Obviously being a snowboarder in the Midwest we don’t get powder days or epic backcountry hikes. We have parks, icy corduroy and street riding. We’ve compiled a list of the best 2013 boards to ride in the Midwest so you don’t have to stress about buying the wrong board.
10. Technine MFM Mass Appeal
Bust out your tall tee and get your gangsta steez ready for this board. With its flat camber profile, true twin shape, and asymmetrical sidecut this board is perfect for jibbing and booters in the Midwest. The flat camber adds stability when taking off and landing while also providing a catch free feel on rails and boxes.
This is the first of a few boards on our list with an asymmetrical sidecut. This gives the rider a specific toe and heel edge allowing for more control of the board because elements of the core are angled giving a quicker response from heel to toe and more pop.
9.Rome Shank
The Rome Shank is a skate inspired soft board perfect for urban assault sessions as well as cruising park laps all day. With its No Hang Ups Camber shape you get more playfulness without having to sacrifice the pop in the nose and tail.
The Shank is designed to be ridden smaller only coming in 145, 149, and 153 giving the rider the ability to maneuver the board much easier without sacrificing any stability. The hot rod gives the board added pop to jump onto rails and boost off of kickers. Oh did we mention the graphic is awesome, who doesn’t like a Tupac and Biggie inspired graphic?
8. Bataleon Evil Twin
Bataleons go to board is back again and better than ever. With its Twin TBT shape you get a flat camber between the bindings, perfect landing on hard pack and jibbing. You also get TBT lift on the sides on the nose and tail meaning the sides are rockered up for a playful forgiving feeling while the rest of the board maintains a standard camber shape.
With the combination of camber and rocker in this shape you get a playful poppy board perfect for playful days in the park while still holding an edge riding aggressively in the icy Midwest.
7. Burton Lip Stick
This one is for the Midwest Shred Betty’s looking for a board they can rip through the park and still look cool in the process. With Burtons Flat Top shape the boardis flat throughout with rockers at the nose and tail. This gives the board a great playful feel that is perfect for jibbing and jumps.
The real outstanding feature on this board is the Squeezebox core profile giving the board the all the pop making up for the lack of camber in the board. So for all you ladies out there looking for a playful board perfect for the Midwest, look no further.
6. GNU Park Pickle
Nothing says it better than Twin Asymmetric Banana for Ducks. With its classic banana shape and asymmetrical core and sidecuts the Gnu Park pickle is a great go to board for the Midwest.
The banana rocker gives the board a very playful feel perfect for butters and presses. The assymetrical core and sidecuts are built around a duck footed stance giving the rider the ability to ride more aggressively on a softer board. The magna traction is a must have feature on this board giving the board that extra edge hold you need when coming off a rail onto icy conditions.
5. Capita Ultrafear FK
With pieces of everything graphic from the Capita board line collaged together to create an awesome graphic the Ultrafear FK is more than just a badass graphic.
With its flat kicks shape the rider is given a playful poppy board that still maintains its quick edge to edge response. The board is also built with a custom weave epoxy shaving weight off the core while retaining a stiffer torsional flex and adding longevity to the flex board. This lightweight board built to shred any condition but wants to be ridden hard in the park.
4. Never Summer Proto CT
Never Summer has combined the flex of the SL and blended it with the dampening of the Evo to build and incredible all mountain twin shred machine.
The Proto CT is built with their Rocker & Camber Technology giving the board an aggressive edge great for hard pack and high speeds while still giving the rider the ability to be playful in the park and pipe. The new twin shape on the Proto CT has a blunted tip and tail reducing weight making the board easier to spin with while also making the board have a longer effective edge for extra grip on hard pack conditions.
3. Burton Super Hero
Burton nailed the Flat Top shape giving the board a playful feel with a ton of pop without sacrificing and board feel. The Super Hero is also built with the Raduction technology. This allows the rider to size down their normal board length from 8-10 cm.
The Super Hero is also built with squeezebox making up for the lack of camber as well as side effects which increases the board width at the nose and tail giving you more edge control on hard pack. All of this combined with The Channel system gives the board flex for days while still maintaining a stable board to ride which is easy on rails and jumps.
2. Forum Holy Moly II
When Grand Pops is combined with Car Bomb Carbon booms at the nose and tail you get an incredible amount of pop, perfect for popping onto high rails or simply boosting at new levels off of jumps. This board is perfect for the Midwest because its lightweight, playful and incredibly poppy.
Forum has redone the Holy Moly for 2013 creating the ultimate pop machine. This years Holy Moly II is built with Forums Grand Pops Shape, which has exaggerated pop zones increasing the surface area inside the nose and tail.
1. Burton Parkitect
Camber? Remember boards with camber and how much fun they are to ride? Well Burton has brought back camber with a vengeance in their new Parkitect.
The Parkitect is a camber board with an asymmetrical cut giving the rider a specific heel and toe side. The core has the unique asymmetrical squeezebox truly allowing the rider to utilize all of the squeezebox as well as its traditional camber shape.
Even though this board is a camber board it is playful and easy to butter and press with because of its soft flex. This board has a perfect combination of flex, pop and playfulness to make it to the top of our list of the best boards to shred in the Midwest with.
Keep an eye out for Windward Boardshop’s custom edition parkitect coming out in early November 2012. These will be super limited so you’ll have to get em while they last!