The Jones Mind Expander is what Jones call Alternative All-Mountain Shredder. Of course, being a Jones board -the snowboard brand founded by freeride big-mountain legend Jeremy Jones- freeriding, powder and creativity is what this board is all about. Where the other Jones board in our review series, the Flagship was a stiff camber board, aimed at high-speed charging stability, the Mind Expander’s profile is tuned to playfulness, a surfy feel but without compromising on grip and power.
The Mind Expander has a flat profile under the bindings, and is rockered on the nose and tail. The nose rocker begins just inside of the bindings, and the tail rocker just to the outside. The setback directional position you will have in the board, added with the placement of these flat to rocker transition area’s, enables the nose of the Mind Expander to rise to any deep snow occasion and will help you surf the white powder wave. The 3D beveling, on especially that fine nose on the board, helps for float and forgiveness.
But seeing as no every day is a powder day, the Mind Expander has some tech to help it on groomers as well. The traction tech on the edges, with multiple contact points on the edge, helps you slice through hard-packed snow like a serrated knife would cut through bread. This tech is crucial seeing as that early rocker on the nose results in a shorter effective edge and less grip.
The Review
Dees Hetzenauer (female, 175cm and 66 kilo’s) and Seb Jam (Male, 180cm and 80kilo’s) rode the Mind Expander and where duly impressed.
According to Dees
The Mind Expander was one of Dees’ favorite boards. She loved riding it on and off-piste. The flat base and the 3D beveling really helped her get creative on the slower sections of the piste. Little tail presses, some light buttering, jumping around, just having fun. And when she opened up the throttle on piste the board really held well. Edge to edge was a sinch, and even though this is not a full blown carver (it’s not meant to be) the board held the rail in carves as well. She really dug the surfy feel the board can give you.
According to Seb
Seb is less of a surfy guy, in his riding at least, and more of a charger. For Seb, the Jones Mind Expander was a great allrounder. It allowed him to bomb down the slope, or shred off-piste with ease. Seb is a powerful rider and really likes to power the board he rides on down the mountain. Everything with speed and looking for hits on and off-piste to slash. He lauded the float of the nose and the stability that the board, with its flat base, provided.
In conclusion, we can say that the Mind Expander is an All-mountain board with a very individual twist to it. It’s great for powder, without being a powder board, it will charge groomers without being a piste board, it will just make you smile in a lot of different circumstances. We would say that the Mind Expander is not a beginner board, you could start off with it, but a better moment to buy this board is when you have mastered your turns and you’re ready to take that next step on and off-piste.
Jones Mind Expander
All-mountain Snowboard
Retail price: € 529,95
