Shape, Profile and Sidecut

The fully-baked camber of previous versions remains here, and there’s still nothing like it when you want to really step up in the park. Yes, the margin for error is a little smaller, but it’s all worth it when you feel that ollie power and edge hold.

If you’d rather take it to the piste for a quick butter (and the still-quite-forgiving flex means that you definitely can), the ‘Double Kick’ design of the nose and tail make it even more fun than you might expect. At each tip, the bend up to the extremity has been distrupted in two places, essentially giving you three separate sections of tip. The flat middle one offers a more stable platform for when you’re really spreading the love.

It would be madness to give the Pro version anything other than the original Artifact’s popsicle-stick shape. To find significant differences between the two, you have to look within.

“The fully-baked camber of previous versions remains here, and there’s still nothing like it when you want to really step up in the park”

Construction and Materials

Rome improves the longitudinal snap of a snowboard without stiffening it up overall by inserting short, firm rods into the core. As with the standard Artifact, on the Pro version they sit underneath the binding inserts, providing an extra ollie boost while keeping the waist of the board bendy enough for presses and butters. The big difference is that here they are made of carbon rather than bamboo. It takes a bit more input to get results, but the payoff is worth it. This thing will ping to the moon if you let it.

When it’s time to come back down, impact plates under each foot help to soften the blow, increase your chances of riding out, and minimise the risk of either injury or a binding rip-out. The use of flax fibres, which are not only tough, also have natural shock-absorbing properties.

Other than in the entry-level market, freestyle boards are where you’ll find the most extruded bases. That stuff can take a beating, so for some it’s worth the trade-off in straightline speed. That’s what the Artifact has – but the Artifact Pro has been given the same ‘Sinterstrong’ (aka sintered but more durable than most) base as the Rome Agent. Given that this is aimed at bolder riders who will have bigger knuckles to clear, that makes a lot of sense.

“Impact plates under each foot help to soften the blow, increase your chances of riding out, and minimise the risk of either injury or a binding rip-out”

Roundup

This is far from the only snowboard that’s a souped-up version of an existing model – but for the most part, those tend to be for freeriders looking for a premium ride (think Jones’ Ultra collection, or any Korua deck with a plus-sign suffix). Freestylers are relatively underserved in this department, so it’s nice to see Rome has their back with the Artifact Pro.

What you get here is a high-performing park board that has stood the test of time, now with rockets in its pockets. And like the aforementioned freeride decks, it’s had a monochrome makeover that signals it’s here to do business.

Pros:

• Serious park riders will feel seen with this one
• Unlike the standard version, the size range doesn’t top out at a mere 156cm

Cons:

• There’s a bit of a jump up in price from the standard Artifact

“Behold, the souped-up big brother to the fan favorite Artifact, the Artifact Pro. Built with our SinterStrong Base, Carbon HotRods, DoubleKick and our all-new Flax Impact Plates, the Artifact Pro is a murdered out True Twin that doesn’t hold back.

Team manager note: This was perhaps the most universally well received models I’ve ever presented to the team. Pretty much everyone who rode one or saw one this year, their first reaction was almost always ‘oh f*&% yeah, this thing rips!’ Can confirm, the Artifact Pro does indeed, rip.”

Buy the Rome Artifact Pro: £445 at Blue Tomato UK 

Buy the Rome Artifact Pro: €530 at Blue Tomato EU