today re-established my hate for flexboards...

So my first set on a flexboard was months ago behind the boat. I hated every minute of it, twitchy edging, kinda slow, and cased every jump. I resigned myself to thinking the redeeming quality of flexboards may be their performance on rails. Not. I can definitely press better on my substance, and the new base material on the SS Reflex is grippy as HELL. That and when you ollie, you leave the water about 2 seconds later than you would on a normal board. That was a fun learning experience, considering my first ollie was onto, or rather into, the side of the flat rail

I used to be all about my premier on rails it was stiff and i could press the hell outta it. I got on a SS and tryed to press it like i would my normal premier and ate Sh** bad. I gave it another shot and it did take some getting used to like any new board but now I would never ride anything else. I found the presses can be more controlled than on a stiff board. You dont need to huck so hard to lock in a solid press. You can make it look and feel effortless. So I recommend easing your way into your normal riding style when riding a flexboard and not just jumping into it, but dont sweat it man

Luke, practice makes perfect, don't hate the board if you can't clear the wake! Plenty of people (VANDALL) have demonstrated how well they can work. Even some 16 year old girl named Nicola has been spotted ripping one

luke,

i disagree with you. i ride the reflex on both rails and wake. the new base on the board is probably the coolest thing about the board. the base is very fast on rails, no gripping what so ever. in fact when i ride doubles out at owc i will be on the inside (coming on 2nd) hitting the box at the same time as the other person and end up passing him and landing first. so its really fast with no friction. plus when im done with riding rails i can just scrub all the pvc or trek off the bottom of my board and it shines like its new again. the new base is awesome!

as for your ollies... im not sure what to say to that? i have never had a problem with those on a flex board cause its still a wakeboard and the flex doesnt really change that. maybe the problem could have been the fins... were you using fins? cause when you ride any board without fins it will make it a little more difficult to ollie since there is no traction there. you will get use to that quick though.

now when i went from a 3 stage traditional board to a flex board i ended up switching to a continuous rocker (response) but now that i started riding the reflex (subtle 3 stage) i get the speed and non drag i like on the water with the explosive pop from a 3 stage. but just like every different board it takes time getting use to, so you should go out and give flex boards a shot multiple times in a row instead of just one time and judging it.

i filmed a set of me taking my first boat set on the reflex ever with thewakeplace.com. hopefully the video will be up soon so everyone can see how good of a boat board it is too and knock all the talk away from it being just a rail board.

thanks.
-kaesen

I've had bad rides before, and it wasn't the board's fault

gangstar, If the vandall loves his flex board so much, why has he been riding a legend tagged with company logos?

is that true? need some validation hear- Luke, I appreciate the info if it's the truth!

(Message edited by joe_crawley on January 04, 2009)

That was only true right at the begining when Randall first signed with Company before they had product it is not true now.

Yea I am pretty sure he only did that in the beginning.

The newer flex boards are about as stiff as a regular core board.

^ are you a retarded person?

Nick you are classic....

pretty harsh and pretty funny at the same time

seems to me flex boards are an issue of preference.... I have never been on one but to get the idea it seems to me that I need to try it for myself and form my own opinion?

And take more than just one pass on it! You have to get used to the flex and harness it to your advantage! Alot of people will take one pass on a flex board and say "I dont like that, it doesnt feel anything like my board'.. Well no DUH! Its a flex board! I realize some may not like them, but you have to ride them for atleast a couple sets to get the hang of them. Once you learn how to ride them, they are awesome!

And some, despite the huge difference they feel will love, Love, LOVE it, even within the first moments after getting up! like myself. I don't think you could have a more different transition/comparison (considering more modern boards only) than the 2004 HY Byerly ("can-opener byerly") to a slingshot.

I grew up on a snowboard. The flex sounds nice to me....Is the lf press a flex?

Yeah, and a good board, but it's designed more for rails and pressing things out. the flex we're talking about, i.e. Slingshot, Company, and Humanoid, comes from a completely new technology. the SS Reflex is probably going to feel the most like a snowboard to you with the tips being a bit flexier than the center but still having good flex throughout. the new SS's even have the durabase just like what your snowboard has which is repairable if dinged and more resistant to sliders and such just like a snowboard!

Hitting rails on a normal board is BORING, hitting the wake on a normal board is not as poppy, and taking turns on a normal board is boring(manualing around the turns is just as fun as hitting the wake and going big with SS boards).