Salomon is a well-known brand in the snowboarding industry, offering a wide range of boards designed for various riding styles and skill levels. This review dives into several popular Salomon snowboard models, highlighting their features, performance, and suitability for different riders.
Here's a detailed look at some of the standout models from Salomon:
Salomon Assassin
The Salomon Assassin is a versatile all-mountain freestyle board designed to perform well in both park and powder conditions. It has undergone significant re-tool for the 2025 model and we have been unable to get on a 2025 model, so far. The changes are significant enough that we need to re-test the board before updating the review. So, this review is valid for the 2024 model, but not the 2025 model. We plan to re-test this board as soon as we can get our hand on one. After we publish a new review for it here.
The Assassin looks like a twin and rides like a twin. Everything between the tip and tail is twin, but the nose is slightly longer and has a touch more rocker, making the board a directional twin.
Key Features:
Read also: Is the Salomon Villain right for you?
- Directional Twin Shape: Blends carving and jibbing prowess.
- Medium Stiffness: Easily manipulated and stable at speeds.
- Rock Out Camber: Provides float in powder while maintaining a powerful edge.
- Aspen Select Core: Offers a poppy and responsive feel.
- Royal Cork Rails: Enhances durability and dampness.
The Assassin is a rocker camber hybrid using Salomon’s Rock Out Camber, so it’s flat between your bindings, camber near the feet, and rocker in the tip and tail. The Rock Out Camber provides a stable, responsive board that is playful enough for presses.
Salomon used a mix of bamboo, basalt, and cork in combination with an Aspen core to provide a high-performance board while keeping the manufacturing process environmentally friendly. The bamboo is used to stiffen up the tip and tail to increase pop. The Assassin core is a combination of Aspen and bamboo rods, providing pop and performance. The Assassin uses Salomon’s Royal Cork Rails, making for a damp, chatter-free, ride. I found this board to be very stable at high speeds.
Salomon expanded the size offering of the Assassin, you can now get the board in a 150, 153, 156, 158W, 159, 162, 163W and 165cm. I found the Assassin to be a little stiff between the bindings but still flexible enough to handle all the conditions with ease. It felt pretty soft in the tip and tail making for a butter/press-friendly ride. The Quadralizer sidecut provided great edge hold and makes for stable high-speed turns. The Assassin locked into rails well and had plenty of pop off jumps.
Overall: The Salomon Assassin is a great all-mountain board. It handled every condition with ease. If you are looking for more of a park-specific board, look at the Huck Knife. Edge to edge the Assassin is very responsive and carries good pop. This is Salomon’s 50/50 park/mountain board. If you want great edge hold, medium flex and speed regular or switch this is a great choice. This helps take the park into the mountain and will not let you down anywhere you go.
Read also: Ace Snowboard Performance
Assassin: Detailed Analysis
The Assassin is best for anyone who wants a board that is a good all-rounder (but can take a small hit in terms of powder and jibs), that is snappy, light-feeling and really excels for jumps, sidehits and spins. Not for a beginner - but an intermediate rider should be fine on the Assassin - so Intermediate to Advanced All-Mountain-Freestyle riders.
Demo Info:
- Board: Salomon Assassin 2020, 156cm (253mm waist width)
- Date: March 9, 2019
- Conditions: Sunny with some clouds and perfect visibility. Snow was well groomed and soft on top on groomers and soft but quite tracked off groomer (but there had been quite recent snowfall and still some untouched pockets).
- Bindings angles: +15/-15
- Stance width: 560mm (22″)
- Stance Setback: Centered
- Width at Inserts: 262mm (10.32")
- Rider Height: 6'0"
- Rider Weight: 185lbs
- Rider Boot Size: US10 Vans Aura
- Bindings Used: Burton Malavita M
- Weight: 2810grams (6lb 3oz) - from Salomon, I didn't weight this one myself
- Weight per cm: 18.01 grams/cm
The Assassin is just a little lighter than average and it felt a little lighter than average on snow too.
