# 2010 151 NS EVO-R w/ Ride Nitrane Contraband bindings review.



## DC5R (Feb 21, 2008)

phile00 said:


> Rider stats
> Hair: Dirty blond
> Facial Hair: Mutton chops in the shape of california
> Physique: Massive guns
> ...


Has this turned into a dating forum, LOL :cheeky4:


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## Birk (Jan 28, 2009)

I can add:

Steeps:
Handles real well, i was suprised how steady it was going down blacks. There was no chatter and it held an edge extremly well.
It's a 151 with rome 390's, and i'm 5,74 and 143lb. My previous board was a Burton Jeremy jones 07/08 156, and the Evo is better at carving (and everything else)


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## phile00 (Jan 7, 2009)

DC5R said:


> Has this turned into a dating forum, LOL :cheeky4:


hahah. I was trying to be funny, hopefully everyone got that. I figured the mutton chops bit and all of the other random stuff I said gave that away.


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## MASTER SHAKE (Jan 30, 2010)

nice review


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## phile00 (Jan 7, 2009)

So another update incoming! 

Only my second time using it, I didn't want to jib with it yet. I left out of my last review that I had to have the board ptexed (somehow I forgot). The snow conditions were all over the place the first day I took out this board because it had rained there, and it ruined a lot of the snow. The continued snow making and fresh snow made the conditions variable.

I was riding switch, and I reverted back to my regular stance, and I was right by one of the poles holding up the lift and it looked like it was covered in fresh powder. But when I rode over it, it felt like a mogul with spikes. Grip was impossible on this icy spike demon. I don't care if you have serrated edges, weigh 1500lbs, and can euro carve down an embanked ice skating rink. Anyhow, I didn't bail or anything, but it really sounded like it ruined my board. It sounded like I coasted through a parking lot for a couple of seconds. I took it to the board shop to have a wax (the factory wax was so slow it was insane) and have the base looked at. It had a couple of deep scratches. One scratch was right on the inside of the edge, and it looked like it could have pulled the edge right off. True to their claims, NS makes pretty tough boards. 

So yesterday's trip: I took it through much better conditions this time, and it performed well. I rode the steeps this time however. It wasn't too bad, but for some reason I got a lot of heel side chatter and skipping. The steeps were very very choppy, but I never seemed to encounter skipping and chatter with my Goliath on the steeps even if it was a little choppy. I power through that normally. It really felt like my heel side technique was bad, and trust me, I know how to carve. I wasn't really at the top of my game yesterday, though. I was very tired and not feeling well. 

I'm going to go again Thursday. I'm taking the EVO-R down the same steeper run 3 times in a row, and I'm immediately going to switch it out for my Goliath and do the same thing. I'll post my findings here. This way I can decide if it's the board or if I was just tired. The EVO-R is after all heavier on the park side of things as shown on NS's website, but I am a light weight rider and I bought a longer board. I'm convinced I could call this an all-mountain board for me. Then again, I should probably take it to a bigger mountain, which I will do in the next two weeks. 

Aside from my problem with the choppy steeps, oddly the 149 Goliath and the 151 EVO-R are pretty evenly matched. In terms of fun factor, the EVO-R is winning so far though. 

I'm going to review the Nitrane bindings in a separate thread, since there's a minor problem with them.


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## phile00 (Jan 7, 2009)

*UPDATE*

I've ridden the board a couple more times again and have since shortened my stance width. 

A few more observations and some reiterations:

1) It presses fairly easily

2) Jump landings are noticeably harsher than my Goliath. Maybe I'm crazy but it feels like landing on a plank. I used the same bindings on both boards to confirm this. 

3) When riding regular, I haven't even come close to catching an edge (I normally don't though anyhow). The skatey feeling I described above seems gone now, even before I changed my stance width. I think when I get used to a board it just becomes normal to me, rather than different from another board.

