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.