rjnakata Posted June 21, 2011 Report Share Posted June 21, 2011 Bottom line: Best I can tell, the wing does nothing, pure bling. So, if your wing is coming loose, don't worry. Actually, the board looked pretty cool without it. This is hard to believe...and hard to pill to swallow...for me a total "wow." Please post your riding experiences...here's hoping the carbon fiber does SOMETHING! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Gilmour Posted June 21, 2011 Report Share Posted June 21, 2011 The wing does have an effect.. and it is very noticeable, but the reissues have very little carbon fiber as compared to the originals. I had a 170 reissue...and noticed it immediately when riding it.. Yes it still was a fun board- but not nearly the same as an original. For example... The Original Madd 158's have a ton of grip... they had more grip than most 175cm boards of the same vintage. And the original 170's had just insane grip and could hold a decent GS line if you really got early edge pressure. (though the side cut IMHO was too tight for real GS.... perhaps for a very tight GS or loose slalom...after all it was a consumer racer. The 158 was a ready for prime time slalom deck. The orignal 170's had far far far more grip than the original 158's. We did made a true GS ina 170 sidecut... but I scrapped it as few people could really push it... so we made a 170 that was Ideal for East coast trails and crap scratchy or end of the day bumped up conditions as the 170's longer softer nose smoothed out everything (This was just before Metal was getting used widely in the race circuit) But my 170 reissue fell very short of the grip of my original 158's and when comparing the carbon sheets between the two the reissues have much thinner laminates of carbon and a much looser weave..... softer carbon...well that isn't really the term... but seriously less carbon and less grip as a result. It was great for carving circles. We made a few boards with extended front carbon wings that went forward about an extra inch ...we made a few 170's like this and a pair of 158's... Anton Pogue got one of those...and loved it.. I also preferred the extra carbon, though it made the board much less user friendly and something you really had to pay attention to and put immediate concerted direct effort into it when initiating a turn......but if you DID....whoa hold on! The reissue 158's were very soft... and to me did not seem special... so I sold mine a day or so after riding it. I just ride my scratched up originals.In short, if you can feel if a wing has been extended an inch and feel the difference in turn initiation and hold, you certainly would notice if no wing was on at all. When I saw the carbon sheet off... I was surprised it curled so much... which to me was an indicator that it was just ribbon thin (so really... it has much less of an effect than the thick original wings) . However you will notice an effect with it on......but certainly not as dramatic as the thicker carbon sheets. I felt that the carbon sheet should be tripled in thickness to get it to behave the way it should. Carbon also helps as a flex limiter... and without it..I just blew through the flex of the reissues. (Too much flex through for me) The reissue 170 was very user friendly, but not nearly as authoritative as my original 158's...I don't need the baord to be "user friendly" so it is now under the feet of a former student who needs this....I think he'll be 52 this year. He loves it, and he dominates it much better than all his other decks. He gets maybe 10-20 days in a year.. so it is ideal for him. I also think the core profile might be a bit thin in the reissues as I never felt the front loaded camber I was used to... there was camber (in fact too much camber IMHO for the board...and IMHO too much flex..and the flex was evenly distributed... (not front loaded as I prefer.) That was a for a stiffer board I was riding. The reissues were more user friendly boards...maybe for older bones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pokkis Posted June 21, 2011 Report Share Posted June 21, 2011 From past experience with my Madds, i would say that wings really make difference. I had one which lost it wing and it got clearly softer, flexier and more noodle. But due wing got damaged i had nochange to put it back any more. So i took some good carbon fibre mat and laminated that tightly to replace original wing. Yes, as usual i put good ammount of it there and board got plenty of stiffer than originally. Now afterwards perhaps even to stiff but fully functionla which is was not without wing. Just my 0.02 Euro cents Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted June 21, 2011 Report Share Posted June 21, 2011 Multiple variables always fun to deal with. Keep experimenting and find the ones that work for you. Personal preference is the key to success. Early Apex plates had variables tuned to different riders. Don't expect one size for all. Plates boots binding or boards tweek to your standards and don't compromise. John G. i agree the wing makes a difference it also makes a difference how its bonded to the board. Someone please ride this board so you can report on it's performance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEJ Posted July 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2011 John, the wing IS very thin. I didn't measure it, but I'd say around 1mm. I think I misspoke when I said "The wing does nothing." I should have said the wing does nothing that I can MEASURE. I really thought I would see a difference. This board won't see snow till next season. So, we won't know till then. Thank you everybody for your input, Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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