Bataleon Party Wave Snowboard Review

Bataleon Party Wave Review

The Bataleon Party Wave is a short, wide, soft and playful board with their highest level of 3bt base shaping.

How it Rides

Board size: 151cm

I am 6 foot tall and weigh 155lbs – or 183cm tall and 70kg. For almost all directional boards that I rode this season, I had been riding with positive positive angles, which I was really getting used to and feel like it helps me get more out of the boards. This one wasn’t extreme angles, with my front foot at +12 and my back at +9.

I was riding with a slightly narrower stance – I have the back foot set on the recommended position, and the front foot on the narrowest set of inserts. Although I was riding on a nice powder day, I took a guess and figured that I wouldn’t need to set a board like this back to float – which turned out to be fine.

I was riding the 151cm model, and at my weight puts me towards the lower end of the weight range. Although I would fit into the weight range of the 148, I rode the Lobster Aaron Schwartz in that size and didn’t like it as much, so it seems the larger size works out better for me.

The official description says that you can ride this board 5-10cm shorter than normal, which put the 151 in the right range for me.

Snow conditions were great, with plenty of fresh snow falling overnight, giving a great chance to test the float on some untracked runs.

Buy from evo

Buy from Buckmans

Camber Profile

I was not expecting much from the profile comparing it to the Lobster, but even for a mellow option, the camber was easily visible on the Party Wave. The more that you look at the board, the crazier it gets with the extreme 3bt and sidekick up on the nose of the board.

Flex and Pop

Although they have the same flex rating on paper, I found that the Party Wave had more pop than I expected, when compared to the Lobster. Although the tail is fairly short and still fairly soft, it would push back decently when flexed, so ollies were slightly better than I expected.

Edge Hold

The edge hold seemed fairly good, though the snow conditions when I was riding was not the hardest test. Soft snow and packed powder on the groomed runs make any board seem good. The wide width did make it easy to get your weight way over the edge while keeping the boots way out of the way, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it does well in hardpacked snow as well.

Turns

It is pretty common in all Bataleon boards (and other brands with 3d base shaping) to have smooth and easy turns, and this was no exception. The giant boaty nose seems to cancel out a little bit of the super wide width, so swaping edges is quite easy. The sidecut is fairly big though, so it wants to make big sweeping turns if you keep the edges locked in.

That isn’t to say you can’t make quick and washy turns, the 3bt makes that very easy.

Float

Like you would expect, it does a great job at floating in snow. The super wide width, big sidecut and large amount of 3bt take all the work out of riding in deep snow. I was easily able to get to more difficult terrain, where sometimes you might have to unstrap and hike a little on a regular board if you aren’t carrying enough speed.

While I didn’t have such an aggressive feel of being pushed up on out of the snow like the Yes Powderhull, it never feels like it wants to sink, even if the nose is disappearing under the snow.

The shorter overall length and small tail did make is very quick and easy to manoeuvre in tight trees, so you can ride faster than normal and feel comfortable that you can make a last minute turn without a problem.

Speed

I had just waxed the board before taking it out, and although it was just an extruded base, it seemed to do fine. I would guess that the speed gains and help getting to difficult terrain was mainly due to the wide width keeping me up on the snow, rather than the base helping – but I can’t know for sure. On groomed runs it just felt like I was riding at a regular speed.

Switch

I barely rode switch, not that this board is designed for it or there is any real need to.

Overall

Overall the Party Wave does really well in deep snow. It is a fun surfy ride, with all the float you would need. The softer flex is fine in the soft and untracked snow, though once it gets chopped up it does become harder as it does buck you around a little.

Boards like they aren’t my personal choice for riding in any conditions other than powder, though they are for a lot of people. The couple of weaknesses that I think the board has (softer flex and base material) are handled by the new Party Wave+.

It costs a bit more, but you get a better stiffer core, extra carbon as well as a sintered base.

Pros:

Cheap
Great float in powder

Cons

Basic extruded base
Softer flex become hard work once you start riding a bit harder

Similar boards:

Features of the Bataleon Party Wave

4/10 Flex

A medium soft flex, easy enough to push around without much effort.

Tapered Directional Outline

A quick look at the board gives you a good idea of what this board will be good at – it is directional, with a setback stance and around about 20mm of taper, which means that the tail is narrower than the nose.

Freeride 3BT

The base shaping of Freeride 3BT means that it has a thin centre base, with the lifted sidebase being quite large. The nose has a ton of shape (high uplift), and if you look at it straight on, it looks like the hull of a boat. The tail has low uplift, so although there is still quite a bot of shape to it, it isn’t lifted nearly as high as the nose is.

Sidekick

The Sidekick is the extra lift at the widest part of the nose and tail – it is aimed at making the start of a turn smoother and helping with the float in powder somehow.

Mellow Camber

Just like the name describes, it does have a small amount of camber. Though compared to other boards that I have ridden that have the same mellow camber feature like the Magic Carpet, this one had noticeably more. Although the Bataleon Party Wave I rode wasn’t brand new, it had still been ridden quite a bit, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the camber did disappear a little more as it breaks in.

Biax Glassing

Two directions of fiberglass, which mean that the board still has a little bit of a snappy feel, while still keeping it fairly soft torsionally – when you twist it.

Pop Core

A simple and cheap core, that is made from poplar wood.

Super Slick X

An extruded base – although Bataleon say that it is the densest you can get, it is still extruded. The easy way to work out what the base is on Bataleon boards it the last letter, for example the Super Slick X means that it is eXtruded, while the Ultra Glide S is sintered.

Flip Flop Base

This is just a nice way to save on base materials and reduce waste. Every second board will have the opposite colours on the base. Unless you are buying it in a shop that has both options, you probably won’t get a choice in which version you get.

Sizes available:

145cm
148cm
151cm
154cm
157cm

Buy from evo

Buy from Buckmans

Bataleon Party Wave Technical Specs

Length	Effective Edge (mm)	Setback (mm)	Waist Width (mm)	Sidecut (m)	Taper (mm)	Weight Range (kg)
145	1122	10	270	8.6	20	57-69
148	1115	10	278	8.7	20	61-73
151	1143	10	279	8.8	21	66-83
154	1171	10	280	8.9	20	71-88
157	1199	10	281	9.0	21	77-94