LIQUID FORCE FIVER

[What she said]

Has anybody rode this board? I just picked one up. I have always had skim boards, but wanting to get something that air's better or easier.

[Stingreye]

Nope! But definitely report back how you like it! Heard good things about the Liquid Force Quad so hopefully its similar.

If you hate it initially (because you are coming from a skim), try running it as a twin fin until you get more comfortable.

Pumping a Quad or Thruster (Three fin) to me seems to use a little different technique than a Twin fin, Twinzer, or skim style board. When I try to pump a Twin or Twinzer like I do my quad, its slides more than it accelerates.

If you do have it setup as a quad or thruster try pumping with a technique similar to Chris Wolter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3FT82dod-M

Its a little bit tricky at first as it requires a type of rhythm to it. With a quad or thruster, its slower in a straight line but should feel faster if you pump it that way. It takes me a few seconds to switch back and forth and dial in the technique when I switch boards.

[What she said]

Good info, thanks! I will report back.

[Matt Garcia]

I would like to know what you think about this board after riding it. Im thinking about demoing it soon but havent had a chance.

[Timmy!]

My brother has the 2013 version that is just a quad and it's a good board. He has the 5'4" version and I can keep up with the boat at 13+mph! It's a fast board with all 4 fins in. They are a little heavier due to LF adding some extra material on the board to make it a little more durable. I would go with the 4'8" version, run it as a quad at first and then play with fin configurations as you get used to it.

[What she said]

I have the 4'8", the board is fast. I rode it with a 3 fin set up (2 front outer fins, and one small rear center fin). I have always rode skim boards, so i was out-of-place riding this board, but i stuck with it all day and really started to enjoy it! Its easy to recover on, the front end feels really loose, but the back feel really tight, or locked in. My first attempt to a 360,, didnt even look like an attempt. Lol. I keep trying 360's never landed one. The hard part for me is the board does not spin. A 360 is more like a sharp turn instead of a spin, and it took me all day to realize that. I will try different fin setups to see what works best for me.

[NICKYPOO]

Pulling the center fin would certainly help rotation.

[Magnumguru]

Fiver Review:

I have been riding the DOM skim for 2 years, and just picked up the Fiver, and have ridden it a few times, two fins per side configuration.

The Fiver does lock down to the wave very well, and builds great speed with very little effort. Recovering from sketchy landings, or coming back into the wave from way back is fairly easy with this board, although like already mentioned, the nose is loose, but with the shape of this board, that is to be expected.

If you are not used to doing a 360 surf style, you will struggle with this board. Unlike a skim board, you can't just try to whip it, spin it, hand slap the wave, etc. and get the results you want. you will turn...the board will stay velcroed onto the wave.

To spin this board you need to pick up speed, come in low, and carve hard up the wave, placing your weight on the rear food and rotating hard around your rear foot, almost turning like on a skateboard.

To ollie this board is a breeze. My first day on this board I was told I was getting 10" off the wave without a problem. I would attribute this to the bouyancy of the board, plus being able to throw down hard on this board without it slipping out.

Ollying the skim DOM board I thought required way more focus on hard edging and perfect landing, because how it just slides all over. The Fiver certainly doesn't have those issues.

One surpising thing I liked was how easy the Fiver is to launch from the swim deck. Doing a nose stall, and then going back into the wake was a breeze. I have yet to acid drop it, but I am sure it will not be a problem.

[Z3CO23]

I know this thread is old. I picked up a Fiver today and it came with the 2.9 inch fins. I didn't think about it till I got home and decided to look at some pictures of the board. It looks like it is supposed to come with the 4.5 inch. Can anyone comment or clarify which fins it is supposed to have come with or what you guys have used?

[Chaos]

The 2.9 are the rear fins. Yes, it should have larger fins, but it uses standard two tab fins/fcs knock off, so you can purchase any two tab fin.

Pretty funny thread, the fiver, the 'custom' quad and 'custom' thruster are completely different boards, both materials and shape.

Nick

[Z3CO23]

Thanks for chiming in Nick. My thought was to run it as a quad with 4.5's outside in front and 2.9's inside in the back. My thought was that 4, 4.5's would be too much drag?

[Timmy!]

The 2.9 are the rear fins. Yes, it should have larger fins, but it uses standard two tab fins/fcs knock off, so you can purchase any two tab fin.

Pretty funny thread, the fiver, the 'custom' quad and 'custom' thruster are completely different boards, both materials and shape.

Nick

Really? They had the fiver and the quad and I couldn't tell much difference other than one had 5 fins and the other looked to have color in the resin. I don't remember them weighing much different either. Guess I need to pay more attention in life. it does say that the custom fiver is epoxy construction and the custom quad is a PU core with stringer. I figured you just couldn't see the stringer in the fiver.

[Z3CO23]

I went back today and got the correct fin kit. The kit that shipped with the board consists of: (2) 4.4's, (2) 3.6 and (1) 2.3 for the 5th position farthest back. Gonna run it as a quad first and see how it goes.

[Chaos]

You will just have to try. That type of quad is a rear oriented quad. The rear fins do not work in conjunction with the lead fins (they are set very far back and towards the center). It is simply like splitting the center fin in two.

Yes, they changed the materials, and the shape is a little different, not the outline. The basic outline is similar, but the thickness and volume distribution is different, they also changed the rails some. The earlier versions had similar issue as the chase sixer with bulky rails.

Nick

[Duncan]

The earlier versions had similar issue as the chase sixer with bulky rails.

What were the issues with the bulkier rails?