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Snowboards

KORUA Pencil 2019-2020 Snowboard Review

  • Sizes: 147, 159, 164
  • Flex: 7
  • Profile: Setback Camber
  • Shape: Directional
  • Price: €449
  • BUY DIRECT FROM KORUA

Why we chose the KORUA Pencil Snowboard: The cult classic just got female-friendly.

Good news ladies, at long last the boys at KORUA have broadened the line to include a couple of new female-friendly sizes. The Pencil hits the shelves in an all-new 147 size and is primed for ripping up the groomers. The red and white cult classics have never been known for sticking to convention, and the pencil epitomises the brand’s raison d’être – yearning for turning.

As with any snowboard built for tipping and gripping, it’s shaped around a directional outline with a sizeable taper from end to end. It’s a tale of two halves with the pencil, the nose of the board rolls easily into the turn but, as soon as you’re in, the dials crank up and pull you round the arc. Buckle up, you’re very much on for the ride with the Pencil. Thankfully, it’s one you’ll never want to get off.

“Buckle up, you’re very much on for the ride with the Pencil. Thankfully, it’s one you’ll never want to get off”

By keeping a springy camber underfoot, the Pencil still remains surprisingly agile. That’s also thanks to a humongous rocker in the nose, which brings the contact points far closer to your front foot and allows it to feel much shorter than that dragon’s tooth of an outline suggests. Then, by tightening the turning circle up with KORUA’s carving specific sidecut, you can keep the manoeuvrability without losing a single degree of their renowned palm dragging, high-angle, riding on the edge.

The Pencil slightly stiffens towards the tail, but the simple colourways of these decks runs through to it’s stripped back construction in the core. A lightweight poplar layup is sandwiched between biax fibreglass to keep the board full of energy without delivering a knockout blow the minute you step your foot off the gas. With KORUA, it’s all about the shape – perfectly demonstrated, here, in the Pencil. Simplicity done right is a thing of beauty.

“With KORUA, it’s all about the shape – perfectly demonstrated, here, in the Pencil. Simplicity done right is a thing of beauty”

This isn’t the only new size addition for the women this year. The Korua Café Racer also adds to KORUA’s repertoire of turn and burn missiles (and with a full camber profile it arguably offers even more grip on the edge). However, for our testers this year, the Pencil had all the ability to dig a trench of the meanest camber boards out there, with the added bonus of being a backcountry rocket that delivers as much float and stability to point it fast – and straight – down a wide-open powder face.

Tester’s Verdict

Rhys JonesTDC Snowboarding

“What can I say, I’m a big fan of Korua boards and the Pencil was no exception. At 164, the Pencil is the longest board in their range of rocket ship shapes. It does, however, feel a lot shorter than it actually is. It is a pretty wide board coming in at 269mm waist width, so changing edges was a bit slower unless you gave it some beans.

“As you’d expect with a Korua it’s amazing when you get it on an edge. Lay it over and you’re off”

As you’d expect with a Korua it’s amazing when you get it on an edge. Lay it over and you’re off. I felt like I really needed to go fast on this board and it was a pleasure to do so, really stable and lively. I would be comfortable riding this board in all conditions, especially in powder. Its big nose would create tonnes of float. Probably not my go-to board in the park but you never know. Turns were easy to get in and out of and the board had plenty of life.

I would recommend this board for intermediate/advanced all-mountain, powder hound, carving fiends.”

Tester’s Verdict

Corinne MayhewMayhew Snowboarding

“When I heard that Korua were going to be doing smaller sizes I knew that I had to try one, after years of watching people ride them and listening to them rave about them, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Despite it being a unisex board, it worked better than a lot of female specific ones I’ve tried.

There are a lot of boards on the market than can carve, but I’ve never felt more in tune with a board and more like a board understood the fundamental breakdown of a carve. Some boards are too stiff and spit you out the end of the turn, but the Pencil was gentle enough at the crux of the turn that it was a beautifully easy transition. Almost as if the board knew what you wanted to do before you did it.

“Almost as if the board knew what you wanted to do before you did it”

If you’re someone who likes turning and burning then you have to try this board, it didn’t slip out once even through the deepest turns. The camber section keeps it feeling lively and allows you to really throw your weight into the carves.

It was aggressive without being catchy, gentle without being limp and fast without being uncontrollable. A Eurocarve aficionado would excel on this, it’s wide enough to really get elbows down with no issues. Even for a smaller womans foot, it handled beautifully.

I didn’t get the opportunity to try it in fresh deep snow, but a bit of left-over chowder showed me that it’s an easy floater, with the ability to be very manoeuvrable. One of the most exciting experiences I’ve had on the hill in a long time, if you’re a lady with a yearning for turning- then this is the board for you.”

Trade Secrets

Nicholas Wolken – Co-founder, KORUA Shapes

“Good news, for women, kids and lovers of smaller boards, the classic Pencil is now available in smaller sizes.

For a small company like us, it is a big step to be able to offer sizes which are not in the most popular selling range, so we are proud to offer more options now to push women’s snowboarding and the youth as well as smaller guys or taller humans who have a thing for very small snowboards. Turns for all!”

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