The Salomon Huck Knife review: from £430
First introduced back in 2017, the Huck Knife quickly grew to become Salomon’s most popular freestyle snowboard and has stayed in that position ever since. It’s the weapon of choice of many a freestyler from Salomon team riders to park rats everywhere and is now available in not one, but two models – the Huck Knife and the Huck Knife Pro. But what exactly are these boards and will they suit you?
Simply put, the Huck Knife is a freestyle/park twin tip that is medium flexing, yet offers plenty of edge hold for shredding hard everywhere. Ever since the launch of the Huck Knife back in 2017, the days of noodley park boards were numbered and with the all new Huck Knife Pro, riders that need a stiffer, more responsive freestyle board are looked after as well.
Sizes Available: 149, 153, 156, 156W, 159, 159W, 162
From the start, the Huck Knife was intended to be a fun, easy-to-ride, yet well performing park board. Response and edge hold was achieved in part thanks to different levels of camber throughout the length of the board, giving you a combination of forgiveness and control, but always with plenty of grip. Between the bindings the Huck Knife has a minimal amount of camber, which then gets more aggressive under your feet where most of the power comes from, with smaller rocker sections before the nose and tail for better turn initiation and reduced chance of catching your edge. While it’s a freestyle board, it’s a freestyle board that you can hammer piste on and it won’t catch you out in powder either.
There’s plenty of support without it being either too stiff or too soft thanks to the medium flex – its soft enough to press for park tricks, yet there’s an abundance of support for faster moves, big landings or simply getting your carve on.
The full wood core has carbon stringers that push out from under the bindings, which gives a really nice snap to ollies and carves, without affecting the torsional flex along its length – or between your feet. Basically it’s at that medium flex level where it won’t fold up on you if you’re riding hard, nor will it try to play Buckaroo if you’re not concentrating.
The sintered base means plenty of speed, but you’ll want to keep an eye on its condition and wax and tune appropriately if your smashing rails all day long.
The Huck Knife is a fair priced all mountain freestyle board with a killer medium flex for a friendly feel but with plenty of tech packed in to ensure a lively and responsive ride.
Huck Knife Pro £520
Sizes: 149, 153, 156, 156W, 159. 159W
This year Salomon have launched ‘pro’ versions of many of their boards, which takes the shape and ride of existing models and ups the technology, response – and price – to deliver a familiar board that packs a bigger punch.
In the case of the Huck Knife Pro, this means enhancing the flex by around 15%, and significantly reducing the weight and upping the levels of tech to include Damplifier Lite inserts, which is made from cork and honeycomb and inserted in the nose and tail to reduce swing weight. There are also Ghost Carbon Beams in the nose and tail for even more pop. If you want the feel of the Huck Knife but want to step things up all over the mountain, the Huck Knife Pro is the logical progression.
