Moss Snowstick Wing Swallow 49 Snowboard Review

Moss Snowstick Wing Swallow 49 2019 - 2017 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.

So the Moss Snowstick Wing Swallow was the first board we tried from Moss.  Peter was over it after a few turns, I started to understand it a little, Ren liked it in slush a lot, Jimbo made it work for him as he always does and Zobel had a pretty good time on it even though his feet were too big.  After this demo ride, I spent a lot more time on Moss Snowstick boards and can say they do require a commitment to a certain stance set up and riding style that some might be down for and others not.  If you ride with a narrow very directional stance and want to get super off the tail surfy/cruisey then check it out.  If you aren’t prepared to adapt your style to make this board work correctly.

Size: 149.3
Days:  1
Conditions:   Pretty good spring Sierra snow.
Riders: James, Peter, Jimbo, Matt, and a friend of The Good Ride Ren
Boots: Adidas Tactical ADV,  Burton Rover, Burton Driver X,
Bindings: Salomon Quantum,
Set Up:    18 front -9 back almost 23″ wide

Approximate Weight: Felt normal for such a small size.

Flex:  has a mediumish to med/stiff flex but on snow, the lack of any real give back from the tail makes it feel softer than almost any other board we tried buttering off the back foot.

Sizing:  Felt small for all of us.  It fit Peter, Ren and My feet (8.5-9) better but overall the board felt small.  It didn’t feel like there was a lot of surface area compared to most short fatties and all of us felt like we were a little too heavy for it.

On Snow Feel: Like we say in the review there is pretty much no tail behind your bindings so it’s about as far off the tail as you can get.  It’s not for everyone but if you get narrow in stance, super directional and put a lot of weight on the back foot (more than you have ever before) then you might find you like this way of snow surfing.   When we rode this I compromised on the stance width because Peter likes a 15 -15 duck stance and Jimbo prefers that as well. If it were me I’d probably start with 18 front, -3 or 0 back and about 0

Edge Hold: Good edge hold for how little was going on in the tail. If you always keep your weight on the back foot, which isn’t always easy then it should hold pretty well in everything from soft to hard snow.  Wouldn’t want to take it out on icy days though.

Turn Initiation: Super super quick.  In our opinion, it turned too easy but take that with a grain of salt because we weren’t spec’d correctly for this board.  It likes a much smaller rider.

Skidded Turns: It skids turns even when you don’t want to if you don’t keep your weight strong on the back fun. You have to take it slow and keep it all on the back foot like if you were surfing or in really deep powder.  However, if you want to skid you can pretty easy.  It’s just not the kind of skidded turn that’s good for an intermediate rider.  It’s mainly for advanced riders only.

Carving: Really off the tail but you have heard that before. After riding the other Moss boards I like the PQ and U Series better but it’s still a good carver once you get used to it.  It was really washy for me and I found that almost every time I committed to a harder carving turn it washed out.  This was my first Moss ride thought so I think with a little more time on it as I had with the U and PQ series rides I could have made this work a little better.  Still, it’s off the tail more than any other moss we tried and I still think I would wash out if I put the slightest bit of weight on the front foot.

Speed: It’s not made for going fast and that’s not why you buy this board.  It’s a cruiser for finding every place on the mountain to turn and it’s not for a straight line.

Uneven Terrain: It’s really easy to weave in and out off bumps at the speed you want to take this board.  You can’t hammer through messy resort snow but you can easily surf through it if need be.

Powder: All the Moss boards have such an easy float in powder but they should being so far back on the tail.  The set back on board is probably ridiculous like the other Moss boards, it has some rocker in the nose and a lot of taper so it’s going to float like a champ.  We didn’t get to ride the Wing Swallow in powder but based on how the rest of the Moss Snowstick boards ride it’s going to be a floater.  The tail will really sink but the nose will be really hard to sink.

Switch: All the Moss boards aren’t for riding switch but this stands out in the line as saying really a bad idea.

Jibbing: Nah

Pipe: I think we prefer the U5 and PQ in the pipe but it’s all personal preference.  Seems like you could surf the pipe well enough but we didn’t go there.

Jumps: You can get air with the Wing Swallow but you have to land very well like Zobel did because there is no tail for even a slightly off landing.

So all in all this is a unique ride that’s different from most snow surfers we tried.  It’s not for everyone but some could see this as the only way they want to ride.