Power Kite Forum - making the lightest possible board

making the lightest possible board

shortlineflyer - 4-11-2013 at 10:20 AM

I'm just trying to figure out what parts would go into the lightest possible board.
Here is what I have so far.

Titanium skate trucks, I am worried I will bend them, are there any trucks that wont, I want revo's but cannot afford 'em.
Pro 90 or holy pro
I would get twistars but Ive heard they break, so I will say Rockstar II's even though it adds 2.2 oz per wheel
T1 tires or Primo Alpha lites
F2 bindings
MBS grab handle

Titanium bolts and nuts instead of stainless, so it saves weight and wont react to salt.

erratic winds - 4-11-2013 at 10:31 AM

Looking at the wrong brand if you want the lightest possible board. TRAMPA with TI skate trucks is very light.

indigo_wolf - 4-11-2013 at 10:48 AM

Is this a hypothetical exercise or something your are looking to assemble?

The Pro-90 or the Holy Pro are nice decks, but they aren't the lightest. Those honors probably belong to the CF decks by DEX and CKB. Both of them closed up shop a few years ago.

Do the F2 bindings come with nylon or aluminum L-Brackets. The nylon L-bracket.... errr.....ummm.... sucks. The aluminum ones will be prone to galvanic corrosion if you use titanium nuts and bolts.

The titanium hardware is going to cost a pretty penny. Overall it won't save significant amounts of weight. And a fresh water rinse, thorough dry, the application of something like Tuf-Cloth will go a long way towards keeping stainless hardware pristine.

ATB,
Sam

shortlineflyer - 4-11-2013 at 10:55 AM

lightest board possible using mass produced, I can afford custom stuff

shortlineflyer - 4-11-2013 at 11:00 AM

ok so scratch the titanium hardware
I am going to stick with the nylon L brackets

carltb - 4-11-2013 at 11:08 AM

the majority of weight in a landboard is at the ends, so that's where you need to concentrate on, but a carbon deck is the only way to go as your base. CKB or xshape (hardcore 3d) or DEX. trucks - scrub hollow skate truck, don't worry about bending them as they are tough but light. rockstar hubs and primo alpha tires. you have to remember lightness is a compromise between light and bombproof.

the lightest board ive heard of was 3.5kgs it was a ckb, ill see if I can find the picture on facebook

carltb - 4-11-2013 at 11:09 AM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152029201304554&am...

erratic winds - 4-11-2013 at 11:13 AM

Since you're worried about shaving ounces, why a grab handle? You doing board-off tricks?

shortlineflyer - 4-11-2013 at 11:40 AM

not sure if i want to do board off tricks or not but would like to have one just in case

shortlineflyer - 4-11-2013 at 11:43 AM

how much flex and pop do the carbon decks have

PHREERIDER - 4-11-2013 at 12:48 PM

custom units i have handled are crazy light half the weight of my GI 93 flight . easily 4-5kgs. and its all for the board off stuff.

ton of flex , and springy not so much snap/pop.

indigo_wolf - 4-11-2013 at 01:34 PM

Quote: Originally posted by carltb

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152029201304554&am...

If for no other reason, you have to love the fact that they took it one step beyond by rendering the truck hangers in CF. Design Extreme (DEX) did several CF hanger setups too.

ATB,
Sam

indigo_wolf - 4-11-2013 at 02:36 PM

Quote: Originally posted by shortlineflyer

I am going to stick with the nylon L brackets

Fair enough.... need to add some random thoughts about the L bracket though. Just for my own piece of mind.

On the left, the aluminum L brackets. On the right, the nylon L bracket.

The aluminums are sold in sets of 4 for $19.95. The nylons are sold singly for $2.95 each (totally out to $11.80 for a set of 4).

Initially, the nylons would be cheaper and marginally lighter.

However, if you read between the lines and extrapolate the fact that they can be bought one at a time, you're led to the logical conclusion that that allows for easy replacements for when they fail.

I expect an L bracket failure at the beginning or end of a boost would not be a particularly pretty sight.

The nut profiles/cutouts in the l-brackets are meant to hold the nut stationary when you tighten/loosen the bolt. If everything is right with the world, they should do just that.

If you find yourself with a nut that's locked onto it's bolt and requires a little elbow grease to separate, it's quite possible to get the nut spinning in that cutout. Because of the reinforcing nylon bracketing the cutouts, it's a bit of a pain to latch onto it with a pair of pliers/wrench/socket. This is especially true on the inside nuts. If this monkeydance ensues, you are left with trying to file/cut away the nylon so you can get a hold of the nut.

The nylon L brackets basically allow you to adjust the width of your bindings. By contrast, the aluminum L brackets allow you to adjust width, angle and pitch of the bindings. Pitch being how fare forward or backwards the bindings lean in relation to the top/front of your ankle.

This not only effects your comfort in the bindings, but how easy it is to enter, exit, and re-enter the bindings.

Really wish MBS would stop producing the Twistars and the nylon L brackets. Both are prone to failures that could lead to a very bad day.

OK.... that's my soapbox topic for the day.

ATB,
Sam

shortlineflyer - 4-11-2013 at 03:00 PM

ok, I will order the aluminum and prob put a clear coat of urethane sealer over them so I dont need to worry about corrosion if I forget to wash them.

shortlineflyer - 5-11-2013 at 08:24 AM

I have decided I want the x-shape hardcore with the bamboo top as the deck ---- 650 ish
still need to decide on the skate trucks that I want. I know I want the strongest trucks in the lightweight category. ---- 100 total
F2 Bindings with alluminum L brackets ---- 35 + 20
Rockstar II's ---- 55
T1 tires ---- 50
tubes ---- 30
grab handle ---- 30
bearings ---- 30 ish

GRAND TOTAL : 1000 dollars

indigo_wolf - 5-11-2013 at 09:34 AM

Quote: Originally posted by shortlineflyer

I have decided I want the x-shape hardcore with the bamboo top as the deck ---- 650 ish
still need to decide on the skate trucks that I want. I know I want the strongest trucks in the lightweight category. ---- 100 total
F2 Bindings with alluminum L brackets ---- 35 + 20
Rockstar II's ---- 55
T1 tires ---- 50
tubes ---- 30
grab handle ---- 30
bearings ---- 30 ish

GRAND TOTAL : 1000 dollars

Yeah.... it's that stupud "Economy of Scale" thingy..... parting together a board costs more that buying a complete one off the shelf.

