You got to love the name of the Ride Machete and the movie kicks ass too. Its flat in the middle between your feet and then rockers up a bit after the last binding mount. It also has a flex more like an all mountain board so if you like to tear down the hill regular or switch this could be fun. The Machete GT is a better all around ride but this still has the advantage when it comes to floating in powder. The 2012-2015 models haven’t changed much except for a few minor tweaks here and there.

Size 158

Size: 3
Days:
Conditions: About a foot of powder, some near perfect groomed conditions and some mostly hard snow.
Riders: James, Peter and Jimbo
Boots: Burton Ion, Burton SLX, Burton Imperial, Nike Kaiju
Bindings: Burton Cartel, Burton Cartel Limited, Flux SF45
Set Up: Centered, 23″ wide 15 front -15 back

A big thanks to P3 in Mammoth for letting us demo this board.

The 2011, 2012 and 2013 boards are very similar. The 2010 is very similar as well but it is just missing their pop-rod tech.

On Snow Feel: This stiff twin offers a smooth damp ride for those that like to go big or ride groomers fast regular and switch. The flat to rocker tech is very stable between the feet and the rocker after the bindings is very subtle. It makes for an aggressive feeling ride that doesn’t really have any consequence if you aren’t on your game like other boards of this flex with a different camber profile would.

Powder: The ride rocker planes and floats rather well for a twin with a centered stance. The mostly flat Machete planes very well when it gets going and it offers a pretty fun aggressive all mountain freestyle ride here. I’d prefer to be on this instead of the Machete GT when there is a decent amount of powder on the ground but in almost every other category here I’d prefer the GT.

Turn Initiation– The Machete takes a bit more work to turn than many boards in this category. It doesn’t take a lot of work but it takes more than many hybrid camber, hybrid rocker and rocker snowboards we have ridden. This is what makes the Machete a bit more fun on groomers but not as easy to micro adjust in the park. Still many people will like this feel when it comes to turning.

Speed: The Ride Machete has the feel of a set back directional all mountain ride jammed into a twins body. It doesn’t make for a lively ride but the speed is very impressive for a freestyle twin. It makes for a board that is comfortable straight lining a steep run and of course having the speed and stability to hit a very big kicker.

Uneven Terrain: This is almost as good at dealing with crappy bumpy snow as it is at handling chatter at high speed. Ride does a good job protecting your body from high and low speed chatter fatigue.

Approximate Weight- The Machete is pretty thick for a twin and because of that it’s closer to the heavy side of things.

Edge Hold: Ride calls there edge’s on the Machete “cleave edges” It doesn’t really have a variation in side cut like the Never Summer boards have but this big edge does have a pretty good grip on the snow. We had a tiny sprinkling of snow but under that it was pretty hard. It was also windy so there were many exposed spots all over the hill and the Machete held it’s edges over all terrain today.

Flex: Not that soft. This is definitely a mid flexing board that is pretty hard to butter around on.

Carving– The Machete can carve pretty well for a twin. The edge hold is good and the medium flex allows for the Machete to make a pretty good carve. We like that the rocker doesn’t start for a bit after the binding so the tail doesn’t wash out. You can lean into a carve but it doesn’t have the ability to spring through the turn like many camber and some hybrid shapes can.

Switch: The Ride Machete is a true twin so of course it will ride the same way switch as it does regular.

Jibbing– There are many better boards out there for this but if you are a good rider it’s not a bad board for lapping the jib park on occasion.

Pipe: Pretty fun in the pipe. It has just enough edge hold and stiffness to handle the pipe. The rocker in the nose/tail make for a pretty forgiving re-entry. We liked the Machete GT better but it wasn’t bad.

Jumps- Riding around the mountain and ollieng over natural terrain we found the Machete to be semi springy. The whole pop-rod tech must help but it still doesn’t give you that spring many boards with camber or hybrid shapes can offer. Still it’s pretty easy to ollie with the flat camber profile. Now hitting jumps in the terrain park is another story. The Ride Machete is made for this and has enough flex to handle the big kickers. It’s also not super catchy if you land wrong.