~ My Take on The Never Summer Swift ~
Well, I normally don’t do a wrap on a product because firstly I’m not that good at conveying my thoughts into “Tech Talk Speak”, and secondly I like to leave the Gear Reviews up to the guys and gals that can really shred!!!!!
But out of respect for the awesome gift I got from Never Summer, I thought I’d give it a shot in the hope it might convince some of the crew to give one a go, cause straight up it’s not only a head turner in a world full of powder boards, it’s such a fun stick to ride!!!!!
Rider weight: 90kg
Board category: Powder Board
Board size: 157cm (My normal Freeride Board Length is 162)
Stance: Wide and Centered, 15, -15 Binders
Bindings: FLUX Team’s Large
Test location: Hokkaido, Japan
Snow conditions: From waist deep through to wind scoured marble
This is a self gratuitous edit of an intermediate old fart tryin to be a kid again!!!!!
WHAT I LIKED ABOUT IT:
I’ll be completely upfront and claim that I’m not a fan of CRC Profiles!!!!! I’ve had them in the past, and while they good in Powder, I’ve hated them on the groomers!!!!! With the Swift, I’m not sure whether its due to its back cambered section bein more underfoot, or just bein down to the whole shape of the board, but the Swift has opened my grey matter toward the CRC Profile bein worthy of a place in the quiver for sure!!!!!
From the moment you see this board it invokes the inner child in you!!!!! It just straight up looks like fun, and when you pick it up it just feels fun to hold!!!!! A great indicator from the start!!!!!
- The graphics on Deck are awesome!!!!!
- It rode fast, and floated over anything!!!!! One the fastest bases I’ve had on a board yet?????
- Flex was on the mid/stiff side, but it was still forgiving and playful!!!!! (This could’ve been due to me downsizing to the 157 though)
- Great for holding an edge when laying down those turns when it’s soft, but did notice a lack of hold when it came to the bullet proof ice, but completely expected that anyways!!!!!
- Stiff enough to bomb runs, even though it was smaller than I’d normally ride, and even with the CRC profile!!!!!
- I was blown away by how much this powder board felt at ease on the groomers!!!!!
- A board like this is a real confidence builder while still providing excellent performance, cause it was just straight up FUN!!!!!
- Definitely a board I would buy again and again!!!!! I’d really love to upsize and see what difference the big fella does!!!!!
- The “Carbonium” top sheet!!!!! whilst it’s no good for stickers, those that need/like/want to use a stomp pad can put them in the past, cause the top sheet is super grippy without one, and looks kinda sweet as a point of difference to the rest of the gang on the hill!!!!!
- The base is super tough!!!!! Hit a stump that superman launched me 10 feet into the air, and was positive there would’ve been a virgin war wound in the guise of a gouge the size of the Grand Canyon in the nose of the base, but I honestly can’t even tell where the impact hit!!!!! Maybe it’ll be one of those Wile E Coyote moments, and the board will just fall into two perfect pieces in my hand the next time I go to wax up?????
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE ABOUT IT:
- This will be a contentious issue, and at the end of the day have no impact on how good this board performs, I’m not a fan of the graphics on the base, nor the white colour!!!!! White just gets dirty so easy!!!!!
- While I’m a fan of the metal nose/tail protectors, I just don’t know how they’ll end up in a decent hit????? (Fortunately I didn’t get to test this!!!!!)
@Mizu Kuma Nice Mizu! I really like to ride this to compare it with my Fish. I love me some Fish, wondered how different or similar this will be. You can send it to Indo if you ever wanna get rid of it, I’ll gladly take it hahah :D
@Mizu Kuma Nice Mizu! I really like to ride this to compare it with my Fish. I love me some Fish, wondered how different or similar this will be. You can send it to Indo if you ever wanna get rid of it, I’ll gladly take it hahah :D
Hahahahaaa, cheers @skip11!!!!!
I think it’ll be better for you to send me your Fish so I can test it out in Japan next year!!!!!
I’ll even do a Review Comparison for ya!!!!! 
Nice review Mizu it definitely looks like a great boards wish it was wider for my size 13 boots, I do ride a Never Summer SL Split. Anyway how did you like the Flux Team bindings as I would like to try some however am bit worried about the stiffness of the Team and also the shock absorption as I believe there is minimal baseplate padding was this an issue and last thing how were the toe straps did they ever come loose.
Hey @Nigel Neubauer, the Swift certainly is a fun board!!!!! I reckon the 162 would be wide enough for US13’s!!!!!
The Flux Teams are straight up an awesome binding!!!!! Super responsive with just enough lateral flex to play in the powder!!!!! I had the stabilisers in, so they’d have even a touch more lateral flex without!!!!!
Nice review, @Mizu Kuma. I was wondering what board that was in the vid you posted. It really looked like you were flying on it.
Cheers!!!!! @Mudhoney
You gotta get yaself a designated pow stick for your next os trip!!!!! So much fun!!!!!
Cheers!!!!! @Mudhoney
You gotta get yaself a designated pow stick for your next os trip!!!!! So much fun!!!!!
Yeah it’s on my list for sure. Do you travel with just one stick or do you take a quiver? Snow travel expo is coming up in a few weeks - see if we get another rush of blood this time around!
I took both my Arbor Shreddy Krueger, and the Swift to Japan this time round!!!!!
I like the Shreddy in the sugary stuff we get at home, and as you’d find in Canada, but the Swift in the light dry Japow was a perfect match!!!!!
I reckon the Jones Stormchaser would be an epic ride for Japan!!!!!
I’ve already got another Japan stint in the pipeline as we speak!!!!! ?