Never Summer Legacy R Wide Snowboard Review

New or Revised

Snowboards - Snowboard Reviews

0.0 (0)

Legacy-11.12-Wht_101x550 Legacy-11.12.base_116x550

$499
Intermediate to Expert All Mountain
Hybrid Rocker Twin Like Directional shape
Good Ride Favorite!
The Never Summer Legacy is the wide version of the SL R and is one of their most popular boards. There are still only a few companies out there right now that understand how to make a solid all mountain hybrid rocker board and the Legacy is one of them. The Never Summer SL-R also is pretty stable at high speeds which is uncharacteristic for most hybrid rocker boards. For 2011 they have made the SL more damp and reduced the squirly feel when flat basing on hard pack. The 2012 model is almost identical to the 2011 model. It seems that other than the graphics the only change we noticed is the SL is slightly better one footing and flat basing in hard pack than the 2011. This is one of our favorite all mountain hybrid rocker snowboards. Read the rest of this review below.

How It Rides
Groomers	Excellent	Speed	Good	Flex	Medium	Rails/ Jibbing	Average
Powder	Good	Weight	Medium	Carving	Good	Pipe	Good
Turn Initiation	Easy	Edge Hold	Good	Switch	Good	Jumps	Good

Compare Prices & Buyer Reviews

Powdertools.com Never Summer Legacy Snowboard \| Men's...	$509.95	Check Availability
Christy Sports Never Summer Legacy Snowboard \| Men's...	$509.95	Check Availability
evo Never Summer Legacy (Black) Snowboard 2012...	$407.99	Check Availability
evo Never Summer Legacy (White) Snowboard 2012...	$407.99	Check Availability

The Good Ride Take

Never Summer Legacy Review By The Good Ride

This is the review of the Never Summer SL snowboard which is the narrow version of the Legacy. They are exactly the same board so this should help.

Boards Tried- 158 & 161 Thanks to Never Summer and also to P3 in Mammoth
Days on the SL- 20+
Bindings Used- Burton Diode Burton C02, Burton C60, Burton P1's and Flux SF 45.

Never Summer has made a big leap the last few years from a cultish small following to a more main stream line. Now more than just CO people are beginning to understand the well built reliability that Never Summer offers. The Never Summer SL-R is a great choice for a hybrid rocker all mountain board and one of our favorites. We took this twinish shaped board in powder, groomers, trees, the park and steeps. The SL-R handled everything better than we could of imagined for a hybrid rocker board and great for any kind of all mountain board.

Groomers- We were really were surprised at how well this board held up on groomers at high speed. One of the surprises is that for a reverse cambered board it held well on a hard carving turn. The SL-R is really fun when the conditions are good but the true test is when there is firm or even hard snow. Again we were surprised with its performance on the less than ideal conditions. On one day the SL-R held it's edge well on a steep icy entry and then was a pleasure to turn when it turned into firm to hard pack down the run. This is one of the longest steepest groomed runs on our mountain so it was a great test. We experienced a lot less of the squirrely feel that some rocker and camber boards have when the SLR was flat based. That might be our only complaint.

Turn Initiation- Very easy to turn but it still has that traditional snowboard feeling when it comes to edge grip. It's not like a skate board as some rockered boards are. After you initiate the turn the SL-R hangs in there if you want to carve a big turn. Bending the tail back down a bit with the rocker camber shape helps you keep from washing out through the course of turn. Usually you would wash out on a rockered board trying to turn like we did. The one thing we noticed was the SL-R seemed to be a little washy when making a skidded turn. It still doesn't have the same feeling like a cambered board but it solved the rocker turning issue. It's pretty easy to get this board from one edge to another in any condition but gives just enough resistance to make you work just a little bit for it. This is what we like more than the super easy turn-ability of other boards. If they are too responsive then they take the fun out of turning. We would say that the turn initiation would be border line excellent.

Powder- There are so few powder days in a season so it's hard to understand how a board will perform when it gets deep. We had many days with not much over a foot but finally had some deep days this year. The float is very effortless and easy for a board of it's shape and size. It's no powder board but you wouldn't of expected a ride like this from a board like this before reverse camber.

Speed- The Never Summer SL-R is pretty stiff compared to most boards in the All Mountain category. Straight Lining this board was pretty easy and there was minimum chatter from the rockered nose and tail. We expected more chatter and we were pleasantly surprised.

Weight- The Never Summer SL-R is on the heavy side like all Never Summer boards. However they are one of the only companies that have a 3 year warranty so it's worth a little extra pressure on your leg when riding the chair.

Edge Hold- We were also really surprised with the edge hold of the SL-R. The SL did hold a edge at slow speeds quite well but without sacrificing high speed performance. It had the ability to hold an edge on hard pack days. It wouldn't be ideal for the ice coast but will do well in most conditions sane people consider worth riding in.

Stiffness- More stiff than your average all mountain board but still playful.

Jibbing- Usually stiff boards aren't that fun to Jib but the SL-R conquers that with their rocker & camber tech. Their are better boards for jibbing but for an all mountain board this rocks.

Switch- This is a twinish board but not a twin. The contact of the nose and tail is minimal and that helps the SL ride better switch than a cambered version. There is still a difference between regular and switch but you get use to it over time.

Rails and Boxes- The SL does a good job. The Never summer Evo-R is a better choice for rails and boxes but this will be fun if you hit them on occasion.

Pipe- It has enough edge hold and speed to climb a 22ft pipe but at the same time the hybrid rocker shape will help you land when you come back down. At the end of the season we love to lap the half pipe all day and this is a good board to do it with.
Jumps- It's fun to hit jumps with the SL-R. Really fun! Some people still love a cambered board when landing the mid to large jumps but we are seeing more people on hybrid camber boards like the SL-R.

The Good Ride Take on Hybrid Rocker Snowboards

This is what we call a snowboard that has rocker in the center and then a camber bend at the tip and tail. The end result is the tip and tail are still off the ground but it helps bring some good qualities that people liked with camber to rocker. The camber usually keep’s the board from washing out when you lay into a harder carve and for the most part provide a more balanced all conditions ride compared to continuous rocker or camber. This is still nothing like camber board and it provides a loose forgiving catch free ride. Hybrid Rocker comes in all riding styles from Freestyle to Freeride and is a solid next step from where it started with continuous rocker. Hybrid Rocker is usually pretty poppy, floats well in powder, catch free and very forgiving. The one complaint is it can still be unstable flat basing or one footing in some conditions like hard pack or ice. The major companies are working on this problem and it’s been getting better since this was introduced. Most love this loose feeling and get use to the squirrely nature in certain conditions. We at The Good Ride feel this is one of the better shapes out there so give it a try.