Hey guys and welcome to my review of the Ride Warpig. I’ve been riding this board for the last 3 months of the 2019 winter season here in Alpe d’Huez as well as using it over the summer up at the Glacier in 2Alpes.
So, yes, it is last years model but I can tell you absolutely NOTHING has changed for the 19/20 model apart from the graphic. Here’s my quick thoughts on the board, keep on reading for a more in depth review.
Piste - 5/5
Park - 4/5
Powder - 4/5
Click here to see it in the US, UK or France.
The Ride Warpig is one of these volume shifted boards whereby you size down around 5-10cms shorter than your usual board. The general sales tag being that you end up with a more fun board that is more nimble in tight spots, spins better, yet also has the same surface area of a larger board and therefore the same float in powder. I’ll get into this later. Sounds great, but ultimately the thing that really attracted me to this board was the waist width. This board is wide, like, really wide. I have size 11UK feet so have always had to buy wide boards. If you have big feet and your board is not wide enough you will get toe and heel drag in the snow, causing you to fall, when the board is tilted at a high edge angle. Carving aggressively or riding something really steep are the scenarios when this happens. So if you are a beginner you probably won’t notice this, but as soon as you’re a good rider, having a board too narrow sucks. Now most wide boards, if you check the spec sheet, have a width of about 260mm which tend to be only a few mm wider than the standard issue board. Whereas the Ride Warpig (in 154cm or L) has a waist width of 270mm. Sweet, so in my head this translated to catch free hard carving on a board that should work all over the mountain.
As I mentioned I took the Large size which is a 154cm. I’m, 6 foot 2, weigh about 90kgs and have UK11 feet. I was pretty apprehensive about ordering a board this short as I’ve always ridden at least 159cm boards, I had a 162 one season as my go to board. I was also looking for one board to do everything, slay the piste, park, and powder. But I also needed something that could be ridden switch as when I’m teaching I may spend the whole lesson riding switch if my clients are goofy. And also, whilst I tried my best at getting a freebie, Ride didn’t budge so I ended up buying it.
So lets take a run down the mountain and I will let you know how this board performs in all conditions. We’ll begin with general piste performance. This board has a really fun sidecut, it just loves to play around and make quick short radius turns on steeper pistes, whilst on mellower slopes it happily carves big arcs. I don’t know what Ride have done but this board seems to manage to do any turn shape and size with ease. Coming from a cambered board it took me a couple of runs to get used to the flat base, but once you make the adjustments you don’t really notice the difference. I don’t notice any lack in pop or spring out of turns, however it would be interesting to try the Super Pig which has camber added into the mix. You can feel the slightly stiffer tail working hard at the end of the turns, it really loads up the pressure built through the turn and lets you pop into your next turn. Honestly the amount of times I find myself popping little ollies at edge changes is just a testament to how fun this board is. It just wants to play.
One area where I was worried about this board is how it would work at high speeds, would it be stable? The answer is yes, I can charge this board really hard, I’ve ridden the Burton Nug before and I hated riding that thing fast, but this is no problem at all. Moving onto Carving now, and as I said this is where I had high expectations for this board. Due to its width I was planning on railing hard carves without digging my heels or toes in the snow. Again, success, this board carves super well, it is stable enough it doesn’t wash out, but also has enough flex through it that you can easily manipulate arc size and shape. I was Euro Carving this board so much I tore through the elbow on my Jacket after 1 week.
Ok, so as I imagine riding this thing across all conditions let me take you into the Powder. First thing, this is the best 154 I have ever ridden in powder and you can ride powder on it, but it just has a very different feel to it than a traditional powder board. Your standard Powder board will have a big nose which lifts you up over the snow and then you will follow that line in smooth arcs, whilst often having a short or swallow tail at the back to help keep the nose afloat. The analogy I would use is almost like a catamaran slicing through the water. You have to be good rider to make it work but when you do it is very satisfying. The WarPig floats but not in the same way, I guess it is more of a hovercraft, it stays on top of the snow but is a bit more skittish and doesn’t make the same smooth arcs in the snow. Rather it wants you to use that width under your feet and pop ollies out of the snow, or slash the pow rather than carve through it. This is no bad thing, just don’t expect it to ride the same way in powder as your 162 powder stick. Its just different, not bad.
Next we go into the park. Yes this thing kills it in the park, really stable on boxes and rails, and loves to jump. Just click here for proof. If you spend more time in the snow dome then you’ll probably be more into the twin pig.
What else? Chunder, yeah it handles it. Moguls? Its short length is really helpful here. Ice? not the best but not bad. Magnetraction gives you better hold in bad icy conditions but then can be grabby in powder and also I find doesn’t offer a nice smooth carve when the groomers are in good condition. All in all this is just a really fun board and for me has become my daily board. Whether I’m taking a lesson or charging hard, I can do it all on this. One thing I will say is that its probably not the best beginner board. Often you hear people say that wide boards are slow edge to edge. This is only really the case if YOU are slow edge to edge, what I mean by this is that if you are having trouble making turns and changing edge than this board won’t make it any easier. However if you can already ride then you won’t really notice the added width. The only time I noticed it was when I was demonstrating a beginner his first turn. As the board is wider it requires a bigger lateral move across the board to transition from edge to edge.
So in summary this is a super fun board that I fully recommend. It really can do everything, and it has a really unique feel to it. So whilst it can ride powder its not really worth comparing it directly to a powder board. If like me you have big feet then this trend to short wide boards will have suddenly opened you up to a whole new choice of boards!
Other similar boards I looked at were:
K2 Simple Pleasures - Looks to be a great board and if you aren’t interested in riding switch, jibbing about, or hitting the park, but spend more time carving and riding pow, then this could be the one for you.
K2 Party Platter - Looks quite similar but a little softer, not quite as hard charging.
Nidecker Liberty - I mainly like this board because it looks so cool, its pretty similar to the K2 Simple Pleasures. Check it out here.
Thanks for reading, any questions just let me know.