I'm so sick of seeing reviews about boring foil kites suitable for 8 knot mouse fart wind. Here's a real board, for real wind:

The Shinn Bronq is an absolutely fantastic board for enjoying heavy chop, outrageous gusts, and generally riding with stupid amounts of power and speed.

It is definitely not the optimal board for riding in 12 knot rubbish, however once you get into the big juicy 30knot+ winds, there aren't many better boards that combine a wakestyle amount of rocker, with a thin edge that allows you to "throw buckets" when you jump to toeside and then lay down on your back at 70km/h.

I don't think it's stiff enough to compete with 'pop oriented' boots type boards for unhooked load and spin type tricks, but if you want something to ride on for 6 hours in 30 knots whilst jumping like an idiot the whole time, this is the board you want.

-Better than the monk due to being a bit stiffer, and more rocker (doesn't feel bendy on landings at all)
-Better than the North team series due to having some flex which allows you to absolutely throw buckets and enjoy heavy onshore chop as if you were riding on flat water. (except you can't put boots on it :( )
-Extremely light (even the 137cm) so if you want to do grabs or board offs it almost seems too easy
-2015 and 2019 models look very cool sort of like a striped paint job on an old car
-Rooster tail is optimised rather than a boring 'sprayless' board (note the rooster tail never seems to hit you in the eyes, just other people)

Not top or bottom shape at all. Did you make it yourself?

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causehecan said..
Not top or bottom shape at all. Did you make it yourself?

I have a North Team series with incredible amounts of top and bottom shaping, and I always thought it had a huge effect. Now that I've ridden this board I seriously question whether it does much.

I've the new bronq, very nice board but surprised to see channel introduced , tbh the model you have is the nicest board I've owned, until I lost it one sunset

Yeh my ankles are telling me it's time to give this board another good crack.

The original bronq and heritage is awesome for retaining higher line tension exactly what you need for good tear you off the water boosting, and you select a kite like the edge make sure your right at the top, just on overpowered with kite size .
That's when magic happens .

Bronq heritage is slightly stiffer and a sweet thin edge , still super flexible and has slightly more concave so it grips a little better.

Perfect boosting board.
Soft as landings.

Both these boards turn really tight when pushed unlike the Q which has a larger natural turn due to less rocker.

The bronq Q is much stiffer and has a lot less rocker ..it has double concave channels and really grips and track tight.
It's a much thicker board and
Pop is much better on Q if you want good pop.

I have a Heritage an 2 Qs..
41 42 and 44 they all serve their purpose .

Original bronq leaves the nicest spray pattern.

Hard board to beat ...I love em.

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eppo said..
Yeh my ankles are telling me it's time to give this board another good crack.

What's the wife telling you

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Greenarrowz said..
The original bronq and heritage is awesome for retaining higher line tension exactly what you need for good tear you off the water boosting, and you select a kite like the edge make sure your right at the top, just on overpowered with kite size .
That's when magic happens .

Bronq heritage is slightly stiffer and a sweet thin edge , still super flexible and has slightly more concave so it grips a little better.

Perfect boosting board.
Soft as landings.

Both these boards turn really tight when pushed unlike the Q which has a larger natural turn due to less rocker.

The bronq Q is much stiffer and has a lot less rocker ..it has double concave channels and really grips and track tight.
It's a much thicker board and
Pop is much better on Q if you want good pop.

I have a Heritage an 2 Qs..
41 42 and 44 they all serve their purpose .

Original bronq leaves the nicest spray pattern.

Hard board to beat ...I love em.

For what its worth, Shinn himself has said in an interview that he thought the original and CRB4 versions to be the best versions. He said he wasn't happy with the inbetween versions but had to settle for something that wasn't quite what he wanted for the heritage and Q versions (I gather these were the first versions at the new factory).

Never quite understood the obsession with channels if you aren't doing powered dangle passes personally. Just use bigger fins if you need more grip? Getting a good flex pattern in the board always seemed more important to me.

Like the monk, I always thought this board worked better a little powered. I found it didn't size up as well as others in his range (as in my normal board is a 135 and when I tested a friends 137 I found the extra width difficult to get that locked in feeling - whereas I can ride his Ronson as a light wind board no problems) so its worth tracking down the correct size to test and not just jumping on any old size to get a proper feel for it.

Nah never could load and pop well on the monk especially in flat water. Looking forward to spending some time on the bronq.

Wide does what shes told mick ... in my alternative universe in my own head anyway.

... new cafe looks amazing by the way.

I like the channels on my 41 Q for 40 knots + on flat water ....with an 8m v9 edge.
It helps give a better locked in feel and I like the reduced rocker for a faster feel with more board contact on the water....the heritage sits on a tiny portion of the board in these conditions ....and simply isn't enough board in the water.

Wanna have some fun try the heritage with no fins for butter slides... I tried once and it was like riding on hot butter...lol
Then fins went straight back on Thank you.

Q would be better finless fir that .


In the surf at 25knts I prefer the 42 heritage cos it smoothes everything out and gives me soft landings...feels awesome in the waves very responsive and highly reactive.
Best board for boosting in the surf for me.

The 44Q is great board for the teen knots from 12 up to say 20...it keeps me from spending to much time on the king gee and allows me to have a nice small board in lower knots.

Spending too much time on a bigger board can teach you bad habits .

I use a mako 150 for some shallow surf locations where a twin tip is not as much fun.

There's a nice beach where you have surf out back ..and when you come in close there's lots of flat channels near the shore for freestyle fun...the mako seems to be able to ride in 1 inch of water so it makes this one spot absolute gold...

It's all fun with the right boards and mark does a great job of them .

How many TTS do you have !!!

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eppo said..
How many TTS do you have !!!

6 more than a wife