor Coda User Reviews

Arbor Coda 2016-2010 Snowboard Review SKU UPC Model

Great Board

May 22, 2016 by Yossarian
Ability Level: Advanced • 
Riding Style: All Mountain - no park... • 
Days You Ride A Year: 15-25 • 
Height, Weight And Boot Size (for Boards, Boots & Bindings): 6'0", 215, 10.5 Salomons, Targas 

I read "The Good Ride" review and found it pretty spot on. I've got the 2013 version but found the reviews for post 2013 boards to be accurate for my late model version.

Powder: I disagree a bit, it is not just good in the Powder it is Excellent. It slays, floats, and is smooth as can be. Turn initiation is natural and fluid and turns are soft. I feel completely comfortable bombing steeps on the board. Never an issue.

Carving: Carving is slightly better than average. With the grip-tech it holds an edge very well and if you let the board run it will stay on edge fine. There is a slight softness obviously due to the rocker and it won't be quite as fast as some camber stiffer boards but you can let it loose and bend into turns pretty well.

Speed: As discussed above, I can feel it being slightly slower than my other board (Never Summer Premier F-1). But that's by design. It's just a different board. Not to say you can't move along, it will go fast. There are just others that are faster.

Uneven Terrain: It is excellent. The softer rocker absorbs some of the bump and chop and makes it a bit easier on your legs. As with all boards, it helps if you just let it run and have confidence you can get through the rougher stuff. With the slight softer feel as well, it makes you can ease into turns a bit more and still execute unlike a stiffer board.

Switch: I'm not great at switch but it pretty much rides the same. I ride slightly duck-footed and have a lot more confidence switch on this deck than my other. The rocker makes it a bit more forgiving.

Jumps: Not quite as poppy as a stiffer board but still can get some air. Landings are easy and feel soft.

Jibbing and Pipe. I don't Jib too much or ride the pipe much.

Ice: It does very well on hard and crusty conditions. Just when you think it's going to wash out the grip tech kicks in and you are on a solid edge. I feel better riding this board than my other in such conditions.

The long and short is - the Coda is a great all mountain board. It really does it all. Ironically, where the grip tech helps maintain edge control, the main drawback of the all rocker is that it is not too quick edge to edge. If you like making very quick, snappy, poppy turns and only will have one board, this won't be the board for you. It just takes a bit longer to transition from toe to heal and vice versa. With that said, coming out of turns it is super fluid and smooth and feels very natural.

But if you want something you can be confident on, and know you can get through anything the mountain throws at you, this is a great deck.

The best way I can describe it is; it's a very easy riding confident board but still feels solid all the way around.


Wins The Bakeoff

Jan 26, 2015 by Paul
Ability Level: Intermediate/advanced • 
Riding Style: Freestyle/all mountain • 
Days You Ride A Year: 20+ 

Demo'd the Coda against Jones Mountain Twin, Venture Odin and Gnu Riders Choice. Hands down the Coda was the winner. The Good Ride review is accurate - this board is playful, poppy, springy and fun. It handles all terrain and the chatter tradeoff is minimal. The rare chatter/stability noise felt more like mountain feedback rather than an annoyance. I wasn't as familiar with the Arbor brand and assumed I would be underwhelmed, but I have become a proselytizer. I have ridden or demo' over 10 boards (started out with Burtons) during the last 12 years and this is my favorite of all time. No board is perfect and tradeoffs are made with flex, carving, etc, but if you want an all-terrain/all conditions board that optimizes the sweet spot for fun on the mountain...the Coda is it.


incredible snowboard

May 10, 2014 by mark
Ability Level: Advanced • 
Riding Style: Backcountry • 
Days You Ride A Year: 25 

This board is simply incredible. It wants to jump everything. Its unbelievably good through trees and powder. This board has incredible pop. The coda is awesome in the half pipe. I haven't caught an edge with this board yet. Despite what people say the coda at high speeds seems fine to me. It moves around a bit for sure but it never catches an edge. Also the griptech edges make turns incredible. I find the griptech edges give me enough stability at speed. so 5 stars for me


4.8 5.0 4 4 I read "The Good Ride" review and found it pretty spot on. I've got the 2013 version but found the reviews for post 2013 boards to be accurate for my late model version. Powder Arbor Coda 2016-2010 Snowboard Review

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