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CAPiTA Dark Horse

By PTO Team, PTO has not ridden the 26/27 Dark Horse - nobody has - so this is read off CAPiTA's 26/27 catalog, the order book, and two ridden reviews of last season's build · Spec analysis on this board

CarvingParkPlayful.Forgive.Stabili.Powder
Carving
Park
Playfulness
Forgiveness
Stability
Powder

The take

Real camber at $499.95. The carbon that gives it snap just lost 10 mm a side.

Start with the thing a shop is supposed to tell you and usually does not. This is not a carryover year. CAPiTA cut the Carbon Aramid Boosters from 2 x 30 mm to 2 x 20 mm and left the price at $499.95. Those strips are what put snap and torsional stiffness into the board, and each one is now 10 mm narrower. That is the fact, and it is where the fact stops: nobody has ridden the 26/27 build. Not one review of it exists. What anyone knows about this board on snow was learned on last season's version, and we are not going to dress that up as knowledge of the board in the rack. What we do know is where the $499.95 goes, because CAPiTA told us by building it. The Dark Horse replaced the Outsiders, a $600 board, and the camber profile came across untouched. The core, the glass and the base all stepped down - and the base is the big one, from a sintered Hyperdrive to a sintruded Superdrive. Sintered bases run faster and drink wax; sintruded ones are harder-wearing and ask for almost nothing. That trade is the likely reason the two riders we can read both land on the same complaint: it is not fast. One of them had ridden the Outsiders too, and put the difference honestly - the old board felt quicker, but outside genuinely flat sections he did not notice much. On last season's build those two agreed on more than they disagreed. Switch riding and spins were the standout, named independently by each of them, and one specifically noticed it did not over-spin. Pop off small and medium jumps was real. Powder sat at the bottom of both their scales, and the mechanism is not in dispute: a centered true twin with zero taper has nothing to float on. Above roughly a foot of fresh, this is the wrong tool. On hard snow at speed, that build got loose. On one point they split, and we will not pick a side - one found it shines on jibs, the other found it decent but not ideal. They weighed 144 lb and 180 lb, both on a 154 - which may be the whole story. Inside the line, the price tag lies to you. The D.O.A. costs $100 more and is softer - Twin 5.5 against this board's Twin 6. The extra money does not buy a stiffer plank; it buys a different board. Hybrid camber instead of traditional. A sintered Quantum Drive base instead of this sintruded one - which is to say the $100 buys back the glide this board gives up. It also buys a Blended Radial sidecut, a carbon-hybrid laminate and a different core. If you ride aggressively, that $100 is the right $100. If you are still building a trick list, it is not. Sizes run 148 to 158, even only. The Wide overlaps at 154, 156, 158. Pick width off your boot.

Bindings we'd pair with it

Mount point: Centered, no setback - reference stance 55.9 cm / 22 in at 156-158. Our pick: No official pairing - CAPiTA does not make bindings.

    Sold as a deck only. CAPiTA does not make bindings, so there is no factory pairing to name. We mount and size with you in the shop.

    Common Questions

    Is the 26/27 Dark Horse the same board as last year?
    No. The Carbon Aramid Boosters went from 2 x 30 mm to 2 x 20 mm, and the price stayed at $499.95. That is the only change we can see in the published spec - CAPiTA has released no 26/27 tech page, so we cannot rule out others. No one has ridden the new version yet, so we cannot tell you what those 10 mm are worth on snow. Only that they are gone.
    Dark Horse or D.O.A.?
    They are not the same kind of board. The D.O.A. costs $100 more, is softer (Twin 5.5 against Twin 6), runs hybrid camber where this one runs traditional, rides on a sintered base where this one is sintruded, and adds a Blended Radial sidecut and a carbon-hybrid laminate. The base is the one that matters most: if the Dark Horse being slow is what worries you, that is the line item the $100 fixes. The one head-to-head we have is from the previous generation of both, and it put the D.O.A. ahead at speed and on bigger jumps.
    What size, and do I need the Wide?
    Lengths run 148 to 158, even only. The Wide is a separate board running 154W to 160W, so the two overlap at 154, 156 and 158 - the number on the board does not tell you which one it is. Choose width off your boot size, not your weight, and we will check it with you before you buy.
    Is it good in powder?
    No, and we would rather say so. It is a centered true twin with zero taper - there is nothing there to float on. The two riders we can read each put powder at the bottom of their scale. Above about a foot of fresh you want a different board.
    Why is it slower than the Outsiders it replaced?
    The Outsiders was a $600 board and is discontinued. Its Hyperdrive base was sintered; the Dark Horse runs a sintruded Superdrive. Sintered bases run faster and want regular waxing; sintruded ones are harder-wearing and forgiving if you never touch them. That is the trade CAPiTA made to hit $499.95, and it is the single biggest thing separating the two.