Salomon Super 8 2017 Review
The Salomon Super 8 is a wider board, that is made to be a mix between a hard charging all mountain board, and a surfy powder board.
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Features of the Salomon Super 8 2017
- Tapered Directional Shape
The width of the tail is tapered (compared to the nose/tip) by 10-15. Shapes like this make starting a turn easuer, and gives you more float in deep snow (because of the extra surface area of the wider nose). - Backseat Camber
There is camber under your back foot, with a flat section under your front foot. It is made to give you pop, control and good edge hold under your back foot, and the flat section at the front is made to help float in pow.
- Quadratic Sidecut
This sidecut is made up on a blend of elliptical curves, which is a fancy way of saying that it is designed to make starting turns easy, and keeping them smooth edge to edge. - Medium Flcx
Middle of the range flex, with enough strength to handle fast riding, but enough flex that you can flex the board without too much effort. - BiaxGlass
- Sintered Base
A sintered base is hard and fast, and does a good job at soaking up wax, to keep the board moving fast. - Popster
The core of the board has a profile that changes with thick and thin sections, to get a better snwp and more pop out of the board. - Ghost Basalt Stringer
There are two basalt stringers that run the length of the board, which give the board a more durable pop, control and help dampen the board (less vibrations) when you are riding fast. - Aspen SLCT
- Royal Rubber Pads
These are soft rubber blocks that in the high pressure zones of the ABS sidewalls, which help to dampen vibrations, and absorb bigger impacts. - Rocket Science
They are made to make the board more manouvarable and stable, by making the board wider, and shorter. - All Mountain Edge Bevel
The all mountain edge bevel means that the board comes with the tip and tail detuned, and a 1 degree base bevel on the board, which blends into a more forgiving 2 degree base bevel between your feet.
How it Rides
Board size: 157cm
Boots: ThirtyTwo TM-TWO
Bindings: Burton Cobrashark set with a 22.5″ stance width, at +15 and -9.
Camber Profile
This was the first time that I had ridden a board with this type of camber, and it was pretty nice. Overall it felt fairly close to a camber board. The camber under the back foot, and the flat section under the front foot gave a nice feel on the hardpacked groomers.
Flex and Pop
The medium flex gives you a good amount of pop for ollies, especially from the camber section under your back foot. Nollies, or regular ollies riding switch took much more work, but that is what you would expect from a flat section compared to camber.
Edge Hold
I rode the Super 8 early on a day where the snow was groomed, and quite hardpacked, it felt like a spring morning where everything had frozen overnight. Days like that are good for seeing how a board will hold an edge in bad/hard conditions, and the Super 8 did alright. I didn’t know what to expect from a mixed camber board like this, especially after riding the camber Ultimate Ride and Huck Knife.
It did a decent job at holding an edge, not as aggressive as a full camber board, but felt good the whole way through the turn.
Turns
Starting turns were nice and smooth, and it actually felt really good edge to edge, swapping edges was smooth and quick, even with the wider width of the board.
Speed
The Super 8 is quite solid at speed, it even felt alright riding at high speed with a flat base. It is not too much of a surprise that it feels solid, the camber and flat combination can deal with a lot of situations pretty well.
Overall
Overall the Salomon Super 8 was a decent board, that turns very nicely. I was only able to ride it in a hardpacked and icy conditions, but I can imagine that it would be a nice board in deep snow, which the backseat camber is made for. If you are someone who likes to ride fast all over the mountain, use your edges properly and ride in pow when you can get it, this would be a good board to try.
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Salomon Super 8 2017 Technical Specs
| Size (cm) | 151 | 154 | 157 | 160 | 163 |
| Waist Width (cm) | 25.4 | 25.8 | 26 | 26.4 | 26.6 |
| Min/Max Stance (cm) | 48.4 / 59.6 | 49.4 / 60.6 | 50.4 / 61.6 | 51.4 / 62.6 | 52.4 / 63.6 |
| Tail/Tip Width (cm) | 29.4 / 30.2 | 29.7 / 30.5 | 30 / 30.9 | 30.5 / 31.5 | 30.7 / 31.7 |
| Effective Edge (cm) | 112.5 | 114.5 | 117.5 | 120 | 122.5 |
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2016
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