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Been out of the game for a few years, getting back involved as soon as my broken arm heals. My go to trick board was an old Best Drive 120....time to upgrade. Looking for a small board that can still tack upwind well, but more importantly helps with buttery smooth landings for my sore bones after big air kiteloops etc, as well as provide excellent pop. Maybe I am asking to much....any ideas suggestions? money is not an issue (benefit of being an old dude). Thx....

bengreen123 wrote:Been out of the game for a few years, getting back involved as soon as my broken arm heals. My go to trick board was an old Best Drive 120....time to upgrade. Looking for a small board that can still tack upwind well, but more importantly helps with buttery smooth landings for my sore bones after big air kiteloops etc, as well as provide excellent pop. Maybe I am asking to much....any ideas suggestions? money is not an issue (benefit of being an old dude). Thx....

Tried a lot and a lot of boards looking for good performance but most important a smooth ride (herniated disc) and honestly since I started using Shinn board about 2 months ago... nothing even comes close to these boards.

You should go with either the Supershinn or the Monk. Both are excellent and so smooth. The supershinn will give you more pop, but the monk is the one that will give you the most grip at high speed. Both have good early planning and good upwind abilities and most of all they will give you a smooth ride even in the worst chop.

I have both the supershinn and the new Monk Forever and I cant believe how good these boards are. Do a little research on this forum and other forums about these boards and you will see.

Even better if you can try one: you will be convinced.

Jules

I hear over and over how good the Shinn boards are. Can anyone compare them to a Mako? I ride a 140 Mako and love how smooth they are but always wonder if I just don't know what I'm missing...

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rightguard wrote:I hear over and over how good the Shinn boards are. Can anyone compare them to a Mako? I ride a 140 Mako and love how smooth they are but always wonder if I just don't know what I'm missing...

I Cannot compare Shinn to a Mako but......
I too rode a Mako 140 extensively for the last couple of years, it's a great board for cruisy freeride, downwinders, and playing in small waves, but imho for most people its not much for anything more advanced than that... I still have a Mako (150) now, but its not my main board.
Newer freeride boards use progressive flexibility at their tips, variable rails, and clever sculpting
on their undersides to give great all round comfort and rideability but also allow you to load and pop and do more advanced maneuvers.. Shinn seem to garner rave reviews these days and I wish I could have demo'd them when I was looking to upgrade....... I'm dont want to pimp one brand over another but do take the oportunity to ride your board with whatever demo's you can back to back and I think you'll see the strengths of current models. Have fun.

windybrit wrote:I Cannot compare Shinn to a Mako but......

I mostly agree about the mako (with all three of your statements )

I've been riding the mako 140 and mako king for a few years now because of how smooth they feel through chop. I think the best thing about the 140 is with all that rocker, you get a soft landing no matter how you land. You can't land too flat, because there is no flat part of the board. All that rocker does cut into your low end and upwind, though.

Doing basic hooked in tricks on the mako is no problem (front rolls, back rolls, back roll kiteloops...) but they don't have the same pop as a freestyle board. When I borrow my friend's new crazy fly raptor pro and go for a front roll, it becomes a double on accident, haha.

So interested if anyone has gone from mako to the monk and can let me know how it worked out?

Last year many were saying the Cabrinha Chopstick was better than Mako in chop, but I guess they never took off because Cabrinha dropped them for 2013?

Is there anywhere to demo Shinn boards on the east coast? I'm close to OBX

Those that like the Mako, love it. Those that don't, don't.
I used to ride the 150 and although I appreciated what it was good at, I found that certain other twin tips were just plain more fun and sort of edge you on to try new stuff.

Now I ride a Shinn Monk and a Wainman Joke. I ride the Monk 80% of the time and then when I do get back on the Joke I either love it or go right back to the Monk. There's something absolutely fantastic about the Joke in the right conditions but the Monk for me works better most of the time.

It looks like you are in Southern California, perhaps give Chris at KiteNaked.com a quick call and see if you can have some demos sent your way. My recommendation would be to try the Monk, Dundee from Shinn, and the Joke from Wainman.

Try as many boards as you can. I think you will find although some boards are extremely good, they lack "fun".

So what Shinn would you recommend for the softest landings? I would say I'm a freestyle rider trying to learn to pop more and do kite loops. Tiered of hard landings...

big pop.

smooth landings.

efficient upwind.


sounds like you should check out http://www.Tonaboards.com

They are new. designed for the wakestyle enthusiast who demands explosive pop and smooth landings.

I have the 138 and love it. Still works great for the old school tricks too.