Z-Flex Surfskate with Waterborne Surf Adapter Review
Bottom Line Up Front
Z-Flex surfskates with Waterborne Surf Adapter work well as basic cruisers for beginners. However, they are limited to that, and I believe they’re overpriced for what you get.
The deck has low concave, a narrow rear foot placement, and no kicktail, which means you can’t use it for performance riding. The wheels are small and hard, which means you can’t ride it for long distances and over rough surfaces.
If Z-Flex surfskates were to be priced at $179 or less, I think they would be a solid option for beginners. But with them being priced over that, I believe you have better options.
However, one of my challenges with it is that it can be difficult to put together your own customized set-up. This is especially true for beginners.
For that reason, I think Z-Flex and Waterborne were smart to partner up and create complete surfskates under the Z-Flex brand, using a Waterborne surf adapter on the front truck. (Penny and Waterborne did the same thing with the Penny High-Line Surfskate.)
I find the Z-Flex surfskate with Waterborne surf adapter to be a great complete surfskate for beginners. It’s very functional and it rides very well. It’s both stable and carvey.
However, I also find it to be limited in functionality and overpriced for what it is.
Z-Flex offers a few different surfskate models. I bought the 31” Bamboo Fish.
The Waterborne surf adapter is a bushing-based system, not a spring-based system. This means that the deeper you lean, the further it has to come back to center, and a bushing is just not as snappy coming back as a spring.
Having said that, I know that many riders prefer the rail adapter over a riser pad on rear.
The effect of the riser pad is that it makes Z-Flex surfskates a lot more stable for beginners.
The deck on the Z-Flex Bamboo Fish surfskate is 9.5” at the widest point, where your front foot is placed. At the back, it tapers down to 5.5”. It’s about 8” wide where your back foot is placed.
They are also 83a durometer. This is relatively hard for surfskate wheels, which are typically between 78a and 81a.
Conclusion
When you put all the aspects of this Z-Flex surfskate together, what you have is a basic cruiser surfskate for beginners, and that’s pretty much it. It’s a surfskate that you would ride barefoot down the Strand.
The narrow rear foot placement and lack of concave on the deck mean it’s not built for performance riding or advanced maneuvers, like snaps, slides, or surfskate bowl riding.
Given that the wheels are small and hard, it means they’re not versatile. They’re good for one terrain only: smooth concrete. And you wouldn’t want to travel long distances on them.
I don’t recommend this board for intermediate or advanced riders because there are so many other options within the same price range that will work better for you.
So my bottom line on Z-Flex surfskates is that they work well, but their functionality is limited and they are overpriced for what they offer.
If you’re looking for a budget surfskate option, then my recommendation is the Carver Triton series with Carver CX trucks. A Carver Triton surfskate is cheaper than a Z-Flex surfskate and is much more versatile and higher quality.