4) When riding switch it really saved my ass a few times!! 
I'm putting some serious work into riding switch, with the end goal of being able to ride either stance effortlessly and able bomb steeps like I do regular footed. One time, however, when I was spinning from regular to switch, I did catch a nice edge and ate it. 

5) It's not great on the steeps when it's choppy/moguly bullshit. It's fine in chop if you're not flying. Eliminate the chop, and I can bomb down a steep run with no chatter (despite the fact that it's not an overly damp board). Keep in mind I bought a board a couple of cm longer than I normally would for a park board for this very reason. My logic worked out nicely. Vince pretty much indirectly confirmed that at NS as well by saying their longer boards are a bit "burlier". I'd also like to say, this board really digs in when you want it to. Very impressive for a "park board". 

6) This thing really sucks up wax. I was doing a simple 50/50 on a box and I freakin' slowed DOWN before I came to the end. 5 hours of use and it needs another wax.

This is a great board, and has made me a fan of Never Summer. If this is indicative of their whole line, they are truly one of the top quality board companies.


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## earl_je (Oct 20, 2009)

phile00 said:


> *UPDATE*
> 
> 5) It's not great on the steeps when it's choppy/moguly bullshit. It's fine in chop if you're not flying. Eliminate the chop, and I can bomb down a steep run with no chatter (despite the fact that it's not an overly damp board). Keep in mind I bought a board a couple of cm longer than I normally would for a park board for this very reason. My logic worked out nicely. Vince pretty much indirectly confirmed that at NS as well by saying their longer boards are a bit "burlier". I'd also like to say, this board really digs in when you want it to. Very impressive for a "park board".
> 
> ...


It's fine bombing down steeps. I'm guessing you're probably just not used to the early kick the board does doing sudden turns. It's hard for me to describe. It feels like the board kicks from the mid-rear end upon transitioning(kinda like a mid-engine/RWD vs a front-engine/RWD). This probably explains the 'skatey' feeling you're experiencing. Hit the pipe and you'll actually want this control, well, at least I did. 

Agree with it needing waxed constantly! Rode for about several days non-stop last weekend, got lazy and didn't wax. On the third day, started out at the park and did a simple 50/50 on a box. I about stopped at the middle coz the thing slowed down bad... I'm like, WTF?? :dunno: might have been the wet snow sucking the board down though, it was a rather warm day.


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## phile00 (Jan 7, 2009)

earl_je said:


> It's fine bombing down steeps. I'm guessing you're probably just not used to the early kick the board does doing sudden turns. It's hard for me to describe. It feels like the board kicks from the mid-rear end upon transitioning(kinda like a mid-engine/RWD vs a front-engine/RWD). This probably explains the 'skatey' feeling you're experiencing. Hit the pipe and you'll actually want this control, well, at least I did.


No, I never said it had a problem bombing steeps. In fact I said it's great at it. I was talking specifically about steeps that were choppy with skier made moguls (you know the kind that form when pretty much only skiers are going down a particular slope and it never gets groomed).



earl_je said:


> Agree with it needing waxed constantly! Rode for about several days non-stop last weekend, got lazy and didn't wax. On the third day, started out at the park and did a simple 50/50 on a box. I about stopped at the middle coz the thing slowed down bad... I'm like, WTF?? :dunno: might have been the wet snow sucking the board down though, it was a rather warm day.


Hahah. I'm glad I'm not the only one. You gave me an image of a snowboarder at dead stop in the middle of a box looking around like "Does this thing have breaks?" It wasn't wet when it happened to me though, it was about 14 degrees.


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## RickB (Oct 29, 2008)

y'all need wax designed for sliding on a box instead of snow maybe 
</old guy>


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## phile00 (Jan 7, 2009)

*Update 4*

Small update here. After about 5 straight hours of boarding with maybe a piss break and 15 mins to eat, I start to get tired. This board saved my ass. As much as epic is overused on the internets, this was an epic save. I think I would have been dead on any other board. 

