The future of freestyle, freeride

Josh Watson

Josh Watson

Location
Florida
Hey everyone! Hope everyone is having a good beginning of 2021 after all the mess 2020 has been. I wanted to discuss the future of freestyle and mostly our passion in jetskis. Now that yamaha has finally switched to 4 strokes in there stand ups and Kawi has already done this. Will this lead to the extinction of 2 strokes? Would a 4 stroke motor be able to make the power, be light enough and reliable to be used in a freestyle aspect? I’m excited to hear some input! Thanks guys!
 
KMN

KMN

Location
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Freestyle guys aren’t riding Superjets anyways so I don’t think that’ll change the freestyle game. 2 strokes will be fewer and fewer as the years pass on I’d think. At least they last a long time.
 
Josh Watson

Josh Watson

Location
Florida
KMN said:
Freestyle guys aren’t riding Superjets anyways so I don’t think that’ll change the freestyle game. 2 strokes will be fewer and fewer as the years pass on I’d think. At least they last a long time.
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That’s exactly what I thought but with so much new technology I would figure the development of 4 stroke motors made for freestyle could be the next big thing in this sport.
 
AdzUK

AdzUK

Location
England
Still seems to be plenty of new hulls & parts being made for the freestyle skis. Competitions have been effected due to Covid in the UK and Europe but the Virtual British Freestyle will be on again this year giving everyone an opportunity to enter, seems to have even more interest from international riders this year after last years success. Just hoping we can get back on the water soon and start riding again.
 
mthomps

mthomps

Location
Cleveland
I'll accept the hate I get if I'm wrong here but here is how I see it.

Top of the top competition level freestyle is about to stay exactly the same, its an exclusive list of players with knowledge only they know with an exclusive list of buyers who then sell to build again. Too small a system for someone to create a comparible 4 stroke.

When it comes to freeride this is where it gets interesting. Can a 2021 superjet withstand a new rider trying to get rad that has to swim back to an upside down ski 3 times a day? And what if its in Salt? Can a tr1 withstand the bullsh*t swamp and starts or are you stranded, etc.

I just hope yamaha makes 6m6/x/t parts long enough I quit because my body is finally done and not that a crank costs 1k
 
Christian_83

Christian_83

Xscream
Location
Denmark
So for freesyle, my perspective is that every single part is now made by several AM manuafactors - hence the sport will be alive as long as people will pay for the parts and its legal to ride the skis.
However i really hope the electric segment will step up, but it requires people to put money in R&D. Same goes for 4 stroke freestyle setups, i hope someone will start rolling the ball, but it think its pretty expensive to start up - time and money wise.
I remember the rotax/wankel engine made 6-7 years ago for pwc, it seemed to die out fast - unfortunately.
 
wydopen

wydopen

onthepipe
Location
Goleta the Goodland
mthomps said:
I'll accept the hate I get if I'm wrong here but here is how I see it.

Top of the top competition level freestyle is about to stay exactly the same, its an exclusive list of players with knowledge only they know with an exclusive list of buyers who then sell to build again. Too small a system for someone to create a comparible 4 stroke.

When it comes to freeride this is where it gets interesting. Can a 2021 superjet withstand a new rider trying to get rad that has to swim back to an upside down ski 3 times a day? And what if its in Salt? Can a tr1 withstand the bullsh*t swamp and starts or are you stranded, etc.

I just hope yamaha makes 6m6/x/t parts long enough I quit because my body is finally done and not that a crank costs 1k
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I agree. For flat water freestyle everything is aftermarket anyways so wether or not Yamaha makes 2stroke parts anymore or not isn’t going to matter. “Freeride” or surf riding seems to be pretty much dead these days, at least on a “pro” level. 4strokes arnt going to work for that either but the nails started going in the coffin years ago when people thought they needed 20k$ skis to be competitive or have fun..I saw that coming from a mile away but everyone said I was a hater..look at it now. Same thing happened to fmx. Started with highly skilled all around riders riding all terrain on regular bikes to guys on bikes that can barley negotiate the berm that leads up to the ramp for the same backflip variation you just saw from the previous guy..The further you get from the racing roots the less relatable/less attainable it is for new people. Back in the day you could do everything on one ski now everything is too specialized. Doesn’t help attract new people especially with the cost.. Would be nice to see it go back to its roots. Unfortunately less 2strokes isn’t going to help. If anything electric will prob Be the next thing. Not for me though. 27year old superjet gets the job done
 
V

Vortex

Location
Southeast
With everything being 4 stroke from oem's, that may help attract more (affluent) people to the racing scene over time since you can just hit start and ride a pretty fast and capable machine right off the show room floor. That's about the only somewhat positive thing I can see from the change to 4 strokes. Freestyle and freeride will remain smaller niche communities.
 
Josh Watson

Josh Watson

Location
Florida
Vortex said:
With everything being 4 stroke from oem's, that may help attract more (affluent) people to the racing scene over time since you can just hit start and ride a pretty fast and capable machine right off the show room floor. That's about the only somewhat positive thing I can see from the change to 4 strokes. Freestyle and freeride will remain smaller niche communities.
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Yeah I totally get that but why would it not be possible to make a 4 stroke motor that is just as capable as a 2 stroke look at dirt bikes for example
 
Jr.

Jr.

Standing Tall
Staff member
Site Supporter
Location
Hot-Lanta
Its all about evolution! They said the 4stroke would never have a place in FMX? But look at it now coming into its own. I feel the same will happen in FS/FR! In standup Racing, the 4stroke has all but taken over both stock and GP classes. The big hurdle as I see it is the cost when you sink one! currently, its about a $1500. Price tag just in parts!
ouch! Keeping the water out of FS/FR skiis will be the new topic? Or ........ This just might make for the progression away from Flippy tricks into the next phase? Who knows? Will be Fun to watch the evolution, thats for sure!
The one thing you can certainly count on, is the sport will continue to evolve and progress! There are way to many of us with large stakes in its future to just let it die!

Ski ya, Paul
 
MADMAT

MADMAT

Location
Ohio
Not a chance in a ski! But fun as heck in a 5 speed lightweight dirtbike with a wheel!
 
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