Freebord

[svr]

Anyone tried one http://freebord.com/ ? Looking for a way to enjoy some turns in Hawaii without getting wet...Surfing is fun, but looking for another alternative and there are a lot of paved hills around here that have tons of potential.

cheers,

sandy

p.s. I am not a skater, but am open to other options (i.e. longboards), but looking for as close of a snowboard ride as I can find.

[Guest]

sandy,

I owned a new freebord about two years ago. I had it for a summer and well into the fall. I sold it in the winter. I can't make a recommendation either way, because it was good in some respects, bad in others. Here's my review:

Starting out, learning the freebord is just like learning anything else - it takes time and it's not intuitive (at least it wasn't for me) - and I had been hardbooting about a season or two before I got it (and snowboarding for a few years). I started off on some seriously small hills, first just turning ("carving") and then eventually sliding. My skids and carves were really shaky at first until my muscles learned the technique and wheel resistance and the limits of the board; just like anything else.

The bord itself: I had a lot of trouble with the "wings" that keep you on the board. Maybe they will fit someone else's feet better, but I had to really modify them. I wanted them to be tight, otherwise you need to keep your feet in by using outward pressure, which was kind of awkward for me. Anyways, they hurt the tops of my feet (a lot of pressure there) so I added some pipe insulation with duck tape for both grip and tightness (without pressure).

As I got better, I wanted to start going faster. When I ride my normal longboard, I just use a helmet and slide gloves (and elbow pads if I'm doing something crazy). With the freebord, I was very scared of catching an edge going fast, so I ended up wearing a lot of pads everytime I took it out. As I got faster and better, I tweaked the board a bit to give it more sliding capability. If you want to carve, get a longboard. I couldn't really get this board to carve well at all. Each turn was like a sliding longboard turn. I say longboard turn because it's really not like snowboarding, it's more like just being really freaking good at doing standup slides and drifts on a longboard. Rubber wheels and pavement (at least for me) dont give me the snow feeling. That being said, it was really fun to drift a whole turn sliding. BUT there was always that "holy crap I could catch an edge and go head-backwards into the concrete," which kinda killed some of the fun. Maybe I was too much of a sissy about it, but ultimately I ended up selling it because I wanted to go faster, and the hill I was on was pretty steep anyways. Any faster and I could have seriously gotten hurt (and this is coming from a guy who does downhill mountainbiking 7ft kickers).

I learned how to slide on a real longboard because of this board, and if you treat it like a longboard slide machine it can be really freaking fun. All in all, with messing with the binding (I never felt completely comfortable in them - always like I was going to pop out) and the risk of serious injury, I sold it. Worth the money? probably.

I am looking to try a flowboard - they are much more carve oriented and might be more of what I'm looking for.

HONESTLY, if I were you, I would just get a high quality longboard with good trucks, good wheels and good bushings. To me, THAT was more like snowboarding than the freebord was. If you're anything like me, you will start to look at longboarding as unique in itself- aka - apart from snowboarding. There is a lot of joy that can come from longboarding that is seperate and distinct from snowboarding joy. They share some similarities, but I think you might end up liking longboarding as its own sport.

[svr]

Nick,

Thanks for the input and insight. Might have an opportunity to try a friends longboard next weekend, so will give it a go and see what happens.

cheers,

sandy

[jng]

One more thing to add to NickG's comments is that sliding a Freebord is highly dependent on the quality of the surface you are on.  Brand new asphalt, sliding was a joy.  Anything else felt like you were asking for trouble.