What is the worst board you have ridden?

I was visiting a motocross site recently and read a thread about the worst motorcycles ever built. It got me thinking about wakeboards.

In your opinion, what boards were complete failures? This should probably be a board that you have actually ridden guys!

The worst board I ever rode was a Origin Swamp 141. It rode more like a broken board.

I HATED the first year of 3DS. It was a tank and just terrible. They seemed to make it better over time but I got rid of that thing soooo fast.

The old Byerly with bottle openers sucked in board racks, the rope would always get hooked in those cut-outs.

i really didnt like the Omen Revolt and New Bilevel.
The omen felt like my arms were going to rip off because there was so much drag. also the 5 stage rock was so weird when ollieing.
The New Bilevel had no snap to its ollies. the top deck was too soft and absorbed all the energy i put into my ollie. it felt like i had to work twice as hard for my pop.

"The omen felt like my arms were going to rip off because there was so much drag."

That reminds me...the original trancend made me feel that way.

i hated the original byerly. even without the fins it felt very sticky and like i was on a piece of plywood.

J-Rod, yeah. too much rocker is definitely a bad thing. and 5 stage rocker on the omen, WTF?

Hyperlite Imperial
i had a lot of hopes strapping this one too my feet, especially knowing it was shaped by Buch. but I just was not feeling it.

i actually liked the "can-opener" byerly. it did kinda drag, but that was the only bad thing about it to me.... ohh, and it doesn't flex either

FLEX FOREVER!
(Message edited by wakerider111 on April 22, 2008)

(Message edited by wakerider111 on April 22, 2008)

Fish hook byerly

The 06-07 year Hyperlite Murray was an extremely slow board, just a tank. Same with the temet actually. It felt like I was riding a 2x8. The Imperial is also on the top of my list of bad boards.

Fish hook byerly and hype's old parks boards.

Hands down the Temet/05 Murray is the worst board I've ever had hooked on me. (and I've been riding since 98.) It had so much drag, my shoulders were burning after ten minutes of riding. Everyone with me that day agreed about its horrible drag and shoulder burning qualities. Nothing special on pop or handling to make up for the drag either.

I know this isn't part of the question but the 03-04 Parks was the board I was most shocked by how good it actually was. There were so many haters of that board posting online, who talked about how it "bucked like a mule," was "uncontrollable," and "only Parks could ride it." It was actually a great board imo. I never had an issue with unpredictable pop and I only gave it up because I later wanted a looser board.

I tried the CWB Marius and it fell too sluggsih, haven't tried the new one

i've never been able to get through a set on a certain brands(not naming it, but let's just say it's three letters long) wakeskates without snapping one

Tim..Better get on the new one..Much better!! I was not a fan of the first Transcend, but the new one is money!! I still like the Marius better though!!

david, lol thats exactly how i feel about a certain company that rhymes with superflight

double up delta

GB Harris ('05)
Hated it....Really hated it....

DUDE..The delta was an AWESOME board!!

Hyperlite Parks, I don't know what it was but it was heavy as •••••••• with fins that would eat vinyl for breakfast lunch and dinner.

Without question the Parks! That board was either on edge running at mach speed to the wake, or sliding all over the place. It was heavy, uncontrollable, and schooled me repeatedly.

Close second, the 2000 Byerly fish. Sticky, vicious pop, rock hard landings.

The HL Parks was a fun board to ride, just too tight on the water.

The first year Murray was horrible though, I felt like I had to paddle while riding it to catch up.

one of parks hyperlites modles
i think that he was the only person capeable of riding that board

oh and i almost forgot,
parks fins nearly put me in the hopital for friggin leg wounds, not to mention the freaking tears in my upholstry

I did not like the liquidforce team, doesnt mean its the worst board every its just me and molded fins dont get along

For wakeskates id def say the omen. Once again me and 5 stage rockers dont get along.

Can opener Byerly was a terrible board.

Absolutely HATED the 2003 Obrien Cobe. That board was awful.

i loved the first hype parks shape but was very dissapointed with the seccond shape. besides that i guess it would be safe to say that i dont like any board with a continuous rocker. just doesnt fit my style. i need that straight up pop

anybody remember that old (i think it was a neptune) board with the turned up tip and tail. i think that board was a failure

Both Byerly's I tried. Felt like I was wakeboarding cement.

the LF team doesn't have molded fins.

