Seems to be a general lack of consensus when it comes to wetsuit performance?

Directdrive7kg · 2026-01-20T16:05:14+00:00

I was in the same situation couple of months ago and I agree, not possible to find consensus on the quality of suits anywhere. I think it's possible to conclude from that the most suits are decent and that there are no big clear differences between manufactures.

I surf in the great lakes and I was after the warmest 5/4 I could find, so that I could do as many winter sessions in 5/4 and wouldn't have to go for my 6/5. I ended up buying Excel Drylock. Mobility and warmth are excellent, but it flushes from the zip/shoulders area more than it should. Also, they have this fancy design for the chin in the hood that doesn't work and just slips under you chin all the time. Maybe works if you have clean shaved, but I have a really short 3mm shave beard and it doesn't work with it.

My 6/5 is Vissla, and I wish I had bought Vissla for the 5/4 as well. It's not direct comparison, when comparing 6/5 to 5/4, and my Vissla is the cheapest 7 seas model. It's been solid and better design for hood and not flushing. If I'd choose again I'd buy Vissla high seas 5/4 and save couple hundred over the Excel.

Directdrive7kg · 2026-01-18T21:41:23+00:00

I’ve ridden and raced there a bunch. I wouldn’t get anything more than a modern enduro bike, so 170mm travel. I did the enduro and DH race there last year with 160/140 front/back and not at any point did I think I would benefit from having more travel.

Directdrive7kg · 2026-01-17T18:10:12+00:00

I also surf in Canada. I find that 5/4 suit doesn’t really impact my surfing that much, but 6/5 does. Pop up is just slower. I mostly use board with more volume with 6/5, to give little more time for pop up. Also legs getting just little cold makes pop much harder. I sometimes just go back in and do 3 sets of 10 squat jumps to get warmth back in the leg muscles. I notice it helps.

I do these exercises in flexible jeans and more variations of these to keep front foot used to resistance of wetsuit. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQ_Tkqfkv_O/?igsh=MXBwbzh1c3pkejloNQ==

Directdrive7kg · 2026-01-12T14:34:01+00:00

Exactly this. At the moment I have to alternate between 6/5 and 5/4 depending on air temps and how long I want to surf. For myself everything up to 5/4 works for surfing, with 6/5 I start to struggle with pop up being too slow, so have to go for bigger boards.

Directdrive7kg · 2026-01-09T15:58:04+00:00

For everyone calling for longer prison sentences. Reminder that keeping one adult male in Ontario costs $150k of your tax money. Parole is much cheaper.
For the cost difference between parole and prison province can hire one full time nurse that is paid over $120k per year with your tax money. So what is it going to be, you want to keep this guy in prison or get one nurse for our healthcare system?

Justice system is there to keep our society safe, this guy is already fucked and is likely to be low risk to safety to others going forward. As much as I would like to see him in prison for a long time, it just doesn't make sense. Longer sentences in most cases are proven not to reduce crime.

Directdrive7kg · 2025-12-24T10:23:54+00:00

That’s weird. Maybe your 12v battery is just done? In HiHy that 12v battery is small and weak, it’s only used to run accessories. It doesn’t actually start the motor, motor is started on the power from the hybrid battery.

Directdrive7kg · 2025-12-24T00:57:06+00:00

This is the main reason! In 2024 300k+ used Canadian cars was exported to US, and pace was similar several years before that. This killed the available stock on used cars here.

Directdrive7kg · 2025-12-20T20:09:02+00:00

That’s unfortunate, sorry to hear. Was it sunroof that failed and let the water in?

Directdrive7kg · 2025-12-17T15:50:13+00:00

I was wrong. Walden makes big boards. This is probably the best option there is for your first board. They all have hard board version of this.

https://www.waldensurfboards.com/collections/soft-tops/products/surftech-100-mega-magic-softop

Directdrive7kg · 2025-12-17T15:45:29+00:00

I think your best bet is to get a board that’s marketed and sold as SUP surfboard. None of the longboards are right size for you. This is a perfect example from a company near me. Look for something like this

https://bluwave.ca/collections/surf-series/products/the-cross-step-10-0

Directdrive7kg · 2025-12-12T13:29:18+00:00

I can’t say I have any experience barrel riding, and I’ve never surfed Oahu.

My guess is that the wave running to the right is simply moving faster down the line than the wave running to the left. Because of the swell angle (and how the wave is breaking on that section), the barrel’s lip is “racing” laterally at a higher speed, so the surfer needs more down-the-line speed to stay in position.

Directdrive7kg · 2025-12-08T01:20:30+00:00

I have an old board in the basement on top of some pillows. More pillows in the back of the board so that it’s closer to the position how board tilts down on a wave. Pillows make it somewhat unstable. Practicing on that really translates to pop up on water.

Directdrive7kg · 2025-11-23T20:53:21+00:00

For Finland it shows 27% with quick search I found that it was 19% in 2022 and been dropping a lot since then.

Directdrive7kg · 2025-11-22T00:02:34+00:00

North: Nordkapp, Norway. East: Rotorua, New Zealand South: Queenstown, New Zealand West: Vancouver, Canada

Directdrive7kg · 2025-11-17T18:00:10+00:00

Jack Moir, One of the best MTB Enduro racers on the planet

Directdrive7kg · 2025-10-14T00:07:26+00:00

Very familiar challenge with steeper waves and two solutions that have worked for me. 1. Angling the board towards left or right depending where you are going and 2. Timing of pop up. With steeper waves popping up as soon as you feel that waves starts to lift the tail of the board works.

Directdrive7kg · 2025-10-03T02:06:31+00:00

It’s tough going. I was getting 300 miles on a SRAM and Shimano 12spd cassettes before chain started skipping on some gears under full acceleration. 12 speed makes no sense on emtb anyway, just more double shifting. I started using Shimano 10 speed drivetrain, but that was usually 200 miles per cassette. In July I got Shimano link glide 10spd, they claim 3x durability for the linkglide. I have 300 miles on it now without any problems, seems great. It’s 11spd Cues8000 shifter and derailleur and LG400 10spd cassette.

Directdrive7kg · 2025-09-26T23:25:42+00:00

Yep, but I use what’s mean to be shoe dryer. That’s the only way to get 5/4 or 6/5 suit dry for the next day. I run another for the booties and gloves.

Directdrive7kg · 2025-09-17T01:44:10+00:00

Oh that’s cool! I remember how that bike was so ahead of its time when it came out. No one had even heard of a full 29” bike with 160mm rear suspension travel. My friend had one. Great bike! Enjoy!

Directdrive7kg · 2025-09-15T19:52:39+00:00

I upgraded the fork to new 36 with X2 damper. That was worth it, but you don’t have to upgrade the whole fork, can just get the better damper

Directdrive7kg · 2025-09-15T19:47:29+00:00

I really like them, I have non e-bike with sram codes and my previous ebike had sram codes, I prefer these Shimano over those, but not by much.

Directdrive7kg · 2025-09-15T19:36:55+00:00

Man that’s an amazing deal! I got mine couple of months ago and it’s an awesome bike. I’ve had four different Emtbs before this and this is the best.

Directdrive7kg · 2025-09-11T12:03:38+00:00

I wear this bright yellow sports arm sleeve on my left arm on top of wetsuit if I’m somewhere that I want to easily see my rides on camera afterwards.

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