I'm bombing really fast down a hill, the bottom of the lift is in sight and there are a series of subtle rollers you can ollie off of and get some good air from if you're going really fast. Anyhow, I was really sloppy and tired, and as I landed on the downslope my weight was at the back of the board (although my stance probably looked normal), and I wasn't on an edge. As I tried to fight the speed and get my weight shifted overtop of the board again to get an edge, the tail and the nose board kind of bounced back and forth from toe to heel like ping pong. There was a catchiness to it, but it would only hang up for an instant and shoot the force over to the parallel edge. If this happened on my Goliath, I'm pretty sure I'd have caught an edge hard and tumbled down the hill. Coordination helped, but the board design did the rest. 

It would have been a really bad fall. I would have just eaten hard it at high speed. None of that falling and sliding bullshit. I would have just slingshotted into the ground like I did last year. I popped out a rib when that happened.

One thing to add though, if you're short on your followthrough with rotations, this board will catch sometimes, and it sucks. I ate it once last week. But really every board does that 

Really the only thing I have left to do with this board is try to butter. And not like half-assed, slow motion ones like I was doing at the beginning of this review. Shit like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLLUh6-xbhM Problem is, I suck at it.


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## skip11 (Jan 28, 2010)

Great review man.. I'm considering 2011 evo or SL for my next board. I'm also 5'5" but I'm 150lbs with size 10 boots so gonna go with the 155. Really debating whether to get the evo or SL


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## phile00 (Jan 7, 2009)

Well it depends on what your main riding style entails. The EVO-R can go outside the park and do an excellent job. But if you find you are more free ride, I'd go with the SL-R. I have a couple of sticks, so the EVO-R was a no-brainer for me.


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## skip11 (Jan 28, 2010)

I mostly ride all mountain, just carving down groomers. I want to learn some small jumps, 180s, and 360s though this year. Also like doing presses and want to learn some more simple buttering tricks. Ride mostly in whistler, probably gonna go with the 155 evo.


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## pedrodla (Jan 21, 2011)

Hey *phile00* !

I am looking for buying an EVO, but I still can't decide between the Evo, TBT (Evil Twin) and BS Tech (Extr or Celebrity). As I read, you have a Bataleon Goliath. How would you compare them? What are their main differences? Which one is better for landing spins and avoiding catching edge (this includes catching in rails, boxes, anywhere etc)? I thought a TBT board would always be less catchy, but you said that if you were ridding your Bataleon you would have catched an edge and it doesn't happened with the Evo.

How do they compare in different terrains? Icy, moguls, choppy, hard packed, pow.. Which one is more stable for multiple terrains?

Which one can handle speed better??

And you ever rode a BS Tech board, please put it in this little "review" !

Hope you can help me here!

cheeeers!!


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## phile00 (Jan 7, 2009)

pedrodla said:


> Hey *phile00* !
> 
> I am looking for buying an EVO, but I still can't decide between the Evo, TBT (Evil Twin) and BS Tech (Extr or Celebrity). As I read, you have a Bataleon Goliath. How would you compare them? What are their main differences? Which one is better for landing spins and avoiding catching edge (this includes catching in rails, boxes, anywhere etc)? I thought a TBT board would always be less catchy, but you said that if you were ridding your Bataleon you would have catched an edge and it doesn't happened with the Evo.
> 
> ...


Well, I have both a Goliath and an Evil Twin now. I prefer the benefits of a traditional cambered board, with the added benefit of a catch free tip and tail. My NS board was awesome, but I like my Bataleon boards better. Never ridden BS tech though. As it stands I haven't caught an edge because of the sidecut yet. Have I leaned too much when trying to land even small spins and caught an edge? The answer is yes. You'll do that on any board. It's hard to say which board spins better. I'd say they're near equal. I caught an edge on my EVO on a box, but that's neither here nor there either. It's more technique and less the board, although rockered boards are probably less catchy.

