Obrien Indie VS Slingshot Solo 2018 - Flex Comparison

Obrien Indie VS Slingshot Solo 2018 - Flex Comparison

For months I've been racking my brain because I wish I could find a way to inform you about board flex. As I said in a previous video, there is no common flex index between wakeboard brands. So after studying it, I decided to research the flex of the different wakeboards that I have with me at the moment.

Namely, the Obrien Indie in 140, the Schier board in 145 which is a test board sent by the brand and the 3 slingshots you saw behind me in the previous videos: the Solo in 142cm, the Shredtown in 143cm and the Coalition in 145cm. For the purpose of the video I will only show you the Indie and the Solo that I put in the contest. You will have the tests of the other boards in separate articles and I will make the videos very soon in outdoor and riding situation.

To do this test I took two trestles, a steel bar that serves as a ruler, a tape measure and 80kg of cast iron. The goal is to place the trestles in the center of the nose and tail. Then I measured the distance between these 2 points which gave me the distance of the trestles.

Here is the table of trestle spacing by board size

Finally I put the ruler and I measure the wakeboard empty. Then I load it with 80kg distributed on all the inserts and I measure again.

With this method we will be able to see the flex of a board with 80kg of load as well as its radius of curvature. As you may know some wakeboards are stiffer in the center and softer on the nose and tail. With this method and the video we can see it.

So I started with the smaller boards and followed with the larger ones.

OBRIEN Indie 140 2018

This Obrien Indie model measures 140cm. It is lined with channels. It has a mange rail in the middle that helps the rider to be stable on the 50-50 rail holds. It is in the segment of boards like the Slingshot Solo 142, the Liquid Force Deluxe in 140cm. This board is given by Obrien with a flex rating of 3 out of 10 which means that it is one of the softest of their range with the SOB which has a rating of 2/10. It has a continuous rocker of more size than the solo which gives it a good pop.

It is wide in the center and its flex is spread over the entire surface of the board. It has a 100% wood core. It has large ABS fields that will ensure a protection of the core in case of impact with the modules.

On the water it has an incisive behavior that makes you feel like you are on a rail.

It measures 140cm by 43.7cm. It weighs 3.5kg.

This is a board for all levels. However it will be really useful for people who want to learn blocking, precision in the cuts and versatility between the Jib and air tricks. If you want to do 100% module I recommend a softer board.

The flex

When empty, its natural curvature is 4.5cm. Loaded at 80kg its curvature gives us 6,5cm

The gap is therefore 2cm. This makes it a rigid board.

Slingshot Solo 142 2018

Slingshot presents this wakeboard as a hybrid board. As much able to be ridden on cable as on boat. It has a main channel in the center with two grooves on the sides. Its grind base is at 2 levels, the outside being thicker than the inside of the board. This gives it a huge waterway in the center and gives it a huge grip on the water. At this level you don't need fins to ride the boat! Unlike the Obrien Indie, it has a 3 level rocker. This reinforces its incisive cuts. It has the necessary fins that we removed before the park test. It has an additional feature, it is soft on the nose and tail and hard in the center.

For me this wake is for the person who is going to look for more performance in wakeboarding and who already has some experience on the water. With the amount of water this wakeboard is capable of moving you will have no trouble getting high on a block or taking a huge cut towards a kicker. It is however thinner on the skate than the Obrien Indie and will therefore be less stable on modules than its competitor.

It measures 142cm by 42.7cm. It weighs 3.5kg.

The flex

When empty, its natural curvature is 5.3 cm. Loaded at 80kg its curvature gives us 8,5 cm.

The difference is therefore 3.2 cm. It is therefore more flexible (when empty) than the Obrien Indie. However, if we consider the amount of channel under this wakeboard and the fact that it is stiffer in the center than on the ends, it could well be that it is very stiff in section. The flex that this measurement indicates gives us an idea of the character that this board will have on modulus.

Conclusion

Si vous cherchez un wakeboard polyvalent en cable je vous conseille la Indie qui est une board permissive et joueuse. Elle a tous les atouts d’une board qui vous permettra de progresser en slider, blocage, airtrick.
Si vous cherchez la polyvalence bateau/cable, je vous conseille la Slingshot Solo qui vous permettra d’assurer l’accroche nécessaire en bateau et de retrouver des sensations identiques en cable. Si vous êtes un profil de rider qui aimez tirer sur le palo et aller haut dans les airs, cette board est faite pour vous. Elle est cependant moins permissive sur les sliders que sa concurrente, l’Obrien Indie.