lf wakeskates

jibn-it-all · Outlaw Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 248 City: apopka

now i think they have the right i dea on wakeskates because of how they worked with cassette for so long, i like how theyre four tech 42 is less then cassettes and that is the only good thing i feel has come out of the complete compy of cassette, what do u guys think about this, aparently timmy k thinks it legit so .... whats ur opinions

cpowell21 · Posted: Jun 10, 2003 8:53 am Post subject:

I think that it is just a way to muscle cassette around. Cassette may not be able to offer much lower prices because they are a smaller company and lf is taking advantage of that and offering the same thing for less price. I think it puts the consumer in a bad situation. its either save money and maybe watch a company go out of business or pay more in order to support smaller business OGs.

jibn-it-all · Outlaw Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 248 City: apopka

good call , i mean consumers cant go blowin around money, but if feel we need to bak a company than i think id save a lil more up and suport cassette, and i herd they(cassette) were comin out with all different sizes in the four trac

Jim M · Wakeboarder.com Freak Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Posts: 2933

Different sizes, new fin builds, new fin placements, I heard some real cool stuff will be coming out for 04.

Butta Seeka · Posted: Jun 10, 2003 8:16 pm Post subject:

hell yea, f*ck LF im with cassette all the way.

B-rad · Posted: Jun 11, 2003 6:26 am Post subject:

yeah, I'm not sure what I think about LF making the same models right now. I think the graphics suck arse on the wud grip flat skates, and I'm also not to thrilled at all with the graphics on the foam flats either. Wonder how Thomas and LF worked the deal out to allow LF to make the same shapes this year. I've always supported cassette and I'm looking forward to seeing how they can step it up this upcoming year. a possible slider base would be great I also like how mutiny did the die cut grip tape job.

jibn-it-all · Outlaw Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 248 City: apopka

im postin this from don on wakeskating .com

I just thought I'd jump in here and let everybody know a little more about
Liquid Force's involvement in Cassette, and wakeskates in general.

We had a great run with Thomas, and his crew over the years, and both
benefited tremendously from it. Thomas was able to get his name Cassette
out to more people than he ever would have on his own. We, in turn, had a
fun few years of working with him, and helping get wakeskating to where it
is now.

Many of you do not know me, or any of us here at LF, but those that do know
us, would know that we worked just as hard... if not harder at times, than
Thomas did to get Cassette to where it was. Thomas came up with great
ideas, but so did the guys and girls here at LF. Thomas was the first guy
to bring wood wakeskates to the market. That was his idea. Everybody has
taken that idea and run with it. I'm sure Thomas is stoked on that. It's
made the sport better. Jimmy Redmon and Scott Crumrine, here at LF, created
the Concave wakeskate. Another idea that has completely changed the sport
of wakeskating. Thomas tested it, and was 100% behind the idea, but these
guys here are the one's that put the time, energy, and brainpower into
making it happen. So.... I guess that makes LF and Cassette even, when it
comes to changing the course of wakeskating.

For anybody to say that LF stole Thomas and Cassette's ideas, you need to re
consider. Schmaltz's comments really got to me. Erich... who are you to
say what the truth is? You haven't been to our office one day in your
life. What's stuff is you trying to jump in and act like you know what's
up in this situation. 5 years ago... maybe. But now. No way. I've worked
way too hard with everybody here to have you tell the world that we're just
a "big company" trying to knock the small guys down. I was always stoked on
Mutiny, and what you've done for the sport. Just because you're not part of
LF, why do you have to not be stoked on us? You have no idea what I've
done, or Scott Crumrine, or Jimmy, or Tony, or all of our reps that pushed
wakeskating so hard, have done. We helped design everything. We helped
promote everything. We helped find people to make the boards cheaper, and
better than ever. We did so many things to help, that I can't even begin to
tell you everything. Yes... Thomas and Chris Mack, and the other guys did a
lot of work, as well, but they didn't do all of it.

I'm stoked for Thomas's opportunity to run with Cassette on his own. He's a
good guy, and has done a lot for wakeskating. Don't count us out, though.
We're just as into it as Thomas is.

All that I do is wakeskate. It's all that a lot of us here at LF do.

If any of you don't want to buy our boards because you don't like the
graphics as much as Cassette, that's cool. I have no problem with that. We
designed what we liked, and what our team riders liked. I'm not anywhere
close to 40, nor is our art director, or our team riders. Maybe Tim and
Melissa, and myself have different tastes than you, but it doesn't mean that
we're just putting things out because it's what we think "kids" will like.

