YES The Y Snowboard Review

Who is The Y Most Suited To?

The Y is like a slightly toned down and priced down Optimistic. It's only very slightly toned down from the Optimistic, IMO, so if you like the sound of the Optimistic or have ridden it and liked it, but prefer the price tag on the Y, then it's a good choice. 

It has those rocker sections that the Optimistic doesn't have, but they are subtle and it's slightly softer flexing, but again that difference is subtle too. 

Great for those looking for a board for freeriding who have bigger feet or someone looking for a short wide freeride option with a friendly price tag. 

Definitely not for beginners and even would be a challenging prospect for most intermediate riders.  

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Stance width: 560mm (22″)

Stance Setback: Centered on effective edge - but quite far back on overall length

Width at Inserts: 271mm (10.67") at front and back insert*

* even though there's some taper and no setback on effective edge, the width at inserts is the same on the back insert as the front. The reason for this is that the underbite comes in just outside the front insert but it comes in before the back insert. Otherwise typically with that much taper, without massive setback to offset it, I would expect the width at the back insert to be narrower, but in this case it comes in the same because of the positioning of the underbite. 

Rider Height: 6'0"

Rider Weight: 185lbs

Rider Boot Size: US10 Vans Aura

Bindings Used: Burton Malavita M 

Weight: 3000grams (6lb 10oz)

Weight per cm: 19.48grams/cm

Average Weight per cm: 18.21grams/cm*

*based on a small sample size of 24 boards that I weighed. So heavier than the average, but it is a wider board and felt closer to riding a 159/160. Even as a 159, 160 it's still a little heavier than normal, but not to the same extent. 

Flex

It's just that little bit mellower than the Optimistic, but not as much as I was expecting. Still quite stiff. 

Powder

Didn't get great conditions for testing powder, but could tell that this board would thrive in powder by the feel it gave and by it's specs. 

It might be centered on effective edge in its reference stance but overall length it's setback quite a bit (I measured 56.5cm from center of the front binding to the nose and 40.5cm from center of back binding to the tail). That plus it's width, the little bit of rocker in there and a healthy amount of taper, all make it well setup for riding pow. 

Carving & Turning

Carving: A nice board to carve on. It's not a seriously lively carve, but you can get nice and aggressive on it and it hold that edge really well. 

Maneuverability at slow speeds: It's not a slug edge to edge at slow speeds, but it's not super nimble either.  

Skidded Turns: A little on the catchier side when it comes to skidded turns. You want to be turning/carving properly on this board most of the time. 

Speed

A really good board to ride at speed. Definitely preferred it when riding faster vs riding slower. Nice and stable feeling and quite damp too. 

Uneven Terrain

Decent but not amazing for navigating bumpy terrain or crud. 

Let’s Break up this text with a Video

Jumps

Doesn't have that effortless pop that I like for a board for jumps but solid for approach and landings.

Pop: There's some decent pop in there, but it does take some effort/strength to extract it. Not a an effortless popping board. 

Approach: Nice and stable. 

Landing: Solid for landings. 

Side-hits: Not as nimble or easy popping as I like for side hits, but it's doable. 

Small jumps/Big jumps: Better for bigger jumps, where you want that solid-to-forgiving ratio to be more towards the solid side of things. 

Switch

Was doable like any board, but not ideal. 

Spins

OK to get the spin around, but not great for landing/taking off switch and the pop was just that little bit too hard to extract to make spinning really easy/fun. 

Butters

You can butter it to an extent but it's not easy or effortless. But it's also not a complete plank in that respect. 

Overall, the Y is a good board for the price, but not the most exciting YES board I've ridden. 

I really like a lot of the YES lineup, but the Y/Optimistic aren't my favorites in their line. The Y is a toned down Optimistic, but it's very subtly toned down. I thought i would like the Y more than the Optimistic, given that I rode the 157 Optimistic but felt the 154 would be the better size for me. I rode the Y in the 154 and still didn't get excited by it. I think I would prefer it to have felt a little more toned down than it does. 

However, if you like the Optimistic or are looking for something with the kind of flex and slightly more aggressive feel of this kind of board but don't want to pay the price you typically have to for this level of flex/aggression, then the Y is certainly worth looking into. Not for me, but some will really like it.