Signal Park Rocker: To the Max

I was lucky enough to spend a few days testing some snowboards from Signal. One of the boards that came to my doorstep was the Signal Park Rocker. The first thing I noticed when I pulled this board out of the box was the rocker. Hell, even the dogs noticed the U-shaped profile of this board. Unlike some other rockered boards which require a closer examination or at least placing the board on the ground, this board is rockered as Vanilla Ice said "to the extreme". I was stoked to give this board a try to see if there was a boundary or outer limit to rocker.

Conditions: Packed powder, park, Wachusett-style small runs with lots of rollers, slashes and crashes, hangin' with da boyz

Pros: Pressing, buttering, flatland craziness, Think you can't butter? Try this board. I've been impressed with Signal's overall construction. The bases are fast and durable. The topsheets are clean and tough. The board was surprisingly stable, but I really didn't get a chance to bring it up to any speed of substance.

Cons: On my first run of this board, my friend exclaimed "dude it's like your riding a boat. Your front foot was carving on the snow while your back foot and your tail were up in the air!" The heavy rocker of the Park Rocker reduces the overall amount of base area that is making contact with the snow. This is a pro when pressing on a box or hitting a rail, but creates a situation where you actually go slower at speed as you have less surface area in contact with the snow. The extreme rocker takes a bit (if not more) of learning curve to get used to. I didn't quite get it even after spending a decent amount of time on the board. Jumping off rollers were plain scary. I wouldn't even consider taking this off a 30 or 40 foot kicker much less a 5 foot kicker.

Overall: Flatland spins were decent, as I mentioned above, pressing was ridiculously easy, but I didn't really see enough major advantages compared to a "regular" rockered board or even a decent standard twin. As many of you know, I like to ride fast, hard and view my style as destroying the hill. I'm not sold on rocker, but have found some that I like. When I roll through the park, I like to mix it up between kickers and rails so the fact that I didn't feel stable off of or landing rollers, made me extremely skeptical if not down right scared to take it off of any feature of size. I can see how this idea came to light. It's actually a neat idea. But I have to say, the bottom line is: some concepts like the Park Rocker should never go into production.

Specs (from Signal):

Sizes: 152, 156 & 158
MSRP - $339.00

• Soft flex and unique design make it an excellent board for all riding levels.
• PARK ROCKER has reverse camber, making it not only a great board for the park, but also a versatile board in powder.
• PARK ROCKER has silk-screened topsheet with multiple windows revealing core.
• PARK ROCKER cores are 100% Poplar, utilizing a 180-degree Opposing Grain Structure; hand-laminated and cut with our very own C&C machine in-house at The Lodge!
• Signal cores use no finger joints!
• Average weight is a feather light 1.4lbs! Strong, Durable, and Long-lasting POP!
• All boards in the series (152, 156, 158) are made with machine-stitched Biaxial Glass Weaves for durability, soft flex pattern and lightest possible weight.
• PARK ROCKER has a Radial Sidecut. The flex, stance, and sidecut are symmetrical — whether you ride the PARK ROCKER backwards or forward the geometry is spot on.
• Our Magnum ABS Sidewalls offer the perfect blend of high impact resistance and
  flexibility.
• Ultra slick Sintered Base.
• All Signal die-cut bases are assembled in-house at The Lodge.