Fracture : Compound

Review:
A new company in 2005, Fracture's board line is made up of sick freestyle boards. I got about 12 days in on my 160cm late last spring in Vail before the snow melted. With a much softer flex than I am used to, this board amplified my pipe and park abilities ten-fold! I am used to riding a stiffer board that makes noes and tail presses a real challenge; the forgiving flex of the Compound Fracture makes presses and butters easy on the Compound. Fracture snowboards has only three boards in their line as of now, but for a freestyle/ park board 153cm, 156cm, or 160cm should cover most riders. A super fun board to ride, I highly recommend Fracture snowboards for anyone looking to improve on their freestyle skills this winter. Orders are being taken online only, at www.fractureusa.com, and at $200 for a brand new deck, you should have plenty of coin left over for a pass to your mountain of choice!

Review:
With several months of testing the Compound 160 under my belt, I feel pretty confident in weighing in on Fracture's largest board.

The Compound 160 is a smooth all-mountain ride, soft enough to be playful in all conditions but firm enough to give you a stable platform in the chop. The Compound takes very little effort to butter and pops off launches of all kinds with ease. Fracture's 160 is a wonderful all-mountain freestyle board, whether you're dropping cliffs, launching 40 foot tables, or pulling buttered 270-on boardslides.

There was some trouble with the topsheet delaminating from the sidewall along the toe and heel edge between bindings. A little bit of epoxy fixed this quickly, and apparently this defect was limited to one batch of boards.

The topsheet is a deep, pearly black, and has the words Fracture sprawled across it, looking like a band of sponsor stickers. The end result is a tight presentation, with plent of room on the nose and tail for real stickers.

In terms of value, Fracture is hard to beat, even with the minor delamination.