HL TFD

Blindside Sequence

I thought that the Parks was nice off the wake, but it was just plain brutal if you made a mistake, with the knife fins and step down rails. Not going to say what my worst board though...

I haven't been doing this long enough to say I have had a terrible board, but I am sure if my boards could speak they would probably say I was the worse rider they ever had on top of them.

Wow I feel old. If the old Byerly is the worst you've ever ridden, consider yourself fortunate. I'd have to say the WakeTech Magic Air is the worst board I've ever ridden. It was a step down from the unidirectional board I rode.

Well The worst board I have ever waked on was the Hyperlite Motive. Maybe it was because at the time I was riding the Hyperlite Byerly and they are completely different boards, but I jumped on the Motive and thought this is the most basic, unresponsive board ever. It kinda bugged me out at the time because everyone in my crew was in love with the motive.

ALSO, Back in the Day, now this is WAY WAY WAY Back in the day so probably only the real OG's are gunna remember this. Any body rememebr the Old O'brien board that was both a kneeboard and a wakeboard? What a joke. It was a sucky kneeboard and an even worse wakeboard. I think that Connelly made one back in the day to.

Hydroslide Illusion. No more needs to be said.

Fish hook Byerly hands down

Connelly Switchstance for you old school guys. That board had ZERO rocker! We called it the faceplant board because that is what would always happen when newbies got on it. Good times.

I tried the LF Fish a couple years ago (05-06) and it was slow and then shot me straight up in the air. Uncomfortable and unwieldy.

But thats just me...

The original Premiere, slow slow slow!

And for you old timers, how about the Neptune Six, the one with the kinked up tip and tail, what a hunk of junk!!

sorry i meant cupped fins on the team

liquid force fish! Hate that piece of S. Broke the first week on a slider.

LF Fish

the slingshot recoil. hated it and never want to give it another try.

The only board I ever got on and just couldn't ride was the original Transcend. Luckily the new one is night-and-day better.

I thought the '04 Premier was kinda the $h%ts, too. Way slow and no snap.

The only board I ever rode that I absolutely hated was the '04 premier. I bought one, rode it once, then sold it for the same amount I bought it for. It was so sloooowwww I just couldn't stand it.

One more for the LF Fish, i counldnt ever get the pop down and the short board worked me pretty good on sketchy landings. Another horrible one would be the Obrien Suspect, slow, no pop, and landings that made you shorter

Im gonna say the 3ds too. All other boards ive ridden feel the same to me.

There we go, I like hearing from the OGs that were riding the WakeTechs and all the other old stuff.

I like Cliff's description of the Parks board. Hilarious.

obrien apex

Getting back on a Wake Tech Flight 69 last summer for fun. So weird to ride a board with basically no rocker! Amazing what Byerly and Gator used to do on that thing.

a friend has an Origin Swamp, if you look up P.O.S. in the dictionary it has a picture of the Origin Swamp, we make beginners ride it, talk about difficult for them, oh well.

An old hydroslide board that I looked up and couldn't even find the model details, but I just saw one on ebay for $25. Haha. Came with the old sandal bindings, although they were soon updated!

The only board I've ever really hated was the Blindside DT2. Two of my buddies and I demoed one after our boss hyped it up and everyone of us had the worst sets of our life.

Glad someone else shares my feelings on the swamp.
I hated the way it absorbed the pop from the wake and robbed me of all height. Maybe that's why the Slingshot boards just seem crazy to me. But, obviously they work.

for me it was the old (97-99 or so) Hyperlite Lavelle. That thing - god - it was absolutely awful. It felt like the board was 90% tail and 10% front and it was a twin tip.

Horrible. I felt the same way about the Murray until it got its redesign, making it fatter and more or less like the Squirt. During that time everyone was riding the Squirt coattails. When the Murray got that redesign it became awesome. Before that, the shape Hyperlite was using for his board, the Lavelle and even the Shapiro and other generics were downright terrible.

Another horrible board - the BAFF. Hyperlite had some serious stinkers back in the late 90's.

Last one, yes another Hyperlite. The 2004 era Premier felt like it was injection molded with concrete. The thing is an absolute tank.

(Message edited by juniorhawk on April 23, 2008)

Yeah, I had the Lavelle, then the Jeff Heer after that. Their tips were so skinny, but they were fast as heck. I took forever learning a backroll on them and kept butt checking. As soon as the "fun shapes" came along, landings were smooth as silk.

