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Ride Smokescreen 2021-2022 Snowboard Review

  • Price: €460
  • Category: All-Mountain / Freeride + Powder
  • Sizes: 153, 155, 157W, 158, 162, 165
  • Flex: 5/10
  • Shape: Directional
  • Profile: Combo
  • 3D: No
  • Base: Sintered
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I remember playing Pokemon Red as a kid, and somewhere in Mt.Moon Team Rocket pulled out their trusty Koffing. That rat bastard used so much smokescreen I couldn’t hit a damn thing, fainted and was sent back to square one. Some could say it was “Super effective” and you could probably say the same thing about this new board from Ride.

All new for 21/22 the Ride Smokescreen is a fun snowboard that’s perfect for cruising through the sidecountry, whipping up a fat pow slash and riding through the mist like a total badass. And you can do all that with enough change from €500 to comfortably cane it down to the bar at the end of the day, get a round of beers in and show off all the snow that’s still stuck to your beard / hair / goggles / eyebrows / general above-the-neck facial region.

“Any intermediate rider looking for a fun, all-mountain freeride board that rides well in powder and won’t break the bank”

MORE INFO:
RIDESNOWBOARDS.COM

Who Is The Ride Smokescreen For?

Any intermediate rider looking for a fun, all-mountain freeride board that rides well in powder and won’t break the bank. The Smokescreen has everything you need to ensure good float, easy pop, graceful turns and forgiving landings.

Shape, Profile and Sidecut

Featuring the same shape as Ride’s ultra-performance orientated Commissioner but instead of being pigeonholed into the speed-freaks only niche, the Smokescreen has been designed to have a little more play and all-mountain versatility. All while still keeping that directional, tapered shape that’s great for powder days.

Camber between the feet blends out to rocker in the nose and tail making all-mountain fun a little easier. You can still load up the tension in this board to send it off a feature, but the rockered nose and tail allow a little more margin for error and easier turns in the soft stuff.

The tapered, elliptical sidecut cuts deeper as you move from the contact points through the bindings which mellows out turn initiation, but still let’s you snap out through the other side for nice long, controlled turns.

“The Smokescreen has everything you need to ensure good float, easy pop, graceful turns and forgiving landings”

Construction and Materials

The stoneground, sintered base will you have flying down the slopes like you robbed the place. So I guess it’s a good thing the smokescreen hides 3 criss-crossed carbon stringers under each foot to improve board control by distributing your energy to the contact points.

Perfect for sending an ollie over those pesky “Slow Down” signs that ruin the bottom of your getaway.

The Smokescreen also has a dashing of Urethane (obviously, this is Ride after all) via their game-changing Slimewalls that help to provide a damper response that’s free from chatter.

Under the hood is the Performance Core. Sounds good right? Well that’s because it is. A dreamy blend of Aspen, Bamboo and Paulownia wood all helps to make sure this board doesn’t weigh a metric tonne but still has the strength of a brick shithouse.

“Camber between the feet blends out to rocker in the nose and tail making all-mountain fun a little easier”

Roundup

It’s easy to forget that top of the line, one trick ponies aren’t always the best choice for everyone and it’s refreshing to see that Ride have pulled together the best tech from their niche-er boards to create something well suited for the intermediate, all-mountain crowd that don’t necessarily want to drop over €600 on a board they won’t be able to enjoy outside of trench deep carves, 720 spins and 45+ degree faces.

The result is pleasantly fun and competitively priced. It might not be the most high-performance, ground-breaking board that will have enthusiasts foaming at the mouth… But I don’t think that’s what they tried to make.

Ride wanted a fun, forgiving all-mountain freeride board for the progressing intermediate rider and that’s exactly what this is. It won’t break the bank but it will hold its own on the mountain so if you fit the bill then the Smokescreen is a solid choice.

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