I understand that Slater has a contract with FCS and I mentioned on the original post that they have a a few flaws.But if they have week base drive that how do all the pro’s win on them? I can see if they loosen up on you.I was hoping to get more responses on the funtion and performance of them. I would like to try speed fins. Anyone tried them yet? Thanks!
“I understand that Slater has a contract with FCS and I mentioned on the original post that they have a a few flaws.But if they have week base drive that how do all the pro’s win on them?” These pro guys can RIP on anything. Example, last year surfing Laniakea I was watching Kaipo Jaquias ripping on a board that considering it was 8foot hawaiian size his board looked tiny. After watching him surf several waves I asked him how big his board was (i was guessing 6’3") he told me it was 6’1". By contrast I was on a 7’0" and while it worked well it felt a little small when the bombs came rolling through. I told him that was impressive considering the size of his board to which he responded “nah, when you get paid to surf you gotta be able to surf anything”
What do you mean by “weak base drive”?? I can’t see how this - either you have flex at the base (which I don’t see) or you don’t. It’s solid until the fin tabs bust, and I don’t know how guys who bust them do that. The plastic FCS fins do flex quite a bit, which can actually be OK- I had a board that was a dog until I found a set of G4s (now discontinued) that actually had more flex than the others in the line, and that single change made the board ride like magic. On other boards I have the stiff carbon Redlines work best, and you can’t tell me they flex much at all. No “weak base drive” there! Actually the stiff material, thin foil combined with the wider base make these fins the best I’ve tried for down-the-line speed waves and actually have “mega strong base drive”. I can only see “weak base drive” if your FCS plugs loosened. So those who throw thaT phrase around, please explain to me what you mean by it.
Here’s another factor to consider in favor of FCS over glass-ons- I went on a South Pacific surf trip where a buddy of mine broke off a glassed-on fin on a coral head his first wave. He tried to fix the damage and repair the fin using resin and glass, but it took a day for the board to dry out and repair, but then it tore off immediately again, and again, and that favorite board was out of commision the whole trip and it never rode the same afterward. If he had FCS, he would have just popped in another fin and merrily ripped away, like another guy the same trip who broke off three fins on coral heads but just replaced the fins each time in a minute and didn’t miss a beat.
Atleast with glass ons if you happen to knock off a fin the damage is ususally easily repaired. With the FCS system if the fins don’t happen to break like they are designed to, and the plugs get blown out it’s not usually repairable. Once the FCS plugs are damaged your board will need constant repair, bandage repair after bandage repair.
Thanks Aaron for the AM info I have the redlines, Occy and the AM templates, the AM has the best feel as far as I am concerned. Ive tried the carbon sunny garcia FCS and my carbon redlines…I like the AM and the Occy much more because of the flex. The carbon fins have to much of a stiff feel…I like the AM template that came with my Merrick…best thruster fin set I have ever tried.
I once snapped 2 fins in a collison with a rock that rip out the middle fin box (FCS) so as i didnt have the money for a new set of fins i got some glass and resin and set it in. it works great no loosness no nothing just a dam solid fin. This was the first time i did major glass work and i reckon if people are pissed with there FCS fins glass em in. Maybe epoxy if you want no flex at all.
Good thing about FCS: Lots of different fins for different boards and or different conditions. The AMs with greater rake are my favorite for my miniguns with hollow fast waves and longer drawnout turns. The Redlines are my favorite for smaller lined up waves up to slightly overhead- fast but still able to pivot due to upright, less rakey. All around head high?-maybe the Slater template since it’s more upright and pivots quickly. Small beachbreak?- then G3000, smaller and even more pivoty for that 6’0. Then sometimes its the thing to do to try to counter a board’s bad tendancies by going with a fin design to compensate- too pivoty? then try a wider based or more raked fin model. All that being said, my best boards have had glassed in AeroCor fins, but these have been the lucky magic ones for other reasons than the fins alone.
