This is my review of the Ride Machete snowboard.
I’m a certified snowboarding instructor with a few dozen seasons of steady riding under my belt. I haven’t used the Machete myself, but I spoke with a few friends who use it as a freestyle board.
The Ride Machete is a park-centered snowboard that delivers excellent performance in the terrain park. With a true twin shape and medium flex, this thing rips rails and aerials. It’s best for freestyle situations and doesn’t have the versatility to explore other areas of the mountain.
In this post, I’ll provide you with an in-depth review of this board to help you make an informed buying decision. I’ll highlight all of the features that make this a good option for the terrain park and explain its limitations.
Let’s get to it.
Contents
Ride Machete Overview
The Ride Machete is a board that can cut through the terrain park just like the blade of its namesake cuts through thick jungle foliage. This is a fully focused freestyle machine that is a solid option for park rats of any ability.
You aren’t going to get a lot of versatility outside of the terrain park here, but when you want to spend your days perfecting lines and hitting every single feature possible, this is a more than worthy companion to have strapped to your feet.
The Machete has all the features you want in a high-performance freestyle board. You get a true twin shape that lets you ride in either direction with ease. This thing can ride switch with the same performance and characteristics as you get riding regular.
A medium flex and response provide you with enough power to get ready for lift-off while still being fully capable of butters and presses on the snow or up on a rail. It’s a sweet blend of flex and stability that caters to high-end maneuvers.
The Machete’s profile also caters to everything freestyle. A twin hybrid rocker profile shape gives you plenty of lift off the snow in the tip and tail to allow you to easily hop onto a feature or spin as many rotations as you can muster.
It also comes with a more than solid construction to take all of the use and abuse that comes standard with a park board. A performance core keeps things lightweight and flexible, while Carbon Slimerods add a little pep to its step.
This is a super fun board to ride in the terrain park and can work for any ability level of freestyle rider. That versatility in effectiveness makes it a good option to buy when developing your skills because this board can stay with you for several years.
The Machete also comes with an affordable price tag, making it a great value if you are after a freestyle-specific board. It has limitations in other areas of the mountain, but if you want an option that can spin park laps all day, this is up there with the best of them.
Detailed Review
The Ride Machete is a well-qualified contender for one of the best freestyle and terrain park boards on the market. It is fun and playful in the park while giving you enough power and pop to go huge.
Performance
This board was built with the terrain park in mind. It truly shines when you want to perfect your freestyle riding. But this comes with obvious limitations in other areas of the mountain.
That being said, I thoroughly recommend this board to any rider, no matter your ability level, if you want to spend all day in the park. When the snow starts to fall or you want to explore, you’ll need another option in your quiver.
The medium flex and response of the Machete help it truly shine in the park. You’ll get enough flex to keep everything playful and fun while still maintaining enough rigidity to generate power to fly off a kicker or rip through the halfpipe.
It has a natural ability to get up in the air, and a lightweight design combined with plenty of rocker gives you the ability to ollie, nollie, butter, and press all over the place. The board is easy to maneuver in the air, whether you are spinning or getting inverted.
The board has a laid-back nature without compromising effective control. You can generate plenty of speed on the runway to go as big as you want to go. While you can take things to an aggressive level, it’s not overwhelming by nature, and that makes it work for beginners.
If you want to venture outside the park with the Machete, you won’t get too far, especially if you are an intermediate or advanced rider. Its rocker makes it float pretty well on a powder day, but it’s too soft for any real freeriding or all-mountain pursuits.
Construction
The Machete has a solid construction that makes it a reliable and effective freestyle monster. You can throw this board through the wringer without worrying about beating it up or destroying your investment.
The twin hybrid rocker profile makes for excellent park performance. This is heavy on the rocker in the tip and tail to give you plenty of room to spin and maneuver. You get a bouncy and playful ride while still being able to dig in when you need it.
A true twin shape lets you easily ride switch as well. Built into the shape design is a quadratic sidecut that helps increase edge hold and gives you better grip in packed out or icy conditions in the park. It’s practical, and it works.
The board comes with a performance core made of a combination of Aspen, Bamboo, and Paulownia. That’s a unique blend of woods, and the result is a super-strong board that flexes just right when put into action.
You also benefit from a sintered base. It’s made using a strong and durable P-tex material that gives the board a high-speed surface to slide on the snow. The base can take a beating without the need to tune it up each and every day.
Additional Features
The Machete comes with a few additional features that increase its park performance and cater to the exception freestyle nature of the board.
Carbon Slimerods are built into the board, and these help give it playful yet powerful performance all over the terrain park. Carbon rods run the length of the board and increase pop without making the board too stiff, which is an excellent feature.
The board also comes with Carbon Array 3 laminates that help keep up the high-performance freestyle characteristics no matter how you set up your stance. By placing carbon stringings across the board, it stays snappy no matter where you stand.
Slimewalls are another unique innovation that Ride puts in many of its snowboards, this model included. These give the board added freestyle performance by absorbing impacts and letting you smooth your way into turns and carves. They are also really strong.
Double impact plates are also placed in the binding mounting areas of the board. This increases impact absorption, which is crucial for high-flyers who tend to go huge. It also helps to add durability to the board.
Value
The Machete is affordable and effective in any freestyle situation. It has a specific purpose and area of expertise, but as long as you know what you are getting into, this board is an excellent value.
Freestyle riders of any ability level can gain an advantage using this board. It’s a great value for a freestyle board with an affordable price, super-strong construction, and high-end reliability and performance characteristics.
If you are looking for a board with versatility that gets you through other situations, you’ll want to look elsewhere. The board is excellent in the terrain park, but it lacks the power and stiffness to work effectively in most other on-snow situations.
I recommend the Machete as a top freestyle board to add to any rider’s quiver. It’s not going to work all over the mountain, but for those days when you want to spin park laps and dial in a new trick, this model will have you covered.
The Alternatives
There are some other solid freestyle snowboards out there. Here are some alternative models to explore if you don’t like the Ride Machete or just want some options before deciding.
1. Ride Twinpig
The Twinpig is another park-focused model from Ride that will give you solid freestyle performance in a fun and unique package. This one has a twin shape with a blunted tip and tail that makes it stand out.
Asymmetrical twin hybrid rocker gives you solid freestyle abilities that can work for any ability level. A quadratic sidecut helps you quickly initiate turns and keep your edges in contact with harder snow.
2. GNU Forest Bailey Head Space
This is one of the most affordable freestyle boards that still offers plenty of high-performance characteristics. It shines in the terrain park and will let you rip through any feature you can handle.
A C3 camber profile gives you a lot of control and power with the ability to pop up off the snow and onto a rail or into your aerial. It has a medium flex that is adaptable to different ability levels as well.
The Skate Banana is another solid freestyle board that will cover you in the terrain park and beyond. It has a little more all-mountain versatility while still giving you excellent freestyle performance in a twin shape. This is a good board to help you get to the next level.
==> Read our detailed Lib Tech Skate Banana review for more.
My Verdict
The Ride Machete is a fantastic freestyle snowboard that will give you fun and responsive performance in the terrain park. It can work with all ability levels and although it has limitations outside of the park, it still makes for a great value because of an affordable price.
About Lorraine