If you’re not familiar with SierraSnowboard.com, it’s not just a retailer website, but also a community of skiers and snowboarders.  Regardless of any of the drama lately regarding blog posts, forum posts or what not, Sierra sells gear for skiing and snowboarding at pretty much insane  (out of control)  prices most of the time.  With that being said, they also offer their own line of boards manufactured for them by a few different companies.   This particular board, the Reverse Crew is manufactured by Burton in the shape of the Custom V Rocker, with the internals of the ’10-’11 Burton Process.

Text on the Top Sheet

First things first, this board is interesting because it’s not only a wide, but it’s the only setback board in the Reverse Crew size way. On another note, you’ll notice there is no Infinite Channel System (ICS) on this board, but instead standard 4 hole bolt patterns in it’s place. I’ve ridden the Reverse Crew with both Union Contact (L\XL) and Flow Team (XL) bindings, and Thirty Two Lashed, and Flow “The One” boots in size 13, and 12 respectively.   With the 26.0 waist, I didn’t notice really any drag on the toe or heel with the size 12 boots, but with the size 13 32 Lashed boots, there was a bit of overhang, and some drag in pow, but nothing too horrible.

I  rode the Reverse Crew in various conditions, including late winter storms, and spring conditions.    The Reverse Crew is a directional twin, with a sintered base. This was my first time on any type of Burton V Rocker technology, and it’s definitely an interesting technology.  Essentially V Rocker is rocker in between your feet, and out on the tip and tail of the board.  It does produce a more skate like feel as promised, but at times  can be washy as some rocker tech can tend to be.  It’s definitely less catchy than their standard board designs, but gives up some dampness and stability for that softer fun mid-flex pattern.

The board itself is a solid board for the price.  I’m not a huge fan of the colorways/graphics for the 160W model, as I’m not a huge fan of yellow/orange, but it does the job, and hey you can sticker it right?

Topsheet of the Reverse Crew

Let’s talk about the ride of the board.  The Reverse Crew is a very playful and fun board.  Torsional and Longitude flex are on the softer side.  I’d put the flex somewhere around 5-6 on a scale of 10 with this board.  I’m also a bigger guy, so as bigger guys we can really find ourself tweaking this board out.  As far as pop goes, yes it has it, and honestly it’s actually a bit more poppy than I would have thought it to be.   For freestyle riding, it’s a really fun board, can butter with the best of them, and hits and lands jumps with ease.  Since it’s a rocker board, it does get washy in some conditions, and can be chatty and not exactly the dampest board at speed.  You do tend to feel more of the gnarly snow underfoot with this board.   One thing I really don’t like about the Reverse Crew is how easy the topsheet scratches, on and off the snow.  I think within the first 24 hours of having the board I had three or four nasty looking scratches in the topsheet.  It’s all purely cosmetic, but still a bit annoying.

Speaking of cosmetic, the base of the 160W is a bright yellow and orange colorway with the word Sierra busting out in all it’s bold glory.  I like how the base tends to glow with this colorway on the snow.

Bright Base of the 160W

I was a bit skeptical to really hit any gnarly runs with the Reverse Crew, but decided to bomb a few steeps to really see how edge hold played out with this V rocker tech.  I was actually surprised, that the board does hold edge while really getting on it, but isn’t as stable as I would have liked it to be. In Powder the board floats with ease, and I had no issues (especially with the setback) keeping the nose up  out of the pow.  Turn initiation on the Reverse Crew was really pretty quick, surprisingly so, and with the pop and flex of the board, I found hitting jumps, or even just playing with presses on the board was really fun.  To me the Reverse Crew is a freestyle board, that can handle most things a daily rider would throw at it.

Overall, for the price (usually well under $300.00 US) the Reverse Crew is a sweet board.  Fast into turns, with enough flex and pop to keep most riders interested, the Reverse Crew is kind of a like a sleeper, doesn’t look like anything amazing, but can be really fun when you take it out.   While I don’t feel it’s built to really last multiple seasons, it’s a great board for any given season and would make a great backup/spare to any collection.  I really didn’t care for the topsheet scratching easily, and I think with the blunted edges, people running into the tip or tail of the board will cause chips rather easily, but again, this board is pretty much price point over at Sierra right now, so you can’t complain.  Solid price, solid tech, all around fun freestyle board with a few quirks.

Specs:

Built on the Custom V Rocker mold

Sizes:

151 (waist 24.9 mm)
155 (waist 25.2 mm )
159 (waist 25.4 mm )
162 (waist 25.7 mm )
160W (waist 26.0 mm)

Flex

5-6 out of 10 (may be stiffer for smaller riders)

Currently priced at $299.98 but often included in sales at $249 and below!

More information is available at Sierra Snowboard

More Pictures

Topsheet Graphic Closer Look

Disclosure: I purchased this board with my own funds