blend?

cblee91 · Faceplant Joined: 04 Mar 2008 Posts: 29

I was wondering if anyone has ridden a blend yet? I've been thinking of getting a new board. I'm currently on a hampson but I've been having problems advancing and I think it has alot to do with a lack of pop and height.

Never riden a bi but figured they'd help with this problem...

senorbueno · Backside 180 Joined: 28 Sep 2004 Posts: 1593

cblee91, it's the Indian not the arrow.

The Hampson is a good board, it's not what's holding you back. Just try and ride more. I'm not saying don't buy the blend, you may like bi-levels more than regular boards. But progression comes with practice and patience, not from purchase.

Gnarly Dancer 42 · 360 flip Joined: 21 May 2007 Posts: 5121 City: kalamazoo

^agreed

cblee91 · Faceplant Joined: 04 Mar 2008 Posts: 29

dylo · Posted: Dec 16, 2008 12:36 am Post subject:

cblee91, a bad tradesman blames his tools

pw · Pop Shuvit Joined: 17 Nov 2008 Posts: 243

cblee91, blend is far from a bilevel. its a ronix top deck with a old byerly bottom deck. with all due respect scott.

If you want a bilevel there is only one option. You gotta get a legit bilevel. No fancy bottom decks with channels or any of that shizat. If you want to fly. Yo gotta get a board that soars. Now the byerly blend is pretty but if you realllly want to get down then you should check out the ronix bilevel. zariel. Reed hansen approves it and so do i.

Ive never broken one. Reed shreds them to pieces and has never broken one in front of me... Thier heavy thier a tank on the water. Run into a boat with the zariel and that boat is going to sink.

oh and you can pick em up cheap at least the 08

the 09 come in 3 different sizes. 40 42 44. ive ridden the 40 and it makes a big difference.

oh and the 08 42 i still ride its got the gnarest slashes in the bottom its been dropped its been slammed on the ground by myself. Its been stomped on. Its been kicked. Its been pile drived into obstacles at owc. Its been around and around and it wont DIE.

ronix zariel

check it out.

Jim.Branton · Guest

from my experiences of switching between board in example...wood boards, bi levels, composite, etc... i have found that my integrity well mine says mutiny pops the highest spins the fastest and just all around shreds. Just try peoples boards. I couldnt get used to the bilevel it was hard to flick and do big shuv variations. It also made my style go to poop because of the work on throwning it around made me look like a little kid trying to lift big man wieghts

pw · Pop Shuvit Joined: 17 Nov 2008 Posts: 243

985wakeskater985, but u are a little kid jim

dylo · Posted: Dec 16, 2008 3:01 am Post subject:

pw, for once i am in agreeance with you

jcoffey · Backside 180 Joined: 24 May 2008 Posts: 1339

i think my 07 bylery legacy is holding me back..any opinions?

haha i rode my friends sst and it was almost the same weight but it was 100 times less scary to go bigger as far as anticipation of the board nailing my legs.

jayf · Faceplant Joined: 16 Jun 2008 Posts: 17

pw,

i broke two zariel , one after 3 weeks , and one after two month .

pw · Pop Shuvit Joined: 17 Nov 2008 Posts: 243

jayf, didnt you have problems with the hardware pulling out of the bottom deck or some crap? I dont know what you were doing.

But ive done everything possible to break mine and its a mofo champ.

I even talked to reed about him breaking any and said he never actually broke one.

Montgomery · Backside 180 Joined: 26 Feb 2008 Posts: 976 City: Rogers

I know some guys that ride the Zariel and they beat the $hit out of those things and haven't had any problems with them at all. I'm not saying they're unbreakable everything has it's flaws but from what I've seen they seem damn near bomb proof

crispy · Posted: Dec 16, 2008 10:22 am Post subject:

985wakeskater985, agreed, my first board was an Oak 42" moulders, now im on a 42" duece pop, which is so much harder to spin and has definately slowed down my progression IMO. thats just me, i like the feel of a concave better myself

cblee91 · Faceplant Joined: 04 Mar 2008 Posts: 29

zariel sounds good... but way to expensive for now so I'll just wait and hope last years goes down to around 180.

it just seem like if you caught and edge landing wake to wake it would rip a bi in two... but atleast then i'd have two boards

electricsnow · cassette Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 10756 City: Jefferton

That doesn't make sense. The blend is a bi-level, regardless of the composition of each part.

I guess it's the same with a lot of boards; there's really no guarantee you're going to like it. Before you spend 350.00 or whatever it is the blend costs, I'd seriously recommend trying to test out a bi-level elsewhere. If you dig the board, that's sick, but if you don't like it and want to sell it, I don't know how much of that 350.00 you'll get back. And I say all of this because I'd personally consider the bi-level to be on the advanced end of the wakeskate spectrum. I just think you need solid fundamentals to really ride those boards the way they're meant to ride, like full on pop-catch type stuff and not surface spinning doo-dads (not that other boards aren't meant to be ridden like that, but you know, a feature of a proper bi-level is the style of its pop).

For real, your hampson should do the job in progressing with you.

David_Roehm · Backside 180 Joined: 14 Jul 2007 Posts: 911 City: Austin

i looked at the blend today the top deck is so far from the bottom deck.

pw · Pop Shuvit Joined: 17 Nov 2008 Posts: 243

electricsnow, the all so good feeling pop from a bilevel that we love is from the flat bottom deck. Ive ridden flat decks and there is certainly an amazing difference and pop and feel. put a top deck on it and you got even more amazing ness. get the pop from the top deck flexing and reacting to the force being exerted down on it and then the normal flat deck pop off the water.

the byerly blend is far from a flat deck bottom deck.

triggamike · Backside 180 Joined: 07 Jun 2007 Posts: 1392 City: 225

electricsnow, didn't you know he is an expert on all boards?

cblee91, deff try out a bilevel first before you drop $$$$ on it, its the worst thing ever to buy a board thinkin your getting something when your really not, where ya from im sure a few members on here would gladly let you try their board out before you make a purchase

electricsnow · cassette Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 10756 City: Jefferton

pw, the name bi-level refers to the two levels of the board. That name does not make any distinction between wood vs fiberglass, etc. I personally would describe performance characteristics as a concept, even thought he concept doesn't always translate. Plus, a ronix isn't even going to ride the same as a pure, wood flat deck because it's going to be stiffened up by the epoxy and fiberglass. Straight up, each bi-level rides differently and some people out there might like what byerly's blend will have to offer. It's the same thing when you look at a devotid vs. an SST, vs a cassette, etc etc.

And from what I understand, flex is created between the two boards, but it's the top deck of a bi-level that has the most flex, and the bottom deck is the stiffer, bracing point that allows the top deck to not only flex, but put that energy into motion. I saw this iconoclasts program with tony hawk, and a little demonstration he gave jon faverau (sp) gave me an even greater understanding for where dawley and thomas were coming from with that design. Like the top deck is litereally flexing like a skateboard flexes when you ollie, but I'd say it's a more extreme concept. I guess what I"m saying is, whether or not anyone actually likes this concept, it's seriously cool how they arrived at it.

Anyway, back on topic, it's all about how you utilize your design. Just riding a flexy flat deck isn't the greatest thing...Integrity works on the exact opposite principle, which is stiffness translating to immediate response. Look at how people rock the crap out of those...