Anyone ridden the firewire mals? The wife is interested, but cant find a test ride. Interested in hearing opinions and experiences.

She is looking for a high performance longboard and is around 60kg. Interested in knowing how the smaller 9 footer or the Jensen model go.

know of a bloke who swears by his 8fter

They have a bucket load of rocker and the ones I've seen are way too thin for me to even think about riding.

me to big unit

Show the wife the Sunset Tint by McTavish. Get them to glass it lightish, and get it in Fireball Evo 2 model....

This way, she get's a classic Aussie Custom, which is unique, and made here, and it will last you/her a long time !!

www.mctavish.com.au/surfboard/fireball-evolution-ii




How can you choose Firewire (made in Asia ??), over Sunset Tint Made in Byron Bay... or make your own tint idea.... !!!


http://www.firewiresurfboards.com/quiver_boards.php?boardid=tjpro

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Surfing/Longboarding/A-happy-day/?page=-2#826490

They are only doing the one sunset tint and it has my name on it already

hurry up Mac i want my new 2nd hand board

Mate it won't be long they stopped working on Simondo's new board to get mine finished faster so it won't be long

Wife comes home monday,with flags aseathey got them last night.

I snapped a FireWire mal on it's 3rd surf in a 1foot beach, so no I wouldn't recommend it. They have too much flex for a longboard as well, it's like surfing on a spring.

Yep I'm new here so go easy. Agree with swalkington and also simondo.
But I know guys who swear by them and guys who swear at them - a very polarising brand.
Seems they are always having clearance sales at their Currumbin warehouse so don't pay full price!

Agree with the full price notion said earlier, but not sure if they are factory defects or not, if so I know of a lot of people with problems on the defect end.
One thing on the flex of the longer boards such as firewire etc... in smaller waves the flex is good because you aren't pushing the board much and the added bend, say off a bottom turn, brings the board around better and they feel great... However when you get it into decent waves (this being 3-4 foot beachies/points) the boards flex too much and the rocker plan becomes too exaggerated. A flatter model in this design would cater better than the pre curved ones i have seen previously. This is true with most longboards using construction traditionally built for shorter boards, such as Ultraflex (surftech) Fibreflex (haydenshapes factory and GSI). Unfortunately at the higher end performance you need a flatter plan shape, and the grovel boards suits it curvier... So when going down any of these paths make sure of the rocker with regards to the construction... Oh and the haydenshapes fibreflex factory is in Sydney, so still local...
As mentioned earlier the fireball evo 2 is a magic design and suits pretty much EVERYONE... there are others out there as well, your from SA, I dont know any major names from there, but there is also the fact of a local shaper knowing your waves better than anyone else, (SA renowned for more solid longer period swells, thus needing a curvier board to begin with).
Speak to some shapers, speak with friends, try boards out... The best advice is for her to try as many boards as possible, the more you try the closer you get to finding a winner..
P.S. sorry about the long reply...

Sorry dc but I disagree about extra flex being a good thing on FireWire mals. They get this strange "chatter" effect when going over small bumps.

Sorry just cant rate plastic pop itouts hatehm loadhm god bless that sweet smell of glass which is class

We are focussed on lightweight and high performance for the next board as there are a couple of options for other types of ride in the family collection.

I am interested in the comment about the chatter and wonder if this is different from other types of epoxy boards as I have noticed chatter in all of the various epoxy boards I have used and assumed it was due the tendency to sit higher on the wave and the stiffness of the boards. As the firewires are not as stiff (I assume from the above comments) - there goes the stiffness theory?

DC and swalkington suggest they have a lot of flex - is this compared to a lightly glassed PU board or a more heavily glassed board? I have noticed a lot of flex in lightly glassed PU boards too.

A mate has just bought a 9'6" Firewire Mal - my size so I will give that a go and see what I think about the flex on that.

I bought a 9ft about 3 weeks ago when they had the sale at the Currumbin factory.

