i rode one i liked it, it was a good fast fun board but why would you spend so much money on a kane garden. larry mable is an awesome shaper but why such the big pricetag on his boards.
WHY
There sure is a wide range in board pricing these days - I don’t know if it’s the shapers themselves or the retail shops that are bumping certain boards up over others…
We used to microwave, now we just eat nuts and berries
marketing to lemmings
thats what it seems like, you would think that kg is the only one making fishes these days.
all you guys who want one support a local shaper, you will save $$$ and get a board set up for your condidtions.
Not sure about “lemmings” but GREAT marketing! They found a market and capitalized on it effectively-my hats off to them! I have ridden fish for 35 yrs and laugh that it took this long for surfers to be open to a great design.Feed them fish now!Maybe we will see some different styles because of it or maybe even NEW designs.
I see a lot of those at Surf Ride.The glass Jobs seemed light and weak IMO… with all those KG’s I have only seen one in the water here in North County (SD)… Who’s buying them?
Quote:
Not sure about “lemmings” but GREAT marketing! They found a market
and capitalized on it effectively-my hats off to them!
Well said! Any time someone puts out quality product and it becomes in demand or highly sought after (e.g. Kane Garden, Cooperfish, etc) people start whining and complaining. The aforementioned examples are the counterpoint to Surftech - quality hand shaped custom boards that ride well and are aesthetically pleasing and are successfully marketed - and still people bitch and moan. That being said, everyone is entitled to their opinion, that’s what I like about this site.
Concur with Shipman’s observation regarding glass job on the shop boards I have seen. Looks like every other lightweight glass job I see in shop boards. If you get a custom board you can get it glassed any way you want. I have seen custom KG fishes with bitchen glass jobs.Mike
Supply and demand is the only reason the KG name got out and thats the main fish board I see when I go to surfshops mainly SurfRide and out on the water
Exactly. Kane Garden is just the house label for PSG (a glass shop) here in SD. Here’s a theory: They are able to produce semi-high numbers of boards themselves, from start to finish. The bigger labels generally don’t glass their own stuff, so they don’t want to invest in “labor intensive” boards that require gloss coats and wood fins, etc (you think a KG is expensive, check out a Merrick fish). Not as much profit for 'em. As far as the little guys, you don’t see ads and placement for Greenroom/Choice fish 'cause no ad money and small numbers made. These guys at PSG are just doing what they like to do, doing it pretty well, and people are starting to really dig it so they are able to sell 'em. Just a theory, I don’t really know jack about “industry” stuff. I do know I got a pretty good glass job from PSG/KG on a fish I shaped for my buddy.
Oh yeah, they are all being ridden down here in south county it seems like - I see at least 2 or 3 every day in OB area.
They are charging what well shaped and well glassed surfboards should have cost all along. The problem is the guys producing the crap have also done the most advertising.
I kind of like the Kane Gardens I have seen. They are simply a well done older design that still has merit and probably never should have gone away in the first place. When it comes to eggs though, I believe Skip Fry set the standard and still does. Forstall would be right up there as modern shapers go.
Last year I called Kane Garden for pricing on a 6’ foot fish. Not a Twinzer or modern design from Larry Mabile. I was quoted $395.00 with A pinstripe and no color. $495.00 with cool colors and racing pinstripes. Considering the time and experience it takes to shape and glass one of these buggers, the cost doesn’t seem excessive.
Last August I checked out the KG and G&S fish side by side, single color, one or no pinstripe, in Carlsbad, and ea. was $500.00, give or take a few bucks. Still under that realm of excessiveness, IMO. Last month I checked out the Brom fishes in Santa Barbara. $780.00 bucks for a single color, pinstripe and Brom’s cool logo. HOLY CRAP!!! What the hell is the $280.00 difference? Now you know why I shape and glass my own boards. My $100.00, 6’ fish with translucent blue resin tint will be finished soon.
Sr Pato
I wouldn’t moan to much about board prices, It’s costing me $650 TRADE to get a black beauty over here in the UK and a surftech longboards is $1200!!. If it wasn’t for the shipping prices and the damage, I’d be shipping aboard back every month from the states.You sure are lucky at the choice and availability of your surfboards.
So if anyones out there who wants to ship a few boards this way drop me a line:)
Cheers Joe
…Steve Brom’s fish are better,shaped,glassed,and designed.That’s worth more that an xtra 3,especially when you get a fish with straight fins and wonder why it spins out in bigger waves.Herb
…someone asked,“why did the fish fadeout in the 70s”…my answer,for the same reasons it will fadeout again.Herb
ridden my “straight” finned twin keel in plenty good sized waves, have yet to spin out…in fact, it doesn’t even seem within the realms of possibility…
…I knew that line would get a response.
…Dub,
…how long have you ridden the fish design?
…How many #s of boards + different builders,types,sizes have you ridden?
…Where do you ride em? Herb
…GOITGOOD…
Remember the scene in Pulp Fiction when that guy with the long red hair is going over the 3 heroins he has for sale with Travolta. Cholo, 400 an oz. is good and will stand up to anything out here. Panda 450 an oz. is also good ,from the hills of Chile. And Finally Mad Dog, now Mad Dog is 700 and oz. But when you shoot it, you’ll know where the extra 300.00 went! Well the Brom is like the Mad Dog. When I ride it. I know where the extra 300 bucks went. An guess what, Every fish I buy from here on out will be a Brom. MDM
MDM, do you know that right here in Mass. we have a true La Jolla fish shaper. Sorta like a hidden jewel. He’s made boards for the best La Jolla fish riders for a couple decades. PM me for details.
My point is, focusing on parallel twin keels is missing the point. It’s obvious that certain shapers have refined elements of the Lis fish to the point where today it is different yet the same. Some people think they work and feel they can ride them in a functional manner; I consider myself one of them. I don’t see what difference it makes how many fish I’ve ridden or by how many shapers. The point is the twin keel I’m riding now works. It is not clunky, tracky, prone to spin outs, or whatever else certain people in the 70’s felt they had to say about the design to justify their inablity to ride it. I also have a canard quad fish; the keels are not parallel and there is a notable difference in how the board rides, most notably backside. However, I would not say it is “better” than my twin keel, just different or perhaps better suited for certain conditions.
As for where I ride them, I ride them wherever I happen to be at that moment. Here’s a shot taken today of one of our local spots, it’s been like this for three days now. I suppose this would be considered an average or fun wave by California standards, but so it goes:
Last month I had the canard quad out at this spot in Puerto Rico. Super solid OH surf was rolling in, the board worked well, or I worked well, in any event, I felt as if I had never surfed better in my life:
I was born in 1971…ain’t nothing I can do about that. But I’m VERY well versed in board history and know all about Lis and Huffman and Frye and Nuuhiwa and Brom etc…in fact my friend has a Brom, it’s a great board. Notice I never said anything about that, my comment was in response to the implied idea that anyone riding a parallel twin keel fish is somehow off base and not aware of what they are doing.
I’m getting a board from an originator and it’s going to have parallel double foiled keels. I’m also getting one from someone who learned from this person and it’s going to have refined canard quads. If I had the money, I’d get one of Broms, as well. I’m certainly not going to limit myself to what I want to ride because someone says it didn’t work in the 70’s…
awesome…just awesome