Ride Alter Ego 2015 Review by The Good Ride

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The Ride Alter Ego is a very unique and sexy looking freeride board that offers up a unique powder ride.  The split tail is pretty interesting and although it didn’t blow us away we liked it and I think a lot of riders might like the way it surfs powder.

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: 161
Days:  1
Conditions: About 1.5′ of medium thickness Eastern Washington powder
Riders: James, Peter
Boots:  Burton Hail, Nike Lunarendor
Bindings: Ride Revolt
Set Up: Set back 23″ wide 18 front 0 back

Approximate Weight: Feels on the light side of medium.

On Snow Feel: Love this stable hybrid camber profile.  On what little groomers I was on it felt good and easy.  Super easy to one foot and flat base. This directional hybrid camber profile offers more rocker in the nose and a softer split tail in the back.  It’s all about surfing powder but you can take this out on groomers too and have a pretty good time too.  What’s cool is it’s surfy but not washy on the tail.

Turn Initiation:  Fun and easy to turn.  I did notice one thing in working my way through pretty chewed up end of the day choppy powder that the split tail seemed to separate and the split part flexing down would grab a little bit.  When I had good clean powder it had no problems.  I might be able to get used to it or it might end up really annoying me.  It was more prevalent with the tail not locked up but it was still a little noticeable with the split tail locked together. Some won’t care and some will.  In all other conditions, the Alter Ego turned very quickly and easy.  Its fun/easy in trees and making small to wide radius turns.

Flex: Kind of middle ground with a softer tail which I really like in powder.  It’s easier to lean back and surf powder than it would be with the flex.

Edge Hold:  Don’t really know for sure here because 95% of the snow was soft and easy. It’s probably going to be like most of the other Ride boards and have middle ground edge hold.

Powder: Aside from that one little weird feeling where the split tail caught crud this was a really fun board for powder.  Peter felt he was riding cooler and I felt that I wanted to be as cool as the design when riding too.  It’s just about surfing the mountain and darting in and out of the trees. It had an easy float and we both liked it much better than the Slackcountry which we switched back and forth on.  We are both also surfers so that’s probably why.

Carving: Not much carving going on here but in what little semi-groomed tracks I found it could be laid out.

Speed: Pretty fast and damp like all ride boards but it’s not a bomber like the slackcountry.  It’s fine in powder but it’s not a stable masterpiece if you hit groomers at super high speeds.

Uneven Terrain: Like I said before it turns a little weird with the split tail in chunky snow but it handles tracked up snow no problem. Making quick turns in and out of bumps is a more middle ground.

Switch: No thank you.

Jumps: Nice pop for a method off a cliff but it’s not going to be a board you want to land switch.

Jibbing: Nope

Pipe: Nope

All in all this was a pretty fun board and I think it could make a lot of riders happy if they want something unique and really really good looking for riding powder. I think it would be a much better board if they got rid of the split tail but I could see how others would like the independent flexing from edge to edge.