Snowboard Review: 09-10 Signal Park Rocker

This review was done through Board Insiders and will be featured on their site as a review with video of me explaining the board and riding it.  I’ll update this link to that when it goes live.

Location: Stevens Pass, Washington

Snow Conditions: Snowing with powder on runs, some groomed areas.

Setup: I rode the Signal Park Rocker with Union Forces and my Rome Vamps size 8.

First Impression: This is the most playful softest board I’ve ridden.

Size: 154cm

Weight: light

Flex: A picture is worth a 1,000 words so please see the 2nd picture down below. To say this board is soft is the truth. It’s a soft park specific board, it’s soft. It’s easy to tail and nose press, I’m still amazed by the flex of this board but it’s not a board that will remind you of bronco riding, it is still manageable when riding. Definitely for higher speeds, not as stable…but I also take into consideration I was riding a smaller size than normal.

Turning: In terms of turning, very easy ride to initiate. It was also very predictable with the sidecut, no surprises, no aggressive turns…very mellow turning and nothing to throw you off during a turn. It did hold an edge on some groomed runs. It is able to carve and the softer flex holds surprisingly but I wasn’t bombing carves with it either. It was difficult to catch an edge on it.

Stable: I was very careful the first time I tried a tail press, knowing fully that it would be easier than I needed to put effort into it. There’s a point where it’s no turning back, but if you can hold the press it’s seriously way off above the snow. I took the park rocker through some NW powder turns where it floated, the softer flex made me more aware of making sure it didn’t go under and I didn’t lose control. It wasn’t as stable as pow specific boards but this is a park rocker, it will float but the softer flex isn’t meant for all out pow riding either.

Pop: I played with the pop on the side of a mini pipe and off small rollers, its a poppy board but also I can see how you’d be cautious taking off jumps…which I didn’t do, just off rollers.

Switch: Easy to maneuver into switch and same flex, sidecut so easy to ride switch with.

Overall Impression: It’s soft, no surprise there. It has a lot of rocker making it very easy to butter/press and it does float in pow. The park rocker needed more help in pow cause it’s a softer board but even in the deep stuff it had float…just had to make sure the board didn’t buck you in the float. All around it’s a park rocker board, just like the name. If you can’t press or butter, this board is the easiest I have rode to do it. It could turn on groomers, but this is not a freeride board…it’s not as stable at high speeds and it will turn but it’s not a board you’d take in a boardercross. I can see why a lot of people might not like it, but man if you are up for a soft rocker…this is it.

Shay’s Honesty Box: I had been eyeing up the park rocker for a while, definitely a board that was built for fun. I was warned that people weren’t too stoked on it at the reviews, I found it to be a super fun board…insanely easy to butter and while I wouldn’t expect it to freeride and charge with…if you want fun, play around and not take the mountain seriously…this is the board. I rode a smaller size and felt fine on it, you could size up to have more stability or size down to have even more softness, easy to play with.

On a side note, I came away from the review wanting the board because it was fun. For me riding A-Basin or other early/late season mountains where you ride the same run all day…this is the board to make that run insanely fun. Doing the tail grab in the photo was too easy and it didn’t feel like the board would break on me doing it. I ended up getting the board, should be arriving soon and I’m looking forward to the fun it offers. I’ll update this review if I had any additions to make to it.
*This Review was done in February 2009, please be aware that products may change.

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