Let’s be real for a minute. No amount of 3D base profiles, blunt twin outlines, and snazzy graphics are ever going to raise your freestyle game to the levels you already proclaim they’re at. As soon as you leave the lip of the jump, it’s all down whatever mercy gravity chooses to spare you.
Life’s better on terra firma, and when your snowboard is in contact with it for the majority of your day, genuinely innovative and performance driven products really do make all the difference. Enter the Amplid Pentaquark.
“The Pentaquark is to carving purists what a pet lion is to Mike Tyson – an unnecessary luxury, but a pretty badass one at that”
Who Is The Amplid Pentaquark For?
The Pentaquark is to carving purists what a pet lion is to Mike Tyson – an unnecessary luxury, but a pretty badass one at that. Not to mention that one wrong move with either could kill you. You absolutely need to be on your game with this thing, only advanced level riders need apply. But for those of you who are, it’ll deliver on one of the best turning experiences out there.
Shape, Profile and Sidecut
The Pentaquark sits among Amplid’s esteemed Centrifugal Collection – a series of snowboards purpose-built for creating the best turning experiences out there. But unlike some of the more piste and pow hybrid designs, the Pentaquark has the corduroy fixed in its crosshairs.
No surprises then it’s built around a directional shape, with only 3mm of taper and an almighty positive camber. To lay it flat, the tail resembles something more akin to a boardercross snowboard, squeezing out as much of the effective edge as possible and recreating that speedy, low profile silhouette.
“The Pentaquark sits among Amplid’s esteemed Centrifugal Collection – a series of snowboards purpose-built for creating the best turning experiences out there”
Construction and Materials
Where do we start with the pentaquarks construction? When you can skim pass features like a premium sintered base, unidirectional carbon stringers in the tail and an impossibly lightweight core constructed from a combination of various wood species and a honeycomb-like paper construction at the tips you know you’re onto something pretty special.
Antiphase is the Pentaquark’s real star of the show. The composite dampening technology was designed in house and provides unreal levels of vibration reduction – something that has been verified and vouched for by our test team over multiple seasons. Truth be told – it’ll probably be one of the smoothest carving experiences of your life.
“Antiphase is the Pentaquark’s real star of the show.”
Roundup
With only a 158 size available and coming in at €840, it’s pretty obvious the Pentaquark isn’t one for the masses. This is a specialised purchase for a specialised experience. But boy, oh boy, if carving is your thing, then this is your board.