Performance Breakdown
- Powder: A little better than average. The nose is 1cm longer than the tail (directional twin), and I think that's enough to help it float a little better than the average centered, true twin - and it's got a bit of rocker in there too, which helps.
- Carving: Felt nice on a carve. Not ultra-aggressive on a carve, but decent.
- Maneuverability at slow speeds: Quite nimble at slow speeds - so it's got a good balance between maneuverability at slow speeds and a nice feel carving at higher speeds.
- Skids: Not the easiest board to skid turns on - doable but something that isn't that beginner friendly - but certainly intermediate friendly.
- Speed: Stable enough at speed and felt comfortable carving at speed on this board.
- Uneven Terrain: Not ultra damp in crud, but not ultra chattery either. Nice and nimble for navigating bumpy terrain, like in trees etc.
Salomon Assassin Snowboard Review 2025 | What's Good?
Jumping and Spins
- Jumps: Super fun board to jump with overall. Good, easy pop and feels light and snappy.
- Pop: Plenty of pop and that pop is nice and easy to extract, with a bit extra when you load it up.
- Approach: Nice and stable on approach but still nimble at the same time.
- Landing: Good solid landing platform.
- Side-hits: Really good - good/easy pop and nice and nimble for trickier approaches.
- Small jumps/Big Jumps: It's good over all sizes of jumps - Small to Large.
- Switch: Even though it's a directional twin, it just feels so good to ride switch this board.
- Spins: Loved this boards for spins - it's lightweight, easy to get the spin around, great for taking off and landing switch and has good pop.
Jibbing and Butters
- Jibbing: Probably it's weakest point. Not a star jibber - but certainly doable, especially for those experienced on jibs.
- Butters: The Assassin is good for butters. Not the most buttery I've ridden, but certainly in the 2nd tier in terms of buttering.
Score Breakdown
The following table shows a detailed breakdown of the Salomon Assassin's performance:
Read also: Bliss Snowboard Performance
| RATING (out of 5) | Contribution to Final Score |
|---|---|
| JUMPS 4.5 | 18/20 |
| CARVING 3.5 | 7/10 |
| TURNS/SLASHING 4.0 | 8/10 |
| SWITCH 4.5 | 9/10 |
| SPEED 3.5 | 7/10 |
| SPINS 4.5 | 9/10 |
| BUTTERS 4.0 | 8/10 |
| JIBBING 3.0 | 3/5 |
| CRUD/CHUNDER 3.5 | 3.5/5 |
| TREES/BUMPS 4.0 | 4/5 |
| POWDER 3.0 | 3/5 |
| TOTAL after normalizing | 89.3/100 |
Overall the Assassin is a mean ride. It's agile, snappy and poppy, and all-round really good.
Specs:
| LENGTH (cm) | Waist Width (mm) | Rec Rider Weight (lb) | Rec Rider Weight (kg) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 150 | 248 | 110 - 160 | 50-72 |
| 153 | 251 | 125 - 165 | 57-75 |
| 156 | 253 | 125 - 190 | 57-85 |
| 158W | 263 | 145 - 210 | 66-95 |
| 159 | 255 | 140 - 195 | 65-88 |
| 162 | 258 | 145 - 210 | 66-95 |
| 163W | 266 | 155 - 230 | 70-104 |
| 165 | 261 | 155 - 230 | 70-104 |
2020 Salomon Snowboards Lineup
Salomon's 2020 snowboard lineup includes several models tailored for different riding styles and conditions. Here's a brief overview:
- Salomon Sick Stick: Designed with Wolfgang Nyvelt, offering premium performance in various conditions. Available in 151, 157, and 162 sizes.
- Salomon Huck Knife: Built for versatility, excelling in park jumps, rails, and tree jibs.
- Salomon Super 8: Inspired by Josh Dirksen, crafted for carving with excellent edge hold on groomers and in powder.
