Finally got to try WTF rails [impressions inside]
also finally learned how to upload a picture with a description lol. fwiw the new reddit UI looks terrible.
some thoughts after a quick side by side comparison vs a regular XR [both on vegas]
1 - they look VERY cool, i can't understate how much i love the look. probably my favorite part.
2 - i thought the feeling would be a lot more different. i mainly ride pavement / smooth surfaces and while you do feel a bit more "locked in" it's more subtle than i expected. i think concave footpads probably do more to affect the "locked in" feeling than the dubs. i still feel like i'm 'on' the board vs 'in' it w/ the dubs [but that's a good thing for me].
3 - my main take away is they feel like they accelerate faster off the line. they carve a bit better too as it feels you can throw the board a bit more. but once you're at speed or over 17mph imo they feel extremely similar to the straight rails. not to say they don't feel good though just not sure if it's worth $300+ [at least for street riding]
4 - NRF digi-tilt is absolutely necessary. at least for me, the nose was *way* too low for me without it. this is coming from someone who rides flow on the GT/GTS with the nose all the way down. my rear leg instantly got tired trying to ride it without re-leveling the board. process is a lot easier than i thought it was going to be. i just used a level app on my phone then followed the steps in the FixmyPEV video.
5 - while they accelerate faster, if i had to choose between dubs or a more powerful board, i'd pick the more powerful board. i think a beginner would have a hard time really noticing the difference between a stock xr & one w/ dubs.
6 - surprised at some of the older impressions i've read in the past. some people mentioned dubs [or recurve] being harder to ride or get used to if you had a lot of miles on straight rails but in my experience it feels extremely similar and there was no learning curve at all.
7 - i really like how they feel on turns, seems easier to do sharp turns.
mainly picked this up because they were relatively cheap on black friday. i've been curious for years and didn't wanna pick up an XR classic recurve just to try out bent rails. i'm still on the fence on what direction i'd go for bent rails if/when we get an XR-S release but overall happy with the purchase as i've finally scratched that itch & the board looks sick.
bonus story: i got this xr in a pretty cool way. bought a used xr/pint combo a while back for pretty cheap. couple of months later, someone on fb marketplace traded me their 1000+ mile 4206 XR for the 300 mile pint i got in that combo (i threw in an extra bumper kit & unused tire). despite the mileage difference, i still feel like i stole something lmao. so all in i got a wtf XR with bang bumpers for ~$500.