Freestyle Help the Newb

prettyricky218

prettyricky218

Location
Minnesota
Hello everyone,

I am new to the site and looking at either building or buying a sweet stand up. The problem is I'm just getting started and don't know what I should get. It sounds like there are many different styles, hulls, and packages to chose from. Any advice or help pointing me in the right direction is very much appreciated.

I've raced motocross my whole life, and had a stand up a few years back but it was a crappy old 440 that was all clapped out.

I'll be riding mostly flat water since I reside in Minnesota, but plan on making a trip or 2 to the coast with my new ski. I'd really like one best suited for freestyle and back flips. I don't know much about all the after market parts or what set up I'll need for what I'm hoping to do, so again any help is appreciated!

Thanks!

Richard
 
B3IS

B3IS

Welcome Richard. Sounds like the place to start is a SJ with some mods. Start looking around for 96+ RN SJ's with a factory pipe ride plate and intake. See what you can find and report back. Some guys will get mad that I say this, just my opinion. Stay away from the Square noses and FX1's.

You can pick up a nic SJ for around 2500-3500 and a light weight hull for about 2-4 grand put it together and have a sick lightweight freestyle ski for around 5-7 grand. Really thats all it takes to get started the right way.

What up with PRETTYRICKY for a screen name ??? It may be topugh to live with that. I would send a message to one of the mods and change it to something a little more manly. Just sayin...
 
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onedumbtrucker

onedumbtrucker

Now with 20% more pulp.
Location
London, ON
5-9 grand will cover just a bare empty hull if you are planning on an aftermarket hull. If you can find a used Yamaha Superjet Round Nose hull you might be able to build a decent ski for 9 grand but if you want to be able to flatwater back flip it you are going to have to do a lot of cutting and chopping and glasswork to that stock Round Nose hull and put most of the money in the engine.

If the lakes you ride have lots of big waves (like the ocean) you can backflip a pretty stock RN.

Note: these are all rough estimates;
I would start with the stock RN hull and get Art at Jetworks or Chris at Jetmaniac to build you a decent motor. (around $2000 for a ported 718 61X/62T or around $3000 for a big bore 62T/62T)
Factory Pipe B-pipe (approx $700) or a Power Factor pipe (approx $1400)
Solas or Thrust Mag pump on a budget with big hub impeller (approx $900)
Footholds ($200)(and some fiberglass work)
bilge pump ($140) (this is a must)
Total Loss ignition ($1500) or lightened flywheel and enhancer ($900)

Start riding the stock hull and find out what you like and what you don't then if you are serious about flatwater you can try;
defoam the tray
cut back the bottom deck (shortening the bottom of the ski)
shortening the handle pole
lowering the handle pole
adding sponsons

that's just to get you started :)
 
S

Schmidty721

someone turf my rails
Location
WI
Where in MN are you from?
There are a handful of guys from MN and WI that have built some pretty bad a$$ skis over the last couple of years. There are Trinity Matrix's, BOBs, XFT's, EME's all in the area.
If you haven't already, check out the tcjetpilots forum on pwctoday.com. Most of the serious riders from MN and surrounding areas are part of that group, and they put on a sweet freeride every year.

In respect to a ski, a lot of it depends on what kind of riding you want to do. MN offers many different riding conditions, from small, calm lakes, big lakes with huge cruisers plowing wakes, natural surf off the great lakes. 5-9k will buy you a really solid complete ski. If you can swing the 10-12k range you can start thinking about a nice RTR aftermarket hull setup.

If it were me, I would look for a nicely setup RN superjet with a strong powerplant. Ride that for the summer, get a feel for the ski and power, ride some of the AM hulls in the area and then, if you feel the need to go to an AM hull, purchase and build it next winter using the guts out of the superjet.
 
prettyricky218

prettyricky218

Location
Minnesota
Thanks for all the tips. I'll check out links and start looking stuff up when I get home from work.
So the consensus is a SJ or round nose is best for freestyle and flips? Can a stock SJ be flat-water flipped?
About the comment on my girly name Pretty Ricky haha - it's just a name. you can see some of my flying videos on youtube/prettyricky218 It's just stuck over the years. Anyways, I'm located in the Twin Cities area of MN and stand ups have been hard to come across. I did see a 93SJ for sale for 3grand the other day.
Will I need to move the intake grate as far aft as possible to do the flips? is a 700cc engine big enough for the thrust required to do flips?
I noticed talk about different props and pumps - how critical is that?
It's nice to find a site like this with helpful people and information.

