Never Summer Lady FR Review

Board: Never Summer Lady FR 2024

Price: $609 (USD recommended retail)

Style: Freeride

Flex Rating: Stiff (8/10)

Flex Feel: Medium-Stiff (7/10)

Rating Score: 86.1/100

Compared to other Women’s Freeride Boards

Out of the 22 women’s freeride snowboards that I rated:

Overview of the Lady FR’s Specs

Check out the tables for the Lady FR’s specs and available sizes.

Specs

Who is the Lady FRr Most Suited To?

The Lady FR is best suited to a more advanced rider who wants a board that performs well at medium-high speeds, is good for powder days and doesn't feel too much chatter when riding faster or in messy snow conditions. 

It's the kind of board that can be ridden slower but feels better with a bit of speed under it. 

Not for beginners. 

THE Lady FR IN MORE DETAIL

Bindings angles: +12/-9

Stance width: 500mm (19.7″)

Stance Setback: Setback 0.8" (20mm)

Width at Front Insert: 9.7" (246mm)

Width at Back Insert: 9.6" (245mm)

Weight: 5lbs 10oz (2540grams) 

Weight per cm: 17.28 grams/cm

Average Weight per cm: 17.38 grams/cm*

* based on just over 40 women's boards that I've weighed in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2024 models. The Lady FR was basically right on average weight on the scales but on snow felt noticeably lighter than normal.

Tester: Meira

Rider Height:  5'4 (163cm)

Rider Weight: 130lbs (58kg)

Rider Boot Size: US Women's 8 (Burton Limelite)

Bindings Used: Union Milan

Powder

Nothing significant to test in. But based on specs, feel and experience with other similar Never Summer boards, it should do really well in deeper powder. 

It's got a tapered directional shape, with a directional camber profile that features some rocker and a setback stance, all helping it to float. 

Carving

Not as good as expected for carving. Still good, but does have it's limits. Up to a certain speed and depth of carve it feels really good, but there was a point where it would wash out if you pushed it too hard. 

It preferred longer more drawn out carves vs shorter/sharper ones. 

Turning

Ease of Turns/Slashing: Wasn't too difficult in terms of turn initiation but didn't like slashing turns as much. More of a medium to long turn radius felt best on this board. 

Maneuverability at slow speeds (nimbleness): Not super easy to maneuver at slow speeds, but also not hard. It took a bit of effort but you could get it moving edge-to-edge at slow speeds relatively quickly. 

Catchiness: Overall doesn't have a catchy feel. But feels a little more catchy at slower speeds vs higher speeds. 

Speed

Had good glide and felt pretty fast. Was also decently stable at speed. Preferred to be ridden with speed under it, rather than slowly, but not super fast/stable or anything. It was something that really hummed and medium-fast speeds. 

Uneven Terrain

Crud: Was damp enough that you didn't feel too much chatter in messy snow and was stable enough that it didn't get bucked around too easily. 

Trees/Bumps: Decent in terms of weaving between bumps and going over them. It wasn't lightning edge-to-edge, but with some effort it was pretty effective at weaving fairly quickly. 

Jumps

Overall decent enough, without being awe-inspiring, but good for jumps for a freeride board. 

Pop: Wasn't super easy to extract the pop, but wasn't super hard either. And total pop wasn't epic, but it was decent enough. 

Approach: Had a pretty good mix of being stable but at the same time not too hard to make adjustments and speed check with. 

Landing: Again, found it had a good mix of being pretty stable on landings, but not too unforgiving if you got it a bit wrong - and was good enough for making quick speed checks after landing, if you had to.

Side-hits: Decent enough. Would prefer a little easier pop and a little easier maneuverability, but still fun. 

Switch

Wasn't bad for switch for a freeride board. Transitions were fairly easy, especially when you had a little bit of speed under you when transitioning. At slower speeds transitioning felt a little catchier, but still nothing too catchy, just had to concentrate a bit more. 

Butters

It's not super easy to press the nose and tail, but it's doable and not super hard either. The nose and tail feel a bit different naturally. You can't over flex, but also not super easy to lock in a butter with it. But doable. 

The Lady FR is at its happiest with medium-high speeds under it. When it's there it's in its happy place and feels really good. It's damp enough so you don't feel too much chatter at speed or in messy snow and it doesn't really have any major weaknesses. It even rides switch decently for a directional freeride board. 

I was expecting a better carving performance and while it was good at medium speeds and longer more drawn out carves. It wasn't as good for higher speed carves or when they got tighter.