DC PLY SNOWBOARD 2013/14 REVIEW

The first thing you’ll notice about this year’s DC PLY is the graphic – the skate brand teamed up with renowned Californian artist Jeff Soto, who created the series of mythical beats which adorn the different lengths of this year’s board.  Each creature represents a different element – earth, wind, fire, water – and they bring a healthy dose of surrealist cool to the otherwise plain topsheets.

Underneath the topsheet, DC have kept this board fairly simple, although there is a bit more going on here. The heart of the board is a poplar ‘stratus core’ which offers a decent amount of pop and gives the board a mid-stiff flex. Combined with the ‘lock and load camber’ shape, which effectively becomes flat when ‘loaded’ with a rider’s weight, this helps the PLY hold an edge nicely throughout the carve. The ‘lock and load’ profile also provides a nice platform for ollieing and pressing, making this a great freestyle board.

As with the PBJ the base is extruded rather than sintered. But while it’s not the fastest on paper, our testers weren’t struggling for speed, even in slushy conditions. Several of them also commented on how stable the board felt underfoot, which is not necessarily a given with freestyle focussed boards. The thing that really cemented its place in the Whitelines 100 though was the price. As with the PBJ, its simple construction helps keep the price down, but whichever way you look at it £260 is ridiculously reasonable price for a twin-tip that’s comfortable on pistes, rails and kickers.

BUY THIS BOARD AT: snowboard-asylum.com, snowandrock.com, hardcloud.com, absolute-snow.co.uk, boardridersguide.com, tribalriders.com

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