Gnu Riders Choice 2012-2013 Review

When I first learned a little bit more about GNU other than the fact that it was a core snowboard brand that seemed to like pickles a whole bunch I found out that they claimed to have been making boards since 1977. Alright lets not get ahead of ourselves, not Gnu, but the guy who started the whole thing, Mike Olson started building these things in the late 70’s. That means they are not only pioneers in pickles but also snowboard technology. This brand truly is innovative and has been since the beginning of snowboarding itself.

To introduce a little bit of Gnu innovation you should really go ahead and check out the 2012-2013 Gnu Riders Choice Snowboard. It encompasses a variety of weirdo technologies that are actually quite simple and make a whole lot of sense when you take a minute to think about it…wait it’s a snowboard, less thinking more doing, eh what the hell if you’re a thinker read on if you’re a doer, get on.

The GNU Riders Choice snowboard is a killer all-mountain freestyle board designed by Gnu riders Zach Leach and Nate Farrel and is hand built right here in the states. This board has been tested, ridden, thrashed, slapped and about everything but mutilated in just about every condition possible but has been truly crafted in the frontal lobe of these wing nuts minds with images of stomping huge kickers and backcountry booters.

Dude, So can I only hit jumps with this thing? NO! That does not mean this board is not built for the rest of the hill, due to things like Gnu’s C2 Power Banana Tech: which delivers camber at the tips and tails of the board but rocker between your feet, and your toes…na, just your feet. The idea behind C2 is to have a board designed to float in the pow, slay the jumps but be stable enough to stomp the landings and shred the steeps.

This season the Riders Choice has been updated to contain Twin Asymetrical Geometries. This means the turning radius on one side of the board is different than the other due to the different turning mechanics in a heel side and toe sides turn. Pretty genius, well actually its pretty obvious when you look at your rear end and realize it’s different from your front end.

On top of compensating for different turning styles, this board also comes with Magne-Traction. Think of a bread knife and how a serrated edge cuts through the tough sourdough crust with ease. Now think of a large-scale serrated edge on your slippery stick and watch as it slices through crusty ice.

More Tech and some hippy crunch: Gnu grows their own trees on the Gnu Eco Timber farm and it comes with a sintered base which means its durable and fast…Did I mention this thing was built in ‘Merica?!

Buy the Gnu Riders Choice.