Board: Gnu Riders Choice
Size: 157.5
Camber Option: C2. Camber underfoot with rocker between the feet.
Bindings: K2 Indy
Stance: 21.5 Wide 18 Negative 15 Goofy
Boots: K2 Thraxis Size 10
My Weight: 188lbs
Resort: Arapahoe Basin
Conditions: Sunny blue skies with a few clouds poking through, warmer temps, low wind, and snow that was the consistency of firm mashed potatoes.
Flex: At the very end of the tips you’ll find a softer flex zone, then it stiffens up through the insert pack to the middle. In the middle you get just a little bit of play which is matched by the torsional flex.
Stability: This board is both smooth and stable. It cuts through chop with ease and at speeds there is very minimal tip flapping. Overall it’s damp and smooth.
Ollies: This board requires that you load up the tail to pop. It’s not an aggressive deck to load and up and when you snap this board gives you some solid response. While not the poppiest deck I’ve been on it’s consistent and will get the job done.
Pop On Jumps: This board is solid on a jump and gets the job done. I found that letting the lip do all the work isn’t ideal for this board, you need to load it up.
Butterability: The best results for buttering on this board are if you put all your weight over the tips and really press into it aggressively. It’s not the easiest board to butter, but it will get the job done.
Jibbing: A little bit of speed goes a long way with this deck. As it’s not the easiest board to press into this aids it with the overall jib performance. There is a sweet spot in the tip and tail that is very minimal. Going sideways you’ll notice this board will hug the feature but not aggressively.
Carving: With having an Asym sidecut you get a little bit better leverage on your heelside than you would with a traditional radius sidecut. What I found was that this board engages its edge with a little effort and to drive the board you want to flex the deck off the toe or heel instead of driving the back leg into the center. Doing this will give the board the best results. I did have it wash out occasionally on edge when in sloppier snow.
Rider in Mind: All mountain freestyle guy.
Personal Thoughts: I don’t know if this would be every riders choice, but it would fit with some. I overall found this board to be a bit dead and damp instead of lively and playful. That’s fine, if that’s your thing, that’s not mine. It did do a good job plowing through chunder which was an added bonus due to the weather we were experiencing. At the end of the day it’s a snowboard and will do snowboard things but nothing stood out as being overwhelmingly awesome.
Comparable Boards: Arbor Element, DC Space Echo, Burton Custom Kilroy
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10 Comments
Riders Choice vs the stiff Gnuru
Well if it’s carving then it would be the stiff Gnuru. If it’s all mountain probably still Gnuru, just with the regular core.
RC vs Gnuru who is best when it comes to groomers and sidehits.
btw keep up the good work with the review videos, they are awsome.
thanx 4 reply, so still gnuru for all mountain, because rc is softer?
No, it just rides dead. The real Gnuru should be way more lively.
i got a 2016 metal gnuru, and it is also a stiff board, more like a 7 from 1 to 10.
was thinking about changing it out for a RC, but not made up my mind yet.
This board is fun, but to me it’s a noodle board that can still charge, but take it easy on the hard pack. I bought it to be more of a all mountain board, and it was just another park board that excels in soft and/or slushy snow. What I thought it really excelled at was mogels, tight trees, and transitions with moderate pow. Compared to my Kazu, this is soft as a kids 120cm, and it doesn’t handle the harder chop allnthe well. It’s a great board for hucking spins off side hits, and medium/small jumps in the park.
Hey, I’m 5’10 135 lbs, do you think if I downsized to the 151.5 that this could be a butterable park deck?
No.
This review is right on. After leaving my last year’s Terrain Wrecker on the side of my car while driving off I was in the market again for a magnetraction board and I didn’t want to splash out for a new deck so I found there were a couple of these 2018’s lying around on discount. Paired it with some discounted K2 Indy bindings. Good binding by the way. I think dead might be a bit of a strong term for this board as I can get it into a real tight turn pretty fast and hold it stong. I found it to be grabbier than the TW and required me to stay highly focused.. I ride a 21.5 in stance as was thinking that the contact points on the 157.5 model might benefit from a slightly wider stance. All in all I would prefer my old TW, but I might progress further on this board. Seems a little more technical than my TW. The asym side-cut is taking some getting used to, but that’s what I also like is that this board offers something different than the others. My next Mervin board though will be C2X. Which GNU board would mimic the TW. Miss that TNT base on the 2018.