Carbon vs Wood made boards

[alexeyga]

It is absolutely fascinating how a simple question has degenerated into 17 pages (so far) of useless blah-blah…

Has anybody mentioned that Trax Carbon belongs to this special breed of carbon boards where “carbon” is nothing but a marketing gimic?

All these carbon “versions” of standard boards are made with the same recipe – where they are substituting a few layers of glass by a layer of carbon, slapping a premium price sticker on it and calling it a day. There’s virtually no difference in performance, weight and/or durability between standard and carbon Trax-es. Not to mention the fact that F-One boards are disposable (read – non reparable due to their cheap manufacturing methods). I had the Carbon version, know exactly what I’m talking about.

If you want a carbon board – get something real, which was purposely designed as a carbon board (read – Carved, CF, etc)

If you want something bombproof to ride boots – carbon is hardly the answer. Should probably look into wake-specific models from Tona for example?

[Matteo V]

It absolutely fascination how a simple question has degenerated into 17 pages (so far) of useless blah-blah…

I personally have learned quite a bit about the thought process that goes into a TT board purchase. The facts around the material science vs marketing, along with the psychological "personal reality" of purchasers.......well, it has explained why the market looks the way it does. And from now on, when I see someone with a carbon board on the beach, I will have a better understanding of "why", and "what type of mentality" they have.

Still, I think talking about it will remain fun while waiting for wind.

[Blackened]

It is absolutely fascinating how a simple question has degenerated into 17 pages (so far) of useless blah-blah…

Has anybody mentioned that Trax Carbon belongs to this special breed of carbon boards where “carbon” is nothing but a marketing gimic?

All these carbon “versions” of standard boards are made with the same recipe – where they are substituting a few layers of glass by a layer of carbon, slapping a premium price sticker on it and calling it a day. There’s virtually no difference in performance, weight and/or durability between standard and carbon Trax-es. Not to mention the fact that F-One boards are disposable (read – non reparable due to their cheap manufacturing methods). I had the Carbon version, know exactly what I’m talking about.

If you want a carbon board – get something real, which was purposely designed as a carbon board (read – Carved, CF, etc)

If you want something bombproof to ride boots – carbon is hardly the answer. Should probably look into wake-specific models from Tona for example?

The carbon trax is definitely lighter. It weighs like 2.3kg vs 3.1kg. It also has a little more response/spring in it.

Durability - Completely agree. Cracked mine with a 1mm wide dent in the rail. The shop I bought it from said I need to be a better rider and not to drop it or ride in shallow water. Took it to a carbon fibre specialist for a second opinion. While he knows nothing about kiting, he said if it's expected to be in certain conditions (like shallow water or easily dropped), you would build it to prevent damage in those scenarios. He couldn't tell without actually cutting it open, but suspected it was either poor design or poor materials. Also broke the handle, which the shop replaced after a bit of bitching about overall FOne quality.

Non-standard - the handle is much wider than every other handle I've seen. While enjoyable for my oversized hands during board offs, when I broke it (inexplicably as the only time I dropped the board was on the water), I had to get another FOne handle rather than replace it with one of my 10 spares that fit all of my other boards. Fins are also designed to never work with another board and others won't work on it. While it says you can use a standard fin in a pinch, if you break off a fin, you're likely to loose the entire setup and won't be able to just screw in another.

It's a nice freeride board for an intermediate. Response almost like a normal carbon board, smooth ride, upwinds like a size larger board but feels small and speedy. I would never consider putting boots on it or riding it anywhere near shallow water. However, best thing about this board is that it's god-awful ugly. Eyes are immediately drawn to it. It's impossible not to see it, even when lost in waves. Turn around and it's there.