They are extremely light, which is sick for boosting into the air, as well as nice and firm to give you a nice solid, secure and safe feeling for your ankles. They also have put in what I would describe as an arch support which makes landings nice and soft as your weight is much more evenly spread throughout the bindings, as well as helping prevent you from sliding forwards in them, and hurting your toes. The last aspect that makes them crazily good is the fact that they don’t take in water, which is great for travelling as you can ride the day you are due to fly and not have to worry about your board bag weighing a tonne.
Combined with the sick ‘all black binding’, to me, and to everyone I have spoken to who has ridden them, these new Decades are without a doubt the best bindings on the market. Congratulations O’Brien!
This board is something else! I first rode it on the cable with no fins and it is just so light on your feet. When you lift it, it’s a fair bit lighter than a normal board despite the core being made of wood, but then when you go out on the water, it just seems like it isn’t even there – almost as if you are on the trampoline.
I really loved it on the cable with no fins because when you get on the sliders you can just press and it flexes so well. Also the slider base is nice and slippy on the obstacles, which gives you enough speed to stay on those long rails.
I also found that the slider base lasts really well, just like Kevin Henshaw says himself: “it is as durable as a snowboard”.
The last thing that makes this board really good in my eyes was that when you take it to the boat it is actually pretty impressive. I rode it behind the boat a good few times with the fins on, and honestly it is a perfectly functional board on the wake. It has slightly less pop than a normal board but it makes up for this by having extremely soft landings! They are unbelievable! I think it’s because the board flexes on hitting the water.
All in all I think that this board is an all-round good board for sliders and boat. It is light, durable and flexy! I think that in the coming years flex boards are really going to take off and everyone will be riding them as the landings are just incredibly soft.
If I were to describe this board in one word it would be “Fun”.
David