Crazy fly raptor pro

pdxmonkeyboy · Wed Apr 22, 09 11:03 am **Crazy fly raptor pro**

i'm a huge fan of the Crazy fly raptor and bumped into this video about the 2009. check out the papds for 09!! I thought my pads were money but those look sweet with that toe grippy thingie.

Link

Nic · Since 21 Jul 2008 109 Posts Bend, Oregon Stoked

Those look sick... might have to get my feet on a set this summer.

pdxmonkeyboy · Wed Apr 22, 09 11:20 am

Kite zombies in southern oregon -or mt. shasta I think. Sells CF stuff. They might be able to hook you up. the raptor is an uber sick board for sure. I'll let you give mine a ride..with the $800 deposit that is Laughing

forrest · Wed Apr 22, 09 12:13 pm

I always though Crazy fly boards were sweet. I rode one for a few days a couple seasons ago.

I'm trying not to be a boot zealot, or hi-jack this thread, but the foot strap tweaks PMB mentioned bring up this point: Board interfacing is best done like a wakeboard/snowboard... Full foot and ankle support with good lock down with the bottom of your foot staying parallel with bottom surface of the board.

All the foot strap/sandle strap tweaks in the world aren't going to give you the interface to the board that a good light-weight boot is going to give you. The wakeboarding industry has been making leaps and bounds in the last two or three towards really great boots. Some of the advancement has made it's way into kiteboarding products such as the LF Synergy boot which is close to the Open Toe Alpha.

I would encourage everyone to give some boots a go... With the right setup, it's amazing how well you can carve/turn/pop/land, and you'll never spend any time body dragging ever again.

Maybe one of these days this summer we can bust out a few pairs of Synergies via Tekko and have a boot demo day? I bet Slingshot would be into demoing some of their boots that mount to their boards as well!

FlyDunes · Since 09 Oct 2007 1034 Posts Aloha XTreme Poster

one size fits all?

pacifichigh · Since 11 May 2005 1004 Posts ATX Texan

I just got a pair of 09 Slingshot PB Floyds and they are PIMP!!

Lightweight, flexible, heat moldable liners.

pdxmonkeyboy · Wed Apr 22, 09 12:51 pm

HIJACK alert!! HIJACK alert!!

I have been mulling boots over for quite some time but my chief question is this..why does everyone that has ridden bindings tell me that they make things (like wakestyle tricks) actually harder to land. No less than 5 people have told me that.

Nic · Since 21 Jul 2008 109 Posts Bend, Oregon Stoked

Forrest... always pimpin your boots

forrest · Wed Apr 22, 09 1:16 pm

Which tricks or style of trick are they talking about? I think that kiteloops might be the number one concern, but that doesn't stop Joby or Eric Rienstra, or Pablo Sanchez in "Boots Biotch". I think you have a better chance of landing when you can count on the board staying with you the whole time.

I don't think they have much evidence either way and I think you need to try it for a few sessions yourself. Their opinion could be influenced by a dislike of change, or simply not giving it enough time.

I could imagine that some tricks might be harder in boots at first, harder to do, not necessarily harder to land. Even then, as boots become lighter weight and profile, that will go away. The Synergies are a huge step forward when compared to the Escalades in terms of weight, in/out, and support.

pdxmonkeyboy · Wed Apr 22, 09 1:24 pm

I guess I meant harder to do not necessarily land. That's what people keep telling me... "you can hold down allot more power but your going to need to re-learn all your existing tricks".

I know hitting rails is a hell of allot easier, can't say what they are like behind a kite though..haven't tried them..yet.

genek · Since 21 Jul 2006 2165 Posts East Po KGB

I think they're just referring to the added weight of the board/boot combo. Like Forrest said boots and boards are getting lighter all the time. Throwing the spin might take a bit more energy, but it'll get thrown that much harder and stomping the landing is way easier.

TWIN-FIN · Since 24 May 2006 805 Posts Portland, OR Hot Monkey

Boots are good if you want to drown in the surf and look like a BALLER!!!

pdxmonkeyboy · Wed Apr 22, 09 2:33 pm

forrest · Wed Apr 22, 09 3:11 pm

1000s of people do very similar tricks on the cable, and it's incredibly similar to kiting. It's definitely easier to set your edge and pop in boots on the cable than it is in straps. I've done both.

If you've already learned to kite in straps and gotten used to being able to kick your board off, it's going to take 5 sessions to get used to the new type of riding. I can understand why people choose not to stick with it, but if they did they would fall in love with it as yet another board type you can ride along with skim/surf/strapless/straps. My car has a load of different types of boards, I'm not trying to say one is better than the other. What is better is having all options at your disposal.

Looking at it in terms of expended energy, you have to take into account loosing your board and dragging back to it. Spins are directly related to how you load and turn the board as you pop. Spinning and dragging your board along with you is usually the wrong way to go about a trick.

Riding boots in small surf is awesome cause you can hit the waves as ramps hard and take hard landings (Maybe not so much in that cold Pacific water as it makes the rubber very cold and hard). I don't know about riding it in big ass waves... I've ridden in chest high waves and it was fun doing hard turns on the face of them.

So, Next time you're out riding with Stringer, you'll see how boots has changed his riding style as compared to his strap riding. He's was looking pretty amazing when I let him ride my setup for a session.

pdxmonkeyboy · Wed Apr 22, 09 3:41 pm

sounds good to me. the other advantage of boots is that I could loose my existing heel straps and return to a heterosexual life.

my biggest issue is that I have't found the time to try out some different boots and quite frankly, all the damn different mounting systems, hole patterns, and boot styles has really helped me decide on a pair. I love Blakes flip open bindings but they are heavy as hell. The unions are popular but not sure about the bolt pattern. Will the new liquid force synergies bolt on to my raptor?

BTW, crazy fly has some really cool looking foot pads.. have you seen them?

genek · Since 21 Jul 2006 2165 Posts East Po KGB

Any LF kite specific boot (Union and Synergy) should fit the normal kiteboard insert pattern PMB. You're obviously welcome to try any of our boots as long as the size is in the right ballpark.

stringer · Since 31 Jul 2007 694 Posts Chucktown Flying Tomato

Monkeyboy,
Boots really don't make things harder (except in my pants)
Its just different.
If you learned stuff in straps it will be harder to do at first in boots.
If you learned the same stuff in boots it will be harder at first to do it in straps.
For me its actually easier to do wakestyle moves in boots now that I have more experience riding them.
I rode my strap board yesterday and it was way harder to get the pop and drop I wanted without feeling out of control.
Everyone should try riding with boots sometime to see how they like the feel.
Just be careful trying to surf waves with them on.
Surfing waves should be left to surfstyle boards.

Board companies really need to offer a wider variety of options.
Most of the market seems really stale with a bunch of boards and interface kits that mostly do the exact same thing.
Why do most boards come with pads, straps and even fins still?
Riders should be able to have more freedom to play around with what setup works best for them.

and MB, if you want to try out my escalades on your board sometime while I wait for my new board to come in let me know.