Never Summer Shaper Twin

Never Summer Shaper Twin Snowboard Review

The Never Summer Shaper Twin, or just Shaper is a pretty unique board, as it is twin from tip to tail, but has a directional camber profile, as well as taper. No other boards come to mind as having a weird combination of features like this one, but I was pretty impressed overall in how fun this board was. (Now replaced/changed names to the Shapeshifter).

How the Never Summer Shaper Twin Rides

My setup

Bindings: Burton Cartel X

Boots: Vans Infuse

I generally run a similar setup on all the boards that I test out, and this one was pretty standard. +12 on the front foot, -9 on the back with a narrowish stance width that is normally around 21 1/2 inches.

Testing conditions:

I was riding the Never Summer Shaper Twin at Mt Hotham in Victoria, Australia, in spring conditions. Quite firm and fast snow in the mornings, that turned slushy in the afternoon.

Profile

I’ve ridden the Fusion Rocker Camber profile on the Harpoon and the Swift, so I was already pretty familiar with how it felt. It isn’t an overly agressive profile, so you aren’t forced to ride it hard, though it has potential there if you do want to.

Flex

The Shaper Twin would have what I call is at least a medium flex overall, but I did feel like the tail was stiffer. The more aggressive camber section in the tail was probably helping, but I noticed when I was switch trying to spin cab, it always popped me a bit higher than I expected.

Overall the flex is very solid, and it reminded me of the feel of the Proto Synthesis at high speed. There is enough strength in the board that makes it smash through chopped up snow easily, and you can just sort of rest on the board knowing it will do the work for you.

Turns & Edge Hold

Turning the Shaper is great. Smooth and quick edge to edge even though it is wide. Easy to start a turn with the big cruisy nose, taper seems to speed the whole thing up and the stronger camber in the tail wants to push you nicely out of the end of the turn.

Like all Never Summer boards that I have ridden, this has very strong edge hold. I am guessing that it is mainly thanks to the combination of the hybrid profile and the sidecut, but however it is doing it, it works.

I find it to be grippy all around, but especially strong in the middle of a turn, where it almost feels like you couldn’t make the board slip out even if you tried.

Speed

This was a freshly waxed board, so I didn’t have any issues keeping my speed up, even on flat sections and boring cat tracks.

Who would this board suit?

Really I think that this is one of the Never Summer boards that almost everyone would find fun, even though it doesn’t have the name or reputation (yet) of boards like the Proto Synthesis. Twin in length for the people that are still scared of riding an actual directional board, but with almost all the benefits. On top of that there is the Blower Stance option to set your bindings way back if you do get a big powder day, which just makes it a little more useful.

Does it come in wide models?

There aren’t any X (Never Summers name for wide boards) in the Shaper, but the three regular options are what you would call wide boards anyway. Even the smallest 153cm has a waist width of 260mm, so even with big boots the board will ride well.

Similar Boards

Never Summer Harpoon

This is the only board that I would say is sort of similar to the Shaper. To me the Shaper is a toned down Harpoon, with a much less full on shape, but the same overall set of features. If you want a more regular looking board, go for the Shaper, if you want to take everything up a notch, the Harpoon.

Features of the Never Summer Shaper Twin

Sizes Available:

• 153cm
• 156cm
• 159cm

Technical Specs of the Never Summer Shaper Twin

Size (cm)	Waist Width (mm)	Edge (cm)	Sidecut	Taper (mm)	Nose/Tail (mm)
153	260	116	Vario 783	10	310/300
156	262	118	Vario 812	10	311/301
159	262	118	Vario 824	10	313/303