Burton Custom X Review

Who is the Custom X Most Suited To?

The Custom X is a great board for anyone who likes their riding aggressive. Anyone who wants to ride the whole-mountain but wants to really carve trenches, bomb asty speed and have access to some serious pop.

Not for the exclusively freerider because the float in powder isn’t that great. Also not for the beginner at all – way too aggressive for that. Also not for an intermediate rider – This is really an advanced and up board. And also not a jibber.

This board is really for those advanced to expert riders who want to carve all day at speed and hit some pretty aggressive lines.

Stance Setback: 12.5mm (0.5")

Rider Height: 6'0"

Rider Weight: 185lbs 

Powder

The Custom X is a traditional camber snowboard – so this will naturally stop it from being the best floater in powder. However, it does have a reasonable setback, which helps to redeem it in the powder somewhat.

Note that the 2018 model and onwards has a smaller reference setback of 12.5mm (was 25mm on the 2017 model)

I got a bit of shallow powder to test over and it doesn’t float like a dream and not like a freeride or powder board of course – but it’s slightly above average.

Carving and Turning

This is where this board really shines. You could really lean into a carve on this board and it never for a second felt washy, even when really pushing it.

Edge hold felt really good too. Held an edge nicely in hard conditions. It has Burton’s frostbite edges which helps with that edge-hold – and that stiffness and camber profile also help.

Really fast going from edge to edge if you’ve got the muscle to pull it around – it’s pretty light but also pretty stiff so takes a bit of oomph to ride it. The response is awesome and you get some real spring out of turns.

Speed

No doubt this board is quick. There’s no issues with coasting on flats and keeping momentum on up-hills.  It has a sintered base – which helps this board with it’s speed (in addition to the sidecut, shape, camber profile and stiffness). Just make sure to keep it waxed.

And, more importantly, it felt really stable when riding at speed. Carving and speed is what this board is all about really.

Let’s Break up this text with a Video

Uneven Terrain

This board is too stiff to be really good in the bumpy stuff. But if you take aggressive lines on this thing you’ll fly right over it or smash right through it!

But navigating Saturday afternoon groomers where it’s all chopped up and bumpy isn’t really where this board excels. The Flying V version of this board is much better for those conditions. This board wants nice smooth snow (soft or hard doesn’t matter) where you can really open it out.

Jumps

It’s pretty good on jumps. Not really a park jumper in my opinion – though you could definitely take it there – but has plenty of pop for ollies over rollers and lips and generally getting some air off natural terrain. But you’ve got to really load that pop up to extract it. It’s not easy to extract pop.

Switch

Not what it’s really designed for and doesn’t feel that natural riding switch on it. It does have that semi-twin shape between the contact points (see video above) but it still feels odd riding switch. Maybe because it has a 25mm setback. (2018 and onwards models now have a 12.5mm setback so it’s a little better for riding switch).

Also because of it’s stiff, aggressive nature that makes it harder to ride switch on – unless you’re at an advanced level in riding in your unnatural direction it’s not going to be the easiest riding switch.

You can do it but that’s not its forte.

Jibbing

You can if you’re a really competent jibber. But not the easiest to jib with – and to be honest not fun to jib on. Not a board that I would ever use for jibbing.

Pipe

I didn’t take it in the pipe but from what I’ve heard, and based on the boards specs, I think it would do o.k. in there. Not amazing but you could definitely still have fun in the pipe on this thing, if you’re an experienced pipe rider.

Changes from 2021 to 2022

The 2022 model looks to be essentially the same as the 2021 model, bar the graphic.

Changes from 2020 to 2021

The 2021 model looks to be essentially the same as the 2020 model, bar the graphic.

Changes from 2019 to 2020

The 2020 model looks to be essentially the same as the 2019 model, bar the graphic.

Changes from 2018 to 2019

As far as I can tell the 2019 model is the same as the 2018 model, except for the graphic.

Changes from 2017 to 2018

The 2018 model has a number of changes compared with the 2017 model.

1. The sizings are different (see sizing section above) in both lengths offered and in terms of width
2. The reference setback stance is now 12.5mm – was 25mm for the 2017 model
3. The sidecut and effective edge have both changed as well

This is one of the better choices out there for aggressive all mountain snowboards.

So if you like your riding fast and really rail your carves and you want some great edge hold in hard conditions, then you should definitely have this on your wishlist. If it’s in your budget of course. It’s not the cheapest deck in the world.

Also, you’ll want to have some decent strength behind you and you want to be an advanced rider – if you are an advanced rider and relatively strong, then this board can take you beyond where a lot of boards can – but if you don’t fall in this category, then it could be difficult to ride.