Bataleon Fun Kink Review

The Bataleon Fun Kink is a soft flexing, almost twin shaped board that is very forgiving.

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Features of the Bataleon Fun Kink

4/10 Flex

A medium soft flex rating, though to me it felt even softer than it is rated.

Directional Twin Outline

The board has a silhouette of a twin board, though with a slightly longer nose to help a little in softer snow.

Twin 3BT

A decently wide center base of the board.

Sidekick

Even with the 3BT lift on the edges, the contact points on board with Sidekick are lifted even further, to smooth out turns and give a little more forgiveness in rough terrain.

Medium Uplift

This is the amount that the corners of the board is lifted. While their powder boards have a large amount of uplift, medium works well for boards that need to do a bit of everything.

Mellow Camber

Although all Bataleon boards will have some amount of regular camber, it is just a small amount on the Fun.Kink.

Biax Laminate

Two directions of fiberglass.

Core Core

Mainly made up of poplar wood, with beech stringers to add some extra strength to the board.

DST

Super Slick X

This is Bataleon’s name for their extruded base material.

Sizes available:

149cm
151cm
154cm
157cm
159cm Wide
162cm Wide

How it Rides

Board size: 15

Boots: Salomon Launch Boa 27.5

Bindings: Salomon Highlander (Medium)

I am 6 foot tall, and weigh 155lbs or about 70kg. I had my bindings set to +15 and -6, with a fairly narrow stance width of around 21 inches.

Camber Profile

The Mellow camber has just a small amount of camber, which is enough to give the board a bit of stability, and help a touch with the edge hold.

Flex and Pop

The softer flex means that it is easy to move around, and doesn’t take much effort to flex it for an ollie, though it doesn’t push back hard at all.

Edge Hold

Once you get the board onto its edge, the hold isn’t bad. The conditions were a bit too soft to give a realistic test on how well it held, though it was decent up until high speed where the soft flex meant I got thrown around a little bit more than I would have liked.

Turns

With the 3BT base shaping there is a little bit more slack on harder or groomed runs, so it does take a little extra time before the edges dig in, but after that it feels like normal. In powder the 3BT does help with a looser, surfy feel.

Float

Even with the tiniest bit of a longer nose, in powder it rode like a twin. The snow was quite light, so I could just plow through everything without any effort, though I am sure my back leg would have been getting tired if the snow wasn’t so good.

Switch

You can think of this board just like a twin, and it rides just the same switch as it does regular.

Speed

I was riding a freshly waxed Fun Kink, so while the speed wasn’t great, it wasn’t bad either. All you could expect from a board with an extruded base.

Overall

While the Fun Kink is definitely not the board for me, the things that I don’t like about it make it a very good option for other riders.

If you are someone who has been renting snowboards, and are looking to buy your first board, then something like this is going to be a good option. The softer flex and 3BT base shaping mean that it is going to give you tons of forgiveness when you are still working on your technique.

There is still lots that intermediate and above riders can get from the Fun Kink, so I wouldn’t get stuck on the idea that it is only best for beginners. It is really easy to butter, and would be a solid option for riding in the park, as it will keep learning new tricks as catch free as possible.

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Bataleon Fun Kink 2022 Technical Specs

Length (cm)	Effective Edge (mm)	Setback (mm)	Waist Width (mm)	Sidecut (m)
149	1440	0	246	7.5
151	1163	0	248	7.6
154	1187	0	251	7.8
157	1203	0	253	7.9
159 Wide	1224	0	265	8.0
162 Wide	1250	0	267	8.1