Hello and welcome to my Bataleon Evil Twin Plus snowboard review.
In this review, I will take a look at the Evil Twin+ as a freestyle snowboard.
As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Evil Twin Plus a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and see how it compares with other freestyle snowboards.
Overall Rating
Board: Bataleon Evil Twin Plus 2024
Price: $639
Style: Freestyle
Flex Rating: Medium (6/10)
Flex Feel on Snow: Medium (5/10)
Rating Score: 86.4/100
Compared to other Men’s Freestyle Boards
Of the 36 current model freestyle snowboards that we tested:
❄️ The Evil Twin Plus ranked 7th out of 36
OVERVIEW OF THE Evil Twin Plus’S SPECS
Check out the tables for the Evil Twin Plus’s specs and available sizes.
SPECS
STYLE:
FREESTYLE
PRICE:
$639 - BUYING OPTIONS
$639 - BUYING OPTIONS
Ability Level:
flex:
feel:
DAMPNESS:
SMOOTH /SNAPPY:
Playful /aggressive:
Edge-hold:
camber profile:
Full Camber - Bataleon's Medium Camber - but with the 3BT doesn't feel like traditional camber.
SHAPE:
setback stance:
Centered
BASE:
Sintered | Bataleon's "Ultra Glide S" base.
weight:
Felt LIGTHER THAN normal
Camber Height:
6.5mm
Sizing
LENGTH (cm) | Waist Width (mm) | Rec Rider Weight (lb) | Rec Rider Weight (kg) |
|---|---|---|---|
151 | 247 | 130-174 | 59-79 |
154 | 250 | 141-185 | 64-84 |
156W | 262 | 154-198 | 70-90 |
157 | 253 | 154-198 | 70-90 |
159 | 255 | 163-207 | 74-94 |
159W | 265 | 167-211 | 76-96 |
Who is the Evil Twin Plus Best Suited To?
The Evil Twin + is most suited to someone who wants to predominantly ride freestyle and a board that is optimized for that, but want it to be able to handle moderately high speeds, whether for cruising the groomers or faster approaches to bigger jumps - and something that can carve decently well at the same time.
Never going to be your specialist powder board, that's for sure, but as your park deck or all-mountain-freestyle deck, with a large focus on freestyle, this could work well for you.
Not for beginners, but intermediate riders should have no issues with it and could accommodate up to expert riders wanting a board they can get a bit playful with around the mountain and in the park.
The Evil Twin Plus in More Detail
O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Evil Twin Plus is capable of.
Demo Info
Board: Bataleon Evil Twin Plus 2024, 154 (250mm waist width)
Date: March 29, 2023
Conditions:
Temperature: 2°C (36°F) with zero wind in the morning. 3°C (37°F) with a 5kph (3mph) westerly in the afternoon.
Overhead: Lots of sunshine. Perfect visibility.
24 hour snow: 0" (0cm)
48 hour snow: 0" (0cm)
7 day snow: 8" (20cm)
On groomer: Pretty icy to start but already with some softer areas. It was warm and got progressively softer throughout the day. But still plenty of hard and icy patches to test on, even at the end.
Off groomer: Real crunchy/icy to start. Not a fun off-groomer day. Got a little better later in the day.
Set Up:
Bindings angles: +15/-15
Stance width: 550mm (21.7″)
Stance Setback: Centered
Width at Inserts: 261mm (10.3")
Rider Height: 6'0"
Rider Weight: 180lbs
Rider Boot Size: US9.5 Adidas Response ADV
Bindings Used: Burton Malavita M
Control Board for Control Laps: Lib Tech Terrain Wrecker
Weight: 2720grams (5lb 15oz)
Weight per cm: 17.66 grams/cm
Average Weight per cm: 18.71 grams/cm*
*based on a sample size of around 250 models that I’ve weighed in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2024 models. So the Evil Twin Plus is lighter on the scales and it felt lighter on snow too, vs the average board.
Powder
Nothing to test in on the day, but based on feel and specs, it's not likely to be an amazing powder floater, being a full camber, centered, true twin board. It does have that 3D shaping in base which should help a little, but overall not going to excel in powder.
Carving & Turning
Carving: Pretty decent on a carve and I could definitely feel it locking in an edge and holding a carve better than the regular Evil Twin (which I also rode that day) and versus my control board (Lib Tech Terrain Wrecker). It felt noticeably less washy. Still nothing that's going to be a high speed carving machine, but for a predominantly park board (IMO) it's decent enough.
As is typical with Bataleon boards the edge engagement point, was a little deeper, but I find I get used to that pretty quickly.
Turning: Nice and easy to initiate turns. Takes maybe just a little more to get it turning vs the regular Evil Twin, but very little in it and that thing is super easy to turn. This is nice and easy to turn and slash as well.
Maneuverability at Slow Speeds: Nice and quick edge-to-edge. Again, just a touch not as fast edge-to-edge at slower speeds vs regular Evil Twin, but again really not far off. Barely noticeable. And the extra stability you get at speed on this is more noticeable, IMO, than the trade off in terms of agility at slower speeds. Note that since I rode this in a 154 and the regular Evil Twin in a 157, this difference may be a little more noticeable if it was 157 Evil Twin+ vs 157 Evil Twin.