Liking it more & more each surf. Its 9'23"3" goes like a rocket & floats me fine (195cm & 98kg)

Big tick from me at this stage with it set up as a single fin.

Yeah why would you bother with these boards
Two world class shapers in Nev Hyman and Matt Biolos
Two top ten surfers in Taj and Michel Bourez
No need to try them may as well close your mind and stick to what you know
Nothing beats the feeling of sinking your feet half an inch into a PU board

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TimKay said...

Yeah why would you bother with these boards
Two world class shapers in Nev Hyman and Matt Biolos
Two top ten surfers in Taj and Michel Bourez
No need to try them may as well close your mind and stick to what you know
Nothing beats the feeling of sinking your feet half an inch into a PU board

Two top ten surfers blah blah.......
Sorry but i thought we were asking opinion about Firewire LONGBOARD!!!

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zeroseven said...

TimKay said...

Yeah why would you bother with these boards
Two world class shapers in Nev Hyman and Matt Biolos
Two top ten surfers in Taj and Michel Bourez
No need to try them may as well close your mind and stick to what you know
Nothing beats the feeling of sinking your feet half an inch into a PU board

Two top ten surfers blah blah.......
Sorry but i thought we were asking opinion about Firewire LONGBOARD!!!

Your one of those people aren't you
Sorry my mistake

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DanOinkey said...

She is looking for a high performance longboard and is around 60kg. Interested in knowing how the smaller 9 footer or the Jensen model go.

I know nothing of the firewire mals but for a performance mal I think you couldn't go past the local shaper who lives in the Moana area. He knows the local waves and in my opinion shapes a particularly good performance mal.
I currently have three of his boards and all are favourites, one a performance mal, copied from an earlier board, also one of his.

PM me if you're not sure who I mean

OK Doc - might have to have a look at that one - Got a shorty of his.

Still very curious about the firewires tho.

Reckon Clearwater surfboards shaped by Steve Del Rosso are cutting edge
for high performance.
Best board ive owned hands down and i see a few burleigh locals on his newer designs absolutely ripping.
Not sure how easy it is to get one in Sa though

I've ridden 2 firewire mals and they felt like sh#t underfoot. They both felt way too flexy for a mal and both felt slow and tended to push water due to the rocker I believe. If you want a light performance mal then look at a surftech tuflite - best epoxy longboards in the world and PROVEN. If you want a cheaper perormance mal thats still light then a new 9.2 Nsp is impossible to beat. IMO getting a lightly glassed pu board is a woftam - a tuflite will be so much stronger and probably still lighter and have better resale.

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zeroseven said...

Reckon Clearwater surfboards shaped by Steve Del Rosso are cutting edge
for high performance.
Best board ive owned hands down and i see a few burleigh locals on his newer designs absolutely ripping.
Not sure how easy it is to get one in Sa though

I agree

We can get the clearwater boards here, and we both have one and love them. (we had a recent heat in club comp that was all SDR boards). It is the demise of a clearwater that has us thinking about potential lighter/stronger materials in a performance board. Two things about the firewires that had us thinking about them are the weight and potential improvement in durability.

I have lined up some test rides of both the 9'6" firewire and a couple of the surftech performance oriented models over the next month. I will be paying particular attention to the flex and pushing water on the firewire.

Thanks for all the comments so far.

Hey Dan - not sure what you have lined up in the surftech boards but if you can, try to get a run on a Takayama Kai Sallas model, Takayama Stephen Slater (slightly more beachy oriented), Dino Miranda 9'0, - just to name a couple. The Kai Sallas Takayama is a very very nice board and a very performance oriented all-rounder for a lighter rider.

Tuflites are insane and hold up so much better than any pu board ever will. Yes - tuflites will break just like any board if you put them in the wrong place at the wrong time, but they are so resistant to everyday dings and depressions and its a nice feeling when you clean your wax off every coupla months and there aren't any deck depressions - kinda makes you glad you spent the extra dollars. No - I don't work for surftech I just love em and always have.

Sunset Tubes !