REASONS TO BUY
Versatile
Fully featured
Beautiful wood top sheet
REASONS TO AVOID
Expensive
Very damp
Over-engineered given performance
Salomon Sickstick Review
A well-rounded board that has a unique feature set but fell short of performance, given the price tag
Credit: Salomon
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Our Verdict
The Salomon Sickstick is a great all-around, do-it-all board. It has a unique camber profile and blended sidecut to give it a well-rounded performance. Its taper and the blend of camber, rocker, and flat camber provide stability at high speeds while maintaining floatation in powder, and it offers a smooth flex and playful ride. The board features cork and bamboo sidewalls, which provide a damp yet powerful turning experience when understood. However, the Sickstick seems over-engineered and underperforming given the price tag. Another well-rounded board that offers excellent value is the Ride Warpig.
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Sickstick has been a part of Salomon's snowboard lineup for well over a decade now. Its presence and performance have helped Salomon to grow a powder and freeride community. Within this community is snowboard legend Wolle Nyvelt. Nyvelt is part of the design team for the Hillside Project, which is Salomon's all-mountain and powder boards series. The Sickstick blends powder performance and all-around freestyle into one.
Performance Comparison
The bases says it all, this board is pretty sick.
Credit: Ryland West, Isaac Laredo
Edging
Carving the Sickstick took some getting used to. Our testers found the board to be very damp. Essentially that means it was hard to tell what the surface and board was doing. Our testers attributed that to the cork in the sidewall, which is an inherently damp material. The dampness of the board, at times, made it feel slow or glued to the snow; it took some getting used to. After we adapted, the Quadratic sidecut which has a tighter radius toward the tail allowed for a tight turn ending and allowed our testers to accelerate out of the turn. It was awesome. We enjoyed this board's dynamic experience after we tuned it to the unique feel, and it proved to be very capable and quick to get on edge.
The Salomon's sidewall is comprised of bamboo and cork; partially contributing to its damp and progressive feel.
Credit: Ryland West, Isaac Laredo
Float in Powder
The Sickstick has a tapered twin shape and a rockered nose. These features provided above-average floatation as the nose supports lift and the taper helps sink the tail. It was nimble in treed areas and could hold its own at higher speeds in open areas.
Stability at Speed
When straight-lining and performing quick edge-to-edge transitions, our testers really enjoyed the dampness of the board as it brought a feeling of security. Its blended sidecut boded well with the straight-lining, long turning, and quick high-speed edge-to-edge movement.
Playfulness
The twin-based shape and medium flex pattern of the Sickstick buttered, spun, and rode backward with ease. The camber resisted force to hold presses and drive through short radius turns. This is Salomon's all-mountain offering which was a fun and playful experience all over the mountain.
The all natural graphic of the Sickstick.
Credit: Ryland West, Isaac Laredo
Pop and Jumping
The Sickstick has an interesting blend of materials and cambers to create a flex that stiffens up the deeper you flex into it. The model provides great pop that didn't require a lot of pre-loading to harvest.
The Quaderlizer sidecut working hard.
Credit: Ryland West, Isaac Laredo
Value
While the Sickstick is a fun and well-made board, our testing suggests that its middle-of-the-road performance makes it hard to justify the price tag. For the right person with some spare coin, it could be a worthy investment. There's a lot of technology in this board, but it might be over-engineered for your needs.
Conclusion
The Salomon Sickstick is for the higher budget rider who rides groomers, off-piste, and is constantly looking for powder stashes or places to catch flight. It's an aesthetic and well-designed board, but our testing shows you can save some coin and obtain similar or better performance with other boards in our review.
—
Isaac Laredo
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