Rome Gang Plank 2020-2021 Snowboard Review - Whitelines Snowboarding

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Rome Gang Plank 2020-2021 Snowboard Review

  • Price: $480
  • Category: Park/Jib
  • Ability Level: Beginner, Intermediate
  • Size: 148, 153, 154w, 156, 157w
  • Flex: 5/10
  • Shape: True Twin
  • Profile: Flat
  • Base: Sintered
  • BUY DIRECT FROM ROME

There are many pressing issues in the world, but the Rome Gang Plank has got absolutely no issue with pressing. Or buttering for that matter. A stalwart in the freestyle scene, the Gang Plank is back with a new shape to tear it up in 2020/21.

Playful rockered tips are ideal for locking into presses and throwing your weight over to dial in flatland tricks, they also give a bit more forgiveness if you undercook a spin or have a dodgy landing. The true twin Gang Plank is flat between the feet for a super stable and predictable ride, regs, switch, cab, frontside- whatever way you want to ride it you’re hot to trot with the Gang Plank.

“The Rome Gang Plank has got absolutely no issue with pressing. Or buttering for that matter”

Where you’d normally lose some pop with a flat board, Rome boost the dynamic energy of the Gang Plank with their Bamboo Omega Hot Rods. Yep, they’re as cool as they sound. Bamboo wrapped in carbon sits in the nose and tail, channelling your input from the inserts out to the tips. Bamboo offers mega snap and rebound and lets the overall flex stay pretty soft without becoming a pure noodle.

The updated shape sees the tip and tail fully blunted to bring the swing weight right down, offering you more control and balance in the air and allowing the board a shorter total running length without affecting on snow performance.

“All the hallmarks of a classic park board, with a modern twist and a wallet friendly price tag”

Any park board worth its salt is bound to take a bit of a beating, and the Gang Plank is built to last. Impact plates underfoot both strengthen and soak up chatter, steel edges negate dinks and the easy repair Sinterstrong Base can take hit after hit.

Biax fibreglass laminates keep it nice and playful torsionally and offer a smidge more leeway for mistakes. It’s a board that’ll grow with you, from your first 180 all the way to stomping corks and cab 5’s. All the hallmarks of a classic park board, with a modern twist and a wallet friendly price tag.

Tester’s Verdict 2019/20

Al Nasmyth – Freedom 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 2019/20

Stephen MacLean – The 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 Blomfield – whitelines.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.”

Topics:

Beginner 2020/21 Buyers Guide 2020/21 Buyers Guide 2020/21 Snowboards Freestyle 2020/21 Intermediate 2020/21 rome Rome Reviews 2020/21 rome SDS True Twin 2020/21

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