That odd behavior that saved me from catching an edge on the EVO probably wouldn't have saved me in teh case of the Bataleon, though I still prefer the Bataleon. Hope this helps. 

Cheers!


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## pedrodla (Jan 21, 2011)

phile00 said:


> Well, I have both a Goliath and an Evil Twin now. I prefer the benefits of a traditional cambered board, with the added benefit of a catch free tip and tail. My NS board was awesome, but I like my Bataleon boards better. Never ridden BS tech though. As it stands I haven't caught an edge because of the sidecut yet. Have I leaned too much when trying to land even small spins and caught an edge? The answer is yes. You'll do that on any board. It's hard to say which board spins better. I'd say they're near equal. I caught an edge on my EVO on a box, but that's neither here nor there either. It's more technique and less the board, although rockered boards are probably less catchy.
> 
> That odd behavior that saved me from catching an edge on the EVO probably wouldn't have saved me in teh case of the Bataleon, though I still prefer the Bataleon. Hope this helps.
> 
> Cheers!


Sure it helped! Thanks a lot!

Can I make some more questions?

Evil Twin vs. Evo, as I need a small board (like 147-149) and I don't like setback. I had a bad experience with my Burton Custom X, a pretty old model that had big setback.

Which one is more stable at speed?? Not huge speeds, just a good speed to get some 20ft-40ft jumps and most "medium" kickers of the parks.

How do they perform in diffferent snow conditions like icy, moguls, chopy, hard packed, pow ??? I believe the Evo must be better in all those conditions besides groomers, because they have more damping, Vario grip and rockered for pow.. But that's all theory, never tried any of them. I can't demo boards, I live in Brazil =\

Thanks for the answers phile! As you ride 2 board I'm really interested, you can help me a lot!!!


Cheers!!


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## phile00 (Jan 7, 2009)

pedrodla said:


> Sure it helped! Thanks a lot!
> 
> Can I make some more questions?
> 
> ...


Both boards are very stable on groomers. The ET is better in choppy/mogul/ice in my opinion. They are both twin boards, the ET is a true twin for sure though.

As far as setback goes, set back should never be a problem unless you try to cancel out the setback by centering your bindings. It can leave more board behind you rather than in front, which is not good.


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## pedrodla (Jan 21, 2011)

phile00 said:


> Both boards are very stable on groomers. The ET is better in choppy/mogul/ice in my opinion. They are both twin boards, the ET is a true twin for sure though.
> 
> As far as setback goes, set back should never be a problem unless you try to cancel out the setback by centering your bindings. It can leave more board behind you rather than in front, which is not good.


I guess I'll go for the Evil Twin, just need to find a good deal, maybe an used one from this season or last season (damn ugly!).. I'm not in a hurry to buy it, I might go to snow in July (winter in south america), and until them I guess some used ET might hit ebay or I can get a good deal on websites around!

I just noticed the other topic that is comparing the ET with the Evo too, seems like the Evo is better for a real all mountain board (including pow and butter), and the ET is the all mountain park board.. Can the ET handle pow ok? And it's fine for buttering? I know the rocker of the Evo makes it better, but it's a huge difference?

Cheeers!!


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## phile00 (Jan 7, 2009)

pedrodla said:


> I guess I'll go for the Evil Twin, just need to find a good deal, maybe an used one from this season or last season (damn ugly!).. I'm not in a hurry to buy it, I might go to snow in July (winter in south america), and until them I guess some used ET might hit ebay or I can get a good deal on websites around!
> 
> I just noticed the other topic that is comparing the ET with the Evo too, seems like the Evo is better for a real all mountain board (including pow and butter), and the ET is the all mountain park board.. Can the ET handle pow ok? And it's fine for buttering? I know the rocker of the Evo makes it better, but it's a huge difference?
> 
> Cheeers!!


EVO is way better for pow. Hands down. The ET is not great in pow at all. I have a Goliath though, so if I want to ride pow I just use that. But I thought the ET worked much better in chop/mogul/ice/etc.


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