I’m with FarmerFra and SurferCross, I can’t see whats so hard about choosing a class of board eg. HPSB groveller giving half a dozen commercial model offerings from prominent labels a test by say 3 riders and reporting the pros and cons. I haven’t read a board sports magazine for ages but the windsurfing magazines used to do this regularly and I once bought a sailboard (Mistral brand) based on a review and wasn’t disappointed.
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I think that's what He Who Must Not Be Named was trying to tell us. In his own way .....
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ROFL!!
that just made me laugh! does that abbreviate to HWMNBN? Can we get t-shirts with that on em? LOL!
FREE HWMNBN!!
whoahhahaaa!
sorrry.. off topic hilarity..
I'll get coffee now...
All surf mags pretty much suck ass! Once in a while someone does a cool zine-type thing, like Foam Mag here in Oz, but then it doesn’t take long for the corporations to get their tentacles in! Then it’s straight downhill from there! Thats why I like surf blogs, at least you can choose the type of content you want!
Lewis Samuels blog was probably the best writing about surfing I have ever read. Tongue in cheek, and completely lampooning most of what the surf media holds sacred.
Must say Doc absolutely nailed it in his reply.
And CX 500’s are great. Always liked them. I was riding back solo to Qld from the Moto GP in Phillip Island a few years ago on a SV 650 Suzuki I had and met up with a guy who was riding a CX which was cosmetically challenged to say the least.
We came up behind a couple of guys riding Ducati sportsbikes in tight twisties in Northern NSW and I was in front with the CX behind. So I sat right on their rear wheels but didn’t pass them. Always fun to show riders on more powerful machines smaller bikes have it over them in the tight curves.
Anyway later CX guy was leading through a narrow, rough tight section going across the NSW/Qld border and he lit the old CX up and was off. No way I could catch him. Skill.
My excuse (to myself) was he knew the road being from the Gold Coast but he was gone.
Now I ride a Vespa PX200 so speed is no longer a factor.
Ah....well, I might know something about that.
You see, the CX series had one hell of a robust engine and drivetrain design, for an old-school pushrod vee-twin. So, they got cute and did something with it.
Like ( in 1982 ) they put fuel injection and a freakin' turbo on some of them. Very advanced for the day, may have been the first production bike with both...or either. Which took 'em to the point of'Ludicrous Speed' with not-too-bad handling either.
Not many made it to the US ( nor did the really lovely Euro model which also had the monoshock rear and nice brakes all around, although the engine was more conventional ) but those few that are still around can have most bikes for lunch and give the rest heartburn, and in the hands of somebody who was good with it, well, it gets downright devilish.
But, they stopped making the CXs and GLs in 1983. Nearest thing they make now is a bike that's essentially two CX650 engines hung together with the same shaft drive and other goodies, the ST1300. Beautiful bike, tech to the gills. So nice that my little brother bought one.....
...the bastard.
Now I got serious bike envy, but I'd make myself into a 100 yard grease spot if I had one. At least, that's the excuse I'm going with for now.
doc...
Folks tire of me saying it, but it happens to be the truth. Most magazines in the surf industry only function is to promote things for their advertisers. Period. Believe anything else you wish, but those are the facts. If you paid some magazine $5000 for an ad, would you want to allow them to print an honest review where some folks with a vendetta, factual, or any other thing could come on and trash your equipment? Would you continue advertising if they allowed such a thing? Humans being humans…probably not. Same goes for promoting who is the best surfer in contest or any other thing that deals with money in the industry.
On top of that many negative reviews of items are personal and not open minded. In surfing most reviews you would get would likely be from personal taster rather than something with any real merit.
What you are asking for is impossible because surfing is subjective and you would have to read a lot of reviews to even get a clear picture.
If you see a design and want to try it. Buy it and try it. Ask around to see if those selling it have good and honest trade practices and move on.
BTW: You have close to a good review place here or some of the other forums. Who needs magazines? Kiddies wanting to follow avatar surf land.