- Salomon X Äsmo 157: A powder-specific board designed by Wolfgang Nyvelt, featuring a wide waist for balance and float.
- Salomon Gypsy Women's Snowboard: Designed for park riders, featuring a Rock Out Camber profile and true twin shape.
- Salomon Pillow Talk Women's Snowboard: Shaped by Wolfgang Nyvelt, offering maximum edge hold and floatation in deep snow.
- Salomon Bellevue Women's Snowboard: Provides precise control across the mountain with unmatched float and maneuverability.
Salomon Sight
Despite taking inspiration from some heavy hitters, the Sight’s easy going flex and mellow ingredient list earmark it as one that can be used by everybody, from novices all the way to pros.
The outline of the Sight definitely lends itself more to traditional freeride, with a tapered shape and setback stance adding some extra volume in the nose, however it’s not so substantial that you’ll find yourself unable to land switch or ride outside of your preferred stance if you decide to. It will, though, make your turn initiation a touch smoother, make you a bit more nimble edge to edge and add a bit of bite when the snow pack is hard.
The profile, however, is decidedly all-mountain. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, CamRock has got to be one of, if not the, most versatile profiles available. Smooth, surfy and playful in the nose and tail, with some added dynamic energy and beef between the bindings. It’s a win-win for pretty much every type of terrain, and this is why we think the Salomon Sight is a great first step into freeride without buying a full quiver deck, because you can reap the benefits of the more powder oriented features when the snow’s good, but you’re also able to take it out on any day of the season.
You’ve not got as much tech packed in as you would with some of Salomon’s higher end models, but that said, you’ve not got the price tag either. Still, you’ll find a host of nifty tech features that made it a snowboard that got the thumbs up from our team of testers.
Salomon’s Popster Core mills the wood as differing thicknesses throughout the length of the board. Thinning out directly underfoot and in the tip and tail for more malleable and playful zones, while thickening up outside the inserts to ensure snap and pop, and a boost to those more reactive zones at the contact points.
The sidewalls are inlaid with cork, a lightweight and springy material that’ll help you bounce back from dings, but will also help to absorb some of the chatter when you’re high tailing it down the piste. Aspen is the wood of choice for the core, but Salomon have designed it to allow for high density wood strips down the sidewalls and by the bindings. These strips help to boost energy and durability in these key places, but also give a bit of extra pep in your step for ollies.
It’s a pretty soft flexing board, so we’d probably steer clear of the stomach clenching technical descents and lean more towards wide powder fields and tree runs. But the beauty of freeriding is it encompasses such a huge scope of snowboarding, you can be a bona fide powder hound and never have ridden anything steeper than a blue run. Not all of us can be Bode Merrill or Annie Boulanger levels of backcountry wizardry, right?
“Brand new Shape derived from the new High Path boards. Slight taper directional shape, FSC certified wood core, Quadratic Side cut for precision whilst turning. Cork Rails inserts to dampen chatter and vibration.
Salomon Official
The Salomon Official has a reputation as a great do anything all mountain to all mountain freestyle board that rips the pipe and we agree. However, with all the hybrid shapes out there, it isn’t the one board for every condition type of ride.
On Snow Feel: Yeah, taking a carve, ollie, carve approach to the mountain is really fun with the Official but it’s for aggressive or technical riders. It also seemed to want us to stop in the halfpipe and we liked this old school camber feel in it. It’s a really fun smooth conditions board. It has great edge hold for harder conditions but whatever snow you ride in you want it to be smooth.
- Turn Initiation and Carving: Camber boards are definitely more difficult to turn than many hybrid shapes. Still, the 158 we had was very responsive and easy to turn. Quick, short radius turns weren’t incredibly easy but were very doable.
- Jibbing: An awesome pipe board is not going to do as well in a jib park as other boards. Just not the Official’s forte.
tags: #are #salomon #snowboards #good