UPDATE: Check out our review of the 2017/2018 Rome Buckshot here
- Price: £370
- Sizes: 147, 151, 155
- Flex: 5
- Profile: Camber
- Shape: True Twin
- ROMESNOWBOARDS.COM
Designed by two of Rome’s heaviest hitters, Toni Kerkelä and Ozzy Henning, the new Rome Buckshot is fully equipped to tear up the park and the streets. It’s definitely a straight-up freestyle board, but there’s plenty of interesting tech beneath the surface.
Everything about the Rome Buckshot is built for pop. It’s got a camber profile, obviously, and some additives in the core that help load up the bend. Strips of high-density wood has been strategically placed at the middle of the core, so you get an explosive reaction when you need it without too much end-to-end stiffness. There’s also a rod of bamboo, which you can see poking through the topsheet at either end.
“Everything about the Rome Buckshot is built for pop”
Elsewhere the build has been focused towards durability and predictability. The biax fibreglass is a freestyle favourite, with fibres that run from end to end and from edge to edge. This makes it easier to twist the board with your feet, so you’ll get the ideal edge position on rails every time.
Underneath the bindings, ‘impact plates’ sit at the toe and heel areas to bear the brunt of heavy landings. They’re made of basalt, a tyle of volcanic rock than boasts an insane strenght-to-weight ratio, so the board gets plenty of protection without adding too much to its figure on the scales. Likewise if you bash your Buckshot on a rock or a handrail, the elastic sidewalls will help to minimise damage to your edges, which are themselves a little thicker and tougher than average.
Unlike some boards tailored for urban riding, the Rome Buckshot has a sintered base. You’d do well to keep an eye on it as this version tends to be less hardy than the extruded equivalent, but it’s worth a bit of extra upkeep to know that you’ll always have speed when you need it.
At the moment it’s only available in three sizes, the biggest of which is a 155, but the Rome Buckshot has the makings of a modern classic. Expect to see plenty of it in the coming season.
