Never Summer Llama Review

The Never Summer Llama is a new Never Summer board, which replaces the Proto Slinger from the past couple of years. It is their softer, park and freestyle twin.

The biggest change is the camber profile. It now has the Recurve Triple Camber profile, which is a fancy version of traditional camber – where the older Proto Slinger had the rocker (overall) profile.

Before riding the Llama, there were a few things that I expected from the board:

• Good edge hold (standard for Never Summer)
• Better pop from the camber than their other hybrid boards
• A soft enough flex that isn’t hard to press

How the Never Summer Llama rides

My setup

Board: Never Summer Proto Llama 156cm

Bindings: Nitro Team Pro

These bindings are probably a little stiffer than a board like this needs, but its at the level of flex that I like riding.

Boots: Vans Infuse 9.5

I generally ride all boards with a stance width that is around about 21 1/2 to 22 inches wide. Most often the bindings are set up with the front foot on the narrowest set of inserts, and one set back on the rear foot.

Binding angles are +12 on the front foot, and -9 on the back foot.

I was keen to try this board, as it is sort of the evolution of the Funslinger, which turned into the Proto Slinger, now with camber into the Llama.

Testing conditions:

I was riding the Llama at Mt Buller in conditions from firm – to slushy. Pretty common conditions for Australia.

Profile

The Recurve Triple Camber profile does have the overall feel of a camber board. Cambered boards have quite good stability (when compared to a hybrid/rocker board of the same flex), pop and edge hold.

Flex

The board sits on the softer end of the flex of Never Summer boards – which they rate as a 4/10. Not so soft that it ever felt like it was hard work to keep it all together if you hit surprise bumps, but still easy enough to move around.

Turns & Edge Hold

The edge hold of the Llama is quite good. To me, the start of a turn feels like any other camber board, but through the middle of the turn the very grippy Never Summer feeling comes back, pretty similar to the feeling of their hybrid boards.

I wouldn’t say that I ever felt that the board felt “catchy”, it seems quite mellow and forgiving until you push it right through the turn.

Switch

Switch is fine – it is a twin board so there is nothing you could ever complain about.

Speed

The speed was never an issue on this board, it was a freshly waxed, with a sintered base so it should be good. Nothing to complain about.

Does it come in wide models?

The Llama comes in 3 wide models, but Never Summer have a slightly different naming convention for their boards. The wide models have an (X) in their name, so the 154X, 157X and 160X are their wides.

Overall

Overall, the Llama does a good job as a medium soft twin board. Not too much effort to press, but still with enough stability to keep it quite stable when you do ride faster.

I would put it in the group of “fun” boards, along with the other similar options like the Salomon Huck Knife and the Capita Defenders of Awesome.

I thought that it was pretty fun, if I was looking at buying a dedicated park board, this would be up there in the options.

Who would this board suit?

The Llama is going to suit anyone who wants a slightly playful twin board, that is still going to be quite solid outside of the park. Being a Never Summer, the build quality is very good, so you won’t have to baby it or be too precious with it.

If you are someone who wants a board and is going to spend more time on bigger jumps, then the Proto Type 3 or the T3 Ultra would probably be the better choice. Same camber profile, but stiffer flex for more stability.

Features of the Llama

Asymmetrical Twin Shape

It is a twin shaped board – which means that it will ride exactly the same switch as it does in your regular direction. The more unique feature is the asymmetrical sidecut, which means that the board has a smaller sidecut radius on the heelside of the board. The smaller radius is made to turn a bit quicker, with less effort on your heelside.

Because it is a twin, there is no “nose” of the board. The only thing that you need to get right when you are setting it up is to make sure you have the bindings set up with the heels of your bindings on the labeled heelside of the board.

Triple Camber Recurve

Overall a cambered profile, with three little camber sections inside of the big one.

Press Flex Wood Core Taper

The main thing that this core design has is two separate flex/hing points, which makes the board easier to press and flex.

Elastomeric Underfoot Stabilizers

These sit under the bindings, to absorb vibrations and add a bit of cushioning.

Harmonic Tip/Tail Damper

Helps to reduce vibrations though the tip and tail.

Full Wrap Metal Edge

The edges of the board wrap around the whole board.

Widths

Regular, wide

Co-Extruded Polymer Topsheet

A sort of textured, slightly grippier topsheet.

Durasurf XT Sintered 5501 Base

A proper sintered base

2×4 Mounting pattern

Standard mounting pattern like most boards.

Technical Specs of the Never Summer Llama

Size (cm)	Waist Width (mm)	Edge (cm)	Taper (mm)	Weight Range (lbs)	Weight Range (kg)
146	245	112	0	100-150	45-68
149	247	113	0	100-150	45-68
153	250	117	0	120-160	54-72
156	253	119	0	140-180	63-90
159	255	123	0	160-200+	72-90+
154X	258	117	0	140-180	54-82
157X	262	120	0	140-200+	63-90+
160X	264	123	0	160-200+	72-90+