Rider: Weight 95kg ,Level (advanced)
Style: Freeriding, Freestyle
Weather: 20-28 knots
Build Quality: 10/10
Satisfaction: 10/10
Disclosure: (The most biased shop owner in kiting )

My Comments:

Hi Peeps,

When we placed our order of Shinn boards for the start of this season, we picked all the usual best sellers and what we thought people/we would like. When Mark (Shinn) received the order, he came back and said "You guys didn't order any Ronsons". We weren't sure if this board would suit our conditions which are usually pretty choppy, but with some gentle suggestions and some mad frothing, I felt we had to trust him and so ordered a few of the Ronsons to give 'em a go. Mark was so excited about the Ronson, we just had to try them.

So we had the boards in store for a while whilst waiting for the season to start proper. I finally had an afternoon after work with no kid or family commitments and some strong wind and so grabbed a Core 9m FREE and the 135 Ronson and hit the beach late in the afternoon. I kited Pinnaroo Point which can be very choppy, especially when the wind gets quite strong. Wind was quite gusty but provided plenty of power in the lulls to very powered in the gusts.

Immediately on take off the board felt really comfortable (which I expected) as most of the Shinn range of boards has that signature "soft flex". The grip of the Ronson was a little disconcerting when I came in to slide to switch to carve a fast turn. The board was really comfortable through the chop and had a good solid grip which allowed me to ride fast the way I like to. It doesn't have the absolute holding at maximum speed like the Monk, but it does have Pop! Yep, this board will freestyle. Sticking hard fast landings was so easy it felt like I was cheating. The carve turns are excellent and keep the speed well with good hold as the board flexes into the turn.

The Ronson has one of the most unusual bottom shapes I have seen on any board. Heavily Channeled tips give excellent control on landings and the big fins bite in hard. This translates to you sticking more landings. The rails are stepped to give a thin knife edge which is good for holding a nice straight course. Upwind was super easy and the "split double concave" as Mark refers to it, what I call a trapezoid shaped raised section along the spine of the board. It spreads and disperses the water on landing and connection with chop.

2017 see's new footstraps for the Shinn boards with a small ratchet. When I first went out, my back foot came out of the straps every jump, but after a bit of adjustment, I had it sorted and didn't come out of the straps again. They are quite comfy to ride in and I noticed no discomfort at all.

For me personally, I have a hard time letting go of my freestyle background, so I like stiff freestyle boards in flat water for the performance needed for freestyling. Problem has been that the waters I ride tend to be very choppy which beats the hell out of my knees and makes control at speed difficult to say the least. And so I have had the issue of riding the Monk for control in powered conditions for boosting old school and conceding that there would just be no pop for freestyle, or riding a North Jaime Textreme for freestyle and just dealing with the rough water and control in flying heelside carve turns.

The Ronson is a freestyle board that works beautifully in heavy chop. I'm a pretty big fan and will give it another go but I reckon I've found my silver bullet. If you are into a bit more than just mowing the lawn in chop and thinkyou'd like to start freestyle trickery, then I recommend a demo ride if you are looking for a freestyler that works in more than butter flat water. This is a really fun board which actually "does it all" Stoked!

DM

Hi, maybe you can compare Ronson and ADHD.

Sorry mate, never ridden the ADHD.

Only willing to review what I've ridden. We need someone who owns or has ridden an ADHD to demo the new Ronson. Takers?????

DM

Did you try last years ultrasonic? Very similar looking bottom concave. Wondered if there was much difference in ride?

Hey dm, I know it's off topic but I'm interested in what you think of the bronq heritage?have you had a blast on it yet? Cheers

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ste said...
Hey dm, I know it's off topic but I'm interested in what you think of the bronq heritage?have you had a blast on it yet? Cheers

Ste the bronq imho is for strong conditions / high performance, I was out on a 9 vegas tonight , a sublime board for strong conditions
The ronson looks to be between the shinn monk and bronq, a more up to date of the Supershinn
Which was a great all round board,
The bronq up here is a great choice, however if in lesser conditions I'd opt for a slightly larger kite size or next size up than you'd normally ride
Yet to get a ride on the heritage compared to my original, pretty sure dm and toddy would fix a demo ride for you

Hi Guys,

The Bronq and Monk share very little in common with the Ronson. As Cauncy has mentioned, the Bronq is a little power hungry due to its heavy rocker. It has more in common with the Monk than the Ronson. The Ronson is stiffer and a bit wiser and a completely different bottom shape. There are very few similarities, they mostly being that the Bronq and Monk are no good at all with providing pop off the water due to the super flex throughout the board. Ronson has stiffer tips and much more pop. Again I haven't had a chance to ride any of the latest Shinns apart from the Ronson but will get back to you when I get a chance.

The above review is just on the Ronson and I hope to inspire people looking for a comfortable freestyle board for choppy waters to maybe give it a demo. I don't recommend buying any board without having first demo ridden it, unless you are a complete noob.

DM

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weebitbreezy said..
Did you try last years ultrasonic? Very similar looking bottom concave. Wondered if there was much difference in ride?

We are waiting for wind. We did measure the rocker of US (4cm) and Ronson (5cm).

So the Ronson would have better upwind and earlier planing, and more pop than the Bronq?

I have the first gen Bronq and think it has plenty of pop (maybe feels that way due to its light weight), but then again have never tried a real freestyle board...

