GNU Riders Choice Review

Hello and welcome to my GNU Riders Choice review.

In this review, I will take a look at the Rider’s Choice as an all-mountain-freestyle snowboard.

As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Rider’s Choice a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and see how it compares with other all-mountain-freestyle snowboards.

Overall Rating

Board: GNU Rider’s Choice

Price: $599 (USD recommended retail)

Style: All-Mountain-Freestyle

Flex Rating: Medium (5-7/10 depending on the length)

Flex Feel on Snow: Medium (5/10)

Rating Score: 90.8/100

Compared to other Men’s All-Mtn-Freestyle Boards

Out of the 28 men’s all-mtn-freestyle snowboards that I rated:

O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Riders Choice is capable of.

Demo Info

Board: GNU Rider’s Choice 2019, 157.5cm (255mm waist width)

Date: March 3, 2018

Conditions: The snow had a great medium feel to it. Relatively firm but certainly not hard and not overly soft. Off groomer was nice too and there were a few pockets of untracked powder from snow from a couple of days previous. Sunny and perfect visibility. Temperature was -7 with wind.

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Width at Inserts: 260mm (10.2“)

Powder

The Rider’s Choice was OK in powder. Not amazing but not bad either. It wouldn’t be my powder choice for a powder day but if you encounter pockets it’s still fun.

The centered stance and true twin shape isn’t really what you want for powder but it does have rocker in the profile which helps it to float.

Carving and Turning

Carving isn’t this board’s strongest point – but you can still lay into a carve on it.

S turns were super easy and really forgiving and was easy to skid turns on. Edge-to-edge it’s really fast too.

Overall it’s really maneuverable, which is great for trees, and approaches to tricky side hits and jibs – not as good for wide arching carves though.

I really liked the feel of the asymmetry too, you could get really sharp on those heel side turns.

Speed

It’s not fast but it’s not slow. It’s got a nice base that makes it glide well through flats and you can ride it reasonably quickly before it starts to feel a bit wobbly – but it does get a bit wobbly when you really get up there. You can still ride pretty quickly and feel stable though – but not a bomber.

Uneven Terrain

Since it was a Saturday, there was a lot of messy resort snow and, as I always do, I had my demo runs mapped out specifically to test on variable terrain. Typically I find softer boards with plenty of rocker better in the messy snow. The Rider’s Choice isn’t soft but it’s certainly isn’t really stiff either – and also that maneuverability I was talking about also helps.

So overall it ended up being really good in messing snow and undulating terrain.

Jumps

Now we’re talking.

Like jumps?

Then you would love the Rider’s Choice for this reason alone. Whether it’s small jumps in the park, large jumps in the park, popping off lips, ollying off rollers – anything that involves leaving the ground (and returning safely!) on this thing is pure joy.

It has good pop and that pop is easily accessible (you don’t have to put too much effort in to extract the pop). Landings felt stable and the approach was stable and with that maneuverability, any hard to access side hits were made easier to get to.

Fun board for spins too.

Switch

In one word – perfection.

It’s a true twin shape and a centered stance – so automatically it’s easy to ride switch.

Then add to that the asymmetry (which makes the heel and toe sides feel more natural) and you’ve got yourself a board that can ride both directions and (assuming you’re at least OK at riding both directions) it’ll feel identical, especially if you’re in a mirror duck stance.

Jibbing

Whilst certainly not a jib specialist, it’s a relatively easy/good board to jib with. Not intimidating at all – it’s got the maneuverability on approach and maneuverability at slow speeds too – and then it’s got the pop to get on/off the jib.

Pipe

I didn’t ride this in the pipe but based on the specs and what others have said about this board in the pipe, I imagine that it would be just about ideal.

It’s got great edge hold (important for climbing those icy walls), it’s not too soft but not too stiff, it’s got a centered stance and a true twin shape. So yeah, feels like it would be pretty darn good in there.

Overview of the Riders Choice’ Specs

Check out the tables for the Riders Choice’ specs and available sizes in the charts below.

Specs

Sizing

Who is the Riders Choice Most Suited to?

The ideal rider of the Rider’s Choice likes to spend plenty of time in the park and favors the jumps line. They like to hit anything from extra small to extra-large jumps. They might like to hit the jib line on occasion but it’s not their preferred part of the park.

