# Bataleon Airobic 159 - Reviewed



## Technine Icon (Jan 15, 2009)

I've heard so many good things about this board lately. Tell us how it went riding.


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## Dave Legacy (Mar 9, 2008)

My wife demo'd one a few weeks ago and absolutely loved it.


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## darkninja (Jan 17, 2009)

Can't wait for your review  . Your review on the riot was great and hope this one will be just as good if not better lol.


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## Gnarly (Mar 12, 2008)

Even though I rode the Airobic yesterday, I didn't have much time to put it through the paces because I was riding with friends (one of whom was on her 2nd day ever of skiing). Which means that we didn't really do any hard runs/park/moguls etc.

*Butterability:*
This board is butter-tastic. If you can't press this thing, you should cut your legs off and quit snowboarding. I didn't really try much butters yesterday, but from the couple times I gave it a shot, it pressed quite nicely.

*Speed*
For an extruded base, I was expecting a dog slow board, but, once again, Bataleon TBT delivered. The Airobic, while not as fast as the Riot, is no slouch at all. I could easily make it past the uphill portions of the Breckenridge catwalks when other non-TBT riders had to skate. I sort of raced my friend who was on the Riot, and given equal riding skills, he would have won...But the Airobic held it's own and it would have been a good race.

*Switch*
Here's the part where the Airobic's flex was a marked difference from the Riot. When riding switch on the Riot, you can feel when you roll past the flat portion of the base and onto the 3 degree edge parts. IMO, it made switch on the Riot easier than the Airobic...But it could just be that by the time I really got into switch on the Riot, I'd already ridden it 3 or 4x. 

The softness of the Airobic made switch a challenge for me because the board felt unstable when transitioning edge to edge. But it's just because I'm not good at switch. Regular, none of that unstableness was felt.

*Pop*
For a 4-3-4 softness, the Airobic has great pop. It's nowhere near the Riot, but it's really good. I had to load up the tail a bit more than the Riot to get good air, but once I got the hang of it, I was popping off every bump/roller etc with ease.

*Carving*
Just like the Riot, this baby carves like mad! Don't know what else to say about the carving except that riding Bataleons make me just want to carve my ass off all day long and say screw everything else.

*Spins*
I thought the Airobic was easier to pull out sketch landings on than the Riot. With the Riot, even though the landings are much easier to pull out than a non-TBT base, you can still end up eating shit. On the Airobic, sketch landings are not a problem at all. Combine the TBT + flex = just put weight on front/back leg and you can probably pull out any and all landings.

On Wed, I plan to hit the park, see if I can get this board to chatter, ride switch most of the day and, I hope, throw down a 3 finally!

For those that are wondering if it's too soft to be a good all mountain board, I think it's got exactly the right flex to excel at all mtn conditions. Soft enough to butter, but the TBT makes it still have pop and the edge holding is really good also. Those guys at Bataleon know their shit with base design.


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## Technine Icon (Jan 15, 2009)

That was a really good review.


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## jmacphee9 (Nov 11, 2008)

is this bad boy going to ever make its way into the park? it was a fun time for me on the boxes...my capita looks sick though! i just got home 10 minutes ago and im gunna carpet this thing asap!


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## Gnarly (Mar 12, 2008)

jmacphee9 said:


> is this bad boy going to ever make its way into the park?


Of course it is. Tomorrow I should have gotten in a bunch of park time (unless it's a pow day).


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## Triple8Sol (Nov 24, 2008)

Isn't that pretty long for such a soft noodle?


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## DC5R (Feb 21, 2008)

Gnarly, what are your stats? Just trying to guage what size board I would be looking for considering you said a 159 is so soft.


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## Gnarly (Mar 12, 2008)

DC5R said:


> Gnarly, what are your stats? Just trying to guage what size board I would be looking for considering you said a 159 is so soft.


6'3" 215lbs.


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## Gnarly (Mar 12, 2008)

For those that complained that I haven't hit the park with the Airobic yet - your wait is over. Finally got to hit the mountain again today and spent 2.5 hours of the day hiking the park, so I got a ton of jibbing/spinning in.

So, I suck at boxes and rails. I tried to BS lipslide all day long, but I kept leaning back onto my heel edge which made me fall on my ass. I did, however, get in some crazy nose/tail presses on the boxes and a ton of 50-50's.

Spent 30 min or so buttering on some easy green runs and I just gotta say that the Airobic makes butters super easy/smooth. 

Oh yeah, I threw three FS 3's and landed 2 of em cleanly. The 2nd to last one, I over-rotated to a 450 and washed out on my heel edge on the landing. Also hit a bunch of FS/BS 1's off rollers/moguls etc and got in a couple methods and a couple nose grabs today too. When I landed the 1st FS3, I took off my board and screamed at the top of my lungs. It was awesome! I checked off one of my long-term snowboarding goals today.

I landed a HUGE BS1 today where I floated for, what seemed like an eternity and had super slow rotation on the 1. It was scary as hell, cause while I was in the air, I wondered if I'd get the rotation in time, but I landed clean.

I've heard that BS3's are much easier than FS, so next week, I'm gona try a few BS3's too now that I've got the feel for em.

Like expected, I gouged the shit out of my board base. This time, it was right next to the edge and I can see where they pressed the edge in...So definitely going to have to P-Tex it before I ride the Airobic again.

Besides the base gouge, today was EPIC! Guess it's time to ride the Riot again.

Oh yeah - I saw someone on the mountain with a Goliath. 1st Bataleon I've seen all year besides the 2 I own.


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## jmacphee9 (Nov 11, 2008)

noicee, i will say with the bataleon i rode i noticed no less stability then with a regular board on rails! i actually slid out less but i was havin a good day lol..


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## Guest (Feb 17, 2009)

noob question: What's butterability?


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## jmacphee9 (Nov 11, 2008)

being able to press the nose or tail. doing a wheelie on a snowboard pretty much. its called buttering for snowboards. also like a manual on a skateboard..


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## Guest (Feb 18, 2009)

I see.. thanks for the reply


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## Gnarly (Mar 12, 2008)

The Airobic is all fixed and ready to rock for this Saturday's trip to Beaver Creek. After watching vids on buttering all week long, I'm gona butter my way down the mtn till my eyeballs bleed.

My friend's bringing his brand new WWW, so I'm gona check that whip out too for a run to see what's up and compare the jibbyness of the 2.


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## Guest (Apr 12, 2009)

Gnarly said:


> I've heard that BS3's are much easier than FS, so next week, I'm gona try a few BS3's too now that I've got the feel for em.


as soon as you feel comfortable with fs3's, bs3's won't be a problem and vice versa. same goes for 5's, 7's etc. obviously it's easier if you see the landing, but i don't think that either of them is *much* easier.

by the way, try the riot for this purpose too, i liked it better...


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## DC5R (Feb 21, 2008)

Gnarly said:


> The Airobic is all fixed and ready to rock for this Saturday's trip to Beaver Creek. After watching vids on buttering all week long, I'm gona butter my way down the mtn till my eyeballs bleed.
> 
> *My friend's bringing his brand new WWW, so I'm gona check that whip out too for a run to see what's up and compare the jibbyness of the 2*.


Did you ever get to compare the two? Would love to hear your thoughts about it.


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## Gnarly (Mar 12, 2008)

DC5R said:


> Did you ever get to compare the two? Would love to hear your thoughts about it.


Yeah, I rode the WWW a month or so ago. Didn't really like it at all. Not really able to ollie it at all. It was ridicuously easy to press though, but not a very fun board at all IMO.


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