Snowboard Review: 10-11 Rome Garage Rocker

Location: Winter Park, CO

Snow Conditions: Hardpacked snow conditions that softened up during the day with bluebird skies.

Setup: I rode the Rome Garage Rocker with Rome 390 bindings and Vans Veil Boots size 8.

Size: 154cm.

First Impression: Definitely a board to rock out too but won’t rock you around on the slopes.

Weight: average

Flex: The Garage Rocker was softer between the feet which gave it quick edge to edge response and stiffer beneath the bindings which help made it feel more stable when turning and going fast.  The nose and tail flex were still playful, didn’t find it difficult to butter and press the board.  The reverse free camber is a long mid-body of reverse camber combined with straight camber in the nose and tail that gives it playfulness and control on edge.  The garage rocker kept with that feeling, playful but it never felt out of control of unstable because of the rocker.

Turning: The garage rocker isn’t built to be a high speed carve board, softer flex and a more forgiving ride down the mountain.  It held turns whether they were long or short radius, although the effective edge impressed me cause you could hold down turns but it never forced you into staying into the turn.  Overall it handled turns better than some other park boards and you can take outside of park for a day you just want to cruise.

Stable: Surprisingly for a 154cm that is a freestyle rocker board, it did better than expected on getting some speed in down the mountain.  On the icy spots, it didn’t hold an edge as well but it also has a park edge bevel so I wasn’t expecting it to.

Pop: The stiffer underfoot sections where the stringers are at, helped with the pop and I found the board good with pop off the rollers.  In the pipe, it was tough holding an edge but no problem popping on the walls and was a playful board in the park.  When it came to butters/presses it held them really good and could snap back under to get down to business.

Switch: Garage Rocker is a true twin and rode like a true twin, really easy to manuever into switch riding and not catchy.  It rode the same switch as it did regular for me.

Overall Impression: The garage rocker is Rome’s blue collar rocker, that’s not meant to break your bank account but give you a good rocker board for the price.  It’s a freestyle focused rocker with reverse free camber, making it a really easy ride on the mountain.  I would even say this board for someone just getting into snowboarding that’s going to be park focused, would be ideal.  Easy ride and a good mix of playful for the rider.  I didn’t ride last year’s garage rocker but there’s definite changes that make it less jib and more park/all mountain.

Shay’s Honesty Box: I’m probably not the rider for the garage rocker, it’s more freestyle focused than I ride at but even still I found it handled outside of park.  However for my progressing skills in the park, it was a good match and gave me some good riding outside of the park.  Impressed that this is Rome’s lower end rocker board because it rides better than the price.

Ready to buy? Head over to evo for the Rome Garage Rocker or shop their full line of Rome snowboards

On Snow Photo

[singlepic id=8356 w=400 h=300 float=]

[singlepic id=8409 w=400 h=300 float=]

Rome Garage Rocker description

[singlepic id=8358 w=600 h=770 mode=watermark float=]

Review Disclosure: I rode this board at a demo day.