New Dirtsurfer Flexi 16" - First Impressions

SWAT got his new Flexi (well I picked it up for him) last week, and we assembled it ready for a session at the weekend.

It came in 2 reasonably small boxes, so much so that I thought that it couldn't all be there... but it was.

One box contained the wheels, and the other one the frame and all the other bits.

The following are notes & thoughts in no particular order:

1. The frame and metalwork is of good quality.
2. The deck looks somewhat rough, with loose fibreglass on the edged and on the back.
3. The Footstraps are great, but fitting them takes a little working out ()- See here for my instructions -
4. The board looks long with the 16" wheels
5. The assembly was slow, as the captive nuts in the deck didn't line up with the mounting holes in the frame. In fact we have only managed to get 11 of the 12 bolts in place. - even after an lots of struggling.
6. Its a great ride - very smooth
7. On rougher terrain it feels great (I've never tried the original flexi, so that could be the same for them too)
8. If the deck was to actually fit the frame it would take less than an hour to assemble.
9. The brake, although a new type, is essentially the same design as the old one. the cable soon gets clogged up with sand and muck and siezes up.
10. The calf brake lever is still too far back to comfortably reach, and there is no further adjustment on this (I thought there was going to be)

All in all, a great ride, cant wait to have a go on the 20".

Dirtsurfer wheels

Had a bit of a problem last session. Several of my spokes have corroded through at the nipple! SWAT has lost 5. I suppose its a factor of riding near salt water. I managed to bodge a few spokes to get mine back together, got a spare wheel for SWAT and put old one in for repair at the local bike shop.

New Dirtsurfers in the UK

ooooooh. last night I collected SWATs new 16" flexi dirtsurfer from Munkey.
Started putting it together for him, but hit a problem with the deck tolerances.

I couldnt get the captive nuts in the deck to line up with the holes in the frame. at 1bout 1:00am I gave up. Look like it will take a bit of "adjustment" with a file, to open out the holes in the frame. I decided that this is something that SWAT can do in his own time!

Anyway off the the gower tomorrow. Promises to be a GOOD session.
We have a keen photographer coming down, who wants to take some shots.
Missile is coming down sat later, as well as Tony with his new DS and Kitewing he picked up on eBay.

4 wingsurfers on the beach at the same time - cool!

We'll post a review of the new flexi after the weekend!

Llanaber West Wales.

Is it just me or dos it take me more time and more space to load my toys into the car when I go away? What with my Dirtsurfer, Mountain board, windsurfer + 2 sails, mast, boom, kitewing, box of bits etc, I barely had room for the tent and the family. Lucky I've got a 7 seater otherwise I'd have to leave the kids at home.
Anyway, we went to Llanaber, just up from Barmouth. I've been to Shell Island before (before I was married, before I had a car, before I got any toys), but decided to try the Barmouth area as there are lots of campsites next to the beach.

We arrived on Sunday after a 3 and a half hour drive cross country (I get fed up with motorways, so cross country is more interesting, shorter and probably more economical) Arriving at 5:00 the wind was blowing 18mph directly on shore, however once we'd set the tent up, sorted out food, welcomed my sister and family it was 9:00 and starting to get dark. That night brought torrential rain, thunder, lightning and lots of wind.

The next morning it was still raining - heavily. Funny how in the longest dry period anyone can remember, I go camping on the 3 days it rains. Still, it stopped later on and I got the Dirtsurfer and Kitewing out and started runs up and down the beach.

The beach at Llanaber is I suspect, the same beach that starts at barmouth and goes up to Shell Island. a stretch of about 6 or so miles. Unfortunately although the sand is pretty solid, there are huge great holes, and rivers,and I found it difficult to judge the depth of the holes until I got onto (into?) them. Some were shallow, others were up to 18 inches deep. Spaces between the holes were limited, so speed runs were difficult. I decided to take advantage of the distance available amd did a 4.5 mile run up the beach, and a 4.5 mile run back. In total, day 1 I covered 25 miles and a max speed of 35mph.

Day 2 I decided to get up early (7:00 and was on the beach by 7:45) to get the most from the tides and wind. Wind was about 17mph and SW. More runs (max speed 38.9mph, without having enough space).

Day 3 the wind went round to the North, so long runs were out of the question, so I got the ATB out and practiced throwing it around and practicing my jumps. A max jump distance of about 12-15foot (although not very high) was achieved, I was pretty chuffed with that. I even succeeded in jumping over a small (but deep) pond on the beach.

Day 4 I ran out of time and came home.

Learnings:
Harlech beach looks good
Black roack sands is not far away.
Loads of campsites there.