Anyone have any strong feelings on the f-one bamboo? I’ve seen a few on marketplace of this rocket free surf model used for very low price and tempted.
I had a wing board with the bamboo construction but at the time was learning to wing, foils were less refined, winging it seems to matter less. This will be for downwind and prone where I’m maybe more discerning than before.
My main question is the Bamboo vs Carbon and how they set the boxes, is this below an “admitting by omission” that there is no carbon in the foil box setting of the bamboo board at all?
Bamboo is trash compared to a real PVC sandwich core. Any crack it absorbs water like crazy and telegraphs it around the board. I’m sure this is about meeting some eco targets for sustainability (carbon has a high carbon footprint). We all had bamboo kite boards in the early 2000s and they all leaked and the bamboo got weird and they were pretty disposable. I wouldn’t touch the stuff.
Interesting. I never considered the eco angle, seemingly a thing. I would have thought purely price point difference but wtf do I know.
Ok so assuming I overlook the ding water logging issue as that is end of life, I’m more interested in the box construction. Do they do a pure fibreglass and epoxy box into EPS? Seems so. I wonder if that is inherently less rigid? I imagine a lot of the benefits of a carbon box are lost in the intricate angles of a box insertion with fibres not running in the right directions etc and the negative effect on stiffness is minimal?
My experience with the 2025 6’ x 19 82L (dims from memory) orange mid-length has been mixed. The shape is very good, couldn’t be happier with the starting ease. It’s reasonably light, as new.
The downside is the construction has proven to be incredibly weak. Big crack on the rail under my front heel in short order. Interestingly the deck is undented. The nose was demolished in a crash by my knee. The knee was unscathed. I’ve never seen a board fall apart like this.
It appears there’s not a shred of carbon in the light bamboo construction. Given the pricing, the profit margins must be impressive.
If you must have this shape, get the carbon construction. Or get it copied by a competent board builder.
Ok thanks for that, interesting! I guess I got lucky with the wing board.
No I must have a cheap board with a modern shape that has a strong box and that can handle my abuse and maybe a trip, so this is definitely not what I’m after! Another used appletree for me then!
I managed to crack a F-One downwind sup bamboo 120L by pumping it like a maniac to get on foil whilst learning to parawing. I’m 97kg dry. The bamboo cracked in two places where the deck recess met the nose at exactly the same distance from the center line. F-One was great about it and I got it covered by warranty. I’m now on a full carbon board. I think for a 70kg rider it would have been fine but not one pushing 100kg.
That’s what happened to mine, just a little further back where my front heel sits over the rail. Must be where the bamboo ends. Pretty easy fix though that has held up so far.
You gotta love how they’ve tried to make it look like there’s carbon under the orange paint
Bamboo is indicative of the cheapest materials available at place of assembly. My very well designed shape F-one board had a full tail delam within a month. If you use wood laminates, you need even more skill to wetout and vacuum bag.
At the level of producing surfboards to every Walmart, perhaps the “eco footprint” is noticeable, but for foil the lightest, strongest, and most well understood building materials are foam and glass/carbon and if the board lasts a long time, that’s better for the environment.
Maybe, maybe not. Not sure how many bamboo F-One sells but if it faced constant warranty issue, im sure they stop production if their losing money on it and stop selling it. I have had mine for 6 months with no issues, i keep it in a bag during transport.
Carbon boards arent any better. I have had carbon boards delam, track box blow out, burn through during sanding process. Seen some $3000 KT boards with delam or soft spot issues.
OMG I took off a deck pad once for a repair on a Naish wing board and every inch under that pad was sanded through, no carbon over the strap inserts, disaster. I’ll never trust a production board again! Those deck pads hide a multitude of sins! I’d be DELIGHTED to see a production wing board ship without a pad (or maybe it comes with it and you apply at home) just for transparency.
almost none of the production boards have Carbon over the inserts(this means a weak spot on the deck) with new boards with the trendy new cutout deck grip you can sometimes see it without removing the pad.
I DESPISE board building but I don’t trust any of the production boards. That’s part of why I do my own thing for foot straps also(placement is the other part)
it’s an interesting one and I don’t think f-one is clear enough about why they do it because as a consumer I’m just confused.
the worst board I’ve had was a gong that was cheap and just destroyed after one season, and that was all carbon so I’m open minded to the details here
And I’ve owned one of these f-one bamboo boards and it seemed fine, normal dings but not terrible, so I wonder at the perceived weakness, but it’s not clear why you’d buy one other than price
Had the pocket rocket 2025, 82 L, no issues, perfectly balanced. The annoying thing is how little color f-one seems to put on their boards. Any little contact and my (even the carbon one I have now) board shows the white color underneath!
