Burton Supermodel X Review And Buying Advice

Burton Supermodel X 2010 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.

Board Used -160

Day’s On This Board- 5
Bindings Used- Cartel EST’s

There are 4 major boards in this small category of cambered slightly tapered freeride boards that all compete directly against each other.  They are the Salomon Burner, The Burton Supermodel,  The Burton Supermodel X and The Nidecker Legend.  Well, when you hear soo much about a board from everyone in all of the US you feel like you have to try it.  So often times low expectations lead to a big surprise.  In this case, it wasn’t a big surprise but the ride-ability of this board was at least what we expected from a board this price.   The channel system although proprietary it is really well done and the Cartel EST bindings are definitely more responsive than the old Cartels.  Is it better than the Nidecker Legend or Salomon Burner?  We have to say that it’s a very tough call.  Each board has it’s own unique qualities so it’s really hard to say that this board is better.   We know thousand’s of people who have only ridden the Supermodel X would say yes but we might be one of the only sites to ride them all.    So to the breakdown.

On Snow Feel: It’s pretty locked in here and a big step up from the Supermodel.

Groomers & Speed:  Other than powder that is what this board is made for Maching down groomers at high speeds or making nipple scratching euro carve turns.  The board is light and responsive with good edge hold that allows for you to ride in most situations.   It’s fun to have a slightly tapered board on groomers because it really is a fun way to turn.  We would have had more fun on a 164 instead of a 160 which is better suited to our weight and riding style but it did pretty well with.  It would be nice to see similar sizing to the Supermodel that has something bigger than a 164.   This doesn’t have the blinding fast base of the Salomon Burner but it is equally damp.  You can have a lot of fun bombing hills on this board and it will never give you any problems.

Powder: The slightly tapered shape, narrow waist, and decent size make this board very fun and slashable in trees.   It’s weird how a tapered stiff board like this becomes soo much more responsive in powder than it is on the groomers.  Even though it is slashable it will give you a very comfortable feeling if you want to straight line a 1,000-foot peak.   Not that we did that but on our smaller straight lines it was incredibly stable.

Edge Hold: We did have one very hard pack day with a thin layer of soft stuff created by scraping skis and boards. The wind would then blow it away in some places to leave rock hard cement.  Not a great day to be out but a hell of a good day to test Burton’s pressure edge distribution tech that is on the Supermodel X.  Burton extends the edge about 1/2 millimeter at about where each binding is mounted to give a little extra edge hold.  It will definitely hold an edge but to make a hard carve is asking too much in snowment for just about any board.  We felt the edge hold comparable to the Salomon Burner’sQuadratic Side Cut.  The only one that could do well there is the Nidecker Legend with Ultimate Grip.  When the edges are new ultimate grip bits into the hard pack and ice like a chainsaw.

Uneven Terrain: The Burton Supermodel X is not ideal in the bumpy stuff due to its stiff flex.

Approximate Weight– Very Light!  This 160 is lighter than a lot of 154’s.   It’s right up there in the upper tier with the Custom X and Rome Design.

Flex:  It has a flex on the stiff side of Medium just like the Custom X.   It is definitely more aggressive than the supermodel.

Jibbing- You won’t buy this board to jib.

Switch: It’s not for riding fakie all the time but you can deal without too much hassle.

Rails & Boxes–  Why would you want to ruin these perfect freeride edges.

Pipe: Not bad in the pipe for a big board but it’s not ideal.

Jumps:  It will do fine out of the park on almost any jump you can find.  You can even land switch.  When getting into technical park tricks this will be a big disappointment.  This board is best launching off natural terrain.