Never Summer V-Twin Snowboard Review With Davey

An In Depth Breakdown of the Never Summer V-Twin For Average Riders Review by The Good Ride

• User Reviews
• Product Specs
• Product Images
• Questions?

How The Never Summer V-Twin Was Tested:

I borrowed the Never Summer V-Twin for an extended demo and sent it back.

Size:157
Days: 5
Conditions: Mostly good spring groomers and a little pow but I had camera issues
Riders: James (Size 9, 5’10”, 185-195lbs). I’ve tested and compared 800+ boards and close to 1,000 if you count different versions of the same Model over the years.
Davey (Size 12, 240lbs, 6’4”)
Boots: Nitro Team TLS, Ride Deadbolt
Insoles: Footprint Kingfoam Orthotic Elite
Bindings: Union Force, Union Atlas
Redundancy: Strapins in case boots or bindings break.
Jacket: Skyline Fuse 3L Jacket, Skyline Fuse Light 3L Jacket, Jones Mtn Surf Anora,
Pant: Burton AK Gore-Tex Pro 3L Hover Pant, Skyline Faze Pant, Jones Mountain Surf Pant
Helmet: Smith Method, Smith Scout, Smith Maze
Goggle: Smith 4D Mag
Gloves: Burton AK Clutch Mitt, Burton AK Tech Leather Glove, Drop Tahoma Mitt,

James’s Set Up

21.5” Wide. Stance Angles +15/-15. Close to Reference and Centered in all conditions.

Davey’s Set Up:

23” Wide. Stance Angles +18/-3. Close to Reference / Centered

Similar Boards We Like (but not the same):

Yes Greats, Stone Message, Yes Basic, Ride TwinPig, Burton Good Company, Ride Benchwarmer, Capita Outerspace Living

 Ethics Statement

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Construction / Durability / Weight

The Never Summer V-Twin has very durable construction and one of the best top sheet’s in the industry but yet it’s on the light side of normal. These boards will last a long time. (We don’t put in the exact weight because with wood cores, there is no consistency in a board’s weight)

Sizing

The Never Summer V-Twin 157 fit me really well. I wouldn’t want to size up and I’d only size down if I was only riding park. That being said I’d rather get a smaller Llama because it’s softer and better suited for park riding.

Never Summer does it right by including boot sizes but they are still pretty liberal with their recommended sizes but a little too conservative with their recommended weight.

The Good Ride’s Conservative / Safe Recommendation

Sizing is all about balancing what fits your boot size (most important), weight (second most important) and height (third most important) for how you like to ride. If it’s too wide and it’s hard to turn but too narrow and you might boot out which often slams you into the ground.

153:8-9
157: 9-10
160: 9.5-10.5
156x: 10-11
159x: 10.5-11.5
162x: 11-12

There are often up to 2 or 3 sizes that will work for your specs. Size down for more control and size up for more speed/stability/carving power. Here are some ideal US boot sizes for these boards. If it comes down to boot size or weight, I would ensure it fits your boot first and then your weight a close second.

Shape

This is a true twin with a centered stance. The Never Summer V-Twin rides very centered, very between the feet and it’s not a board you set back.

Camber/On Snow Feel

The V-Twin has a very mellow, almost flat camber between the inserts. Then right before the inserts it starts to rocker up and then go to a mellow camber that really doesn’t come back down that much, and then transitions into early rise in the tip and tail.

When you weight this board down it can feel a little hooky sometimes. The three camber profiles can fight each other a little bit. It’s something you need to get used to. Once you do, it’s okay. and no worse than their rocker and camber. I will say, despite that hooky feel, it’s a pretty forgiving ride and it hooks but doesn’t catch a lot. So I think most people will be okay, but if you want something more forgiving, look towards the few rocker and camber profiles they have left in Never Summer’s line.

Edge Hold

The Never Summer V-Twin has a multiradius sidecut but combined with the Tripple Camber creates more pressure than just 2 camber points per side to create a lot more grip. It makes for a very competent hard to icy snow ride.

Flex Personality

The Never Summer V-Twin has a medium ish flex, definitely medium stiff between the feet but the rocker points allow you to easily butter.

I found it a little harder to access the passive camber that is highest at the end of the inserts. It’s much harder to access this with a normal stance width and I like Ripsaw and Rocker & Camber better. All that being said it popped easier than I thought it would for being more removed from the camber.

Uneven Snow

In hard to uneven snow, the Never Summer V-Twin can chatter and clown shoe a bit but it also  But this chatter quiets down as it gets to your feet. This should be a really chattery ride with this camber profile but Never Summer just has amazing dampness. They’re really good at making hard, micro, bumpy snow more manageable and soft uneven snow more manageable. If you were to compare the same flex rating to other peers in the industry, this would be a little more damp overall compared to most.

