Hummm, I just have to say Imitation is a higher form of flattering. I think people is more and more seeing the benefits of Firewire technology

the following is just me, the guy on the street talking...and some of this i have not confirmed...and my own opinions are mixed in too, but i'm going to be blunt anyway.......aren't i always..!!

.... these guys including the "big name brands" were not doing this or at least not seriously until firewire did....they cant copy it so they try other options not protected by patent etc...(if these options were as good you can bet they would of been patented.)..and they do this to try and protect their market from shifting to firewire...these boards as of last time i checked are still just hand shapes or aps machined etc..(this may have changed) ...also, more than one shaper now utilising this route has trashed firewire to my face...it smacked of the the small guy who did not look forward and was being left behind...and i said this straight back at them...that stopped them in their tracks.. now they try and emulate...:P ... i've ridden these boards and they do go "someway" towards firewires flex characteristics, its not the same....so, you still have boards that by comparison dont last as long or resist degradation as well..dont have the same flex attributes and cant be replicated as accurately.(unless this has changed recently)...they try to counter this with the old chestnut "ours can be custom ordered to suit you"...that means when you need another one it probably wont be the same...and firewire rightly have seen beyond that backward approach and pioneered offering surfers equipment standards and quality that is in the same league as more "professional" high tech sports...

the other point questioned was pro's choices...you can get reasonable flex and lightweight from standard construction...it just wont last past a month....the pros get dozens of boards so they its no problem for them....however they still dont get what taj MB etc get...a board that can be replicated very well and will last so they can train on the board they compete on...

Thanks Core and Iggy. Yeah, I was wondering about the custom shape thing. It must be much harder to custom shape when your rail shape is the load bearing carbon. They don't hand or machine shape that, or do they? Do they have the blank glued to the carbon rails and then put the whole thing through a machine shaper and finish off by hand? Please excuse my ignorance - just curious.

I think the FF stuff is a stringerless EPS blank with carbon fibre cloth laminated around the perimeter of the rails to stiffen the board around the edges and then the whole board vac'd with epoxy and 4oz cloth. That's always the impression I got from it anyway.
I believe the early Direct Drives were similar to this, but with the high density skins also. There's one on UK ebay currently.
Attachment
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FIREWIRE-c...ht_3841wt_1288

That baby is an antique

Great answer Core...Firewire has done evertything and continues to R+D all things to improve performance and resiliance of boards for beginners to pros. That being said the classic Custom PU or epoxy shape scenario is hard to compete ith. As core says we make up for that in som many other ways. But not one for saying customs are too hard. We engaged Seimens, a global powerhouse in electronics and electrical engineering to collaborate with our CAD experts and came up with CBD. If you haven't yet check it out as it is a world first.
Siemens-PLM-Firewire-Surfboards-cs-X3.pdf
This is what Firewire is all about...The future.

The board inthe photo does not have carbon wrap rails like FF, but simply a black sprayed rail. It has carbon rods 3" in arond the outline to give true parabolic flex.

good stuff core!!!

actually nev, I just checked with Mike on this one, and its first generation direct drive actually WITH carbon wrapped rails. they made a few back in the day he said!!!

Cheers for clearing that up Chris.
Nev, you caused a big panic on eBay with that post!
If it wasn't for all the repairs on that board I'd consider bidding. I could spray it all up I guess...

You should pick it up mate
At least it would be in good hands and with someone who would appreciate it for what it is
Not to buy and make a quick profit

nev was just trying to devalue the auction so he could pick up a cheap board...!!!....nifty nev... :P

jajajajaja spot on Core!!!!! ;)

I'll keep an eye and see what it ends on. Might drop a quick bid!

That auction got pulled and relisted now that the carbon rails have been verified.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FireWire-1...ht_4342wt_1288
Nev's been written off in the description also.
"ORIGINALLY LISTED ON eBay LAST WEEK, there had been some conjecture as to whether or not this board was a genuine carbon railed board and as such attracted much comment on FireWire's own Forum with some trying to dismiss it's authenticity, even suggesting that the carbon rails were merely a cosmetic paint-job."
Haha.
Shame the bottom is in such a state because it sounds like a good board otherwise
http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/4/8...2752618_tp.jpg
http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/4/8...2752359_tp.jpg

ha oh well.

promoting the truth is what we want to do...