- Location
- Massachusetts
TC Freeride / Taylor Curtis built XFR:
Just picked up a 2016 XFR fully assembled from TC Freeride and couldn't be happier with it! Build is a glass XFR with a Dasa 1100, RRP pipe, Skat 155 pump, Thrust trim, jetinetics flywheel, enhancer and a bunch of other goodies and it completely rips flatwater, boat chasing and surf! Most versatile ski I have ever ridden. If you haven't had a chance to ride the new Rickter short hulls then I highly recommend that you check them out. In my limited experience they are worth the extra dough. I was shocked at how easy this was to ride and as a new to freestyle I feel like this hull will help me learn the tricks on my long list of trick goals for the summer. Night and day better than most other comparable short hulls I have ridden. This is my first short hull after having spent most of my time riding on race hulls (Trinity Vector/SXR). Usually I have found the SXR to be the easiest stand up hull to ride for a beginner but I think a newbie could learn pretty quick on this XFR. With the rear sponsons and a long ride plate it handles like a superjet and turns with ease. I felt confident within seconds and didn't have any trouble riding at high speeds. Short ride plate and its a flipping, spinning, ripping flatwater capable ski that can do anything you ask of it with ease. The glass surf layup is definitely heavier but the hull is so short that I really can't tell that its a surf layup on flatwater. I almost think Rickter does themselves a disservice calling this a FR/ free ride hull because I was concerned that it would be too heavy for flatwater but I was wrong. I actually think for anyone not going pro, there is a lot of benefit to a little more weight in the handling characteristics.
Quality is another area where Rickter seems to have taken it up another notch. This thing is flawless and everything bolted up perfectly as it should. My only very trivial complaint would be the turf used. The factory turf is not as durable as hydroturf, particularly the flat stuff on the rails and front (bottom mat is better- the square stuff). It is very soft and seems to tear a little too easily. This is easily remedied by riding it as long as it lasts and then returfing with hydro so not that big of a deal but if I could have asked for one thing to be improved that would be it.
Anyway, thats my 2C on the 2016 Rickter XFR. Hope it helps someone decide on their new hull. It was a hard decision for me and I couldn't find much info out there on the new XFR so I was definitely nervous about making the right call before I had it in the water (I bought without having ridden one because there wasn't one within a 1000 miles of MA).
Lastly, I had Taylor Curtis do my build for me and for what its worth I highly recommend TC Freeride. Taylor was great to work with and very reasonable cost to save me from screwing up my new ski before it hit the water. If you like riding more than wrenching then definitely consider TC for a Rickter build.
Just picked up a 2016 XFR fully assembled from TC Freeride and couldn't be happier with it! Build is a glass XFR with a Dasa 1100, RRP pipe, Skat 155 pump, Thrust trim, jetinetics flywheel, enhancer and a bunch of other goodies and it completely rips flatwater, boat chasing and surf! Most versatile ski I have ever ridden. If you haven't had a chance to ride the new Rickter short hulls then I highly recommend that you check them out. In my limited experience they are worth the extra dough. I was shocked at how easy this was to ride and as a new to freestyle I feel like this hull will help me learn the tricks on my long list of trick goals for the summer. Night and day better than most other comparable short hulls I have ridden. This is my first short hull after having spent most of my time riding on race hulls (Trinity Vector/SXR). Usually I have found the SXR to be the easiest stand up hull to ride for a beginner but I think a newbie could learn pretty quick on this XFR. With the rear sponsons and a long ride plate it handles like a superjet and turns with ease. I felt confident within seconds and didn't have any trouble riding at high speeds. Short ride plate and its a flipping, spinning, ripping flatwater capable ski that can do anything you ask of it with ease. The glass surf layup is definitely heavier but the hull is so short that I really can't tell that its a surf layup on flatwater. I almost think Rickter does themselves a disservice calling this a FR/ free ride hull because I was concerned that it would be too heavy for flatwater but I was wrong. I actually think for anyone not going pro, there is a lot of benefit to a little more weight in the handling characteristics.
Quality is another area where Rickter seems to have taken it up another notch. This thing is flawless and everything bolted up perfectly as it should. My only very trivial complaint would be the turf used. The factory turf is not as durable as hydroturf, particularly the flat stuff on the rails and front (bottom mat is better- the square stuff). It is very soft and seems to tear a little too easily. This is easily remedied by riding it as long as it lasts and then returfing with hydro so not that big of a deal but if I could have asked for one thing to be improved that would be it.
Anyway, thats my 2C on the 2016 Rickter XFR. Hope it helps someone decide on their new hull. It was a hard decision for me and I couldn't find much info out there on the new XFR so I was definitely nervous about making the right call before I had it in the water (I bought without having ridden one because there wasn't one within a 1000 miles of MA).
Lastly, I had Taylor Curtis do my build for me and for what its worth I highly recommend TC Freeride. Taylor was great to work with and very reasonable cost to save me from screwing up my new ski before it hit the water. If you like riding more than wrenching then definitely consider TC for a Rickter build.
