The Burton Barracuda Snowboard Review from The Good Ride
Size 161
Days-1
Bindings- Burton Cartel EST
Riders- 5'10" Size 9 Shoe 195lbs
Burton makes a lot of boards and sometimes we feel they could do better if they work harder on one board for one particular riding style than make many different boards in the same riding style. The Barracuda is a nice combo of the Burton Supermodel and Burton Malolo. We felt the Supermodel needed a hybrid camber upgrade to make powder riding a little more effortless but if it did it would be very similar to the Malolo. So we liked that Burton brought these 2 boards into one and created many sizing options.
Groomers- The Barracuda is made for 2 things. Powder and Morning Groomers. Of course it does an excellent job at both for a tapered freeride board. As the day gets worse and a little choppy the Burton Barracuda is soft enough to not cause any trouble when making turns through rutted up snow. The bigger board size isn't ideal for this but the softer flex and easy turn initiation makes it really good for a board of this size.
Powder- You get about one of the best directional rides you can in powder. The side, tapered tail, wide nose, and hybrid camber make for an effortless powder ride. The Barracuda can handle just about any depth of snow and the bigger sizes are ideal for people who ride in deep thick snow.
Turn Initiation- The ride with a tapered board is very different than a board that has the same nose and tail width. There is a much more surfy feel that is more off the back foot and it's a lot easier to turn compared to boards that aren't. There is also a pretty big setback so that means the ride is much more off the tail like we said before so it's not for everyone. If you like a surfy kind of turn initiation then this might be a great call. It's very easy to slash and negotiate trees.
Speed- The Barracuda isn't a bomber board but it is far from slow. This will be comfortable with most speeds but if you are into bombing everything then there are better boards out there.
Weight- The Barracuda comes in big sizes so you might not think it's terribly light but its lighter than most boards it's size.
Carving- So if you are into carving out a turn this is pretty fun. Like all tapered boards the Barracuda can wash out on harder pack if you carve like you would on a board with the same nose and tail width. However in better conditions this can carve with the best of them. You just have to lean into the carve a different way and it will be fun. For us the Barracuda was really fun when it came to laying into a nipple scratching carve as long as the conditions are good.
Edge Hold- The added edge hold from their frostbite tech helps when it comes to a tapered board. We feel this is good tech when it comes to hybrid camber boards like this.
Flex- The Barracuda has a flex that is on the softer side of medium and is like a slightly softer flex than the Burton Custom.
Jumps- The mini camber in the tail makes for a little more spring off natural terrain and much easier to create your own air. It isn't for taking off switch in the park but it will be perfect for a method off a rock or cliff drop.
Switch- Not ideal switch. It can be done but it's just not easy.
Pipe- The Barracuda ain't for the pipe. We didn't even try it.
Rails and Jibbing- It's soft enough to be ok on rails but the size and shape aren't good for the jib park.
All in all the Barracuda will make for a good freeride board that people of most ability levels will enjoy. It's a fun and relatively forgiving ride.
The Good Ride Take on Burton's S-Rocker
As you can see from the S-Rocker image from Burton there is a smaller camber in the back and S-Rocker after the front binding. This to us is another form of hybrid camber but we are splitting hairs here. This works very well with any Powder or freeride board and delivers a little more pop off the back tail.
The Good Ride Take on Burton
Burton is huge. They have developed or acquired most of the technology that we use today. Burton is one of the only companies that can provide you with everything you need to snowboard from boards to beanies. Burton even owns arguably the best surfboard company Channel Islands because Jake likes to surf. They are like the Yankees of snowboarding because they can always outspend their competition to win.
The positives- Burton provides more products for each gear/clothing/accessory category than any other company. Burton has possibly the best customer service in the snowboarding industry. Burton continuously spends more money than almost any company to develop new tech or just make what they have better. Burton sponsors more pro’s and get’s more high level user feed back than any other company. They have some of the best boots, bindings and boards in the industry. They also have great clothing.
The Negatives- Because Burton spends so much money on sponsorship and tech they have to pass this cost along to the products they sell. They relentlessly continue to jack up the prices every year. You are almost always going to get a good product from Burton’s higher end line but some mid to low level products don’t stack up to the competition in the same price range. Burton always tries to make proprietary tech like the channel tech and 3 hole binding tech so you can only ride Burton Gear which sucks! We wish they wouldn’t act like the Microsoft of snowboarding.
The bottom line is Burton is the 800lb patriarch of our industry that makes good stuff and backs it up with good customer service. The snowboarding world owes soo much to them but at the same time they can be very frustrating when it comes to price and proprietary technology.
Burton Barracuda 2012
Burton
BARRACUDA
Start a freeride feeding frenzy.
Four-wheel drive for front, side, and backcountry, the NEW Barracuda is a hybrid of freeride engineering. A slightly tapered shape and directional flex combine with S-Rocker™ to create a floater that goes up, over, and through anything. Steep lines to fresh pillows and the sketchy traverses in between, its speedy ride preserves stability and provides critical edge control for slicing up everything from blower to bulletproof.
Features
+ Gondola Package
+ The Channel
+ BEND: S-Rocker
+ SHAPE: Directional [15MM Taper]
+ FLEX: Directional
+ CORE: Super Fly II™ with Dualzone™ EGD™
+ FIBERGLASS: Triax™ Fiberglass with Carbon I-Beam™
+ BASE: Sintered WFO
+ SIDEWALLS: 10:45™
+ EXTRAS: Frostbite Edges, Pro-Tip™, and Infinite Ride™
+ Downsize 2 to 3cm From Normal Board Length
Sizes:
149cm (243 WW)
153cm (248 WW)
157cm (252 WW)
161cm (255 WW)
165cm (257 WW)
169cm (259 WW)
Feel: 5
