salomon noseless

[saleeba]

does anyone have any feedback or riding time with the salomon noseless surf. i just spent a week in maui on the royal high five and want to get something close to it. looks like it would be a bit lighter than the high five which would be nice. i am a bit concerned about the fins. i read a few surf posts describing the fins as unusual and difficult to replace? any info would be great. thanks

[sw67]

I have the salomon noseless - i am 90kg and have been learning to ride strappless on it for a few months - the smaller riders at my spot love the board and grab it any chance they get.

It seems very strong and the fins are made of plastic - they are held in by one bolt that screws in from the top of the board - very similar to the NSP system and you may get them to fit

I have grounded the board and the fins were ok but i purchased the board cheap knowing if i snap a fin its game over

It fits the bill as a board to learn on and abuse before moving on

[mikelet]

I have a 5.0,fun board for strapless,thick soft rails,don't know about the royal,but way lighter than North FreeFish.
Be aware the S-Core technology from Salomon it's refering to a hollow core ,other than that mine is holding well but little dings under the pads,worth it for the price i payed.Regarding fins,stock ones are some kind of plastic but thought,i find the board improves a ton with larger side fins and the stock one on the center,better upwind and toeside riding.
Replacement of fins no problem,writted this on kiteforum (to lazy to re-write it here ):
http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2355938
Cheers.

[saleeba]

appreciate the feedback. consider myself to be an intermediate strapless rider. weigh 165lbs. looking for something in between my surf and skim to ride swell in the gorge and work on oliies and airs etc. still on the fence but seems to be a good fit. trying to decide on smaller surfboard or noseless? feel much better about fins now. had an ocean rodeo surfboard with similar setup.

thanks again

[Lonny]

Hey Saleeba and SW67,

Welcome to Lose the Straps! Thank you for joining.

There was also some talk about the Solomon here:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11&p=83&hilit=solomon#p83

[JonModica]

The Salomon noseless is an okay board....BUT THE FINS SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Jon

[mushmonkey]

Hi. Im new here to this great site.
I have been riding strapless now for about 3 years (im no surfer I just love strapless), Up until now all that ive been riding has been my NSP 6' fish with front deck pad. The last time i rode this was on 40 knots with my 4m kite. Great fun!!
How ever I felt a smaller board would be better in the higher wind range. I stumbled across a second hand salomon 4'8" noseless out side my local surfshop so I bought it, I havnt had any wind since so i havnt had a chance to ride it. I weigh 85kg so can anyone tell me whether this will work for me as a higher wind board or not? is it going to be to small? i rarely get any good waves, i just mess about in the flat and onshore stuff, i wouldnt know what to do with a decent wave anyway!I guess with some wind I will find out soon enough myself,time will tell, but if any one has any experience with these boards i would be grateful to hear about it.

ta

[mushmonkey]

Well. Ive had two sessions on the 4'8" noseless. And its great fun. I was worried that it would be difficult to gybe because of its small size, but its not. It seems to pick up speed quicker than my nsp fish, and can hold more power in the turn. Im happy

[mushmonkey]

Im thinking about up grading the fins on the noseless 4'8" to the FCS system as they are pretty dog eared and knackered, using the FCS adapter as link in mikelets post above. Could any one recommend a fin size suitable for this board or a combination of fin sizes.

Thanks in advance

[Lonny]

Im thinking about up grading the fins on the noseless 4'8" to the FCS system as they are pretty dog eared and knackered, using the FCS adapter as link in mikelets post above. Could any one recommend a fin size suitable for this board or a combination of fin sizes.

Thanks in advance

Not sure if it will help, but you might want to check out this topic with Jon's recommendations:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=190

[mikelet]

Regarding fins sizes,FCS's names his fins on 3,5 and 7
3 being the smallers sets
5 medium
7 large

Depending on core material you can find M3,M5,M7...PC3,PC5,PC7....etc,etc
Mine works superb on PC5's side fins,and leaved the salomon stock central small fin.

[mushmonkey]

Thanks Mikelet and to lonny for the link, was interesting reading. Now just got to choose a colour

[fen]

First post so hello everyone!!!

I have a 5'3" noseless (bought cheap to mess around on) which I have been riding for a while as my first strapless board. Really enjoying it, but that's prob cos it's the only strapless board have ridden, so have anything to compare it with.

Managed to put a crease across the top of the deck while ago (waterstarting I think) so not too sure of the build quality, but it has been fine since.

Anyway, what is the issue with the fins, and what benefits will I get from changing them??

Cheers

fen

[Lonny]

First post so hello everyone!!!

I have a 5'3" noseless (bought cheap to mess around on) which I have been riding for a while as my first strapless board. Really enjoying it, but that's prob cos it's the only strapless board have ridden, so have anything to compare it with.

Managed to put a crease across the top of the deck while ago (waterstarting I think) so not too sure of the build quality, but it has been fine since.

Anyway, what is the issue with the fins, and what benefits will I get from changing them??

Cheers

fen

Hey Fen,

Welcome to Lose the Straps! Thank you for joining us here.

The Salomon boards have had some good feedback here, but yes, most people do change the stock fins out. A good set of fins can make a good board feel great, and an average board feel better. A bad set of fins on a good board can ruin the board. Most people feel that the stock Salomon fins are not great. I would change them out. Read through the earlier posts - especially Mikelet's post, and Jon's fin post:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=212&p=1798#p1269
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=190

Durability can be an issue because the Salomon and Placebos are built for surfing, but not for kitesurfing. We can put more abuse on a surfboard in one day than the average surfer will in a month. Its pretty normal to get deck compressions. If they get very soft you can drill holes in your deck and inject resin or car body bondo/filler works well also.

Have fun!

[fen]

Is this the adapter kit required??

http://store.magicseaweed.com/NSP-FCS-Adapter/Item/1143/

Looking at FCS fins, as they seem to be the only one with an adpater available. Any advice on a suitable set from the list below(I am assuming they come as a set and is not the price per fin). I dont want to spend a fortune as I only paid a 100 euro for the board and it has already got a crease in it.

http://store.magicseaweed.com/FCS-Fins/Browse/35/

Thanks for the help