Slingshot Wakeboards?

I just got a call at the shop from a Slingshot Wakeboards rep, seeing if we wanted to pick up their line. I had never even heard of them, so I checked out the site and they really don't even have any info there...
www.slingshotwake.com

Anybody know anything about them?

American kiteboarding company. First official line of products this year. So far they make only closed-toe/snowboard inspired boots and flex boards, which are supposed to provide soft landings, more pop, and fun carves and surface tricks.

Would really love to check one out.

Maybe ask them to update their website and show some product so people may actually want to buy the stuff.

Fall 2006 is back a while. A 1mb flash intro with some wake jibber flexing a board does not quite do it for me. Let's see some of the Art of Power.

Flux,

I could not have said it better.

i saw jeff mckee ride the recoil board by slingshot and it definitely looked like it would be fun to ride. cory what shop do you work at i live in jax also and if ya'll pick it up i may want to demo it

I can do some hack HTML. Send me a board, I will ride it, have some picture taken of me pulling some sick Tindies 1 ft off the water, I will put them on the site with a testimonial that I could only pull tindies 8" inches off the water before and the art of power has improved my wakejibbing sickness by 50%, I could even throw in some butter nose presses to faceplant if they need sequence stuff. I look good on camera too, trust that.

Seriously though, asking shops to carry your gear without having a marketing website is somewhat rediculous, and certainly does not help promote the product. We are internet reasearchers, just look at this site. At least give us some picks and show us some basic prototypes. They must have some promotional materials if they are asking shops to carry the line, right?? PDF it and put it up there.

I've ridden the board/boots and they are incredibly unique. They incorporate flex to generate pop & it works well! Landings are also very smooth. I would seriously look into it. Advanced riders will love it. Check my post about my recent video, it features a Slingshot rider killing it on the Recoil.

Flux, patience young Jedi. This is their first year & they are still ramping up. They aren't trying to be Ronix in their launch. Give it time and you will be pleasantly surprised. Plus looking for board features is useless as the bottoms are completely flat.

Is the Recoil similar to Hyperlite's Roam?

Jeremy, I'm at All Wet Sports over on Pottsburg Creek. I don't think we're picking them up anytime soon, the boss pretty much said what everyone else already said...they have no marketing, so how can they expect them to sell?

Big Heavy,

Did you ride both the Response and Recoil? I really want to try one of their setups but I can't decide which setup would better suit me. I am an intermediate rider and no where close to being "advanced" but I snowboard and really like the idea of a flex board. I currently ride a HL TFD with continuous rocker but I'm leaning towards a Slingshot Recoil.

Thanks.

Mike, nothing like the Roam. The Roam is too flexy to be effective in wake riding. It can be done but IMO it noodles out when you hit the wake. Slingshot is not nearly as soft and actually recoils off the wake with a noticeable snap. It also features fins.

I have only ridden the Recoil, its the 3-stage I believe. It was very smooth, just a little big for me. If you are a snowboarder & have a decent progressive edge (a requirement) you will like em.

Cory, I think they will sell the same as the high end boards do. CWB doesn't sell a ton of Platinums but those that want it, get it. Slingshot will be very similar, those that want flex will get it. Plus they are the only company that offers it, essentially controlling their niche. Give em time & the marketing will get there.

Here is one of some shots I took yesterday out at Texas Ski Ranch. Josh Wright was out working on some tail and nose work with his slingshot.

Young Jedi?? Dude, I'm Yoda in the swamp eating lizards in my freaked out hut.

I have heard the hype, visited the website which missed it's update by 2 seasons, three pretty soon, and want to see the gear. I am glad people are stoked on them, want to know more from Joe average about riding it.

I most definitely would like to try one and hopefully soon. I'd love to have a board that can flex and jib, but can still charge the wake.

Well come up to Lopez this weekend & odds are good you will get a chance. We ride Naci all the time & find it hard to turn down a ride on a SAN. Or book a week at West Coast Camps, a couple coaches have them.

As for the jedi comment, definitely one I use too much!