I have a problem with people claiming that we "stole" anything from Thomas,
or that we are just following. We've been leading the entire time. We've
never followed. We were a team with Thomas. He did some stuff, and we did
some stuff.

Now, we're both on our own, and moving forward. Thomas decided he wanted to
go out on his own. We weren't pushing him away... he decided to leave.

Thomas and I are close friends, and I know that he knows the truth.

Hopefully those of you that believe in LF will continue to. We've never
been followers, and never will.

Thanks for your support!

Don Wallace

wallaced · Newbie Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 7

I just thought I'd jump in here and let everybody know a little more about Liquid Force's involvement in Cassette, and wakeskates in general.

First off... We had a great run with Thomas, and his crew over the years, and both benefited tremendously from it. Thomas was able to get his name Cassette out to more people than he ever would have on his own. We, in turn, had a fun few years of working with him, and helping get wakeskating to where it is now. We learned a lot from him, and I think he learned a lot from us, as well.

Many of you do not know me, or any of us here at LF, but those that do know us, would know that we worked just as hard... if not harder at times, than Thomas did to get Cassette to where it was. Thomas came up with great ideas, but so did the guys and girls here at LF. Thomas was the first guy to bring wood wakeskates to the market. That was his idea. Everybody has taken that idea and run with it. I'm sure Thomas is stoked on that. It's made the sport better. Jimmy Redmon and Scott Crumrine, here at LF, created the Concave wakeskate. Another idea that has completely changed the sport of wakeskating. Thomas tested it, and was 100% behind the idea, but these guys here are the one's that put the time, energy, and brainpower into making it happen. So.... I guess that makes LF and Cassette even, when it comes to changing the course of wakeskating.

For anybody to say that LF stole Thomas and Cassette's ideas, you need to re consider. Scott Crumrine, Jimmy, myself, Tony, and all of our reps have pushed the sport of wakeskating just as hard as anybody, including Thomas. We helped design everything that Cassette did. We helped promote everything. We helped find people to make the boards cheaper, and better than ever. We did so many things to help, that I can't even begin to tell you everything. Yes... Thomas and Chris Mack, and the other guys did a lot of work, as well, but they didn't do all of it.

I'm stoked for Thomas's opportunity to run with Cassette on his own. He's a good guy, and has done a lot for wakeskating. Don't count us out, though. We're just as into it as Thomas is.

All that I do is wakeskate. It's all that a lot of us here at LF do.

If you don't want to buy our boards because you don't like the graphics as much as Cassette, that's cool. I have no problem with that. I have a problem with people claiming that we "stole" anything from Thomas, or that we are just following. We've been leading the entire time. We've never followed. We were a team with Thomas. He did some stuff, and we did some stuff.

Now, we're both on our own, and moving forward. Thomas decided he wanted to go out on his own. We weren't pushing him away... he decided to leave.

Thomas and I are close friends, and I know that he knows the truth.

Hopefully those of you that believe in LF will continue to. We've never been followers, and never will.

Thanks for your support!

Don Wallace

wallaced · Newbie Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 7

hahaha.

I guess Jibn-it all beat me to the punch. Thanks for throwing that up here.

The comments about Schmaltz are not meant to piss Erich off, or any of you. I just really wanted to reiterate the fact that we have worked really hard here to get wakeskating to where it currently has.

Thomas, Schmaltz, Messer, Grubb, Kovacich, Byerly, McGuckin, Mack, Reed, Hampson, and although many don't realize it... Redmon and Crumrine. Those are all people that have put TONS of time and energy into creating this sport and growing with it. We owe everybody respect. I just want to make sure that people realize that LF is just as big a part of that. We were always just hidden behind the brand of Cassette. We wanted to help grow Thomas' brand name, and apparently it was a success.

Thanks!

