Never Summer Twenty Five 2017 Snowboard Review

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Never Summer Twenty Five 2017 Review by The Good Ride

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The Never Summer Twenty Five is new this year and celebrating 25 years of being in business.  We feel it took a lot of the things we loved about the West and turned it into a tapered, damp forgiving Freeride board.

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 
Days:  4
Conditions:  Everything from perfect snow to pretty hard spring conditions to slush.
Riders: James, Peter, Jimbo, Matt, Kyle
Boots: Burton SLX, Burton AMB, Burton Imperial, Burton Rover, Nike Kaiju,
Bindings: Union Atlas, Burton Genesis X, Union Force,
Set Up: A little set back approx 23″ 15 front -3 back.

Approximate Weight: Felt normal.  Nothing light or heavy but felt very well made.

On Snow Feel: So the Ripsaw profile really stabilizes the ride when one footing and flat basing compared to the Rocker and Camber Profile.  It’s not quite as stable as hybrid camber but it much closer to it. What we liked about the 25 is it’s stiff and damp but not catchy or angry in uneven snow. It’s one of the better all-condition freeride boards we tried this year. It feels to us like a more tapered directional NS West.

Edge Hold: Solid edge hold that can hold in hard snow as long as you don’t commit too hard to the edge.  It’s not ideal for ice or riding harder snow on a consistent basis. If you want something for that it’s probably better to go with the Rossignol XV Magtek.

Flex:  It’s medium/stiff but it still butters pretty well for its flex.

Turn Initiation: Nice and quick edge to edge without being twitchy. It’s got a nice spring out of the turn that makes short to wide radius turns fun.  Once you commit a bit to the edge you feel that camber in the tip/tail engages and it’s a great thing.

Skidded Turns: One of the only Freeride boards out there that can easily skid turns and that’s great if you get off your game and need to correct things.  It’s one of the few boards in the Freeride section that’s forgiving enough for an intermediate rider to handle.

Carving: The Never Summer Twenty Five carves really well and lays it out hard when you really commit to that camber near the tip/tail. We all had a blast trying to scratch our nips.  It’s great the 25 can be this forgiving and still lay out a really hard carve and that’s what we like about the Ripsaw Camber profile over the Rocker and Camber profile.

Powder: No powder yet but I hope to own the 25 and get some time on it when it dumps this winter.

Speed: The base has a good glide to it so it keeps its speed.  Also, the board is damp and easy to handle some pretty aggressive straight lining.  The rocker in the middle gives it a touch of a loose feel underfoot so it’s not 100% perfect.  If you are used to camber you might feel this is a little bit squirrely but if you are used to hybrid rocker boards you will feel this is a very fast stable ride.

Uneven Terrain: really shines in anything from messy groomers to off-piste bumps or just slamming through some chunder.

Switch: Doable but not ideal.

Jibbing: Not where I want to or will take this board.

Pipe: The Never Summer Twenty Five can be a fun board to get some directional pipe riding in.  It’s the kind of board that I just want to surf the walls with.

Jumps: Really nice snap off of the tail and we all love that personality that NS has with their boards.  It feels rubbery and damp but at the same time really pops and feels lively when its’ time to get some air.

So this year there were a lot of really good Freeride boards we tried and there are so many excellent choices out there. The Never Summer Twenty Five is one of those standouts and it’s one of the few Freeride boards that can do what an advanced to expert rider wants as well as be forgiving enough for an intermediate rider. Also, it works really well in all the conditions you want to ride.

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