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CONDITIONS TESTED IN:
Gusty, choppy 15 - 25 knots
THE HYPE:
The Bonnie & Clyde is a faithful companion, from your first cruising and upwind sessions to your first jumps. It goes upwind very easily and smoothly planes through any lulls. Good fun in waves and when gybing, there's also great pop in the board, so as well as being the perfect board for beginners and intermediates, heavy advanced riders will also enjoy its performance as the JN pro team use it for freestyle in medium strength winds. Making it comfortable through chop and for carving are; flex tips, a single concave bottom shape with flat transition to rounded tucked rails, a decreasing concave towards the tips, a 3D deck shape with grab rails, flex controlling convex deck and a progressive rocker line. A PVC wood-core with fibreglass lay-up, seamless rails and integrated ABS side-walls make it tough.
TEST TEAM NOTES:
NEAL: It's a solid, uncomplicated twin-tip. The straps and pads are really comfortable, although pretty stiff. The boards rides well through chop and feels responsive but has a tendency to feel stiff in places. It feels lively and gets going without any fuss because of the stiffness, but I did start to feel it through my legs a bit. It's a perfectly good intermediate twin-tip, with fair amounts of pop. Takes off nicely, lands well, you can ride it fast and it seems very strong indeed. There's nothing to comment on that's not good about this board, it's
suitable for most intermediates without being too focussed in any one area.
CHRIS: I really liked the outline. I thought it was a good looking twin-tip. Feels very solid in your hands and has average weight. Industry standard pads, not air-style, but comfortable and certainly not too thin and the strap set-up is easy to adjust to get them tight. It's very solid underfoot, you don't get too much flex and it likes being ridden fast. The stiffness really helps that. Plenty of pop, it changed direction nicely, you could slide the back end out easily for heel-side carving but at the same time really lock it in for charging fast, going upwind or popping. I'd say it would suit anyone up to an early freestyler. Good for kite loops too because you know it will take the landing and out live you! Maybe too stiff and brutal for light weight riders, but I could ride this all day long.
SUMMARY:
Robust and ready and able to take any abuse thrown at it. Ample performance in all areas to suit most levels of rider. If you kite on a shingle beach or are worried about longevity, this will outlast most!
KW LIKED:
Robust build quality.
KW WOULD CHANGE:
Stiffness at times.
SIZES:
138 x 42 and 142 x 43cm.
www.jn-kites.com
This test is in issue #35
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