10/07/2014 | ALEX PASTOR TALKS ABOUT THE AP SERIES
Airush celebrates the achievement of 2013 World Champion Alex Pastor with the 2015 Alex Pastor range. This range encompasses products that we worked closely with Alex Pastor to formulate to bring to market the most complete package in wakestyle and freestyle riding.
What are the new changes of the 2015 AP Bar? What are the benefits?
AP – Bruna, Bas and I have been doing some changes on our bars for some time already to make it more comfortable for our tricks. We wanted thicker lines that don’t stretch after a few sessions, a bigger chicken loop to help us hook in and unhook quicker, a thinner diameter so when we grab the bar after a handle pass we can use more strength and a depower strap that is completely out of the way, making it as simple as possible. After we rode these bars, a lot of the other PKRA riders asked their sponsors for the same stuff and a lot of the people that have seen us at the beach also wanted the same bar for more comfort on unhooked tricks, so we decided we had to give people what they wanted.
The new Livewire range has a new insert set. Why the change, what’s the use of this and how does it benefit the rider?
AP – It all started when this winter I went to WA to train. There was a prototype that I really liked and really wanted it to last me forever, but unfortunately, after a few days I caught one of my worst edges ever on a really fast S Mobe 7 and ripped off one of my inserts, so I lost that awesome prototype for the rest of the trip. To make sure that it doesn’t happen again, we are installing a block that holds together all the inserts so they won’t rip again. They will also come horizontal on the new boards to avoid heel bending on the boots, just like they come on wakeboards. We also heard these comments from other Livewire riders so we felt like this was the way to go to have a longer-lasting, more durable board.
The 2015 Livewire features the all-new GrindRite sintered grind base. We noticed our riders loved to shred the boards to bits on rocks, trees, rails, kickers – so making the base extremely durable was a focus. What is the benefit of this? How does it handle abuse?
AP – Yeah that was an issue we had with the previous year’s Livewire. The bottom used to get scratched when hitting rails and riding into the sand, especially if there are rocks at the beach. I’ve been testing it the grind base and it’s just amazing, the material is basically bulletproof. I’ve been riding it an entire afternoon on a rail we made and after the session, all the boards had little scratches except for mine, you couldn’t even see that I was hitting the rail at all.
The entire new range of Livewire and Livewire Teams have the multi-channels featured on the 2015 Livewire and Livewire Team 140 AP models. Why the change and what effects does it have?
AP – From all the channels we’ve tried on the past two years, those are the ones that work the best for me because they give me enough grip but still keep the board really fast on the water, so you can ride the board without fins when hitting features and it would still be quite comfortable, or you can ride smaller fins if you use it with boots. They are positioned on the tip of the board, which is the main part that keeps the board from slipping. We removed the middle channel because it was making the board a bit slower and we weren’t noticing as much grip.
2015 RAZOR
What changes were made to the 2015 Razor AP and Team? What do you notice immediately when riding it the first time?
AP – My main goal for this year was to give the kites even more pop, so I could go that little bit higher on my tricks and it also helps to land tricks with more rotation keeping my kite low. That would be the main thing you feel. If you feel like you need to get a little bit higher on your tricks without having to ride at 100 km/h into the trick, then the 2015 Razor is your kite. Another thing we’ve changed is improving the 13m. We have managed to make it faster so it pulls more and also gives more pop, which is quite challenging on big kites.
LIVEWIRE TEAM
What makes the Livewire Team carbon the ideal board for series competitive riding? Can freeriders use it? What do you notice the most when riding the Livewire Team vs Livewire?
AP – Livewire Team is a little bit stiffer and quite a bit lighter than Livewire. I was using Livewire before because Livewire Team is made with full carbon and a bit fragile, so it could get more damaged when using boots. This year we have added Featherweight protection on the top of the board, so it is super durable when riding even with boots. I will be switching to Livewire Team as soon as I can ride. I would recommend the Livewire Team to every kind of rider because it uses the best materials and technology which translates to better performance. But, if you want something more economic that you can abuse on kickers and slider the Livewire is incredibly good!
AP BOOT
How does the new AP Boot perform? What makes it different from your usual wake boot? What did you notice with other boots that have been addressed in this one?
AP – The main issue with wakeboarding boots is that they are simply not made for kiteboarding. Stitching is not strong enough to handle kiteboarding crashes and they are not made to deal with sand either, so in a couple of weeks, they break somewhere. The idea with the new AP boot was to fix all the issues that wake boots have because they have never focused on kiteboarding but keep the same performance that we are used to having on wakeboarding boots in terms of comfort and weight.