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Ground Industries Flight Lite This is a review looking back over 10 months of ownership of this board. Ground Industries are an American based company specialising in the design and manufacture of mountain boards and their components. They have been making steady inroads into the UK market for a couple of years now, but it was the new Flight Lite board, aimed squarely at the kiteboard freestyle sector, that heralded them as a serious heavy weight contender to the high end mass market throne. Released late 2004, with its peculiar bindings, unfamiliar truck set up and 'reverse cap composite' deck the Flight Lite was a big leap – for the imagination at least – forward from the wooden deck, Velcro binding, skate truck style board so prolific in the marketplace at the time. If you have not seen close up, or ridden a GI Flight Lite, there are a few fundamental selling points you shouldn't over look. Wheels The Crossair. A smart looking four spoke wheel, branded with the GI logo, that is lighter and looks better than standard MTB wheels. The lightness of the wheel helps balance the weight of the complete board for easier aerial manoeuvres and tricks. The Raptor Bindings Wildly different way of clamping your feet to the board, the Raptors are a three point binding system that you can ratchet, and adjust (via the various mounting points on the deck) to suit your own feet. Tyres The Ballistic tyres have a tread pattern specific to kiting, whereby they offer more lateral grip than standard MTB tyres allowing the kiter to hold down more power for more speed, higher jumps, and better upwind riding. Trucks The Bionic trucks are very light weight and something of a 'standard' for GI boards. Replacing the coloured torsion cubes – of which there are six different settings, can alter the tension of the trucks. The torsion cubes help to eliminate speed wobble, don't rust, and maintain their tension day after day requiring no adjustment. Deck The Flight Lite deck made from 'reverse cap composite' construction (I have no idea what that means) will not snap. It has its graphics deep under layers and layers of transparent 'something' so that superficial scratches and scars will not harm the appearance of the board. It will not rot. A few months after its release, a few teething problems had become apparent, causing some GI buyers to doubt their purchase. Wheels Crossair wheels where being fractured and broken in situations where little pressure had been applied. Some riders reported that their Crossair wheels had broken after regular riding, no aerial tricks involved. Trucks Bionic trucks where snapping, and bending. Like the wheels, not after heavy use, but from general riding. Raptor Bindings Many people struggled to get their feet comfy in these bindings, even when 'testing' the board in the shop. Some riders reported that the bolts that held the bindings to the mounting plates on the deck where too short, and as such, the bindings would ping loose halfway through a session. I have two GI Flight Lite boards, and one I have ridden – punished – in a cruel, relentless fashion, the other I used for teaching new riders. The teaching board suffered broken Crossair wheels, while the 'abused' board did not. This says to me there was a faulty batch, something that GI have since confirmed. Regarding trucks, I have never bent one. I have snapped one, but after so much repetitive trauma inflicted that skate style trucks would have disintegrated many months prior. I also did have a situation with the short bolts in the bindings. Ground Industries reaction when these faults have been pointed out to them is one of acceptance, and then gratitude that it was brought to their attention. The parts are replaced with new, not faulty parts, and in the case of my trucks, an uprated component. Some people reported they got through a few replacement parts before the situation was resolved. Having met with the GI top guy – Jeff – it is very apparent the commitment, and conviction he has to the GI designs. This is a company who seems to put design and performance very much at the forefront of their mission. GI aim to create high performance no compromise boards for the most demanding riders. My experience with the GI boards has come full circle. At first, I was delighted with my new boards, the way they looked and once I got the straps set up, the way the handled. Replacing the torsion cubes can be fiddly, and setting the bindings up took some experimentation, but nothing an hour in the garden shed on a dark night can't resolve. The board is certainly light, at just 6.3kg it maybe still the lightest production board on the market (the Flexifoil Airdeck weighs 7kg!) but excepting the mentioned faulty components, it is unbelievably tough. I have bailed the board from over ten feet above hard ground, leaving it to suffer its fate. I have landed huge heavy landings over and over again, ground rails, ridden it into the sea, down hills, over hard sand, soft sand, wet grass, dry grass and barely had to tighten a nut. Of course the board looks a bit shabby for it, but the ride is still the same. The Flight Lite has a very smooth, secure feel, it is a very comfortable board to ride at speed. The tyres really do bite into what ever terrain you are riding over and you may never have to top them up with air. The Bionic trucks reduce speed wobble and retain their remarkable 'buoyancy', allowing for hard, aggressive turns where previously you might have backed off. The Crossair wheels are so light that it is no effort pull inverts, board off's, rotations and any tweak you can think of. Heavy boards do not allow that degree of flexibility when riding. The deck is a masterstroke, and I feel the most underplayed part of the whole set up. The bounce and pop of the board, for me, is more usable and natural than any other board I have tried. The big companies are onto the whole pop phenomenon, some get close but some get it so wrong – producing boards that are bone shatteringly stiff or so sloppy that they bottom out from even a modest jump, offering nothing to brace against when carving hard. After a while using the same product over and over, you start to peer over the fence and see what is going on elsewhere. I dallied and dabbled in other boards for a bit, thinking I might prefer them in one way or another over the GI's, but nothing has grabbed me away. Friends have boards that they claim (like I am doing here I suppose) are the latest word and that I will instantly convert over too, but nothing offers the complete package like the Flight Lite. Maybe a truck will be lighter here, the tyres might be blue there, but it always seems to come at a compromise. One thing that always stands out on other boards is the bindings, and lack of security when compared with the Raptor bindings set up. I wear the same type of footwear – chunky skate style trainers – for riding. I have my Raptors placed on the board to accommodate this, and I have them set very loose so that my foot can easily slip out the back in case of a bail or a trick. The extra toe strap is a revelation, and lets you brace so hard against the board but still have the ability to get your feet out in a flash. Other bindings do not instil the same confidence when hitting the center mound at the Skypark at full tilt. The GI Flight Lite boasts a top line array of components, some of which you see added to expensive custom boards here in the UK (we seem to be quite progressive in terms of our equipment for kiteboarding over here) but the real magic of the GI Flight Lite is when you ride it 'whole'. It is perfectly balanced, the spring in the deck complements the grip from the tyres when you load up for a jump, the bindings cradle your feet as you lean hard onto the trucks as you carve swooping S-turns across your riding site. If you have ever wanted to carve hard into toeside, but your trucks were too stiff and you loosened them only to find out that you got speed wobble, take a test run on the Flight Lite. If you want to boost big airs, but your lightweight trucks crumple or require more than routine maintenance, you want your feet held secure for speed runs but want to bust a foot out the next second, well the Flight Lite is designed for this type of session, it's not a happy accident. So much for the freestyle applications of the Flight Lite, what of my other Flight Lite, the one I use for teaching? Kids from 10 years old to 50-year-old weekenders have ridden the board. First timers and intermediates with their own boards have session the Flight Lite. Those with their own boards found riding with the Flight Lite easier, and those who have never ridden a board before had nothing to say about it. Although they knew they were standing on wheels, they weren't 'aware' of the Flight Lite. It never bothered them. It didn't wobble, snatch, seize up, fall apart or trap their feet. It let them take the first tentative steps, by remaining, as it does, a 'constant' underneath their feet – if you are learning to ride, this board is one variable you can control. For a high end freestyle board to be able to come down and serve the entry level side of the market, maybe, that is the biggest accolade of all.