Board: Bataleon Thunder
Size: 158
Camber Option: Dynamic Camber. More 3BT in the nose and less in the tail.
Bindings: Rome Black Labels
Stance: 21.5 Wide 15 Negative 12 Goofy
Boots: K2 Thraxis Size 10
My Weight: 200lbs
Resort: Copper Mountain
Conditions: High winds at the top of the mountain, low visibility, fresh snow, puking snow, some ice in spots, and just a general Colorado pow day.
Flex: The best way to sum up this board is it’s a softer Omni. Now with that said it has a full directional flex to it which obviously means softer nose and stiffer tail, but lets break this down for you guys. Way out in the tip you’ll notice that it’s softer then it stiffens up from just outside the inserts progressively getting softer to just inside the first insert pack back to the first set of rear inserts then it gets stiffer. The torsional flex is there and noticeable which does let you twist this board when you need to. There’s a rear sweet spot just inside the back insert pack that lets you really flex into it and snap off the back foot through turns.
Stability: This board is mostly stable. I say mostly stable because in really rutted out terrain you start to feel chatter. But when you’re on a groomer or cruising some fresh snow you will notice that it does a great job of dampening micro vibrations and really doesn’t fatigue your feet or legs. This is also a board that in chunder you can push through it and not worry.
Ollies/Pop: Now the pop isn’t the snappiest I’ve been on and you do have to be a bit more calculated to get it to engage. All that means is know how to pop with camber and how to load it to get the board to rebound.
Butterability: 3BT with Sidekick works for spooning the nose out in pow and making it a bit more butterable. With the way the carbon layup is in this board and its overall flex you do have to work for it a bit more, but it’s a freeride board so who honestly cares.
Carving: Now here’s the thing about this. If you’re not a fan of 3BT you won’t like the way this board carves, if you’re used to 3BT you’ll more than likely find this board fine. You get some quicker edge to edge transitions from it but you lose the edge bite out at the contact points as it’s moved a bit back towards the insert packs. If you’ve ridden anything that has added contact points under foot and is cam rocker or a modern camber profile you’ll understand this. What I noticed with this board is that while you can rail good deep hard carves in softer snow, but on ice you tend to lose some of that bite as I’ve already previously mentioned. On edge I found this board to grip well and do what it needed to do for the most part, occasionally it would slip out but this was more or less a 1 out of 30 times type of thing so I equate it more to the 3BT and snow conditions and my lack of riding 3BT daily. Overall this board can grip a carve whether mellow or hard.
Rider in Mind: Freeride focused rider that wants a deck that’s got 3BT, a directional flex, and something they can charge with or be laid back.
Personal Thoughts: This board seemed to be a blend of the Omni and Magic Carpet in one. It did well in the fresh snow I found and was fine on groomers. Only on real wind blown terrain did I notice any real issues, but anything would have sucked in those conditions. Overall if you found the Omni too stiff this might be the ticket for you.
Comparable Boards: Yes PYL, Ride Superpig, Niche Maelstrom
12 Comments
Which is the best all mountain free ride board of the ones you mention, remove park and switch from the equation and if possible what board allows you to be most laid back on?:
PYL, superpig or Maelstrom?
PYL
I’ve been debating between the thunder and the PYL. Want to ride trees, pow, and mob groomed runs on a board that is a little forgiving and is quick heel to toe. Is there a large bit of difference between the two? Also, I’ve traditionally liked shorter than long boards. At 6’’, 200lbs, size 10.5 is a 156 acceptable?
PYL is a bit stiffer and doesn’t have 3BT which changes the edge roll.
I’ve been trying to decide between the thunder PYL & Arbor Annex. Hoping for something agile to ride trees and take some natural and jumps too. But a bit more forgiving than something like the maelstrom so I can get a bit lazy on it if I need to.
Thunder for sure.
Yo man, I currently have a Gnu Headspace and an Orca and was thinking about adding either the Thunder or BSOD to the quiver. Do you think there’s too much overlap/ which would you suggest? I Mostly ride at Mammoth and don’t ride much park anymore. Primarily charging and going fast. Thanks!
You don’t want a Thunder, get the BSOD.
180lbs and need a wide, should I get the 56w or 59w for every day riding and some medium kickers. Looking for something directional and a bit past mid stiff so thought this might be a fun one.
More freeride less freestyle 59, more playing around and freestyle 56.
What binding do you suggest for this board. I also own a Jones flagship and bought thunder because of some volume shift and smaller size recommendation by Bataleon. I have a 2015 Malavita which I am planning to upgrade. I mostly ride (freeride) in Himalayas which has steep lines and mix of powder/concrete/crust/post avalanche stone. I was thinking of ROME cleaver and matching them with my rome libertine.
Cleaver is probably overkill the DOD would work better.