This boards been popping up on my insta a lot lately. Looks like a great twin. Anyone ridden one? What kind of fins? Keels or more modern templates?
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Gary Mcneil Torus
- Thread starter manbearpig
- Start date
I think he may have soured his reputation around here with how he (Gary) dealt with a damage claim with a forum member. I was interested in getting a board from him, but now; not so much.
Still on the sh!t list, terrible customer service according to another poster here. Beautiful boards though, such a pity he doesn’t realize that reputation is everything and a bad one spreads like wildfire
Interesting.
well I’ll certainly look that thread over.
in the meantime I would still love to hear some ride reports.
well I’ll certainly look that thread over.
in the meantime I would still love to hear some ride reports.
The board rapes.
Customer support issues aside (which I've luckily not had to deal with, my support's been excellent), I have it in the Flax EPS construction and ride it with the upright futures Tru ames template designed by Gary.
In beachbreak conditions I instantly clicked with it and found that the only thing I had to get used to is back foot placement, as I'm not running a tailpad with it. It is fast and responsive and have done some of the best 'full rail sunken, rebound off the foam, back into the wave, roundhouse cutties' I've ever done in marginal waves. Alo, twinnie Fish makes floaters great again.
I've had it on overhead, but fat, pointbreak conditions once, where it took me a little longer to get used to it. I blew a fair few waves at the point of a roundhouse where the board points straight at the beach (i.e: turn up the face and start to turn down for a rebound off the foam behind you). It's at the point that I'd lose control, presumably because it turns so bloody fast and doens't have a middle fin to keep you engaged. After some adjustment I realised the point at which I needed to nurse it slightly and had a lot more success. Bear in mind this was only the first session ever on a twin in those conditions, so looking forward to more time to suss it out.
It's my first experience with a twin, so it's hard for me to totally isolate why I enjoy it so much.
Not a fan of his politics, as I got burned too...but the Rasta Torus twin does ride pretty unreal.
That Torus channel not only stabilizes the board underfoot, but provides a good bit of front foot drive and hold.
The depth of the channel does vary from board to board because they - when custom - have the rider weight and where its going to be ridden most in mind.
Best fin set ups I've seen are the Akila Aipas for medium size dudes - me at 5'9 161lbs- or the Rasta Keels seem to be preferred by the bigger gents.
A semi keel like say the McCallum twin fins go absolutely great in this board and provide the best of both worlds.
Graphics package to be honest whilst looks good on screen, is not an airbrush. It's actually a giant decal laid over the blank. It still looks cool, but not to the degree you're thinking. Hot chick on Instagram thing- you meet her and its like oh...you're still pretty rad, but now I see.
One last bit is the Futures boxes running really close to the inside of that channel at its usually deepest, sometimes aren't glassed with the greatest of strength. I tapped a rock that barely scuffed the fin but knocked the front of the box in Bad.
They are fast, stable, maybe the easiest and fun to surf twin fin boards if sized right. Usually what you would go with in a twin keel fish, maybe a touch more.
If you can grab one in your size used, go for it. I wouldn't go custom, just for all the reasons stated in the posts above and how bad I, and one other dude got burned.
Good luck
That Torus channel not only stabilizes the board underfoot, but provides a good bit of front foot drive and hold.
The depth of the channel does vary from board to board because they - when custom - have the rider weight and where its going to be ridden most in mind.
Best fin set ups I've seen are the Akila Aipas for medium size dudes - me at 5'9 161lbs- or the Rasta Keels seem to be preferred by the bigger gents.
A semi keel like say the McCallum twin fins go absolutely great in this board and provide the best of both worlds.
Graphics package to be honest whilst looks good on screen, is not an airbrush. It's actually a giant decal laid over the blank. It still looks cool, but not to the degree you're thinking. Hot chick on Instagram thing- you meet her and its like oh...you're still pretty rad, but now I see.
One last bit is the Futures boxes running really close to the inside of that channel at its usually deepest, sometimes aren't glassed with the greatest of strength. I tapped a rock that barely scuffed the fin but knocked the front of the box in Bad.
They are fast, stable, maybe the easiest and fun to surf twin fin boards if sized right. Usually what you would go with in a twin keel fish, maybe a touch more.
If you can grab one in your size used, go for it. I wouldn't go custom, just for all the reasons stated in the posts above and how bad I, and one other dude got burned.