Skidded Turns: This board is not catchy. But again, vs regular Evil Twin, you could feel that it would be a touch more likely to catch an edge on. But for how uncatchy this board is it would be pretty hard to do.
Speed
Not an out and out bomber by any means. But it can handle moderately high speeds fairly well. It felt that little better at speed vs the regular Evil Twin and I rode this in the 154 and regular in a 157, so if they were the same size, this difference would be more noticeable.
Uneven Terrain
Crud/Chunder: A little damper than regular Evil Twin, but overall not super damp or crud crushing or anything. In that end of day mess it still got bucked around prettily easily. But also really easy to correct when you do get thrown off your line.
Bumps/Trees: Felt really good weaving between trees and other obstacles. Nice and quick edge-to-edge.
Jumps
So fun on jumps!
Pop: Nice and easy to access the pop and good amount of overall pop. Takes a little more effort to extract the pop than on regular, but not much more and you get more overall pop.
Approach: Gives you a little more stability than the regular Evil Twin - and overall a decent amount of stability. But still really easy to make adjustments and speed check.
Landing: Decently solid on landings and again, a little more solid than regular Evil Twin. And it's still really forgiving and easy to do quick speed checks after landing, if you don't have much runway to work with.
Side-hits: So sick for side-hits. Good overall pop, that's easy to access. Forgiving yet solid landings and nice and agile.
Small jumps/Big Jumps: Sweet spot is medium jumps. Can handle larger jumps, but would get to a point where the approach may end up being a little fast and it could lose some stability on approach and landings from really big jumps. Really good for small jumps too.
Switch
Rides switch really nicely. And not surprising, being a centered, true twin board. Transitions are easy too. Felt I needed to concentrate just a little more on transitions vs the regular Evil Twin, but still never felt like I was going to catch an edge transitioning into and out of switch.
Spins
So good. It felt easy to setup and land switch and also felt nice and light (and was lighter than normal objectively as well) and easy to get it spinning. Really easy to get it around if you under rotate. And that good, easy access, pop makes it more fun and easier to spin as well, particularly when you're not going off something big.
Jibbing
I felt pretty confident approaching boxes/rails on this board. It's not quite as catch-free feeling as the regular Evil Twin, but pretty close. Easy pop helps to get onto features and off. Solid all round on jibs.
Butters
Definitely took a little more effort to get this pressing vs the regular Evil Twin, but still pretty easy to press the tip and tail. And a nice even feeling between tip/tail.
Score Breakdown and Final Verdict
Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.
RATING | Contribution to Final Score | |
|---|---|---|
JUMPS | 4.5 | 18/20 |
JIBBING | 3.5 | 14/20 |
SPINS | 4.5 | 13.5/15 |
SWITCH | 4.5 | 9/10 |
BUTTERING | 4.0 | 8/10 |
UNEVEN TERRAIN | 3.5 | 3.5/5 |
POWDER | 2.5 | 2.5/5 |
SPEED | 3.5 | 3.5/5 |
CARVING | 3.5 | 3.5/5 |
TURNS/SLASHING | 4.0 | 4/5 |
TOTAL after normalizing | 86.4/100 |
The Evil Twin + is a nice snappy freestyle oriented board that excels when it comes to jumps and spins and is also still really good for butters and jibs. But it also holds its own when it comes to getting a bit of speed under it and laying over some moderate speed carves.
It's easy to initiate turns on and feels nice and quick edge-to-edge at slower speeds. Nice in the trees, but when there's powder in there, it wouldn't perform as well, not really well suited to powder, but if it was shallow powder would handle it fine.
More Info, Current Prices and Where to Buy Online
If you want to learn more about the Evil Twin Plus, or if you are ready to buy, or if you just want to research prices and availability, check out the links below.
IS THIS GEAR RIGHT FOR YOU?
If you want to check out some other freestyle snowboard options, or if you want to compare the Evil Twin Plus to other freestyle snowboards, then check out the next link.
Hey Nate, what are your thoughts on bindings for the Evil Twin Plus.? Kind of Between Union Ultra, Force, or Burton Malavita? Also open to other suggestions. Thank you.
Hey Jonathan, thanks for your message.
Assuming you’d be using the Evil Twin Plus for freestyle, at least some of the time, I would be weighing up between the Ultra and Malavita, because they have better board feel than the Force, IMO, and that makes it easier and more enjoyable for butters, spins, ollies, jibs, etc, in my experience. Both are a good flex match and both have really good board feel and shock absorption. There’s not really a wrong choice between them, but if I had to choose, I would go Ultra.
Hope this helps with your decision.
How does the Evil twin plus compare with Jones Tweaker? Is it very similar? Which one would be better for butter and ground tricks?
Hi Sam
Thanks for your message. They’re are relatively similar, but not super similar, IMO. They’re both camber, with 3D bases and a similar flex and centered true twin, so on paper, they are quite similar, but they have a different feel and slightly different strengths and weaknesses. I would say the Tweaker is a little better for butter and ground tricks. For more, also check out our Tweaker review.
Hope this helps