I appreciate the help as I've wanted to really get into the sport for a long time, and think this is the summer I'm going to dive head first into it.
 
WaveDemon

WaveDemon

Not Dead - Notable Member
Location
Hell, Florida
an SJ is a round nose.

round nose is the name given to the 1996 and newer Yamaha Superjet. You can not flatwater flip a stock superjet, not even close.
 
IS0LD0UT

IS0LD0UT

I hate winter
Location
MN
I can pretty safely say a stock SJ cannot flatwater flip. There are lots of aftermarket parts to buy and then you will get close.

I run a stock length carbon fiber hull and a stroked 828 and still am having difficulty getting a flip all the way around off my own wake. I think if my technique was better, I could get it.

If you were flipping off a boat wake you probably can do with with just footholds. Though if you land upside down on a stock hood there is a good chance it will come off or explode.

People are recommending the SJ because as your riding progresses you can move most of the parts to a shorter and lighter hull such as the bob and be flipping.

Be warned this is an expensive sport for us flatwater guys.
 
Matt_E

Matt_E

steals hub caps from cars
Site Supporter
Location
at peace
IS0LD0UT said:
I can pretty safely say a stock SJ cannot flatwater flip. There are lots of aftermarket parts to buy and then you will get close.
Click to expand...

There are videos of people fw flipping stock SJ hulls with sub-800cc motors.

I run a stock length carbon fiber hull and a stroked 828 and still am having difficulty getting a flip all the way around off my own wake. I think if my technique was better, I could get it.
Click to expand...

Practice. Less weight and more power just makes it a little easier.
 
IS0LD0UT

IS0LD0UT

I hate winter
Location
MN
Matt_E said:
There are videos of people fw flipping stock SJ hulls with sub-800cc motors.



Practice. Less weight and more power just makes it a little easier.
Click to expand...

I said stock SJ. I have yet to see a video of that.
I did see the video with a stock hull modified motor from Flatwater friday. That was impressive. I think he is a 1%er. I am guessing he still had a few K of parts in there.

I guess the point I was trying to make was don't expect to flatwater flip if you buy a stock-ish ski.
 
S

Schmidty721

someone turf my rails
Location
WI
If you're willing to poney 9k up for a ski... there is a good chance you will be getting it shipped to MN. There just aren't that many skies in the area.

If you're happy with a superjet, footholds, pipe, etc you should be able to find something local.

Don't get stuck on the flat water flip... as ISOLDOUT commented, it get's very expensive for us flatwater guys. There is plenty of fun to be had learning how to ride the ski, chasing boats, doing stupid hood tricks, subs, etc.
 
Buckwild12

Buckwild12

I'm moved by DASA power!
Location
Chester, Maryland
I'd say if you hadn't ridden before, You should get a starter ski first and learn to ride it, we can't all be Alex Petrovic and go from first time rider to backflipping/subbing/barrelrolling/national amateur champion overnight. I took me half of my first year just to learn to turn both ways at slow speeds without falling off.
 
Pablo

Pablo

sqeez bth levrs & lean bk
Site Supporter
Location
georgia
B3IS said:
Welcome Richard. Sounds like the place to start is a SJ with some mods. Start looking around for 96+ RN SJ's with a factory pipe ride plate and intake. See what you can find and report back. Some guys will get mad that I say this, just my opinion. Stay away from the Square noses and FX1's.

You can pick up a nic SJ for around 2500-3500 and a light weight hull for about 2-4 grand put it together and have a sick lightweight freestyle ski for around 5-7 grand. Really thats all it takes to get started the right way.

What up with PRETTYRICKY for a screen name ??? It may be topugh to live with that. I would send a message to one of the mods and change it to something a little more manly. Just sayin...
Click to expand...

I knew an old dude that played a lot of golf and talked a lot of chit when he played. He'd say..."I'm Pretty-Ricky, but u can call me Pretty.". He was a funny mofo.
Welcome to the X.
 
Matt_E

Matt_E

steals hub caps from cars
Site Supporter
Location
at peace
IS0LD0UT said:
I said stock SJ. I have yet to see a video of that.
I did see the video with a stock hull modified motor from Flatwater friday. That was impressive. I think he is a 1%er. I am guessing he still had a few K of parts in there.

I guess the point I was trying to make was don't expect to flatwater flip if you buy a stock-ish ski.
Click to expand...

True. Sorry, I misunderstood
 
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