The Official Burton Thread

[scrub]

I have a love/hate relationship with my Deep Thinker, I wear a size 9 boot and chose to size down to the 154. It is the board I choose for razzing around the resort when I know I won't be in the trees and it will be busy with tracked out snow.

[McK21]

I always thought that downsizing the deep thinker will give a better feeling, but that's not what I'm looking for in that kind of snowboards.

[scrub]

I rode my skeleton key for the first time this season, I love that board and how well it turns for being as soft as it is.

I hope to get my new (to me) stun gun out this week now that our coverage is better.

[SJF_NH]

Love/hate for the Deep Thinker for me as well. I had the late release version, black top sheet with the stick figure guys on it done by a famous artist that died (I forget the guy's name). That board for me was too stiff by half, and I say that as a person that likes stiff boards. It was an absolute missile in pow though. I've heard from the Burton guys that the current Deep Thinker (made in China I believe) is quite a bit softer than in previous years.

[SJF_NH]

Regarding the Skeleton Key, I have the 22nd of the first 25 Burton SKs built, the year before it went into regular production (made by a guy named "Thunder" in Burlington). I haven't been on it in several years but @scrub reminded me how fun it is, so I'll need to take it out again for a spin soon. Nothing better for slashing tight trees and just having fun, it also has surprisingly good edge hold (for a Burton).

[bboytommy]

I rode my skeleton key for the first time this season, I love that board and how well it turns for being as soft as it is.

I hope to get my new (to me) stun gun out this week now that our coverage is better.

I became a huge fan of the Skeleton Key within the first five turns of riding it last season in Niseko. Agree with you that it turns so well and the flex is perfect IMO.

Picked up the Skeleton Key XX during Burton's massive summer sale so am itching for more snow to see how its stiffer flex and methalon base compares.

I rode the Stun Gun in Baldface in December. Super floaty with that nose and overall fun ride!

[scrub]

I rode the Stun Gun on perfect groomers yesterday, it was sooooo fun! I’ll be torn between it and my 2014 Land Lord when we go Cat Skiing in Whistler.

[bboytommy]

A review of 23-24 Free Thinker: Much Different than kimchi's experience.

Got it straight outta the plastic and onto the snow yesterday in Tahoe. The one alignment between our reviews is that thing was FASSSTF.

Initial Impressions
My main concern before buying the board was whether it was going to be too stiff for me considering how much I love the flex and mellow turns on the Skeleton Key. Right after strapping in, it felt on stiffer side of medium which gave me immediate pause.... I got going and boy this thing rails and just holds its edge across the fall line! I was constantly looking back on my turns and couldn't believe the thin line it drew across the entire empty run—even when I thought I'd skidded a bit.

The Sidecut and Camber
It's incredibly nimble and quick edge to edge! And the camber just slings you through the entire turn! So much so that I found myself applying more toe/heel pressure to slow the rocket ship entering and exiting turns. I love riding switch—to the point where I've mounted bindings on the skeleton key to ride switch for an entire week—and this bad boy of course handles switch perfectly.

The Park
I took a few laps through the only park opened. Handled the rails and boxes great. Gapped an entire box once because again, it's FAST. It also tracks super cleanly into side hits, so its reputation for a jump leaning board is evident. And lastly, the final exam question: can it press and butter? Yes, with extra pop! Again, I was worried the stiff flex would make it too burly for my beloved presses, but the tips are a lot more playful than I thought! Felt great to have that camber feedback while pressing, and that SNAP and POP out. I had a few sloppy butter to 180 out and to my surprise the board had a good margin of error with the edges not catching.

Fine Tuning
It is a little twitchy starting from a complete stop sometimes. Like it's overly responsive when pressing "Go". And I felt my Malavitas had more forward lean than necessary riding it, because it gets on edge so quickly. I'll have to dial these things in.

What's next
I still think a twin Skeleton Key 150 would beat it out for my daily driver haha. But I'm defaulting to the FT for now, and will see if I can fine tune the small things—none of which took away from the experience. Overall, it's a much different ride than the rest of my quiver, and its assertiveness is bringing out a different type of rider in me, in a refreshing and interesting way.

[YukonCornelius]

funny how we all seem to have a love/hate with the DT, hoping after my tune and base grind it's a little more predictable on edge.

i ended up riding my uninc 160 baby cougar on monday in a storm, and that thing still has pop for absolute days.

probably will be back on my transition finder for daily duty until i pick up something more freestyle/twin oriented...

nice to hear that review on the FT though!

[kimchi]

Fine Tuning
[Free Thinker] is a little twitchy starting from a complete stop sometimes. Like it's overly responsive when pressing "Go".

I feel this way about my Aeronaut. Aggressive and twitchy getting rolling from cold start, but I'm fine once I get even a little bit of pace.

You're tempting me mess with the FT one more time before ditching it. I rode it like 3k feet of vert on 2 runs, and didn't really experiment to dial things in. I just really wanted to get back on the Aeronaut lol. I tried a completely new stance (+18 / -3 to +12 / -12), and I have a sneaking suspicion I didn't center my boots properly.