Capita Charlie Slasher 2017 - 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.

Size 158 and 164

Days: 10+

Conditions: Mainly powder from 1 foot to 3+ feet and some groomer days with mainly good conditions.
Riders: James, Jimbo, and a few others not on the site
Boots: Burton SLX, Burton Ion, Burton Imperial
Bindings: Burton Cartel, Flux SF,  Union Factory, Union Force

Set Up: About 23″ wide set back 15 to 18 front and 0 to -6 back.

Approximate Weight: When the Slasher first came out it had a borderline heavy feel to it but the last couple of years it has lost some weight.

On Snow Feel:  The Slasher is made for pow riding so it’s made to be stable and pretty fast.  The feel underfoot is very flat and stable without being very catchy.  It feels very aggressive though.  Even though it’s tapered it doesn’t have a wash in the tail kind of feel. The slasher is a directional pow board above everything else but also handles clean groomers pretty well.

Powder: The Charlie Slasher’s flat to rocker floats well and it’s a good powder board. Not a great powder board but good for the price. The flat instead of rocker in the tail has some positives and negatives. It’s great for landing on the back seat after a jump or getting a little more snap out of an ollie but conversely, it doesn’t wheelie up/tail butter as easy as boards with some rocker in the rear in the deep stuff. It was a little more work on the back leg than other powder boards I’ve owned where many have no work at all.  Also, it doesn’t have spring out of a turn like boards with camber do. Still, it’s got good float when set all the way back and it’s a fun ride.  I personally liked the ride of the 158 better than the 164 and felt it had more slash ability, control, and playfulness for my specs. Sometimes on the 164 I didn’t feel as much like I was in control of the ride but the 158 was easy to slash in and out of the trees no problem. This wasn’t for Jimbo as he likes Twins or Twinish boards in powder because he likes to ride switch a lot.  For me who likes to surf as well as snowboard this definitely had a surfy feel while not feeling too washy off the tail when getting back to the chair.

Flex: This board is very stiff in the center.  There is almost no give. The 158 has a little more give.  Once you get to the tip and tail it softens up considerably.  It is a little less stiff when you give a torsional flex.  This pays off when you hit the chop.  It is stable and smooth but it’s not a super easy butter board. Not super easy to tail butter but doable for sure.

Turn Initiation and Carving– Even the 164 which was a little too big for me wasn’t too slow but the 158 felt much better for my size 9 boots. Short radius turns to wide radius turns are doable but not dynamic and snappy.  There isn’t any real resistance going into the turn and no spring out of the turn.  However, it’s still doable to go out on a groomer day, make some turns and slash around.  When it comes to a carve it’s just not that special.  Like riding groomers it’s doable but not special compared to many boards with some camber in the profile somewhere.

Skidded Turns: Pretty easy to skid turns and it’s not that scary for a more novice turner.

Speed: The newer sintered base is much better than the older base and it helps keep the glide going.  It’s still a damp board and can bomb well.

Speed on The Old Extruded Base– This stiff beefy board should perform really well but we were worried about the extruded base.  Extruded bases are usually for park boards that never pick up any speed, hit the street and hit rails all day.  That being said we were really surprised to see that this thing held its speed and this is one of the fastest extruded bases we have ever experienced.  Still, its an extruded base and that’s a big drawback.  What makes this board so fast is also the damp and stiff build.  We haven’t found a speed where the board makes us feel unsafe or unstable.  It is also sturdy as hell.  There have been many rocks hit so far and there isn’t a single mark on the base.  So it is tough and pretty fast.

Uneven Snow– So this can bomb through mostly tracked out powder and handle some uneven terrain but when it becomes rutted and mogul filled it’s a little more work than you would think for a tapered board. It’s not bad for its flex but it can get a little bit cranky in the end of a tracked up day.  The 158 was much more fun to weave in and out of moguls better. I personally had more control with the 158 with less work.

Edge Hold: Not going to light the edge hold world on fire but it can get you from hard snow to the powder without being too sketchy.  I did find a few days with Icy patches here and there at the top of the mountain and it held better than I thought for a tapered board with a more or less standard sidecut.

Switch:  Capita claims that this board can hang switch but we aren’t seeing it. The Charlie Slasher was not a dream riding switch with any of the riders who rode it. It’s not terrible and you can land a jump switch but it isn’t a joy like many twinish pow boards out there.  However, there are many other boards out there that will ride in the Pow switch like the Rome Notch 1985 and K2 Gyrator.  If you aren’t concerned about riding switch in pow but might like to on occasion then this will be better than many boards in the pow category but don’t get it to ride like you would in the park.

Jibbing- No thanks.

Pipe: This isn’t a pipe board but you could slash some pipe walls if you really wanted to.

Jumps:  There is decent pop off the tail and also it is pretty good for landing in the back seat after a launch off a natural feature. It’s all about a method but not really stomping it switch for us.  I know Capita in the past has mentioned you can stomp stuff switch and Jimbo could but he’s a really good rider.  The average rider, like me, won’t really feel too stoked landing switch on the narrow flat camber tail compared to the wider rocker nose.

So all in all the Capita Charlie Slasher is a good choice for those looking for a surfy powder board on a budget. Yeah, we’ve tried better powder boards and find the flat, even in powder, a little boring compared to camber boards we rode but again it’s hard to get really critical at this price point.  If you are into Capita, want something really good in powder and can swing the higher price you might prefer the Black Snowboard of Death. It’s a more well-rounded ride and a little better if you are ok with some chatter in the tip/tail.