Capita Supernova Review: Aggressive All-Mountain Snowboard

* note that the 159.5W and 162.5W are new sizes for the 2021 model

Who is the Supernova Most Suited To?

The Supernova is great for anyone who wants a board that they can get aggressive on for carves, jumps and riding at speed, but who doesn't have a big budget. A great option for those with smaller boots, looking for a slightly narrower option.

Also great for anyone who wants a board that can get aggressive but also isn't un-rideable for a more intermediate level rider and is forgiving enough when you get off your game a bit or skid your turns. 

Certainly not for the beginner, but intermediate riders and up who like to ride aggressively (even if not all the time) will get on well with this board. 

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Stance width: 530mm (20.9″)

Stance Setback: 12.5mm (0.5")

Width at Inserts: 254mm (10.00") at front insert and 255mm (10.04") at rear insert.  

Rider Height: 6'0"

Rider Weight: 185lbs

Rider Boot Size: US10 Vans Aura

Bindings Used: Burton Malavita M 

Weight: 2700grams (5lb 15oz)

Weight per cm: 17.31 grams/cm

Average Weight per cm: 18.45 grams/cm*

*based on a small sample size of 51 boards that I've weighed in 2019 and 2020 models. One of the lighter boards I've weighed.  

Powder

There wasn't any fresh powder to take advantage of unfortunately. But based on specs and feel on the soft snow I had, I would say that the Supernova would be above average. 

It has a 15mm setback on effective edge, directional hybrid camber profile with rocker before the contact point at the nose of the board (but camber all the way to the tail contact point) - and it has a longer nose than tail.

It's not tapered and it's quite a narrow board overall, which go against it, but it's got enough promoting the nose to float and tail to sink to make it OK in powder, without being amazing for powder.  

Carving & Turning

Carving: This board is really fun to carve on. It's not the bomber carver that some other aggressive all-mountain boards are, but it can still hold a carve really well. And I would have preferred the 159 for carving too. 

Maneuverability at slow speeds: The Supernova achieves a good balance between carving, stability at speed but also being quite maneuverable at slow speeds. This surprised me in some ways when I rode it - but then looking at it again, it's a narrow board, with a narrow reference stance, which are both good for maneuverability. 

Overall edge-to-edge speeds: Responded well at high speeds and quick at slow speeds. Edge-to-edge it's really fast overall - no doubt partly due to that narrow waist and narrow stance. 

Smooth or twitchy:  It felt quite smooth all round and certainly more smooth than snappy. It was quick edge-to-edge but in a smooth way, rather than a snappy way. 

Skids: Easier to skid a turn on than I was expecting. Not beginner easy but not super punishing when you get off your game.  

Speed

Max Speed = 43.5mph (70.1kph)

Felt really stable at speed either flat basing or on edge. Given how narrow it is, I thought it would be a bit wobbly flat basing at speed, but was actually really stable and smooth. The 159 would have been even better in this respect, for me.  

Uneven Terrain

Quite smooth and absorbing of chatter, but not quite to the extent of some others. But also pretty good at going around bumps as it's really nimble. 

Let’s Break up this text with a Video

Jumps

Overall a fun board to jump on, with good pop and great on approach. That narrow width takes away a little for landings, and not the best in terms of landing/taking off switch, but otherwise a fun jumping board. 

Pop:  Plenty of it and quite easy to access (don't have to load it up too much to access it)

Approach: Nice and stable on faster approaches and nice and nimble for tricky approaches

Landing: Mostly solid, but just not quite as solid as it could be, and I think that comes down to how narrow it is. 

Side-hits: Nice and nimble and good pop (which is fairly easily accessed), so all round good for side-hits.

Small jumps: Great for small jumps. 

Big jumps: Good for big jumps - just with that narrower landing platform being the only thing. 

Switch

It's doable riding, landing and taking off switch for sure, but it's certainly not ideal. 

Spins

Good pop and nice and light made getting it around super easy - which is especially nice for when you're on a smaller jump and don't have as much air time. Landing/taking off switch not ideal though. And maybe for landing massive tricks you'd want a slide wider landing platform. 

Butters

Decent butterability but not super buttery. Middle of the road. The tail felt stiffer than the nose. 

Overall, the Supernova is a great board for an aggressive all-mountain rider, particularly those that want a board that's not too-unforgiving and has some maneuverability at slower speeds as well. 

On top of that it's at a price-point that you just don't see for this type of board. At just $499, it's a rarity for this category ($91 cheaper than the average for the 2020 models that I rated).