Bataleon Cruiser Review

Who is the Cruiser Most Suited To?

The Cruiser is capable of being a one-quiver style board, if how you like to ride matches it's strengths.  

The 3BT tech allows you to turn on a dime carving/slashing with minimal effort while the larger nose smashes through powder or crud/chunder with next to no effort.

While it can handle itself on smaller jumps/side-hits, the Cruiser isn't a board you're going to want to take in the park and jib with very often and it's not ideal for switch riding.

Not a board for beginners as the full camber profile can punish you if your technique isn't at least to a certain level - even with the 3BT. I would however recommend it to any experienced intermediate to advanced rider.

Bindings angles: +12/-9

Stance width: 560mm (22″)

Stance Setback: Setback 0.75" (20mm)

Width at Front Insert: 275mm (10.83")

Width at Back Insert: 269mm (10.59")

Rider Height: 6'1"

Rider Weight: 180lbs

Rider Boot Size: US9.5 Adidas Tactical Lexicon ADV

Bindings Used: Fix Yale: M 

Weight: 2820grams (6lbs 4oz)

Weight per cm: 18.08 grams/cm

Average Weight per cm: 18.59 grams/cm*

*based on a sample size of around 200 models that I’ve weighed in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 & 2023 models. A little under the average weight on the scales - even more so when you take into account the extra width this board has. Grams/cm is less than average and grams/surface area would be even more so less than average. On snow it felt normal in terms of weight. 

Powder

There was no fresh snow to really test the Cruiser in but, after getting a feel for it and looking at the specs, we get a solid idea on how it would perform. 

The Cruisers directional shape, setback stance, and 17mm of taper are great for sinking the boards tail in powder, allowing the nose to effortlessly stay above it. That in conjunction with the 3BT shaping  makes it a great board for any amount of powder.

Carving

I normally find boards with a full camber profile to be best at longer more drawn out carves and the Cruiser definitely can. But I  found it overall excelled more at short-medium carves, with moderate-higher speeds behind it. 

The taper and the fact that it's not super stiff stop it from ever being the king of carves, but was still really decent, particularly for those short-medium carves.  

Turning

Ease of Turning/Slashing: Found it pretty easy to transition from edge-to-edge and wasn't difficult to release the tail to initiate turns or slashes. I partly credit the 3BT technology here as it just makes quite a difference, compared to a regular full camber board.

Maneuverability at slow speeds: Overall it felt pretty average. Not sluggish but not lightning quick either.

Skidded Turns: Never noticed any catchiness, which I think is, at least in part, due to those lifted edges from the 3BT technology.

Speed

While it does feel like the board has a good amount of glide, it was overall pretty average speed-wise, which surprised me a bit considering its profile. It did feel pretty stable at higher speeds though, which is always nice. 

Uneven Terrain

Crud: The Cruiser smashed through crud/chunder with little to no effort, thanks in part to its larger nose. It was also quite maneuverable in it and never felt like I was getting bucked around too badly.  

Bumps: I found it handled bumps/ditches pretty easily, if you got a low center of gravity and were able to prepare for them. Otherwise it was quick enough edge-to-edge for avoiding moguls and trees with minimal effort.

Let’s Break up this text with a Video

Jumps

While it could handle most jumps I wouldn't say it exceled, which wasn't much of a surprise. 

Pop: One thing the Cruiser did have more of than I was expecting was pop. It took a bit of effort to access all of it but rewarded you nicely when you wound it up.

Approach: Solid amount of glide was nice for the stickier snow we had that day and the relative quickness edge-to-edge allowed you to make last second adjustments with ease. Pop was really enjoyable as well for jumps or side-hits that lacked a bit of lip.

Landing: The Medium stiffness coupled with the 3BT tech made most landings forgiving and un-catchy. But with that being said, the shorter tail isn't ideal to land too heavily on, as its way less forgiving if you do so.

Side-hits: I preferred the Cruiser on jumps as opposed to side hits, mainly because I found it more predictable and forgiving. 

Small jumps/Big Jumps: While it could be capable on both I preferred it on smaller jumps, mostly because getting it wrong in terms of landing too tail heavy on bigger jumps would have more consequence. 

Switch

Not a lot going for it when it comes to riding switch. The setback stance, taper, and directional shape all make it considerably difficult to ride switch. Doable, but not easy/natural feeling. 

Spins

Overall not bad. The solid amount of pop helped get you a bit more air time in some circumstances, which allowed you more time to spin. I found this quite useful at times as the nose could be a bit difficult to whip around. Wouldn't recommend trying to take-off or land switch too often either. 

Butters

Great for tail butters due to the setback stance and taper but this in turn made nose butters/presses require a lot more work. 

Overall, the Bataleon Cruiser can be a semi-aggressive board and, when you do ride it a little more aggressively, it can be quite rewarding, especially on the terrain it excels best at. But you could also be a bit more mellow with it, when you wanted to. 

It handles powder and rough terrain like a dream and carves pretty well to. 

Like any board it has weaknesses, like switch riding, flatground tricks, or jibbing. But outside those few things the Cruiser can be a capable one-quiver style board for the right rider.