flex fins

[highline rider]

i usderstand flex is key in surfboard fins, especially when it comes to single fins. this is my question - which flex fins do you like?

theres the liddle volan fins that look oh so sweet, then theres the liddle flex fin from true ames, along with the greenough one, and then theres the norm flex from true ames and the bio flex and tk flex from rainbow.

lets hear some reviews, advantages and disadvantages.

which one would you recomend for a single fin stubbie with a 16" tail and 11-12" wide pod?

 

[Lee V.]

I use Greg Liddle's volan flexies in my edge stubbies and Liddle hulls. I've used an old greenough in my edge stubby. Where comparable, the Liddles work better for rail turns and the Greenough was really drivey near the tail of my edge. The problem is that flexy performance is 50% fin 50% rail/rocker so it is really tough to compare. For instance a Liddle works great in a hull but may be completely wrong for a blocky, tucked under down railer, or pintail. Unfortunately you have to try them all on a given board to figure it out. Fortunately, figuring it out is pretty fun.

 

[LeeD]

That LeeV feller knows his stuff, and has an almost cool name! <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />
To add.... even different series of fins from the same manufacturer and model can be extremely different in flex, thickness, # of layers, kind of resin used, and of course, kind of glass. They all buy stock from outside, and consistency has always been a problem.
Thatsa one wide tail <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
For our 14" tail singles in the old daze, we needed minimum of 10" singles, up to 12" tall, with a sabre shape, flexed and raked, to hold in on bigger waves.
We'd make our own, out of 40 layers of 6oz, cut them out with a jig/band saw (whichever fits your back pocket), foil them with a sander or rattail file, and glass them on the bottom of our boards.
Notice the high # of layers....for long, skinny, high aspect fins, you have to make them thicker, or they'll stress fracture in 10 days of riding. Ours stress fractured in 30 days of riding <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
If your board has thick rails, hard rails, or is thick of tail, you need more fin.
I'd start with any of the 9" fins on the market, try it in some surf, then decide.

 

[profkrispy]

... how many layers of volan would THEY have used ? would it have been around the forty the other lee mentioned? are THEY in a finbox ever ?

What base , depth, and rake do you reckon for a 6' stub alike hr's making ?

http://www.swaylocks.com/resources/Detailed/444.html


Here is some good information.

 

[dubstar]

I have the 9" L-Flex...it works great in a 7'0 double ender egg. I have tried it in a 6'10 more traditional 70's wide-point forward single fin, but it is not so good in that board. On smaller waves it was fun and responsive, but as in bigger surf it seemed to lack the drive that a wider based single has. Also was much less positive, but that could be used to your advantage.

L-Flex 9"

Now I use the JT Island 8" in the 6'10

the JT works well, also have used an 8.0 Yater Classic, which also works well.

I also have the JT Karma Cutaway Flex in 8.5", actually looks real good in my egg, but I haven't tried it yet

I have the JT Karma Flex 9.75" in a 6'0 1970 super-wide tail transition egg right now and it's pretty cool. This fin also works in longboards and minis

And I have the Greenough 4A and 4C flex fins, but those have only been in 8'0 and up sized boards.

Too many fins! But it makes it fun...

 

[Halcyon]

Here's the single of choice from my little fin shop and the one I ride on my favorite single fin performance boards along with using the template in thruster clusters.

I have many excellent reports on this template, which I make with varying degrees of flex depending on what board I make it's for. One at 7.75" with moderate flex for a 6'0" with a very deeply double concaved tail section did very well 'till it got run into the rocks. This one 8.0" a little on the stiff side and channeled went on a Hap Jacobs 7'10" 211 and the guy says he'll probably never surf it with rail fins again.

Flexiblity in fins is something that can turn one board on and make a dog out of another. LeeV's observations are a very important part of the picture.

Good Surfin', Rich

 

[Lee V.]

I don't make fins, but I pretend on BB's...There are some absolutely fin crazy guys I know that can comment on the flex patterns advantages of using 4oz volan over 6oz, who claim that the best fins ever came from a 80+ 4oz blank that Nat Young layed up in 1968. They look at fins like they are fine wines.

One of the nicer ones going for hulls is a True Ames Liddle flex or Greenough IV that uses some magic resin that makes the fin pink. Very stiff at the base but twisty at the tip.

Kirk Putnam is the most knowledgable guy about Liddle/Ames or Greenough fins (Contact True Ames too as they are very forth coming on all their stuff). He posts at Swaylock's sometimes. Rich Sanders (Halcyon) is the other master that I know of. Paul Gross is not making fins these days and I'm not sure if Greg Liddle is either. True Ames Liddle flex, I'm told, is very similar to Greg's own fins.

Paul Gross' fin is quite thick as he used a 1/2" thick blank. Liddle's, on the other hand, are quite thin 3/8 or less. Greg buys fins from Bahne and then refoils them to his liking. All of Greg's fins are for boxes as he knows the power of Adjustment.

The 9" fin you talk about seems like too much...8 or 8.5 would be fine.