Kiteworld Magazine | The original international kitesurfing magazine

This board can give you the Ticket to the Moon. Who’s going to resist that?

THIS TEST FIRST APPEARED IN KITEWORLD #104 IN MARCH 2020

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TESTED BY: CHRIS BULL AND JIM GAUNT. FIND THEIR DETAILS AND TEST SCORE BREAKDOWNS HERE.

TEST TEAM NOTES:

The Raptor suits its name. The cruising speed is high, it’s fast and it’s bitey. The bright red bottom sheet is very vibrant and easy to spot when you’re body dragging back to it. It almost lights up the water when wet! There’s oodles of grip combined with lots of speed, similar to boards like the Airush Apex. Where it differs from its focused high-performance contemporaries is that it’s lighter and more flexible in the tips – the extra bite meaning that you’re able to really sink the Raptor’s teeth into the water without compromise.

AGGRESSIVE PERFORMANCE CAPABILITY

It’s not all flexi though, there’s a substantially stiff section in the middle and the Raptor is certainly at the more aggressive end of the performance freeride scale in terms of the speed at which the edge bites. You get a lot of grip and it comes on straight away, like a sharp knife cutting into a steak (sorry vegetarians – like cutting into a juicy Beyond burger!). The subtle tip flex helps with loading up for take-offs, allowing you to very progressively plough into the water, building more rail tension. It’s really responsive and you don’t need to rely on kickers with the Raptor as the edging is good enough to hold and release massive amounts of grip on flat water. Most grip comes from the back half, channeling the power through the fins. Although incredibly robust, the Raptor’s positive weight doesn’t go too far to become cumbersome. Just very solid and reliable throughout.

A single concave is quite pronounced in the middle, allowing for a flatter rocker, which goes fast straight away and doesn’t stick. A lot of boards like this one don’t have both the channels and a single concave, but the Raptor does and feels very efficient. Tip channels help hold the heel edge at the end of the carve when being super aggressive. So whether you’re changing direction or loading for a jump, this gives you loads of performance because you’re holding that line tension for just a bit longer – granting you those extra few milliseconds of vital control. The Raptor Extreme is made for fast, high level freeride. There’s no shake, it eats up everything in choppy conditions and in Cape Town it glides over the mountains of white water like a dream.

The Raptor powers through lulls really well and isn’t sticky. It refuses to stall and feels like having good bearings on your skateboard; there’s not a lot of drag.

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ACCESSORIES

The CrazyFly Hexa pad / straps have a decent amount of adjustment with four Velcro straps hidden beneath the top cover. You can find your own comfortable spot with them, but these aren’t the most immediately softly, cushioned set up, though they bed in nicely after some sessions and the toe / heel grip ridges work well. They look sweet, though!

SUMMARY:

Although capable of immense jumping and landing performance, there’s no reason this can’t be your first board, because the edging is untechnical and you’re not going to get punished. There’s enough natural grip from the rocker, but it’s like buying a 600cc sportsbike as your first motorbike – you can get away with it, but perhaps something softer and slower would be better. If you’re up to it though, this board can give you the Ticket to the Moon. Who’s going to resist that?

KW LIKED:
The bite at the tips – wow! The channeling and the flexibility towards the end of the board work so well for managing fast water flow.

KW WOULD CHANGE:
If you have wide feet you may appreciate adding some different pads and straps.

RAPTOR BALANCE SCORES:
Build quality: 9
Fixtures and fittings: 8.5
Speed: 8.5 – different type of speed to Apex, although similar Pop: 8.5
Drive: 8.5
Flex: 6.5
Comfort: 7 – more bucket seats than the Apex
Looseness: 5.5
Grip: 9
Upwind: 8.5
Slider proof: No
Boots applicable: Yes
Freeriding: 8.5
Freestyle: 8
Ease of use: 8.5

SIZES: 143 x 43, 140 x 42, 137 x 43, 135 x 41 and 132 x 41cm