Madd BX CB... Da straight shiznit.

photodad2001

Posted March 15, 2010

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Posted March 15, 2010

Recently purchased... from here... aproximately 4-5 year old Madd 168 Boardercross Carbon Butterfly Construction Yaddah Yaddah...

First my background for this review...

Started snowboarding in 86 after years of skateboarding, skimboarding, and general disreguard for team sports... :eek: :eplus2:

Softbooter 99.9% of my career with only 3 outings on hardboot setups... all on ancient Burton gear within the last 2 years. (MGX and old Burton plates)

I've been a Sims man having many Sims boards ranging from my first 88 Sims Blade 171, Sims 162 ATV, Sims 165 Fakie Fat Boy, Sims 171 Search... I've had others... A few Burton Airs, Barfoot Woodie and also Stealth, Ride, Joyride, 2 Santa Cruz, 3 K2's, G&S Mike Ranquet (this would be the "Yugo" I've heard so much about), I've had a Look, and even a Kildy and Burton Alp.

I'll start by saying I wish I would have had a few more days on it before putting this out here, but since the season is over around here I have to base this on 6 outings, all in different conditions.

Let me start with my first recieving the board and first impressions comparing it with my current set ups on hand, off snow. The flex was not as stiff as I had expected, but even testing it by hand it had an obvious higher "rebound" than my current Sims freeride board. Just as stiff on the push, but was more "springy" on the release. Possibly due to the carbon butterfly? The waist was fairly stiff, but I could tell upon inspection that the nose and tail were pretty soft.

First day was on dry, soft powder and I wished I would have had my 171 Sims (waist 25.6), but for it's width (24) it did better than I had expected. The nose wants to float even though it has a blunt shape. I think had I not have put the bindings up front it would have done even better, but when you wake up and the weather has brought you pow-pow you don't argue.

Hardest part was getting the stance. Tried a variety... finally ended up with 39 front / 30 rear. Just a smidge of overhang but not noticable when laying it over. Lowest I went was 30/15 and dug in pretty good and even caught my rear heel on some agressive carves. This is not a soft boot board for those with big feet that want to ride low angles.

Rode it in choppy powder, it was alright. The stiffness of the board helped with the chop, but I wish I would have had my Sims to do a side by side comparison. So far after 2 outings I was longing for my old Sims.

Third outing was on packed powder that had been tracked up all day. This is where the board first started showing it's abilities. On the firm stuff the board offered more hold and the tight hard turn that I was looking for. To put it simply... late in the season I was finding myself quite fatigued and soar at the end of the day. The nose was quite soft and I almost stuffed it a few times, but was able to dig deeper than I had before. I actually found myself hitting my own ruts and really felt them after following my old lines.

Forth day was on wetter and heavier conditions and I found the board wanting to cut in and dig in harder. The snow was fast but heavy and the board handled the choppy slush well on wider carves, but I found that digging in hard on a heelside the board wanted to give way in the nose and I had to lay off the strong heel side carves.

Fifth time was on East Coast Ice. All I can say is... East Coast has the hardest ice in the States. It held the small ankle carves beautifully and even some carves coming from the waist down, but as I've always found, the limitations on ice will surpass the abilities and functions of any board. I pushed it to the limits and found them. Waist down carves were very nice, but like any inanimate object it has it's limitations. Bullet proof ice can not be carved in an EC style.

Finally Corn, or "Granular". My resort has a better than average grooming capability and the conditions weren't that bad. Not until it started getting pushed into thick and thin areas. Again, the nose for me seemed a bit soft. Don't get me wrong, the board held better than anyother board I've had, but it wasn't the "Yugo to Ferrari" comparison I've heard so much about on here. Anyways... That's my 6 days on the Madd 168 BX CB.