They also want to be able to leave the park and ride the groomers and be able to use natural hits and basically ride freestyle over the groomers. But you can also hit a reasonable carve on this board and ride at reasonable speed – though it’s not a bomber or a super-hard carver – definitely more at the freestyle end of the all-mtn-freestyle spectrum.

The Rider’s Choice also has great edge-hold in hard and icy snow conditions, so if you encounter those a lot, then this board is also a great choice.

Not the ideal board for a beginner but definitely suitable for anyone from Intermediate to Expert.

The Riders Choice in More Detail

O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Riders Choice is capable of.

Demo Info

Board: GNU Rider’s Choice 2017, 157.5cm (255mm waist width)

Date: February 27^th, 2016

Conditions: Slushy and choppy on the groomers. Some rare pockets of powder off. Some rain later in the afternoon for a brief spell but mostly dry but cloudy outside of that. Visibility good all day.

Bindings angles: +18/-6

Powder

Didn’t encounter hordes of powder on the day I rode this board unfortunately – but did find some slushy stuff to float over – and the Rider’s Choice was o.k. Not amazing but not bad either. It wouldn’t be my powder choice – but it’s fine to get over powder if you need to.

The centered stance isn’t really what you want for powder but it does have rocker in the profile which helps it to float.

Carving and Turning

Carving isn’t this board’s strongest point – but you can still lay into a carve on it.

Turning was super easy and really forgiving for skidded turns. Edge-to-edge it’s really fast too.

Overall it’s really maneuverable, which is great for casual riding and approaches to jumps and jibs – not as good for wide arching carves though.

I really liked the feel of the asymmetry too, you could get really sharp on those heel side turns.

Speed

It’s not fast but it’s not slow. It’s got a nice base that makes it glide well through flats and you can ride it reasonably quickly before it starts to feel a bit wobbly – but it does get a bit wobbly when you really get up there. You can still ride pretty quickly and feel stable though – but not a bomber.

Uneven Terrain

Like I said I had a lot of it. Typically I find softer boards better in the bumpy stuff because they can just hug it a bit better. The Rider’s Choice isn’t soft but it’s certainly isn’t really stiff either – and also that maneuverability I was talking about also helps.

So overall it ended up being pretty good in the bumpy/chopped up snow.

Jumps

Now we’re talking.

Like jumps?

Then you would love the Rider’s Choice for this reason alone. Whether it’s small jumps in the park, large jumps in the park, popping off lips, ollying off rollers – anything that involves leaving the ground (and returning safely!) on this thing is pure joy.

Fun board for spins too.

Switch

In one word – perfection.

It’s a true twin shape and a centered stance – so automatically it’s easy to ride switch.

Then add to that the asymmetry (which makes the heel and toe sides feel more natural) and you’ve got yourself a board that can ride both directions and (assuming you’re at least ok at riding both directions) it’ll feel identical, especially if you’re in a mirror duck stance.

I didn’t ride with a mirror duck on this board – and it still felt awesome riding switch.

Jibbing

O.k. like I mentioned earlier in this post, this isn’t a jib specialist. If jibbing is your main stay, then there are better options out there.

But you can definitely jib on this board. If you like the occasional run through the jib line but don’t spend half your day jibbing then it will do a good job for you.

Pipe

I didn’t ride this in the pipe but based on the specs and what others have said about this board in the pipe, I imagine that it would be just about ideal.

It’s got great edge hold (important for climbing those icy walls), it’s not too soft but not too stiff, it’s got a centered stance and a true twin shape. So yeah, feels like it would be pretty darn good in there.

Score Breakdown and Final Verdict

Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.

Overall the Rider’s Choice is a great all-mtn-freestyle board, that could also be used as a more specialized freestyle board – it’s on the freestyle end of the spectrum, but it carves and rides at speed well enough to be one that you can take over the rest of the whole mountain.

It would also rate really well as a freestyle board and you could definitely ride it as a jump line/pipe specialist if that’s what you were after.

A king when it comes to jumps, pipe and riding switch, and no major weaknesses in any other area either. Also has great edge-hold in hard and icy conditions for anyone who encounters those a fair bit.