Good luck
I’m that other dude (and counting?) who got burned by Gary. The RTT is an epic board, and I’ve loved it for the last 3 years, but I won’t get another from him. The construction is solid and my RTT is still in great shape after some solid use. Despite all that, I’m looking to get rid of it to erase the bad taste of dealing with him. Get one off the rack or through one of his international dealers if you’re still keen. Don’t go custom.
I bought a barely used 5'7" and its one of my favorite boards ever. I have ridden a lot of twins, specifically keel finned twins (Lis style) and this is definitely a performance upgrade over the traditional keel twins. I tried the upright Akila's and really didnt like them, way too slidey for me. I love the Rasta keel fins in it. I will ride this thing from wait hi to several feet overhead, no worries.
Ahah I thought I was the other dude. I resent the board, it was pretty asymmetric on the spock tail and massively different on each side of the channel (one side was a lot deeper than the other, I still believe he is not the one who made it, impossible not to notice I still have the images!), had to push to get another one done. Emailing and calling were bad too, very poor communication. However board was solid like a rock and fairly light, had a CV2 in eco tree tech and stringer less (couldn't afford to reorder the eco tree tech because of freight cost to send the board back and forth). The board would reach crazy amount of speed, I didn't keep it because it wasn't a groveller at all but a good wave board, and I have other boards working best where I surf when waves are good. But would have been mental to take it to indo, firing gold coast or other good wave destination. Like the other if you see one in store or 2nd hand go for it, it s a different feel.
I was really interested on getting an RTT but then I saw Goodfish's post. I'm big believer in customer service so I stopped looking for one.
And............then a flax CV2 popped in my dims for $280 in perfect condition. It's a rad board. Good from 2ft to overhead-plus here in Bali. It's like a good short board with lots of soul, or a high performance fish. It gets into the wave really early, makes sections here (in Bali) better than anything else I've owned, and it feels magical on rail.
It's a bummer about Gary McNeill. I know that we all like to shout out our favorite shapers and represent somebody for their accomplishments. It would be nice to hear that he fixed the situation.
And............then a flax CV2 popped in my dims for $280 in perfect condition. It's a rad board. Good from 2ft to overhead-plus here in Bali. It's like a good short board with lots of soul, or a high performance fish. It gets into the wave really early, makes sections here (in Bali) better than anything else I've owned, and it feels magical on rail.
It's a bummer about Gary McNeill. I know that we all like to shout out our favorite shapers and represent somebody for their accomplishments. It would be nice to hear that he fixed the situation.
Well he fixed mine, he made a new one so in my case problem was solved, but i had to pay for receiving the board, sending back, then receiving it again (150 dol). I actually dont remember why he didnt make me a new eco tree to replace or maybe i asked because it would take too much time dont know. Mine was a bit over volumed, fell boaty but same thing because communication was poor and he didnt make me comfortable with asking questions i ended up with fuller rail which bumped up the original volume we agreed on. 1 year before that i wanted a fish, i hesitated between RTT and dick van straalen i called Gary and he was so cold on the phone compared to Dick who was tripping that i went with DVS.
I surf very average beach break not to say sh!t, i feel like gary s board light up in good waves. I actually went to Maldives last year with it and was great, waves were a touch too small thou. Maybe one day i ll get a hand on another one but not through him
He didn't. He stopped returning my emails asking for an explanation, and just let me pick up the tab.
That was for a Entity swallow tail, but I sold my RTT soon after as I was totally over my experience with him. RTT is an epic board, but there are other epic boards out there made by good people, so I'll go for one of them over another risky experience with Gary.
I've had a stack of Gary's boards - even back when he was shaping for Formula Energy. It is really sad for those who got burned here because his boards are very good. I found him really good to deal with and my boards always came as ordered and on time, but after reading Goodfish's and Mat's experience - man, you've just got to look after your customer.
Now i remember gary telling me not to worry about the asymmetry it will make no difference, that some of Dave s favorite are like that i just had to explore the board, like Dave says you r only on one rail at a time
Humm i dont know about that, but in this case the difference was not acceptable, i sincerely doubt he made that one himself because it was impossible not to see it or he didnt bother making a new one. Channel on the right side of the board was way deeper than the left side and channel starting point way before as well. But anyway like i said he was happy to make a new one at the end, but i didnt enjoy the conmunication process and that i has to pay for transport. I was worried to ask him questions and he would never reply to my questions in details, no more than 2 3 lines of email