Rossignol Frenemy 2013-2019 Snowboard Review
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Instagram| Riding Style | All Mountain |
| Riding Level | Beginner - Intermediate |
| Fits Boot size (US) | Women's |
| Manufactured in | Taiwan or China |
| Shape | Twinish |
| Camber Profile | Hybrid Camber |
| Stance | Setback -20mm |
| Approx. Weight | Feels Normal |
| Split | No |
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| On Snow Feel |
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| Turn Initiation |
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| Skidded Turns |
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| Flex |
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| Buttering |
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| Edge Hold |
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Rossignol Frenemy 2019 - 2013 Review by The Good Ride
The Rossignol Frenemy is a really solid choice for those that see a lot of hard to icy snow and need a one board quiver. It is the kind of board you can ride centered on normal groomer days and take a mountain freestyle approach to riding and then on powder days set it back on board to get a much better directional float in the deep stuff.
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: 144
Days: 3+
Conditions: A little bit of powder to some really good groomers and some hard snow.
Riders: Steph
Boots: Vans Ferra
Bindings: Union Milan
Set Up: 21.5” Centered 15 front -15 back
Approximate Weight: Normal weight
Flex/Buttering: Very easy to butter, so easy it surprised me the first time I tried. It has a medium flex but because it has so much rocker on the nose and tail it makes it feel more flexy than it actually is.
Sizing: 144, 147, 150, 153
On Snow Feel: Stable on snow feel.
Edge Hold: Great edge hold on ice, it has Rossi’s serrated edges (5S) and makes for nothing but edge hold when you want it.
Turn Initiation: Fast turn initiation with the raised tip and tail it feels like you are riding a much smaller board so you are able to turn on a dime.
Turning Experience: Fun and easy to turn, it is great at skidded turns and powder turns and short radius to medium turns.
Carving: The Diva is ok at carving, the smaller amount of camber that it has makes it harder to hold your line in a big carve.
Speed: It can cruise at speed, it’s not a hard charger but is pretty stable and has a sintered base as well.
Uneven Terrain: Rides well in uneven terrain.
Powder: Does great in powder, is directional as well as reverse camber in the nose and tail and is a very fun ride in deeper snow.
Switch: Rides switch almost as good as regular, you do notice the directional shape a little. Would be a better switch rider on groomers than in powder.
Jumps: Average on jumps, not super stable and poppy, but would do fine.
Jibbing: A better jibber than jumper with the fun reverse camber feel but still with the camber under foot to help lock in on rails.
Pipe: Average pipe rider, you get a little camber to help you out here, but would prefer more in a pipe board.
Rossignol Frenemy Past Reviews
The Rossignol Frenemy is new this year and they market it as affordable edge hold and we agree. This is perfect for that beginner to intermediate rider that wants to build confidence but rides in less than ideal conditions. This is a mellow easier turning Diva and possibly one of the best beginner to intermediate all mountain to even freeride boards out there. Especially if you ride a lot in icy conditions. The 2016-2013 Rossignol Frenemy hasn’t changed much and it’s one of our top recommendations for riders who often see hard to icy conditions.
The Rossi Frenemy is a fun all mountain to even freeride board for those beginners out there. It’s one of the best boards to learn on in hard to icy conditions.
On Snow Feel: The small camber between the feet makes the ride stable for one footing and flat basing. The large amount of rocker after the camber makes it very forgiving. It’s an excellent confidence inspiring ride. Advanced to expert riders will be wanting more.
Edge Hold: This is a 5 point magnetraction instead of a 7 point Magnetraction but it works better than many 7 point magnetraction boards we have ridden. It grips soo stiff for such a soft board.
Powder: Not bad for a powder board. It has that same surfy feel that the Taipan can have when you set the stance back. This floats really well.
Speed: There is chatter here when you pick up speed. Not sure if the production model will be a bit stiffer but we’d like to see this. Most advanced to expert riders might be a little disappointed with the chatter.
Uneven Terrain: The TFrenemy is an excellent board for dealing with bumpy snow at slow speeds. It’s easy to turn around large bumps or go over small ones.
Turn Initiation– So easy to turn and has that effortless feeling that many people love. One thing we noticed is the ride can be a little squirelly/loose between the feet like a hybrid rocker board can be.
Carving– Really fun on a carve for such a soft board. It’s not going to blow your mind but it holds no matter how much you lean into it.
Flex: Soft but we’d like to see it more on the Medium side instead. It would make this board more like the taipan.
Switch:It feels more directional than a directional twin but it’s not bad we felt is was border line excellent riding switch.
Pipe: Great Pipe board. If you are looking to learn the pipe then this could be the call. It’s forgiving and really fun to ride but if you are a more advanced pipe rider the only thing you might appreciate is the excellent edge hold.
Jibbing– really easy to jib and butter around on. You could detune the edges and have a pretty good time sliding across things. You can butter for a days on this thing. If you like slowing down and playing around on the mountain or hitting the jib park this isn’t a bad board.
Jumps: Not terribly poppy but not completely lifeless. Forgiving on jumps but not one of those boards that give you more air than the jumps already give. A great entry level jump board.
Approximate Weight– It’s just a normal feeling board.
We just happened to have a friend join us who was an athletic beginner and this just blew his mind compared to the other boards he was riding.
Rossignol Frenemy Specs
Rossignol Frenemy Images
We try to get as many images of the Rossignol Frenemy, but forgive us if they're not all there.
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Rossignol Company Information
Rossignol Frenemy User Reviews
Awesome Beginner Board
Bought this board, bindings, and boots for my daughter based on The Good Ride recommendations with Burton Scribe bindings and Burton Emerald boots. Perfect set up. She's a beginner and in less than 10 outings she's comfortable on Black Diamond trails. She''s starting to carve and the board holds the edge even in our hard/icy Northeast conditions. With this board/setup the improvement has been immense compared to the "quality" rentals we were using. Awesome board, awesome recommendations! Thank you to The Good Ride!
Sweet Diggity I'm in Love
Love this board, Rossignol Rep hooked me up and I absolutely love it. I'm a die hard tree rider and a avid park learner, it really changed my world of snowboarding. Light and flexible, yet grippy with the magnatraction.
Fun and forgiving!
Rented this board for a weekend trip spring skiing in Australia in 2012 and ended up buying it. Completely agree with The Good Ride review. It's a fantastic board for someone who enjoys cruising the whole mountain and wants an easy, forgiving ride.
The edgehold really is superb - which is especially great if you're boarding in icy conditions. Turn iniation is completely effortless. It feels a little loose, but enjoyably so rather than being annoying. It's an easy and fun board to carve on and you can really lean into it (again the edgehold helps here).
The only downsides I found was that the flex was a bit soft for my liking, and it does pick up some chatter at higher speeds - so advanced riders who like speed will definitely want something stiffer, but for beginner to intermediate riders who want to build their confidence then this is a great board for doing just that.
I'm not much of a park/pipe rider so haven't tested it on anything but natural obstacles, but it was responsive yet forgiving on these. Haven't tested it in powder yet either (I usually ride Australia and NZ snow) - but I'm taking it to Japan soon so fingers crossed it'll float and surf nicely.
I wish this board had been around a few years ago when I was a beginner - it would have been awesome to learn to ride on! I ended up buying it even as an int-adv rider because it was a really fun and forgiving board - not something for charging on, but a great all-rounder that is easy and effortless and will look after you whatever you're doing on the mountain.
