16" Dirtsurfer Freestyle

I tried out the 16"er for the first time today

I owned a 20" Roadracer a while back, so this was not my first time on a DSer, but by the amount of scrapes and bruises on my body afterwards, you would have thought so

The 16" Freestyle is noticeably smaller and lighter than my old one. It also sits much higher (for ground clearance).

Going heelside was easy, heelside to toeside transitions were tough and toeside to heelside was a little easier.
If you have room, a DSer is very cool option. In cramped areas, it just eats up too much space quickly.

It gets going a lot easier than a mountainboard and getting upwind really is not a problem - so a small quick kite would do the trick.

I kept overrunning the kite when I tried to change directions and the kite would just belly flop. I think jumping at the end of your run and rotating to the new direction would be the way to go once you got good enough.

It comes in two small boxes and it took about 30 mins to assemble. It was pretty straight forward, except two of the 12 holes for the deck were off center, so I had to get out the dremel to shave a bit off.

I understand that the decks were made in Australia and the frames were made in Asia. Other than the two off center holes, the quality looked very good.

I'm not sure how the straps will hold up, but I think a set of MBS straps would be a nice upgrade down the road.

Here are a few pics:

Two Boxes

Side View

Calf Operated Brake

16" DSer

OK - sounds good! I'm off to try it out again today

Hey Davinch,

I'm wondering about your impression of the 13m Century ? That kite and I didn't get along well. Big, heavy, skilled Pablo had it down but it was too much kite for me. when it powered up on apparent wind it was too much for me to hold back @ 140lbs..

I put in about 3 hrs of riding the DSer today - it is way more difficult than a mountainboard

I kept having trouble with the Pulse and Psycho, so I switched to XL Quadrifoil on handles and things got a bit better. I was just getting too overpowered with the larger kites and the handles gave me a lot more control.

I'm going to stick with it, but it's tough!

Swat – thanks for that deck info. I have two more 16”ers coming in and I plan on opening them up to see what color the dots are.

So far, it’s holding up pretty well. The griptape is junk – it’s pulling up already. I’ll be replacing it with some gool ol’ Jessup griptape.

Snowbird – I’ve only flown the 13m Century once so far just static to check it out so I don’t know what to think just yet.

Let me know if anyone in the US wants a 16" Freestyle. I have two more of them coming my way

Swat - things finally "clicked" the last time I went out with the DSer. I went to a flatter area (freshly mowed soccer fields) and the ride was fantastic! I got up to 25mph.

No jumps, but I was able to get in some smooth transfers at the end of the runs.

I can't wait to try out the Air Evo with it this weekend - it just needs to stop raining