- Price: €699
- Category: Freeride/Carving
- Ability Level: Advanced
- Size: 160
- Flex: 8/10
- Shape: Directional
- Profile: Camber
- Base: Sintered
- New for 2020/21
- BUY DIRECT FROM KORUA
If you were a betting person, your money would be pretty safe going all-in on KORUA Shapes to come up with this season’s most dedicated carving snowboard. The brand new Bullet Train is not – repeat not – for the faint-hearted.
For those of you whose snowboard turns are still heavily skidded, a lap on this thing will most likely leave your underpants in a similar condition. If, however, you’re the kind of rider who harks back to your former hard boot years or finds there’s something weirdly sensual about a deep, clean sidecut, then hop aboard.
“For those of you whose snowboard turns are still heavily skidded, a lap on this thing will most likely leave your underpants in a similar condition”
The Bullet Train sits within KORUA’s Plus Range. These snowboards depart from the iconic red and white colourways, opting instead for a stealthy black on black, with a serious upgrade in terms of their materials and construction.
There’s a sheet of titanium running through the Bullet Train’s core, designed to take all of the bumps and chatter out of the ride. When we caught up with KORUA’s co-founder, Nicholas Wolken, he described the process as if “you’re just flying over the slope, rather than chopping through it”. It’s a whole new step up in torsional stiffness, designed to hold it’s an edge at the highest speeds and the apex of the arc without feeling like a barn door that foregoes any longitudinal flex.
With this much stability built into its core, it’s clear the kind of G-forces the Bullet Train is expected to handle. It’s made with a PerlaTech base that would possibly give a Shinkansen a run for its money in a head to head. This sintered Nano base is more commonly found on Boarder-X race boards than any kind of recreational all-mountain or freeride deck. When you add a full-length positive camber into the mix it’s clear that maximum grip on the longest possible effective edge has replaced any powder or freestyle versatility.