I hated the ERA (05) as well. I guess i bought it because I thought it had a lot of pop. But the thing drags like there's sandpaper underneath. Plus the landings are so hard that I got a bad case ofpatular tendonitis (sp?) that I'm still fighting almost 3 years later.

Great thread, by the way.

I hated the 97/98 LF Shannon Best. It was red and yellow and had rails that were super sharp. Learning on that thing was tough when you caught an edge your eyeballs would hurt from smacking the water so hard.

Icon Bull...dont know why it sticks out in my head, but i remember how bad it rode.

My first board was my worst - Neptune Abyss... it was like riding on ice, I could not hold an edge.

I tried the 06 faction or was it 07?? not sure.

But that board was prolly the worst board ive ever ridden it was jus super weird and super heavy...

all other CWB boards are great tho.

The 2001 Byerly board. The landings were super hard on that board.

How about the LF squirt or Obrien's version, I think it was the "phatty"? All about fat and wide boards, haha.

I actually own a neptune six, haha, yes horrible!

Nice one...the O'Brien was far and away the WORST board I have ever ridden. No pop, slow, etc. I switched to the Double Up Nelson (with the sunken boat and squid) and my riding improved 100 fold almost immediately.

Meant to say the O'Brien Phatty...that board sucked! Wider for the sake of width with no design is not always better!

The Phatty, man I loved that thing! My riding improved a ton when I switched to it, of course I broke my femur sticking a huge raley on it also. I think the increased surface area had something to do with it!

I hopped back on one a few years ago and I couldn't stand it, thank goodness for board progression!

ICON boards!!! You were better off riding a 2 x 4.

Neptune Gambler and Pimp - the bottom of the boards were so slick I got whipped around twice and nocked my head open during role to reverts.

1996, the Hyperlite Twin BAFF. Weighed about 20 lbs, paper thin, had the "phasers" on the bottom of the board which were those half spheres that suctioned the board to the water. First board I ever bought. Oh, and the LF Evo the first year it came out. Didn't like that one much either.

Yea, I had the BAFF and it wasn't good by today's standards... but you can't knock the name... "Bad A$$ Flying Fish"...

LF Fish hands down- just didn't suit my style (which is none)

Hated the 07 Byerly (loved the bindings but too big of a PITA to get in and out of), also did not like the 07 Watson at all.

98 LAVELLE OR MAYBE MY FIRST, THE WAKE TECH BIG AIR. YOUR FIRST TIME ISN'T SUPPPOSED TO BE GOOD

TUBELITE!!!!

Now I really really like the new byerly and the 01/02 byerly finless. But that fish hook/can opener board was pretty awful.

Someone said Iconn. Horrible!

LF Free (1995) is a piece of work compared to today but I loved it when I was a kid.

But the only board I had to stop riding because I was having a miserable time was the Obrien Shapiro model with the six fins. The demented board after was great but after 10 minutes on the Shaprio (I believe it was called the answer) I just wanted to slit my wrists. Rode a double-up summit for the rest of the set. Thank you DU for saving my day.

Can someone now start the most underated boards of all time thread.

Rode the Parks once, and won't again. It was an 03 143 I think, but it was horrible


Tubelite made me laugh, never rode it, but mad me laugh

03 138 Parks

How about old school connelly duelly. Man I hated that board so much. I also had a k2 which later changed their name to blindside. I hated that board as well. The hyperlite baff seemed like a godsend after riding that connelly and k2. Also my first board an old surf style obrien shredder. I rode it after riding a twin tip set up for a while and boy there was a huge difference.

How the Squirt can come up in this thread leaves me speechless.

With thy Squirt, you're talking about one of the most important, influential and longlasting shapes in the history of the sport. I learned 75% of the inverts I've every been capable of, on a Squirt. The thing is awesome.

My 04 Byerly Fer Sure. Given it was cracked in half...

Edit: By the way, had some fun landing wrapped on that board. Never try to learn your first spin on that board...

(Message edited by hawk7 on April 23, 2008)

I dont want to bash boards so ill say thse boards didnt fit my style and i didnt like them at all and the reviews were way off and overhyped..

old HL Parks model-just bad couldnt be more not my style and it didnt react well to anything i did on it..
LF Fish-weirdest board ive ever ridden
the old absolute i think 03 platty man that thing was so unforgiving!



oh yea you're right that connelly dually was terrible

LF PS3-landed like a ton of bricks