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A fins test… this is our very first fins test we reckon. We got some Stealth 2.0 to test not too long ago so we thought it’d be cool to write up a little review about those new fins. Although we’ve been using Toobs Bluntcuts for 11 years now we decided to give the Stealth 2.0 a try because they looked much better than all other asymetric fins we’ve seen on the market the last 10 years. Read the full test by clicking the link below.
This is our second ELIT Board Test. We tested the SD model a couple days ago. Have you read the SD Elit test ? If not, click here. Anyway. This is the ELIT TEAM DESIGN 41 PE STRINGER MESH test here. ELIT boards are made in indo by Mez (like NMD, VS, SCIENCE, PRIDE, HB, TOYS, SNIPER, LMNOP and more brands – we probably forgot some brands in the list) so it’s a solid contruction, good materials and craftmanship. Read the rest of the review by clicking the link below…
First ELIT board test for us! We’ve had 2 different boards to test from ELIT: the SD and the TEAM DESIGN. This is the SD test, we’ll review the TEAM DESIGN board a little bit later. ELIT boards are made in indo by Mez (like NMD, VS, SCIENCE, PRIDE, HB, TOYS, SNIPER, LMNOP and more brands – we probably forgot some brands in the list) so it’s a solid contruction, good materials and craftmanship. Read the rest of the review by clicking the link below…
We never heard of CONGO BOARDS before they actually contacted us and asked if we wanted to ride a board and test it. F#ck yeah, we’re always amped on trying new boards and equipment so we said yes! and waited for our test board to be delivered. We didn’t know what to expect, the boards on their site looked fun and they had a completely different approach from other companies with mostly just DK and Standup boards. So we got a 42 dropknee board, PP 2x stringers, solid construction, with hip grooves on the deck, contours on the rails, tibia contours on the tails specially made for dropkneeing, channels, a rounded nose and a massive nose rocker (not just the slick rocker, but a real rocker on the whole board).
While looking at the board and its details we couldnt help but notice that the construction and style was similar to Jimmy Linville boards (JL Designs – Made in Oceanside USA) and fair enough, after checking with CONGO BOARDS they confirmed it: All boards are shaped by the man himself in California: Jimmy Linville. That’s why it’s all DK and standups boards we suppose, with sick rockers and contours. Jimmy is such a good shaper for these designs. Read the rest of the review by clicking the link below…
One of the cool things about working with Will George last year and this year on the new TOYS 2009 and 2010 logos is that we got to ride a custom Toys board shaped by Dan Sivess himself and keep the damn thing after we tested it! We test-rode a custom 41 “THE GAME” model with PE, mesh and one stringer.
All TOYS for 2010 are shaped at the Mez factory in indo and Dan Sivess has been shaping some customs and samples for the 2010 production, which is what we rode. The cool thing is that the stock boards are just as good as the customs with the same exact materials and refined shapes so TOYS will treat us with nice shapes and solid boards once again this year. Click below to read the full review.
The TURBO IV is a classic revival of the worldwide famous TURBO III board. Sick colors, sick shape, sick design, the essence of new school bodyboarding back in the days.
TURBO revisited that board in 2009 and again in 2010 and re-launched that classic shape with new, modern materials. The TURBO IV FRC 41 has an FRC blank inside (Flex-Response-Core – FRC model features a sofisticated tri-stringer system). The FRC core is stiff yet flexy thanks to the 3 stringers and special core: it’s very light, solid but flexy like PE core.
It feels different than PE when you ride it. It’s got a faster projection/recoil and feels stiffer when riding fast. Click below to read the full review.
The TURBO Mason Rose Model is a classic and performant drop knee shape. It’s one of the rare 100% dk boards on the market and if someone knows how dk shapes should be it’s definitely Mason and his shaper Glenn Taylor from Turbo. Both Mason and Glenn worked on this template and then had the board produced as a stock board once both were satisfied with this baby. This board has a PE core with double stringers and this is what seems to be the favorite choice for most dkers in cool to cold waters. You’ve got control, speed and stiffness yet a necessary bit of flex due to the PE core which is softer and flexier and you’ve got something stiff under your knee and under your foot (the 2 stringers). Click below to read the full review.
NMD boards are made by Mez in indo, in the same factory that produces VS, LMNOP, HB, SCIENCE, SNIPER, some TOYS, some TURBO, MOREY, BZ, ELIT and even more brands… They’re all really good boards with a solid construction (Buzz Tech Laminators), CNC Machine precision for the cut of the core blanks, and hand shaped finitions for all boards (rails, nose and tail bumpers, nose bulbs & lamination process).
We’ve tested the NMD Ben Player 41.5 PE board in a wide range of conditions and waves. To be honest it’s the board we’ve tested the longer and the better, simply because it felt good right from the beginning and it still feels good today as we write this. Nope, we havent given the board back, we’ll keep it. Click below to read the full test.
ZION Wetsuits is one of the new cool wetsuit brand out there, hailing from Australia, and being “The Brainchild of former pro Bodyboarder Ryan Mattick”, who “has developed Zion for purpose built Bodyboard use in mind”. There are quite a lot of bodyboarding-specialized wetsuits brands nowadays which is great (Agent 18, Dunes, Zion, Reeflex, Void…). We tested an AGENT 18 Wetsuit last year, then a DUNES steamer, and now it’s ZION’s turn to be tested by Spongercity. We’ll make the test/review short and to the point:
VS boards are made by Mez in indo, in the same factory that produces NMD, LMNOP, HB, SCIENCE, SNIPER, some TOYS, some TURBO, MOREY, BZ, ELIT and even more brands… They’re all really good boards with a solid construction (Buzz Tech Laminators), CNC Machine precision for the cut of the core blanks, and hand shaped finitions for all boards (rails, nose and tail bumpers, nose bulbs & lamination process).
The Ryan Hardy is a fast and narrow board designed by Ryan and Todd Quigley. Its template is very straight in the same vein as its range compadre the VS Rawlins board. The template and curve of the VS Hardy when you look at it is quite close to the template of the NMD Player board but the Hardy board is narrower and it’s got a different curve between the wide point and the nose of the board. The NMD Player for example has a gentle curve that goes smoothly from the wide point to the nose whereas the VS Hardy has a curve that tends to go up higher, in a straight line and then turn at the last moment to meet the nose corners which makes the board very straight.
As a result the VS Hardy board is fast and draws straight lines on the wave. The rails are straight and feel fast and responsive for rail to rail turn, specially since the board is quite narrow. It’s easy to scoop, lock yourself into barrels and control the board in hollow conditions. On the contrary, small and less powerful waves would probably not fit the board as well, it would lack volume (width) a little bit and wouldn’t go as fast or be enough responsive.
