Skiboard Magazine

Mantrax skiboards out of Czechia have been around for a while now, albeit a pretty dormant brand at the moment, they still have skiboards for sale on skiboard.cz, along with other more blade like offerings.

Mantrax bills their 98cm skiboards as universal for all types of riding and terrain. An ambitious claim for sure. Fully twin tip, and 110mm underfoot, they have a classic skiboards shape and feel, with a very tight 5.5 turning radius.

The tight turning radius and soft flex makes them feel smaller than they are, turning more like sub 90 skiboards. The full camber shape engages the edge early in the turns, but at high speeds they need to be dailed back on carves, as the radius is too tight, and skiboards too soft to put a lot of energy into the edge to prevent them from side slipping.

At lower speeds they are incredibly manouverable however, they truly have a skate like feel, turning on a dime, incredibly fun in the park as long as you don’t go big. The soft tip and tails and large tip and tails are fun to press and butter around. Creative skiing on flat is also very fun on these!

Although farily wide, in deeper snow they struggle, partly due to a short, and low tip that offers little float, common to many twin tip skiboards. Setting back helps a little, and the soft tails allows you to lean back and bring the nose up, but not enough to prevent quad burning after a decent descent. They felt too soft to battle chunky off piste slopes, and struggle to power thru chopped up snow and moguls unless taking it easy.

The price on these is extremely attractive. Although I would avoid the plastic bindings, the thin metal bails have already bent several times on mine and offer a connection to the skis that is too complient. Metal non-release, as well as Tyrolia release bindings mounted on a plastic riser are available.

It’s great that Mantrax continues to offer this product, if you are in Europe looking for an affordable set of groomer and park skiboards for an beginner/intermediate level, and want something with a playful skate like feel this is a very interesting offering from skiboard.cz.

Rossignol describes their Free’zb 118 as a playful beginner ski which will teach people to ski in three turns, and I would definitely agree with them! But instead of looking at these as a training tool for future long skiers, how to they stack up to today’s skiboard market?

Far from what some of us would consider true skiboards, the Free’Zb 118cm are 80mm underfoot, full camber, wood core, twin tip, and come with a pre-mounted rental release binding. They are stiff, narrow and long, making them great for carving up groomers, and punching thru moguls. When taken to steep and challenging terrain however, they will chatter unless the skiers body weight is heavy over the nose and pressing over the shins (making them a great tool for learning proper ski technique.)

Off piste they tend to get thrown around due to the narrow waist, and lack of deflection from their stiffness. Sure the length helps a little for float in soft snow, but the control is severely compromised, and the dreaded thigh burn is not reduced, as the stiffness means a heavy lean back to keep afloat. They may be playful when compared to regular sized skis, but not when compared to other skiboards, as the stiffness hinders any playful quality. In the park, they may be interesting for younger or smaller aspiring skiers, but won’t even have the playfulness of modern full sized park skis.

End of the day, the Free’Zb are primarily green and blue piste cruisers and carvers, that could also fair well in moguls. Rossignol has made a short ski to introduce people to skiing, for us skiboarders, they could be an interesting addition to a quiver when the off piste and park is not an option, but the groomers are looking freshly groomed and appealing, and you’ve just watched some ski racing videos and are fired up to hit some gates!