Speed

When it comes to pointing it, if you get this a little bit on edge, this does pretty well. It’s no straight liner but it can handle some moderate mountain speed and it’s fine for a straight line into any size kicker.

Base Glide

I always appreciate the base glide that Never Summer has. They’re not the fastest of fast, but when well waxed, they’re definitely upper tier and better than most boards at this price point. To clarify better what I said in the video review, it holds wax pretty well but when the wax is gone it it get’s dry and a little sticky. At least you can ride several days before that happens.

Turning/Carving

The Never Summer V-Twin initiates a turn quite quickly and it’s an easy board for a twin in tight spots and trees.

When it comes to carving it’s a mixed bag. It will hold but doesn’t have that spring out of the turn that we both prefer. I tried a front foot weighted turn, and it felt a little bit washy. It didn’t have a really good spring throughout the turn. Then I back foot weighted the turn and it felt washy too. Then I center weighted the turn and it was much better. So this really likes you to engage this camber between the feet and turn through which is kind of a bummer because that’s the smallest camber of the three on the board. You really have to go super wide and ride bowlegged like an instructor does to get more access to the camber but most of us don’t ride like that.

And this could, across the groomer, carve a little better. It’s a little more on the turny side for twins.

Switch & Park

Riding switch on this was easy. Either way, it’s a true twin. If you always keep this on edge it’s a fun board to ride in pipe. This wouldn’t be bad for kickers either. I did find that if I kept it on edge, it tracked well into the little micro side hits and tiny jumps that I engaged in. And jibbing is okay, but not ideal.

Powder

When it comes to powder, for a centered twin ride, the Never Summer V-Twin was not bad and it has a pretty fun slashy feel for a twin.

James’ Final Thoughts

Overall, I think this fusion triple camber isn’t personally for me and I prefer their Recurve triple camber and their older Rocker & Camber profiles a little better. I’d love to see how this would ride with Never Summer’s Recurve Camber. But I’m not here to trip over my ego and if you like a more cruisy twin with exceptional grip and a pretty fun turning experience this could work with those that want to ride a twin in powder and on groomers. They need good grip and they want a forgiving ride with a good base. This isn’t a bad option.

Davey’s Take On The Never Summer V-Twin For Bigger Guys

Davey boy here. And today I’m going to bring you a big guy’s perspective on the Never Summer V-Twin. I rode this with my Union Force bindings, Burton Ion boots a size 12. I’m six three and a half, 250 pounds and I rode this for a couple of days. I got it out on some nice firm groomers to start the morning, and that turned into some slushy laps later in the day.

For the sizing on this board, this board actually felt really small underfoot. Even though it’s a 161, it felt more like a 57 or a 58 underfoot. I definitely would like to size this up. It has a softer, more playful flex already. And I think going for the 166 with this thing if you’re my size would be ideal. If you’re a little smaller than me and you want something that’s playful and easy to manhandle and move all around the mountain and throw in a butters, throw turns off of jumps and stuff, then the 161 is probably a good size for you. If you’re a little unsure about sizing, I would just recommend sizing up with this board because it had a small feel underfoot.

This board had good pop. The triple camber technology that’s going on with this board felt a little hooky in harder snow, so I didn’t have the most confidence taking this off of jumps because of that slightly hooky, twitchy feel. This triple camber, it almost feels like the camber in the nose and the tail are fighting the camber in the middle when you’re on harder snow, and there can be kind of like almost speed wobble loose skateboard trucks type feel that you get with this board and other Never Summer boards that have this triple camber technology. But other than that, this board had good pop. It was very playful. For a softer board, it wasn’t too chattery or damp and easy to access the pop. This board would be very easy to butter.

I like this slight swallowtail in the nose and tail. I think for a twin this board had a very fun turning experience. It felt almost directional when you weighted through the tail out of the end of the turn, and I think that’s very fun. And there’s definitely going to give you a little bit better float in powder versus a normal centered twin.

I think this board would kick ass if it had a slightly different camber profile. And if they gave it just an optional setback feature, I think this would be one of the most versatile boards in Never Summer’s quiver. This big nose is just perfect for doing nose butters in powder, landing switch in powder, the next switch on the mountain, doing nose butters on the mountain. I like this tail too, really great for everything I just said as well. And overall, I think this board has a ton of potential.

For me, and my riding style, it’s just not quite where I would want it to be with the camber profile. But I think if you are somebody that’s really into this shape, that wants a twin board, and you want to have a semi directional feel in your turn, this board could be really fun. It’s just going to take a little bit of time to get used to this triple camber. But once you are used to it, I think this thing could be a rock star.