Anyone a fan of the bonzer? I check out Surfy Surfy on a daily basis and have been thinking a longtime about picking up a bonzer. I usually ride quads and am worried I will hate the feel of the bonzer but still am a huge fan of the history of the shape and the company. Any ride feedback? I have been scouting craigslist for a CB bonzer and havent had much luck around MD/NJ/DE and am hoping someone might want to part with their board for a reasonable price. PM me if so. Thanks.
i just sold my CB 6'0 Bumblebee Bonzer. cool board, so fast, so unique. i saw it at a surfboard swap few years back and had to have it. i passed it on to a dude who was super stoked on it from NC. but for this specific board you can't expect it to perform like a typical thruster with the square tail. this thing liked a wave with some juice to get going. probably be really fun on a point type wave. i'd love to try the mini bonzer light vehicle, looks like old school bonzer updated for today's style of surfing.
THANKS! Ive heard these boards have lots of drive (sounds like stiffness) but also are able to prodice great cutbacks and off the lips... doesnt add up to me since I never road one. I have been looking at the 6' bonzer 5 stubbie which looks like a fun board. ANyone Want to sell their BONZER??!!
I too am curious. Do you need good waves for them to work? How are they in fast overhead surf? How about typical EC waist to chest semi choppy wind/swell combo beachbreak? I may try to shape one with removable fins.
i have a 6'4" 5 fin polywog- a custom shape for surfers supplies in ocnj. i absolutely love it. feels like it has an 'extra gear'. definitely plan to buy another bonzer in the future...
I have a 6'3" Russ Short that got for bigger waves. I usally ride shorter quads. one is an egg and one has got a early 80's thing going on. definitly a difference in ride but so much fun. Very happy I have it and can't wait to use it again.
i've been riding a 5'10" octafish these last 2 little swells we've had & can say that it has performed great! i've been on the bonzer kick since 2006 when i picked up a 6'4" bing diamond tail bonzer 3 (very, very similar to the brothers' russ short model) & it just spiraled from there...i own 4 now. that 6'4" bing, a 6'4" campbell contemporary 5 fin, a 6'0" 5 fin egg from brian wynn, & the octafish. i genuinely don't see too many conditions where i won't be able to ride one or another of those boards. the important thing is to not confuse drive w/ stiffness. stiffness stems from having too much fin for the board, the rider, the rider's style & approach, & the conditions. drive is a function of the fins, board type, & rider input. bonzers have a literal ****-ton of built-in drive & speed, more than any other set up i've encountered, & it's SMOOTH drive...no herky-jerky, double pump bottom turns here. just drop in, put the thing on rail, & GO! bonzers work great in just about every kind of wave you may encounter, but they truly shine in racey, lined up, slightly bigger (chest high +) waves. you'll find yourself making sections & waves that you never thought you could or would. & then you'll have to do a cutback. if you're a slidey, flicky surfer, the bonzer isn't for you. if you like to use your rail, you'll probably love it. if you'd like to learn to use your rail more, look into it; you might just like it. 2 of my 4 bonzers: 6'0" wynn egg: 6'4" bing bonzer 3:
^^ Thanks njsurfer42^^ for some solid input. On a shortboard I like to do rail to rail power carves, and making sections is what it is all about. Maybe it is time to go seek one out, or better yet, try to make one. My buddy who used to shape full time can help me with the channels and fin placements, which I imagine is they key to the bonzer design. Time to go to swaylocks for some research. From what I hear, no one likes to make them because it is so technical, but it would be cool to be able to pull it off. If I do, I'll post a thread as a cry for help.
well put njsurfer42..well put. and i would not hesitate to pick up another bonzer if the opportunity presented itself, my 6'0 was just too big for me and the tail a tad too wide. that egg looks fun! question, do you notice a big difference between the 5 fin and 3 fin?
not a huge, huge difference, but noticeable. the 5 fin is a better choice for more aggressive, modern vertical surfing...the 5 is basically the 3 but w/ the side fins split & slightly offset, so the water channels between the fins, allowing you to break your line a bit easier & direct the board up into the lip (kinda like a quad/split keel can be surfed more aggressively than a traditional twin keel). i think the 3 is probably sufficient for most, but as a brothers themselves say, putting a 5 fin on a russ short model isn't going to turn it into a modern shortboard. the bumblebee, like the octafish & most other shorter, stubby boards, seems very sensitive to sizing. i don't see why you'd want a 6'0" unless you were over 200lbs. i was weighing in between 200 & 205lbs when brian wynn made me this 5'10"x21"x2 5/8" stubby back in 2008 & i rode it pretty much to death in a wide array of conditions: in a fit of stupidity, i traded it in for a dumpster diver (which worked ok) & then that got traded for a neckbeard (which was a bit better, but still just ok), which got traded for a white diamond (which was good, but not great), & then i bought my octafish & it's been like coming home...
while i'm all for people building their own boards & learning the process, i think the bonzer is something that is best experienced first & built later. it's such a complex design that i'd hate to see you write it off b/c the one you built maybe wasn't quite right or true to the design. i've seen so many people become violently & vehemently anti-bonzer after riding one (that was too small or too different than what they're used to) once. swaylocks might be useful, but they're an eccentric lot over there, as i recall. best to go to the source: http://bonzer5.com/
re starting an old thread here but, i've had a russ short 6'3 just sitting in my basement waiting for a swell like we had last week. I had the chance to ride it every day for hours for 4 days in a row in fast breaking down the line surf and just wanted to drop a note saying that what you say about how they ride is really spot on. To surf with that much speed and still be able to go off the top and cutback that hard with out losing (and sometimes gaining?) momentum to then make the next section and the next is just incredible. I'm hooked.
glad you had a positive experience on your bonzer! the russ short model is the same model i first rode 6+ years back...& this swell really was perfect for the bonzer...i took my 6'4" roundtail & 5'10" octafish to hatteras for a long weekend w/ my wife & couldn't have had a better pair of boards for the waves i found.
Got a 6'2 Mayo stub bonzer in excellent condition that I have been thinking of selling. Just not surfing a lot and when I do go I'm on a mini Sims twinzer. Twinzer suits my style more.
