Snowboard Review: 08-09 Rome Vinyl

Location: Loveland, Colorado

Snow Conditions: Snowing with hard groomed groomers, some icy spots.

Setup: I rode the Rome Vinyl with Rome Madison’s Bindings and my Vans Omni Focus boots.

First Impression:  I wish I learned on this board, easy mellow ride to progress with.

Size: 152cm

Weight: light

Flex:   It wasn’t a noodle, but definitely torsionally softer to make the turning easier for women.  Overall it was a good medium flex for women, not a noodle but not stiff.  It didn’t require a lot of extra effort to manipulate and initiate it into turns.  When I did ride over some icy spots, it gripped and held an edge without washing out.  

Turning:  It was really easy to initiate turns but also forgiving, so if you were taking your time to turn the board it wasn’t going to push you past your limits.  It is light and flexible making it a good ride for women.  I was just riding groomers with the vinyl and really small amounts of dust on crust which it was handling the adjusting terrain fine, holding an edge through the bumps. 

Stable:  Definitely for the mellow rider, when I took it up to faster speeds and more aggressive riding…it wasn’t up to par with that and I would have preferred a bigger size for me and a stiffer deck to feel more stable but that’s not what this board is.  But for just taking it easy, turning and messing around with, I had no problems with it being stable.

Pop:  No problems with popping into an ollie or off the tail of the board over rollers.  

Switch: I actually spend a lot of time switch on it, mostly because my switch riding is still progressing and while I can turn toeside and heelside switch, I wanted to take it slower and see how the board reacted to me being at a lower level of riding.  It rode fine switch, I actually found it really easy ride switch with.  

Overall Impression:  My friend Gorio mentioned using boards as they are designed for and I try to follow that in demos.  With the vinyl it meant slowing down my riding, taking turns slow and riding switch a lot more to get back into that mode of riding.  With it all done, I was happy with the board for what it was designed for.  I wouldn’t ride it myself at the riding level I’m at and what I prefer but I would have rode it when I first learned and needed a board to learn on.   

Shay’s Honesty Box:  I’m still a progressing rider, every rider is…and while I am above the level of the vinyl meaning that board won’t help me progress into more of a rider.  It was a good board and I’m glad to have recommended it in the past and now in the future knowing that girls can ride it and it will make progressing easier.  

On snow Photo

Rome Vinyl Description

For more information on the Rome Vinyl go to Rome’s website.