tubedog, nice point, i got a hole poster on dif fins and where they are at. anyone tried the curved fins. im gonna buy some for my next board, the carbon set. i wanna see how well they work. if they suck ill just pawn em off. about a month from now ill have some cash to buy a new fin sytem installation kit, i think this time i am going to go with futures, b/c the rep is pretty cool, and hes tryin to hook me up. but tom@daum, be sure soon enough ill be trying out ur red x system!! i personally know it works well, ive ridden one recently and it seems solid, but as u know, many people are very iffy on the whole through the deck, ive asked alot of people what they think about if i put it on there boards, and half say and others say nay, i want fcs… but what can u do. tom be sure that ill be calling up the rep down here sometime early next year! i still got the number u gave me. dj
Tubedog; I was’nt giving FCS a hard time I just went through 3 boards with them and I had no problems.I was comenting on earlier posts that said they,“FCS” fins are inferior to newer ones. I was trying to find out why.
Howzit Chesser, I’ve been installing FCS fin systems for about 5 years now. Just received a new products list and I don’t see any price increases. If anything they now give discounts on some fins. If you aren’t paticular about the color they discount white fins alot. If the price increase is at a retail shop,then they’re the ones who are charging more $. FCS is coming out with a new improved system with stronger plugs and some really nice fins.The best part is you will still be able to use the old installation kit.Aloha, Kokua
Howzit Clyde, finally got your new hard drive installed I see,good to have you back on line. Thanks for referring Joe to me, he came by yesterday and I’m working on a new logo/lam for him. Also he said he’ll be using you guys for his glassing instead of you know who. Aloha, Wildog
if you use the plastic ones and you have had them in for awhile take them out and lay them with inside flat (front fins)down on a table, by now you should be looking at a warped fin, especially the black KR http://groups.msn.com/MyKRSurf/krcomweb.msnw
Aaron, I have heard the fiberglass fin range by FCS are due to be released in early 2004. So I assume you are referring to FCS tabbed fins made by other people and not to the specifications that FCS use.All my FCS fins (genuine ones) performce perfectly and break when I need them to. I dont know what you are talking about.
Im suprised noone mentioned lokbox. super strong box/base, and they have an adapter so you can still use the fcs fins… as well as be able to adjust them forward and back.
all those detachables thermo plastics fins are in the surf market ´cause the thousands dollars marketing…magazines, pro surfers, free fins for good surfers and surf shops, etc this is a windsurfing stuff…
I have no idea where the fiberglass FCS compatible fins come from. But don’t use them since they WILL NOT break off, rather they will blow out your plugs. My experience came from some full-foiled fins for a fish. The fins are many years old and look new, but the board looks like crap after having fixed the plugs too many times. The plastic tabbed fins perform as promised usually, but not 100% of the time no matter what anyone says. Me and a buddy boat to many of our surf spots and for some reason the FCS fins break off in transit surprisingly often (glass-ons never have this problem for us). We gave up removing the fins every trip because we would lose the key or strip the screws while rushing to hit the lineup so we carefully strap the boards (in padded bags) with the fins staggered. Does FCS offer the Rusty template anymore? I had a 6-1 rusty years ago and it ripped. The fins had full tips and worked nice. I would like to compare a set of the Rusty’s to my G-AMs in the same board.
Howzit KR, A few years back we were getting some feedback about Ofishall fins humming on longboards. Put a straight edge on the flat side and sure enough they had a slight concave to them, only thing was they were a new set that had never been on a board. After that we started checking all of them before install and they all had the con. It’s a drawback of injection molding,has something to do with the plastic cooling when removed from the mold. We just would sand them flat. Aloha, Kokua
Hey Kokua, good to see that someone else pays enough attention to quality and then does something about it. keep it up. the ones that my friend had where concaved about 1/8+ on the table, basically unfixable. KR http://groups.msn.com/MyKRSurf/krcomweb.msnw
The concave you guys see on the flat side of the fins, is called “sink”. Kokua is right that it is a by-product of injection molding. It happens during the cooling process. This can be reduced by strategically placed cooling pasages in the mold, but many factors effect it, and are hard to control.Complete consistency is not really possible. Most plastic or composite fins have this problem to some extent. Nowadays you have the vectors, that have sink designed in. Cant beat 'em…join 'em…Or make it seem cool anyways!