Anyways would also like to see a back-to-back comparison between the Ronson and the Bronq!

Hi strekke,

These are two completely separate boards. Yes, the Ronson will be much better upwind than the Bronq and earlier planing too. If you are in Perth WA, why not drop in, grab the Ronson and give it a demo? The two boards are VERY different.

DM

Just upgraded from original bronq to a ronson. Love the board, much more suited to my style of riding (more freestyle then freeride) and the conditions where I ride. Really nice to motor upwind still in sub optimal conditions where Id probably be walking up the beach with the bronq.

Find it rides so much better toeside too. Tried it without fins for a quick session. I reckon the bronq had more grip without fins which is unexpected (maybe the flex in the bronq provided the grip).

Love the ronson. Only concern is im getting a bit of spray from chop. Weird as mark advertises it as completely spray free. Anyone else notice this? Bronq was 100% spray free for me.

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Cygnify said...
Just upgraded from original bronq to a ronson. Love the board, much more suited to my style of riding (more freestyle then freeride) and the conditions where I ride. Really nice to motor upwind still in sub optimal conditions where Id probably be walking up the beach with the bronq.

Find it rides so much better toeside too. Tried it without fins for a quick session. I reckon the bronq had more grip without fins which is unexpected (maybe the flex in the bronq provided the grip).

Love the ronson. Only concern is im getting a bit of spray from chop. Weird as mark advertises it as completely spray free. Anyone else notice this? Bronq was 100% spray free for me.

What stance settings are you on
Coming from the monk which was possibly the dryest board I've rode and owned I had a very small amount of spray which was intermittent
I found I was riding it like my monk ,
I now ride it more on the rear fin and have no issues

Im on the widest stance setting. I did have a feeling it was technique as like the monk the bronq is so dry no matter what I do.

I'm sure in a couple more sessions ill have it dialed in.

I still want to play around a bit with foot positions didnt feel 100% as i like yet. Maybe this will help too.

I was out yesterday for the first time on the Ronson having been on the Livewire for the last 4 years, so can't compare to the Bronq.

I know what you mean about the spray, I to got more yesterday than I have in 4 years on the Livewire. That said, it went up wind SO much better than the Livewire.

To me the board felt stiffer than I had expected so was worried about heavy landings and can say I am super impressed with how smooth these are! I am not sure if it's to do with the double concave bottom shape and it dispersed the water in a special way, but whatever, Mr Shinn got the design right there.

I was on the 138 in boots and at 83kg and 6' 1", I think I will order the 140.

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Cygnify said..
Just upgraded from original bronq to a ronson. Love the board, much more suited to my style of riding (more freestyle then freeride) and the conditions where I ride. Really nice to motor upwind still in sub optimal conditions where Id probably be walking up the beach with the bronq.

Find it rides so much better toeside too. Tried it without fins for a quick session. I reckon the bronq had more grip without fins which is unexpected (maybe the flex in the bronq provided the grip).

Love the ronson. Only concern is im getting a bit of spray from chop. Weird as mark advertises it as completely spray free. Anyone else notice this? Bronq was 100% spray free for me.

Cool, thanks for the info. Can you elaborate on your style of riding and conditions you ride in? When you say sub optimal conditions, were you riding underpowered or in chop, or both (weight? kite size?). Also, did you try the Bronq Heritage?

First session on the ronson I was riding in maybe 15 - 16 knots (definitely no stronger) in mostly choppy water and against a tidal flow of maybe 2 knots in some spots (was at noosa rivermouth tide was running in wrong direction although slowing down as it began to turn over the next hour).

I never had any problem whatsover of staying upwind. Could do backrolls and jumps and still go enough upwind for the rest of the tack to hold ground or even go further upwind if no jumps. I know from my bronq that I wouldnt be able to do any tricks and stay upwind in those conditions. Id be soley focused on holding my ground I reckon. This suprised me as I was still sussing the board out.

I was on a 136 ronson and 10m core xr4 and weigh 77kg.

It also gets planning super quickly which helps when the wind is light.

Its a great board. I'm in to jumping big, inversions, front rolls and back rolls, landing and riding toeside, etc as well as cruising upwind easily (i love rocketting upwind). Ronson is perfect for all of that, and much more appropriate then the bronq (although i still love this board). If its blowing 30+ knots and the conditions are average the bronq is in its element.

Thanks for the detailed feedback - sounds like a nice board for those conditions which are similar to mine - will have to give it a try. I know what you mean about the Bronq too: when lit/OPed in stormy water, the Bronq just dominates so hard with so much control. Too bad wind is often too light to unleash its true potential!

Just an update moved my footpads in from widest setting to smaller. 95% of my spray problems have been fixed by that alone. Board feels even better for me I find as well.

Board is amazing, super stoked with it!

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Cygnify said...
Just an update moved my footpads in from widest setting to smaller. 95% of my spray problems have been fixed by that alone. Board feels even better for me I find as well.

Board is amazing, super stoked with it!

Sweet, a wider foot stance and open setting naturally imposes a more aggressive edge ,
Fantastic in cranking winds, pads and boards are like kites, different settings so doesn't hurt to change them around,

Really, really like the looks of it! Those shinns are generally quite flexy and really see mainly older blokes on em with bad knees. Any good freestyle/unhooked rider that can share some input.