Jedi training aside, their website is really the least of their problems. From what I have heard, you got to have their bindings and their boards, "married" to be on the team. They aren't cheap, which will leave them in the nosebleeders for the big game. Shoulda made the boards uni's....

(edit for spellin)

(Message edited by committed on April 26, 2007)

I finally got the chance to ride the Slingshot setup. I tried the Response with the Slingshot bindings.

The bindings are pretty impressive. I tried them on at home and at first I thought they were a little too snowboard-binding like and a little too stiff. However, that didn't prove to be the case on the water. Once on the water they felt great and touched every square inch of my foot. They were perfectly snug without being tight anywhere. As with any properly fit closed-toe, I couldn't imagine the possibility of smashing my toes into the end of the binding no matter how hard I might fall. The foot is just held in too snugly and there is no opportunity for the foot to move. Overall, I would say the fit and performance of the bindings is fantastic and definitely worthy of any top level rider.

The downside of the bindings is that they take three sets of very long laces, which makes for the most complicated boot cinching process I've ever seen. If I was a pro, I think the extra trouble would be well worth it since the bindings are so great. However, as an amateur that's pretty much just riding for fun and at a level way below pro, I'm not sure it would be worth all the extra trouble of putting the boots on and off for it to be worth it. There are a lot of much simpler designs that give me 95% of the performance of the Slingshots. It's tough to look cool when you finish your ride, hit the dock with a nice wall of water causing your friends to run away screaming and then spend the next ten minutes in the water struggling to the board off your feet.

The Response board is also very impressive and this is coming from a guy that has been riding a Liquid Force Trip since the beginning of time and generally doesn't like changing boards. It does take some riding to get used to the flex on this board, but before my first set was done, I felt like I had it dialed. It's really a different, but fun, feeling. I was able to get quite a bit of pop, yet the landings were super soft. Casing the wake never felt so good. You could probably make the case that these boards are good for old men like me that really feel it when they come down hard in the flats. The Response is just a much more forgiving more than most that I've tried.

The drawbacks on the board would probably be that it's a little slippery. The bottom is absolutely flat except for the two fins on each end. I normally like a loose board and I ride my Trip without the center fins. However, I found myself slipping out quite a bit on my toeside landings. Maybe I still need to get used to the board, but I did spend three sets on it. I'd like to try it with some larger fins to see if that takes care of the problem. The standard fins are pretty dinky for a board that has no other bottom features.

Next time I go out, I'll probably ride this board on the same day that I ride my Trip again. I think it will be interesting to do more of a side-by-side comparison.

Keep in mind that all of this is coming from a novice rider that has never done anything beyond a 360.

In a nutshell, I think Slingshot has come up with some pretty impressive products, especially for their first year with a wake product line. I would definitely recommend you take a ride on them if you have an opportunity.

I think it would smart of them to come up with a way for their bindings to fit onto other wakeboards because I think they would sell a lot more of them if they didn't force the consumer to buy the entire board/binding package. I'd also lot to see a lower end binding (read: less complicated) for those of us that aren't competing on the Pro Tour.

Problem with that is that it won't let the board flex like it should. Look at the above picture, if the boots were on a universal "wake" plate there would be 10 inches of board rendered useless for the desired flex. I agree though, they need a plate that would allow other boots to work, it would have to be raised but can be done. Presently you can use their boots on other boards with a special plate, it is not the other way around unfortunately. To ride their board you need their boots.

What companies have them for sale and how much? Are we talking an $800.00 set up? Or a $300.00 set up?

8-9 range OTD.

i know what you mean corey i talked to andy and mike ferarro about it when ya'll had the ronix demo. i ended up buyin the covin cell combo from ya'll and i am in love with that board. i recommend it to anyone who like to ride fast with little effort.

Does anyone know slingshot's number or atleast an email. I think their stuff looks really cool and seems to be a good direction for wakeboarding. Anyone think they'd be interested in some kind of sponsorship for a college team.

THE MOST INFORMATION I HAVE SEEN FOR SLING SHOT IN ONE PLACE IS HERE
http://greenhouserideshop.com/news/?p=19
click on the pictures and the in text links for more details

ALSO check this video out
http://greenhouserideshop.com/news/?p=20