tinklers tails

General Discussion
21

Sooo,

Let me get this straight. You get the concept in 1967, fiddle with it until 1969/70 when you “spring” it on the world and begin to promote it. Here it is more than a third of a CENTURY later, and the WORLD SURFING COMMUNITY has not embraced your “breakthrough”. The market is telling you something. Actually the market is screaming at you, and you seem not to hear. Is that what you call getting real? The appearance of the device gives the impression that you are channeling Rube Goldberg. However, I did see some good advice in this thread, KISS.

22

Yes, none of us can afford to “waist” brain cells, either.

23

Who knew… Sad, I guess, but at least the “tinkler” seems to be good for a laugh.

24

First of all, I’m the original pessimist and wrote as such…

But Tinklers DO work, work pretty well actually, but whether is a superior ride or not is up to the individual surfer.

My only complaint, like I have with any trick bottom design, is consistency day after day, cold and warm, strong and weak …waves and rider.

To surf well, a consistent performance factor, day after changing day, is NUMBER ONE priority! Especially since the human performance is wrought with biorythm changes, mental moodswings, and preoccupations, not to mention the surf sometimes varies a little…

Worry about any board that uses flexing glass, springs, memory shock absorbers, and whatnot, is the CHANGE over time.

And of course, I hate being the guy paying my really hardearned money to do the Research and Design for the other guy…

What’s that famous quote… " Buy this, try it…if you don’t like it, just order another one that you will like"…

Yeah sure, I have SUCKER stamped on my forehead.

That’s why I’m for KISS. You are free to try every alternative design.

25

after seeing Rusty’s flextail a few years back i got interested in the flex tail concept so i called Bob Tinkler for a couple board to test myself and team riders.

the result was really exciting.

i have the boards for a year now, i found that the boards were really fast on the flat due to the flat tail rocker but went super vertical because of the flex.

i understand that Bob start working on the flex in the 70’s when he lived with greenough and mctavish in the noosa days.

i think the industry backthen didnt accept the boards because of the trouble making them, i think it was suitable for the molding but then molding wasnt accepted ether…

i beleive he went shaping for g&s after and start building boats and windsurf boards, forgot about the whole thing…

since molding is accepted now and they actually fill 30% of the surfshop rack Bob decided to give a go again.

the flex tail use laws of nature, it doesnt lie, i fell that it is a better concept than a regular board.

the downfall is that you have to mold them to make it efficient money wise.

the difference between Rusty’s and Bob’s flextail is that you can control where you want your rocker to stop. crucial if you dont want the boards to be slow.

i found that on a big drop you can actually pick up a bit of G force, fell really fun.

i dont think we should judge by the name but by the idea, call Bob and try it out, see for yourself. it work for me…

26

I have had an outer island flextail for 3 years now, it is a rocket, posted photo’s earlier. They are one of the most labour intensive surfboards on the market. worth every cent. The flex thing is a concept a lot of people cannot deal with. There was photo’s in tracks years ago with the flex letting the fins retract( seperate idea to the outer is and the tinkler). An intresting thing is what are the springs made of and do they rust. If so, as they rust they loose their spring, are they easy to replace,can the fin panel break off, are the hinges likely to rust or if they are solid do they weaken with age and use. I have no doubt that they are a more expensive board and also no doubt that they work, but take a few things into consideration .

27

This is from p.54 of the July 1993 issue of ‘Surfer’ magazine [the " what is surfing now ? " issue… used without permission]

A closer look …


28

ever since I saw that guy building those carbon fiber flextails in the DVD The Shapemakers I’ve wanted to try one.

My original inspriation was a Jeff Ho design way back when which probably was a hack of Greenough’s knee board designs many years before. Jeff Ho really trid alot of different things back them… maybe it was all the drugs or something kind of like Morey…

Being able to engineer a thin carbon fiber tail must be a nightmare to get right so I really admire the engineering and patience it took to get it down versus inserting springs… Since they use them in ski bindings I’m sure there’s non rusting waterproof ones out there.

seems like a glassed sheet of 1/8 -1/4" thick bamboo might work as well. But probably easier to get carbon fiber to size…

Be nice to hear more about the outer island design…

how much do they charge for it?

when you say “hard to deal with” are they hard to ride or is it just a mind thing.?

its that whole last 18"-24" thing again…

29

Nice looking fins they make, I bet they flex a fair bit too.

:slight_smile:

30

Definitely not a Tinkler Tail!

1992 photos from Mark Thomson’s photo album… with a comment from last night:

“Wait till you see the new stuff !!!”

31

When I sayhard to deal with, they are out of the ordinary, so some people are sceptical.

price wise they were $300 extra for flex. but well worth it.

my wife got mine for my 35th birth day, lucky hey.

the bottom shape is full concaved , chined withe a twin vee.