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Rome Gang Plank 2019-2020 Snowboard Review

UPDATE: Check out our review of the Rome Gang Plank Snowboard for 2020/2021 by clicking here.

  • Sizes: 146, 149, 152, 155, 157W, 158, 160W
  • Flex: 6
  • Profile: FlatRock
  • Shape: True Twin
  • Price: £420/€480
  • BUY ONLINE

The Rome Gang Plank is an all mountain destroyer, for riders who are looking to turn the whole hill into their own personal playground. If you’re looking to bonk, slide, ollie and spin all day every day, then the Gang Plank might just be whispering your name.

It muscles into the overcrowded category of ‘Mid Stiff All Mountain’ and manages to stand out amongst all the boards within that. For a start, it’s mostly flat which isn’t a super popular approach for boards looking to encompass this category. However, year after year the Gang Plank shows its chops and leaves us all impressed with its versatility.

“New for this year are hollow, curved carbon rods on each side, running parallel to the sidecut”

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The flat section is a nice middle ground between the profiles, and gives stability, predictability and a super playful feel. They put a slight rocker section outside the bindings in the nose and tail, and this early rise leaves the board feeling smoother and more playful.

A bamboo rod runs outwards towards the tip between each set of inserts, this rod packs the board with the pop it might have lost by eschewing a camber profile. It does this without adding weight, or increasing the stiffness of the board, so it stays mellow and playful but now has an explosive nose and tail.

Glasspak Impact Plates sit underneath your bindings and are there to reinforce the area that can take a beating from big landings or when you’re throwing it into carves. They absorb and disperse the energy before it has a chance to compress the core.

Adding to the durability are the Rebound Sidewalls which absorb energy from impacts, so you can laugh in the face of edge dings and knocks. A fast, durable, fun mountain killer? Sign us up.

Tester’s Verdict

Al NasmythFreedom Snowboarding

“A freestyle machine. Sometimes rockered boards without camber in the middle can be washy and lack pop, but the Gangplank has neither of these issues. I got to ride it in quite a few conditions and it held its own all over the hill but where it really excelled was jumping off stuff and sliding down things (yeah I know that’s basically a description of all snowboarding).

“Where it really excelled was jumping off stuff and sliding down things”

The Gangplank really locked on well to rails, had good pop on kickers and takeoffs, stable on landings and basically made me feel like one of those Scandi riders whose name you can’t pronounce. It was decent enough carving around on the pisté too and the lifted nose and tail mean you get float in pow even when you’re not mach 10 on a 45 degree slope. So not bad as an all-mountain option either. They’ve basically made the board stiffer than you’d normally expect for a jib board so you don’t have to worry about it riding like an entry level board of similar shape.”

Tester’s Verdict

Stephen MacLeanThe Snowboard Asylum

“Gotta be honest I love a good old fashioned flat board. Holds an edge when you want it to but can be pressed and buttered in any fashion making this board a solid ride. I rode this in Morzine at the end of the season when the sun and slush were out in full force and to be honest I don’t think I’d have wanted any other board with me.”

Tester’s Verdict 2018/19

Ed Blomfieldwhitelines.com

“It’s funny – back in the day my friends and I used to think a board was ‘dead’ if it lay flat on the ground, with all the camber beaten out of it. These days flat profiles – straight out of the wrapper – are one of many legit alternatives to classic camber, and I have to admit I’m a convert. The Gang Plank is one such board. It feels planted rather than twitchy at speed, it’s easy to press thanks to an extended nose and tail, and yet it avoids the sketchy, loose vibes of a pure rockered design.

Shape wise, this is just a classic all mountain freestyle board. OK, the ends have been hacked off to give it a blunt silhouette that’s more current than those hourglass quiver killers of old, but essentially it’s made to be ridden in either direction and on any terrain. And it’s a challenge it takes to well. I hammered this board down the piste, through some overnight powder in the sidecountry, over the medium kicker line and even through heavy slush as the day wore on; there was nothing it couldn’t handle.

“It’s one of those boards that takes you no time to adapt to, with no nasty surprises under the hood”

I used it to film some follow cam – when you’re more focused on the person you’re shooting than your own riding – and again it proved up to the task, which goes to show just how easy it is to steer the Gang Plank on autopilot. It’s one of those boards that takes you no time to adapt to, with no nasty surprises under the hood.

Did it make my pulse race? I guess not, but if it had a trendier tapered shape it simply wouldn’t be as versatile. And the flex? As you’ve probably guessed by now, it hits that Goldilocks sweetspot – a little towards the soft side, perhaps, but then that’s how this bear likes it.”

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