Review: Stranda Biru Splitboard
What we liked
Playful nature
Ability to Charge
What we didn’t
You’d best ask someone else as I couldn’t think of much…
The Verdict
THE SHORT READ…
You should probably stop reading this, and get your arse on the Stranda website and buy a BIRU Split.
You won’t regret it, in fact you’ll be hard pushed not to think its the best thing you’ve done in ages, as smiles and hi-fives’s are guaranteed with this playful little fucker!
THE LONG READ …
My wife is fuming! ‘Another bloody snowboard!’
Well yes, I do have another snowboard, but this isn’t just any other snowboard this is a right proper little devil (Biru means devil in Sámi language), but unlike most devil’s you can tame the Biru the first time you strap in.
The Biru split is new for the 24/25 season, but reviewed here is the 23/24 demo of the split. After the solid version of the Biru (€580) was so well received in 23/24 that it sold out in super fast time, Mats has now added the Biru to the Stranda splitboard stable.
Described as a quiver killer, the Biru is a volume-shifter of a board - i.e. wider but shorter, but keeping the same overall ‘volume’ - so being a short-arse I wanted to see if it would make kick-turns easier yet still rise up above the pow with ease.
There are times when you step onto a board, shuffle off a ridge line, and after one turn you know you’re in love, well that’s what happened to me and the Biru. I was riding in Turkey last season, close to the Iranian border, conditions were mixed - some soft, some rock-hard - yet the Biru handled all that was thrown at it and kept me smiling.
It instantly glided up above spring crust, even with its shorter length, and carved into harder snow with ease. Lower down where everything was universally soft it became as playful as you’d want.
Late-season I rode the Biru at the Arctic Splitboard Festival, and it turned beautifully through the trees as well as being super stable in full-speed lines in the high alpine.
I can see why you’d love the Biru with soft-boots, and in truth it probably lends itself better to a soft, more playful, setup, but I rode it with Key Equipment hard-boots and Phantom bindings, and it was still a super playful experience, just as Mats at Stranda intended. I loved the ease of float and the sharp transitions between edges, helped by the 3 Power Bumps™, the slight early rise in the nose really pops you up, and the full 6 mm camber keeps you locked in.
The vibration-dampening mainly Ash core works perfectly. It’s claimed to hold its camber longer thus prolonging the life of your board, a nod to our green side - and Stranda already offer an industry-leading 4 year warranty on their boards.
In the skin track I didn’t really notice the volume-shift’s extra width, as it slid along the track smoothly. What I did notice was its shorter length (Stranda recommend sizing down 4 or 5 cm on your normal board), I’ve been riding a 158cm Ampid Milligram and on big days a Stranda 161cm Descender Fjäderlätt and the 154cm Biru was a real joy to kickturn, what with my short legs (I’m 66kg and 167cm short).
When broken down into skis, each has a wide 13.5cm across the waist, where the ski crampons fit, meaning I needed to buy a wider set of the Plum SKSPLIT Crampons, as the 13cm ones I had wouldn’t fit. The Regular Spark R+D’s at 13.8 may just fit but you’ll probably need the wide 14.8cm ones.
SUMMARY…
So is it a quiver killer? Very possibly. I’m sure that when I’m traveling somewhere with only one board next season the Biru is going to be it, but don’t tell my wife as I’m not selling my other boards just yet, even if they may be gathering a little more dust than before the Biru joined my quiver!