Liquid Force Kites Echo 142 x 42.5cm 2018
Reviews / Twin Tips
12,160
At A Glance
The new 2018 Echo is the brainchild of Brandon Shield and Jimmy Redmon; it’s Brandon’s board of choice for his dynamic and varied riding style. Their focus has been to create a board that not only performs well in the park on obstacles but a board that works well for wakestyle air tricks too.
New for the 2018 model LF Flex Tip Technology has been added which is designed to give the rider more flex on rails, without compromising pop off the water. The board comes as a high rocker line, triple concave design. It’s a solid bit of kit featuring the LF Grind Base, so its ready for some heavy abuse at the park or on the beach.
The 2018 Liquid Force Echo comes in two sizes and two assigned colourways. A board of this style should be ridden with full boot bindings like the LFK’s if you want to utilise its performance.
Sizes: 137 x 42 / 142 x 42.5cm
“Fast with plenty of grip this board is packed with performance!”
On The Water
We sampled the Echo with the Liquid Force LFK bindings; the LFK’s are built for kiteboarding and come to us as a lightweight built-in liner boot, with both lace and a top Velcro fixing system. The LFK’s have an IPX chassis which connects your foot in the best way possible to the board. We found the boots to be super comfortable and they tightened very well and remained tight for the whole session. Available in 3 different colourways and various sizes they are a top kiteboarding boot.
Hitting the water, it becomes apparent very quickly how much work has gone into this board. Most heavy duty wakestyle boards are pretty nasty to ride in anything other than flat conditions. The Echo was anything but, soaking up chop amazingly, and firing through the kickers with no noticeable heavy impacts. The board gains speed well, and the riding grip is amazing, the swept in tips allow for a smooth flowing carve when desired.
Out in the kickers, the Echo excelled, creating ample amounts of pop both of the waves and in the flats. The board likes to be progressively edged into takeoffs and provides plenty of pop from the water. The channelled tips give a last-minute splurge of grip. For a board of this strength and design, it doesn’t feel too heavy under foot while airborne. During heavy landings, the Echo soaks up the impacts very well and remains stable. If your looking for a park / wakestyle board as well as something to go for a boost on the Echo will still perform.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get to take the Echo for a spin over any obstacles (few and far between in the UK), but we had a blast while riding around flexing the tips, the grind base showed no signs of wear after a few heavy stops onto the beach.
Overall
The 2018 Liquid Force Echo and LFK set up is seriously capable of stomping some moves. It’s light for this category of board; it handles a variety of conditions very well and its bombproof and shred at the park. All in all a top choice for those wanting a board for park and wakestyle riding, I’m pretty sure it would perform well at the cable too!
Videos
This review was in Issue 66 of IKSURFMAG.
For more information visit Liquid Force KitesRelated
By Robin and Sukie
With years of kite sport experience combined, you can be sure you’ll be receiving the highest quality of knowledge on the best equipment the industry has to offer.
