Scrub Silver Reef Series II

Scrub Silver Reef II

I bought this board to replace my old and battered Kheo Air-S, which I had bought second hand off e-bay.

I ordered it from www.kites-kites-kites.com (Trowbridge Active Leisure Ltd.) after speaking to Dominic and taking full advantage of their price match promise. It was delivered at 9.15am the next day – superb! And included a free grab handle.

It was delivered in a large white box with “made from adrenaline” on it. I was slightly gutted as I had been lead to believe that it had a plastic coated maple and fibreglass laminate deck, with hollow axle skateboard style trucks, stainless steel fixings, rubber grip tape and nine inch primo striker tyres! But who am I to quibble over such things.

When I opened the box I was more than relieved (as it wasn’t made from just adrenaline) I was seriously impressed – it looked fantastic, what a revelation to have a shiny new board. The graphics are cool, a blue underwater reefy looking design, the plastic coating gives it a shine and looks and feels very hard wearing. I’m not a fetishist but it all had a nice new rubbery smell from those big tyres and the grip tape. It has scrubs standard velcro bindings and these are adequate for the job. The shape of the deck looks great, the curves are slightly feminine in shape, but it looks mean and ready for business with those big tyres and cut off ends. It all weighs in at a very reasonable 7.1 kgs.

The instructions are more than adequate, they tell you how to assemble the wheels, check the foot straps and tune the board. They also have the basic principles of how to ride, safety advice and importantly how to stop, as well as a brief introduction to kiteboarding. They also contain links to the ATB sports club for further advice etc. There was also an additional sheet of paper which had information about NOBS and LARD-ass (which are the Northern Off-road Boarding Society and the London and Regional Dirtboard Association, 10 out of 10 for whoever thought up those names!), plus other regional clubs.

It also came with a tool kit, consisting of a set of 3 allen keys and two spanners, and also a leash which I gave to a surfing friend – unfortunately there was a complete lack of stickers (I use these to adorn the roof box on my car!).

After attaching the wheels during my lunch break, which was easily done using the supplied spanner, I spent the rest of the day bouncing around my office on it waiting to go home so that I could try it out. There was the usual complete lack of wind, so my first outing was going to be to a local park to try it out on some down hill runs.

Downhill

I found a superb spot at a local sports field, which has a gentle slope with a steeper bank all along one edge and then a huge run off area, all with neatly mown grass (a cricket pitch!). I took it easy on the first couple of runs and just headed down the slope getting used to the feel of the board and doing some gentle turns. As my confidence grew so did my speed as I started to head down the bank. Increasing the turns and gradually turning off higher up the slope, as a result having a bigger bank to ride down. Ending up with a power slide and kicking grass cuttings into the air yeee haaaa! - does anybody know where I can get a small ramp?

After a couple of hours of riding down and walking back up with shoes full of grass, grass stained shorts and with huge grins (and after ending up on my arse and nursing a bruised elbow) my mate and I headed to a suitable place to evaluate our initial impressions of the board and have some well earned refreshments – the local pub and a pint of Stella (reassuringly expensive!).

This board appears superbly made, the plastic coating looks tough and hard wearing and the fixings are all stainless steel, so will not rust. The deck has enough pop and flex to make jumping and landing comfortable and with those 9 inch tyres the ride is smooth and it goes over most bumps without you knowing they are there. I did have the tyre pressure fairly high. I found the turning, heel and toe side, responsive and it went where I pointed it. I don’t think the large tyres detracted from this and it was great that I could power slide it on dry grass with out to much effort. The board felt very stable, I did get a bit of wobble at speed but this was easily resolved by shifting more weight on to my front foot. For down hilling this board is great, my only disappoint was the lack of stickers!

Now that I have had a good blast with it I can’t wait to try it out with a kite both in a field and on the beach. If anybody uses a board I would recommend having a play on a hill, as it increases your balance, board skills and confidence without having to worry about what the kite is doing. I think there is definitely a benefit in knowing how to ride your board before you team it up with a kite, most people get used to flying and learn about their kites characteristics before they get on a board or in a buggy, therefore it should work both ways. It is also a great way of spending your time when there is no wind.

Kiteboarding

A beautiful sunny day on the beach, the tide is out – and typically there is no or very little bloody wind!

I let the tyre pressure down, hook into the kite send it up to the zenith, climb onto the board drop the kite down and off I go, no great speed due to the lack of wind but by working the kite I am able to coast along nicely. It skips over the ridges ok without getting knocked off course and ploughs over soft sand with some loss of speed but doesn’t dig in like my old air-s used to (perhaps because of the tyre pressure?). The combination of the flex in the deck and the low tyre pressure make for a comfortable ride, and the board is very controllable and slides with little effort. I was unable to try jumping with it because a). lack of wind and.. . lack of skill with jumping on the board.

Overall I think this is a great board for somebody starting out or if you are on a budget, I love the way it looks and think the graphics are stunning. It copes easily with different terrains and looks like it is going to be hard wearing. I eliminated any problems with speed wobble by keeping my weight forwards. The flex in the deck is great and I was able to pop small jumps when downhilling. I could slide it on the grass and very easily on the beach. For the price I paid it is an excellent board, the only thing I may change in the future are the bindings.

Disclaimer

I apologise for the complete lack of safety equipment in the photographs, but I am stupid and forgot to take them with me! I would of course recommend the use of safety equipment for all aspects of power kiting.