New Board Advice - Byerly Monarch

[volfo]

Hey, I'm a low intermediate rider that has been on a Ronix Vault for about 8 years. It is starting to delaminate and I just am looking to upgrade. I met Scott Byerly at a boat show a couple years ago and he was super nice, spoke to my son for about 10 minutes, just really encouraged him and since then, I've thought I'd like to buy a Byerly for my next board. Thinking of buying the Byerly Monarch. I'm 5'11 about 185-190. Going to get the 56 inch. Any thoughts? I want something consistent and that gives me room to grow on a bit but that won't be too hard to ride. I'm 40 now and will not be learning inverts! Any thoughts on Monarch or another board that would work well for casual riding and a few wake to wake jumps, maybe with a 180 thrown in?

[kaneboats]

Any modern board can do all that just fine. Pick one you like the look of.

[lewisb13]

Im your exact height/weight and I just bought the ronix code22. Love it!

[brain_rinse]

I can understand going byerly to support the guy and The board will do everything you need it to do with no problems. If you really want to find the best board for you though you will need to demo. And I can't tell people enough to at least ride one flex board like slingshot before buying.

[volfo]

thanks for the tips. I don't have a shop that I can demo stuff from nearby and the Monarch was a great deal - only $100 from evo with the wake22 code - so I decided to try it. I'd love to try a flex board sometime. I have about a 6 year old Hyperlite Roam, is that a flex board? I don't ride it much because it is just super smooth and squirrely but it is fun for a change of pace. I'm guessing the flex boards you are talking about might be kind of a hybrid between that and a standard board?

[brain_rinse]

thanks for the tips. I don't have a shop that I can demo stuff from nearby and the Monarch was a great deal - only $100 from evo with the wake22 code - so I decided to try it. I'd love to try a flex board sometime. I have about a 6 year old Hyperlite Roam, is that a flex board? I don't ride it much because it is just super smooth and squirrely but it is fun for a change of pace. I'm guessing the flex boards you are talking about might be kind of a hybrid between that and a standard board?

Hard to argue with a nice board like that for $100! The roam is in a class by itself, but is more like a Slingshot than a Byerly. Smooth and squirrelly is a great way to describe it, though one you adjust your edge style it still locks in and the looseness is easy to control.