What to expect next winter: trends (U bends)

Bataleon transform the Funk.Kink into a subtle statement on Rocker

If ever there was a trend in snowboard manufacture, nothing, I mean nothing has caught on like…

You guessed it, reverse camber, rocker, anti-camber, flatline technology, flying Vs (not swearing). Boards that are bent the wrong way, so to speak, along the lines of what was the tradition for the last 20 years at any rate, are massive.

Only one brand that we encountered offered a range of boards that didn’t include reverse camber: Bataleon. In an ode to this industry obsession they have been brought to the position of having to produce a rocker board, although technically speaking it is actually a “f**k rocker” snowboard (contrary to the base graphic it isn't actually built with rocker, reverse camber etc).

The guys there are adamant that the triple base technology that has been there hallmark since the brand’s inception is all you need for a great day on the hill, and is all you need for a cruiser, or an aggressive freestyle shred. And if the exploits of the UK’s Tyler Chorlton are anything to go by then they certainly seem to have hit the nail on the head.

We also checked out the Evil Twin which is looking good for another year.

As we mentioned before even Head have brought out a pretty comprehensive range of reverse/rocker/anti camber boards.

These are culminating in their new freeride charger, Erick Themel’s big mountain stick that as we mentioned before actually incorporates regular camber in the tail with rocker at the front, creating a base profile somewhat akin to as if someone has just positioned your board between two piles of logs and karate chopped it through the middle – it looks like a broken tool, but we have faith that such a big manufacturer knows what they are doing. Bring on the snowboard test in May where we’re actually going to get a chance to test out all this new-fangled base-meddling.

The official press release from the International Trade Fair for Sports Equipment and Fashion (ISPO) quotes the upsurge in rocker technology as the following:

“They forgive errors and are easier to turn than ever. Thanks to negative pretension (rocker) the nose and tail of the boards are bent slightly upwards which creates more lift, makes them easier to turn and they are very forgiving, no matter whether on groomed runs, terrain, in pipe or park. Thanks to the easy riding characteristics of rockers this technology has become standards in the majority of new boards. There are variations from moderate to extreme, Though some manufacturers are also taking another look at the original camber construction. Burton is not the only brand to fine-tune this original technology for a part of its collection.”

DC are offering all but the MLF in reverse camber ranging from 6mm lift in the Biittner Pro PBJ (£ 219) which is kind of a freestyle / jib deck to only 2mm in the Devun Walsh HKD pro which is as you can imagine a full on, high performance, all mountain freestyle slayer.

But Burton are towing a more mellow line with about half their decks incorporating reverse camber and new offerings like the Process available in both rocker and regular camber.