Nidecker Thruster Review

Who is the Thruster Most Suited To?

The Thruster is best suited to someone looking for a board that's aggressive and relatively stiff but not hyper aggressive or stiff - still some forgiveness there. Also good for someone who wants basically full camber, but wants better in powder than most trad camber boards (because of the "sidekick" bevel around the contact points on the nose among other things). 

For the more advanced rider, not for beginners and even intermediate might have some trouble, unless a really high end intermediate bordering on advanced. 

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Stance width:  21.7″ (550mm)

Stance Setback: 0.75" (20mm)

Width at Inserts: 265.5mm (10.45") at front insert and 263.5mm (10.37") at back insert*

* note that Nidecker publishes the width at inserts (at reference stance) for all their boards - which is really cool. I wish everyone did this! But note that the measurements above are what I took, not Nideckers Measurements. Nidecker have 265mm (10.43") at front insert and 263mm (10.35") at back insert (so basically the same).

Rider Height: 6'0"

Rider Weight: 180lbs

Rider Boot Size: US9.5 Adidas Tactical ADV

Bindings Used: Burton Malavita M 

Weight: 6lbs 8oz (2940 grams)

Weight per cm: 18.85 grams/cm

Average Weight per cm: 18.43 grams/cm*

*based on a sample of boards I’ve weighed in 2019, 2020, 2021 *& 2022 models. The Thruster is really close to the average - and felt that way on snow too.  

Flex

I felt it at 7/10 flex. But if I was on the 159, I think it would likely have been more like 7.5/10. 

Powder

Nothing to test in, unless you count slush, but based on specs, it should be decent. It's basically traditional camber, which isn't great of powder, but it has "sidekick" which bevels up the contact points at the nose to help with float. 

It also has a longer nose than tail, some subtle taper (3mm) and a 0.75" (20mm) setback stance, which also help. 

Carving & Turning

Carving: This thing rips a really good carve. There's a big bow of camber (measured at 9mm on the one I rode) and that really helps and it's stiff enough to be able to really lean into that carve. And the combination of the effective edge and sidecut radius felt just in the sweet spot to compliment everything 

Ease of Turning: Not effortless to turn/slash on, but not arduous either. 

Maneuverability at slow speeds: Takes a bit of muscling and not super quick edge to edge, but not bad at slow speeds either.

Skids: Not super cartchy but not super forgiving of skidded turns either. That sidekick helps to make it less catchy, most likely. 

Speed

Felt nice and stable at speed and could generate good speed overall. 

Uneven Terrain

Crud: Smashes through crud pretty well - not easily bucked around. When you do get a little bucked on it, it's not super easy to correct but not terrible either. Just gotta commit and find a slightly smoother spot to correct if you get thrown off your line.

Bumps: Not bad but not super quick edge to edge either, for weaving between bumps. Going over top of bumps was fine though and hugged them pretty well. 

Jumps

Overall decent for jumps. 

Pop: It has good pop when you wind it up, but you've got to load it up to get it to pop. Not super easy access in the pop. 

Approach: Nice and stable for bigger approaches. Some maneuverability for trickier approaches, e.g. to less easily accessible sidehits, but not ultra maneuverable.

Landing: Nice and solid on a landing. Not super forgiving of bad landings though. 

Side-hits: Not bad, but not amazing. A bit more maneuverability at easier access pop would help there. 

Small jumps/Big Jumps: Best for bigger jumps. 

Switch

Didn't feel too bad riding switch. With that setback, slight taper and a directional flex pattern, I was a little surprised with how it rode switch - not perfect by any means, but very doable. 

Spins

Felt pretty good getting the spin around and OK, without being perfect, setting up and landing switch. 

Butters

It's stiffer in the tail and not much press there, but easier to press the nose - not ideal for butters though, with that different feeling between nose and tail (with the nose also being longer than the tail). 

The Thruster is an aggressive board for sure, but it's not one that you have to be bombing full speed on all the time. There's that element of forgiveness to it as well - it's not no holds bar or anything. 

And it's one of those aggressive all-mountain options that's also decent in powder - so for those who mostly like to (or have to) bomb and carve groomers, but also want something that can accommodate a powder day, the Thruster covers those bases well.