ATB,
Sam

erratic winds - 5-11-2013 at 09:40 AM

I still believe you're gonna be able to get a complete TRAMPA shipped for half that, and the weight difference should be small ounces.....

rtz - 5-11-2013 at 10:07 AM

Grab a Trampa for $385 and be done with it: http://www.trampaboards.com/kiteboard--35-short-deck-infinit...

WELDNGOD - 5-11-2013 at 10:44 AM

Quote: Originally posted by rtz

Grab a Trampa for $385 and be done with it: http://www.trampaboards.com/kiteboard--35-short-deck-infinit...

PHREERIDER - 5-11-2013 at 11:08 AM

Quote: Originally posted by shortlineflyer

a stock off the shelf board is plenty.
...now if you are throwing 200 board off tricks a session i can understand the value. anyway stock trampa is a great start.

carltb - 5-11-2013 at 03:37 PM

will it be a case of all the gear no idea!!!

B-Roc - 6-11-2013 at 03:42 PM

There is no need to customize a board like you are talking unless:
1) money is no object
2) your riding ability warrants the lightest, strongest, best gear

When GI was still in business I talked to them about customizing a board because I didn’t like the lineup of boards they had at the time. One had the bindings I wanted, the other the trucks, the other the deck the other the hubs but there was no one board in their line up that I really wanted. They were open to the idea of swapping components and selling me what I wanted based on a reshuffling of stock parts with only a minor upcharge for their time and labor but I approached them shortly before they closed shop so I never had the opportunity to pursue it and they were open to the idea because at the time they were still the type of company that made all components under one roof and didn’t outsource much/any of their production. I don’t know if MBS can say the same thing (simply because I don’t know how and where they manufacture). However, the boards and components get better with each year and if you really want to customize I’d recommend the Trampa route as the others have since I don’t think MBS would be as open to building a custom board for any Joe Rider and its way too expensive to do what you are asking when there are better off-the-shelf solutions and I suspect your answers to my two questions would be “no” thus further demonstrating that its an unwise investment.

shortlineflyer - 7-11-2013 at 01:11 PM

OK fine. I will work on upgrading the boards I have first.
one of my boards is an all wood deck so it is really light already, but I do want to replace the trucks and bindings on it. I like the feel of the MBS bindings so I will probably stay with those but I dont know which skate trucks are best. As I am learning to jump I want the strongest skate trucks possible so they wont bend as much when I land hard. Its between the mbs ATS Pro's, the Trampa solid steel with titanium kingpin and trampa titaniums

carltb - 7-11-2013 at 01:45 PM

http://www.powerkiteforum.com/viewthread.php?tid=26933

there you go dude!

shortlineflyer - 7-11-2013 at 02:00 PM

I wish I could afford it. one reason I breaking up all the parts is so I can purchase them as I have the money for them. I already have a deck I can use. plus the pro 90 has twistars which I want to avoid

shortlineflyer - 7-11-2013 at 02:01 PM

carl what trucks do you use

carltb - 8-11-2013 at 09:02 AM

ive always used hollow scrub skate trucks

just saw this...........

http://forum.kitecrowd.com/sale/ckb-2013-limited-edition-ful...

B-Roc - 8-11-2013 at 10:16 AM

Quote: Originally posted by carltb

just saw this...........

http://forum.kitecrowd.com/sale/ckb-2013-limited-edition-ful...

The video literally made me start to feel dizzy. First the video quality was too dark and crappy and then the board was just spinning and spinning and spinning. Do not watch the video if you have epilepsy or you will have a seizure.

The board looks real cool though. Like all the finger grips.

shortlineflyer - 8-11-2013 at 10:18 AM

DOes anyone know where I can get them in the US

carltb - 8-11-2013 at 10:59 AM

they are custom not production so the only place to get them from is ckb direct

erratic winds - 8-11-2013 at 11:00 AM

Quote: Originally posted by shortlineflyer

DOes anyone know where I can get them in the US

They are only made by a one-person shop in the UK. You will have to contact him to get one. I would imagine if you'll pay, he'll have no problem shipping internationally. His email contact is in the kitecrowd post.

shortlineflyer - 8-11-2013 at 11:15 AM

I meant the scrub trucks, but I think I will go with the Trampa 12mm skates that are Solid. as well as get a set of alphas on the hypa hubs

indigo_wolf - 8-11-2013 at 03:39 PM

If you go Trampa, you can order directly or through EastCoastKiteSports.

If you go Scrub, Angus at CoastalWindSports or Dino at Dakitez, should be able to get you sorted.

ATB,
Sam

shortlineflyer - 15-11-2013 at 11:26 AM

Now I am leaning towards the trampa, so I can just everything from the same place and it makes it a bit easier. Now I just have to decide between the hollow and solid skate trucks. they are both 12mm axles where the mbs is 9.5. I have seen bent ats pros from mbs and those have ti axles but these(trampa) are also thicker. the solid axles will be stronger but even the other ones being hollow I think 12 mm is kinda hard to bend. the other nice thing about trampa is I can just buy the hanger or other truck parts indivually if something breaks.