Nitro Fintwin Review
The Nitro Fintwin is one of their Quiver lineup of board, and is a short, wideish surfy powder board. Not as crazy wide as the Pow, but still decent.
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Features of the Nitro Fintwin
Tapered Swallowtail
The taper (tapered part of the name) means that the nose of the Fintwin is wider than the tail, and the swallowtail looks a little like the tail of the bird, which means that the board has a longish edge, while the middle lets snow through to help it sink, while raising the nose.
Cam-Out Camber
Overall you can think of this just like regular or traditional camber, though it does get a bit toned down at the contact points, which makes it just a touch more forgiving, while still keeping all the good parts of a camber profile.
Mid-Wide Width
Most wide boards start at about 260mm or wider, and the mid wide width of the Fintwin is 258mm. Extra width for more surface area on the shorter size, and can also help handle riders with bigger boots.
All-Terrain Flex
This is Nitro’s name for their stiffer flexing boards, which I think is a better system than just giving things a certain number out of 10.
Progressive Sidecut
The progressive sidecut means that it is made up a couple of different radius circles (compared to a simple radial sidecut). It has a larger radius on the front of the board, that blends into a smaller one on the tail of the board. The larger section of the sidecut lets you start a turn smoothly, while the tighter one on the tail helps push you out a turn.
Powercore
A wood core made from poplar.
Standard Core Profile
Bi-lite Laminates
Two directions of fiberglass.
Sintered Speed Formula II Base
A fast sintered base material.
Climate Neutral Products
FSC Certified
100% Natural Speed Wax
How it Rides
Board size: 149cm
Boots: Salomon Launch Boa 27.5
Bindings: Salomon Highlander
I am 6 foot tall and weigh 155lbs – or 183cm tall and 70kg. I was riding this at Big White in BC Canada, on a nice day with plenty of fresh and fairly light snow.
I was riding with medium Salomon Highlander bindings, that I had set up with positive angles, of +21 and +9.
Camber Profile
I like the Cam-Out profile, it works well on all the Nitro boards I have ridden that use it. To me it rides pretty much just like a regular camber board, though it doesn’t or didn’t ever really feel catchy – though the soft conditions I was riding it in would have helped quite a lot.
Flex and Pop
Unlike a few of the other “fun” short boards that are wide and super soft, the Fintwin has quite a stiff flex, especially in the tail. That seems to help with a few things, one is that it makes the shorter length feel quite stable.
I was able to push hard in to the tail, and it will pop back nicely. There were also a few times where the snow was deeper than I thought, and I was leaning way too back in a big turn where the stiff tail was able to hold everything together for me, which saved me from washing out.
Edge Hold
The snow conditions were quite good, so it was hard to give a good test of the edge hold. I was able to get a hint of how well it would do on the packed and slippery ramps at the top of lifts, and at the bottom lift lines.
In the softer and packed snow of the groomed runs, the board cuts in easily, and had no issue while keeping a stable feel through all turns.
Turns
This is the section where I would expect a board like this to do well. In Nitro’s video they say that this is the best for powder in low angle trees, which is perfect or me as that is exactly what Big White has a lot of.
It does have the “surfy” feel that they claim, and it is very easy to make quick turns that feel like you are almost sitting on top of the snow (though not to the extent of the Yes 420).
Float
I can’t complain about the float that the Fintwin has. In the video you will see that the nose does seem to dip below the snow quite a bit, but it never felt like it was slowing me down, it did always have the feeling that it was trying to keep the nose up and out of the snow, even without really leaning back.
The faster you ride, the better it floats.
Speed
The Speed of the Fintwin was good, it didn’t slow down noticeably in any terrain I rode on, and the short and wide length did help me get through flatter areas that I know are hard to get to on regular or twin boards.
Overall
Overall the Nitro Fintwin does do everything it says it will – it floats well, has a surfy and easy to turn feel, is light and quite poppy.
Still, there was nothing that really stood out to me about it, nothing seemed really fun on the board – it did lots of things well, but not great.
I would choose the Nitro Squash over the Fintwin every single times. It floats well in powder, holds a very solid edge, and is just as good on firm conditions with solid groomers as it is on a powder day.
Similar boards:
Although the Tranny Finder and Stratos are both good at carving and floating, the wider width on the Korua does slow down the edge to edge speed a little, but lets you push it further over.
The Surfer is a slightly softer but more expensive option, and with its very spooned nose makes turning and floating even smoother than the Stratos. The extreme swallowtail means it floats very well, though you still have to justify the high price.
Overall this has the familiar Jones feel, but with a huge sidecut so this would be the better option if you are looking to ride much more powder, it has a much more specific job than the Stratos.
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Nitro Fintwin 2022 Technical Specs
| Length (cm) | Running Length (mm) | Setback (mm) | Waist Width (mm) | Sidecut (m) | Taper (mm) | Weight Range (kg) | Weight Range (lbs) |
| 149 | 1065 | 20 | 258 | 7.6/6.3 | 39 | 50+ | 110+ |
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