Don W.

jibn-it-all · Outlaw Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 248 City: apopka

all i can say is cool and i like the idea, people even tho we may not like to admit it will always go for the best bans for there buk and i think that lf especially on the 4 trac

Butta Seeka · Posted: Jun 11, 2003 12:50 pm Post subject:

due the 4trac is the stuff, even if you ride with the 2 center fins its a great board. And not ment to be hating on LF there great for wakeboards but when it come to skates im gonna back cassette all the way

chris dykema · Newbie Joined: 12 Jun 2003 Posts: 1

this post is not that emotional! check this post out, it has a much better storyline to it http://www.wakeskating.com/phorum/read.php?f=1&i=2511&t=2511

B-rad · Posted: Jun 13, 2003 10:17 am Post subject:

Yeah.... After reading that thread I'm 100% positive that the "Thomas" reply was total BS. I've met Don and talked to him on 2 occassions. He was one of the nicest guys I've met, not just in the industry. I also feel that he seems to be genuinely honset on the LF web board and when i met him in person. We were talking about QA and he openly talked about issues they have had. It is nice to hear from the other side and from someone that is actually in the middle of what is going on. I ride Exo's and untill recently a trip and have supported LF all the way. I'm looking forward in seeing what both companies do to grow the sport.
Thanks to all involved in making wakeskating better and the constant improvement!

cpowell21 · Posted: Jun 14, 2003 7:39 pm Post subject:

go back and read the post now. I thought the same thing so I asked a legit source to confirm that the Horrell post was true and Mr. Barousse did just that. Kind of changes your opinion on things doesnt it.

otiswunguy · Addict Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 871 City: Sammamish

i agree that thomas got jacked because of his post. if it is true, i wouldn't buy a lf skate. however i feel that cassette charges rediculous prices and they need to charge less for their skates. now that he isn't sharing profits with lf this should be the result. someone is getting rich off cassette skates and i think the new hyperlite skates will change the market because of the problems people have with wood. if they offer their skates for cheaper since there is very little cost and time in making them then i would purchase either lf or what i have now, a cassette. i think the sport is new enough that in a year their skates will be completely different anyway.

electricsnow · Posted: Jun 24, 2003 7:13 am Post subject:

The thomas post is 100% legit.

Second, someone working with linear dist. posted awhile back that cassette prices are supposed to drop. This is my personal speculation, but it isn't cheap to start up your own dist. company and now do everything on your own (which means the prices may not drop right away). I know for a fact that thomas has been investing his tour winings into linear, so he is far from rich. Also, I talked to another person that is in the wakeskating industry and it is not cheap to make a concave wakeskate. The deck is actually milled out, which is supposedly costly. All I can say is buy what you believe in. If you like what liquid force is doing with their wakeskates, then buy that one. If you're stoked on hype, then buy that. I personally believe in cassette 100%, and if cassette went down the tubes, I would want to support a company that is all about wakeskating, as opposed to having it on a back burner, so to speak.

cpowell21 · Posted: Jun 24, 2003 10:42 am Post subject:

I agree with everything you just said but (and I may just be being defensive here). I dont think that you can consider wakeskating on the "back burner" at Hyperlite. Sure Parks and Byerly and all of those guys have tons of stuff, but Brubb now has his own board, his own handle, and his own rope. No other rider has there own rope even though a lot of riders ride longer than the standard 70' rope.

electricsnow · Posted: Jun 26, 2003 7:09 am Post subject:

That is an interesting point. I pretty much considered that accessory line as a way for grubb to make some more money from them. Scott has a wakeskate, something like three wakeboards, a handle, pro model t's, bindings, etc. Whereas a "core" wakeskater like grubb only had a wakeskate (without the rope and handle). However, I would like to say that grubb deserves all of that and he was one of the coolest people I've met. He was super friendly, went out of his way to talk to people, and was so down for promoting wakeskating.

Anyway, I just consider wakeskating to be on the back burner because wakeboarding is Hyperlites "thing." To me it seems like they have a few wakeskates and wake surfing boards to grab a piece of the market. When you look at those two items, other companies had to do the leg work to push each respective up to where it is now. Then when it becomes hot, hyperlite jumps in with their own models (except for the waterskate that came as a 131).

Lastly, outside of grubb, they don't have any wakeskaters that just wakeskate. Anyone else that promotes a hype is also on their wakeboard team. I guess they are flowing to a few riders now (I have heard of two), but I just find that to be weird.

That's just what I meant by all of that. You know, I'm sure hyperlite makes good wakeboards and stuff and the grubb rope and handle work pretty well (ruck used that set up when he did his hyperlite midwest wakeboard demos), so I'm not trying to totally dog them or anything. late

Jim M · Wakeboarder.com Freak Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Posts: 2933

Yeah true, and Grubb was a Hyperlite team rider when he was just a wakeboarder, so even though he is dedicated to the skate scene its not like Hyperlite brought him on just to have that presence. He is a good presence to have though!