Power Kite Forum

GI vs MBS

power - 12-11-2009 at 09:21 PM

Which one do you like more and why?

flyboy15 - 12-11-2009 at 10:28 PM

anything cheap lol, I roll on an SDS "Pro" mountainboard haha. For those who now the board, its alright to laugh. It was 80 bucks and I'm sadly in love with it. Wood deck, grip tape, skateboard style wide trucks, and some velcro bindings which i think are a combination of MBS F1 and some other parts. The wheels are terribly out of balance due to the tires being slightly larger than the rim size, but I don't notice it cuz we ride grass here. The deck has so much flex i bottom it out on some of my hardest landings haha.

My favorite thing about it is that its proved indestructable so far, and its lighter than any board at the field at the moment... Being a lover of big air, its a lot cheaper than a pro 90 while only being a little heavier

burritobandit - 12-11-2009 at 10:45 PM

Hopefully this doesn't turn into some kinda flame fest.. X vs Y threads are usually ripe for that.

My first gripe about GI is that the design of the Bionic trucks on my GI board doesn't allow for *quick* and *easy* tuning. I don't want to mess with having to switch torsion cubes every time I want to adjust the truck stiffness. Plus Torsion Cubes are $25 per set and there are seven sets. With a skate-style truck, I crank up or down on one bolt and that's it.

My second gripe is that the trucks aren't as 'turny' as *I* would like them to be and that's because I installed the softest torsion cubes they currently offer. Some people like stiffer trucks for minimizing speed wobble. I want loose trucks for maneuverability (to avoid dog turds, mainly), to quickly increase line tension (I fly inland in weird winds), or to quickly load the kite for jumps.

I do admit that the problem might be that I didn't ride it enough to 'break them in', or perhaps that I only weigh 150. I dunno.

To GI's credit, my GI Conflict deck is quite springy and feels extremely strong/durable. It feels pretty much indestructible. The Talon bindings are awesome too and are much easier to adjust than having to mess with velcro bindings (which my MBS board has).

I know I'm selling my Conflict 106, but hey, at least I'm being honest.


Fake edit: While typing this up, I found that GI does offer a skate-style truck. My current only gripe with them is their Bionic trucks.. hmmmm..... what to do......

Real edit: This board and Dylan's GI board were only GI boards I've encountered and both use the Bionic trucks. I looked at the rest of their lineup and not all of their boards use this truck. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing GI at all. I just don't prefer their Bionic trucks for the reasons listed above.

ripsessionkites - 13-11-2009 at 02:42 AM

i use a mbs, but i would like a trampa deck though ---> Carbon Fibre :eekdrull:

Maven454 - 13-11-2009 at 04:07 AM

I do agree with burritobandit, the torsion cube thing on the bionic trucks is a complete lie when it comes to quick and easy changes (regardless of what they claim). But if you don't change your turning/steering very often, that's not really an issue. Other than that I love my GI board.

PHREERIDER - 13-11-2009 at 06:01 AM

i like the CUBE thing . i never mess with it . i have no idea what stiff v. soft is at all. i'm just on it . it seemed very stiff at first ..but not any more. actually don't think about it

i do know it's not going to rust or need maintenance, MBS channel things are smooth but begs for maintenance and too many parts.

love the deck, light and tough and a ton of pop. and supreme bindings. i love it , ready when i'm ready and that's everyday

for me GI is local and great back up on there stuff

B-Roc - 13-11-2009 at 06:55 AM

I love my GI. I have the trucks with the original cubes and I had the original talon bindings on it which I've since switched to their velcro bindings and I like those too. I have 4 sets of torsion cubes but I've only used two of them and now that I've got the purple / navy blue cubes in I never switch them up (but I would agree, they aren't quick and easy to switch up but once you have one in that you like there is no need to switch them). The original MAK tires all blew sidewalls out on me but the boards now come with a new version of that tire so I assume its more durable. The deck is bomb proof. I've had my board for almost 4 years now and it has held up well. All stainless steel parts means no rusting so if you maintain the deck and hardware, it will last forever. Support is good too. I don't know if they do, but I sure wish they would allow you to order a custom deck through their site. Last I looked they were coming out with new decks and trucks but they build them preconfigured. I'd like to tell them I want X deck with Y trucks and Z cubes as opposed to upgrading and swapping components after the sale. I think you should be able to buy the board with the cube you want and not have to swap them out right of the bat at an additional cost (and the 2010 lineup doesn't match the decks to the trucks I want).

All in all my experience with GI has been great. My son rides a MBS board and that is great too but it rusts.

DirtDave1 - 16-11-2009 at 08:35 AM

GI has the new product listed for presale on their website

http://www.groundindustries.com/store/

f0rgiv3n - 17-11-2009 at 09:43 PM

Uhmm.... i've got an MBS deck that supposedly only supports 180lbs (i'm 185lbs lol) with MBS Skate trucks with GI Wheels and tires.... I guess.... I uhh.. .:ninja:

DirtDave1 - 21-11-2009 at 05:31 AM

Gi's site has changed and the new product is listed in the products section now not just the shopping cart.

www.groundindustries.com

Kamikuza - 21-11-2009 at 06:17 AM

My Flexifoil Kava is huge, heavy, 13 ply or something mad but rock solid stable even at speed. Hey I like it :)

... have you thought about Scrubb boards?

Houston AirHead - 21-11-2009 at 01:12 PM

ive found that what makes up a good board is the truck strength and strength of the hubs, ive already broke two trucks and 2 hubs on my mbs core 95. the truck breaks came from bailing about 8 or so feet up. MBS has so far replaced everything but now they are telling me they are only going to replace these last hubs i just broke and a truck. Im not complaining the board is only about 6 months old now, and it got about 500 or so miles on it already. the deck its self is in perfect shape as well as the Velcro bindings. I jus wish they would use a more durable aluminum on their trucks. and the twistar hubs are no bullet proof item either. It must be the salt in the sand because it rarely even touches the ocean water, once or twice maybe. the salt must weaken the plastic in those hubs because they have been busting open on me when inflated. now mbs is out until Dec 9th so i have my hubs rigged with zip ties to hold back the pressure of the inner tubes. he hubs still lock but the teeth bent/broke backwards so they only have about 50% of its locking strength left.

kitedog - 21-11-2009 at 01:33 PM

I haven't ridden the GI boards but I'm loving my Pro 90. Super light, fast turning, great bindings and stainless hardware make it an awesome board. Can't really imagine anything much better. I guess you could go lighter with some custom gear but not by much.

Houston AirHead - 21-11-2009 at 01:41 PM

hey kite dog how much you want for your access 4.0?:dunno:

indigo_wolf - 21-11-2009 at 02:34 PM

I find it kind of interesting/amusing that GI has kind of given up on putting extensively pretty graphics on the bottom of their boards for 2010 (even to the point of breaking the visual metaphor on the Conflict board). It's weird what you notice sometimes.

ATB,
Sam

kitedog - 21-11-2009 at 02:54 PM

$400 + shipping for the Access XC 4.0.

Houston AirHead - 21-11-2009 at 04:00 PM

gaaaa, i was hopein for like $200. Sorry never mind im too broke right now.hahaa

kitedog - 21-11-2009 at 04:12 PM

Sorry. Its crispy. No blemishes.