Deck: 2008 | Rome | Graft | 151cm
Me: 156lbs (max deck weight 165lbs). 9.5 boot. Years Experience: 20.
BASICS: Got the deck on 2/7. Rode it for about 2 hours that night. This deck is super buttery. It feels likes it
wants to be ridden up on the nose/tail, or in some kind of transition between the two. To just point this deck forward, down the hill, is like taking a Ferrari to the corner store for milk. It wants you to spin, slide, and ollie it. Despite the over all soft nature of the board, it still seemed to maintain a decent amount of pop.
BLUES: The first few runs I found myself over rotating 180/360’s airs a bit because I was not used to a really short/light board. I’d do a 360, land, and then wash-out another 180, to end up riding away switch. In short, the deck really allows you a lot of “slop” on your landings w/o making you bail. After I got the jist of it, I was throwing spins on it w/o any thought, and very little effort. Same went for flatland butters. I’d throw a nosepress 180/360 and end up over rotating a bit. Here again, after I got used to it, everything became almost effortless. The deck is also a true twin, so everything going switch was just as nice.
PARK: A few runs through the terrain park found it really nice for jibbing, and great for mid-sized features. I was night-riding, and I don’t hit big shit at night...too dark. Reviews of that to follow latter this week, along with 1/2-pipe review.
BLACKS: Then for the real test, speed runs down blacks. I knew this was the area the deck would perform the worst in. As such, I really wanted to tap-it-out and see where the limits were. I was surprised. It handled much better than I was expecting it to. While it was clearly not an all-mountain deck in the proper sense, I was able to handle blacks with out a substantial amount of chatter/instability. I would
never recommended this board to someone who is looking a lot of speed-runs. However, it did handle all right despite its pure freestyle/park proclivity. I would definatlly recommend it to someone who likes the park, freestyling down blues, and the occasional freestyle/switch runs down blacks (just keep the speed under control).
SUMMARY: This was a
really fun board to ride. Despite the fact that I can’t do death speed runs on this, I can see myself taking it out often as a main ride. Where it lacks in speed stability, the pure butter / jump fun seems to make up for it. The flexibility of it would also make a great choice for someone just starting out. Good stuff, those Rome decks. Anyone who disagrees with my assessments, PLEASE, post-up! I’d love to hear some other’s views on the deck. I’ll also follow-up on this thread once I have logged some serious riding time on it.
GRADES:
Steeps/Speed: C+/B- (for a freestyle deck)
Butter: A-
Jibs: A-
Spin-a-ability: A-
Jumps: A-
Pipe: Unknown
Fun: A-fuckin’-plus
First Ride Review: Rome Graft
First Ride Review: Rome Graft
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