Have Amplid cracked the nut of the all-mountain snowboard?
While snowboarding has its specialists – street rail riders, powder hounds and pipe dogs to name a few – the board that is best suited to 99% of the snowboarding population is the 'all-mountain', general-purpose ride that will do everything well. The problem with the mythical ‘one board for everything’ is that different terrain types, styles of riding and even snow conditions demand different board shapes and constructions to really excel, meaning many all mountain boards are decent at many things rather than great.
Now Amplid have claimed to have – in the words of brand founder Peter Bauer – ‘cracked the nut’.
Before we go any further, it’s worth talking a little about Peter Bauer. He’s one of the most competent and well respected all mountain riders on the planet, having held down a spot on the Burton Pro team back in the days when they still made race boards. Peter’s carving skills are beyond question and when he started Amplid, he did so with engineering and design collaboration thanks to the Amplid Research Cartel, a group of riders, employees and shops who all contributed to the Amplid R and D process.
The only slight caveat to the promise of ‘one board for everything‘ is that the Singular comes in two versions – the Twin and the Directional – so while the Singular is not technically ‘one board to do it all’, either choice is a solid one, so we’ll give them a pass.
The Twin is a true twin, with long, relaxed nose and tail profiles that get you in and out of turns smoothly, help power through chunder and float in pow. As a twin, it rides just as well in either direction – perfect for freestyle focussed riders. The Directional, on the other hand, has a much more one-way shape, with a longer, wider nose and a slightly taper of 3mm between the nose and the tail, offering a tail that sinks into pow, yet maintains powerful edge hold on piste, with a touch of early rise towards the nose to help with the soft snow. Both boards are on the slightly stiffer side of medium and best suit intermediate and up shredders. Each has used what Amplid call ‘Half Fat Camber’, which is a mellow camber that supports carving and delivers pop and control, yet isn’t so balls out that you’re riding on a terrifying knife-'edge all day.
Whichever board you choose, the guts of the Singular are the same – and fully featured. Amplid have utilised their own HEXO2 and HEXO2 LITE, an own brand honeycomb material that replaces heavier wood in key areas, reducing swing weight without compromising performance. Amplid have also made use of their VISCODAMP system where full depth channels are machined into the board’s core and then filled with a TPU material that effectively absorbs vibration, meaning the ride is smoother and you get tired less quickly. But this doesn’t mean that you’ll just chill all day – there’s tons of other tech packed in which will make you want to turn the heat up. Impact plates under your feet significantly improve the durability of the board and help to suck up impacts from landings and there is a full-length carbon stringer – a thin layer of carbon fibre that runs down the centre line of the board - from nose to tail, which dramatically improves pop and response without affecting the torsional stiffness, meaning the board is still a pleasure to turn.
The Amplid Singular feels solid from the moment you strap in and riding it is such a simple pleasure that you almost don’t have to think about what you’re doing. The board responds incredibly well when you’re maching it, but still behaves properly at slow and medium speeds. There’s no overly-aggressive camber or sidecut that demands you ride hard all the time, instead you get a kind of older sibling of a board: one that puts its arm around you and shows you around the mountain, pushing you to try harder yet making sure you have a great time without getting into any trouble – but when you want to get loose and turn things up, it’s there to bail you out.
Choosing between the Twin and Directional is simply fine-tuning an already solid proposition and either will serve you well. Amplid have produced an incredibly good snowboard that does everything really, really, well. Perfect? Not quite, but it’s as close to it as any board we’ve ridden.
Read the full review here: https://thereasonmag.com/blogs/gear/amplid-singular-twin-and-singular-directional-review
