Until now, anyone wanting to enjoy grippy, particularly thin bars had to overcome the price hurdle of noble carbon forks. With a tube diameter of 25.5 mm, the Duotone Mega Slim offers an alternative from the aluminium range. Particularly stiff 7075 aluminium and a partially oval tube cross-section are intended to offer maximum stiffness despite the super-slim grip tube. The slightly wider bending curve of the 160-220 (measured inside width 44.5 cm) is well suited to high-performance freeride or freerace sails, while the 140-200 is slightly narrower at the front (inside width 38 cm) for wave and freemove sails.
At a measured 2.52 and 2.68 kilos, the booms are light and yet appeared very stiff during the "archery test" on land. However, the full 60 centimetre extension should - as always - not be planned as the main use. The measured diameter including coating of only 28.5 mm in the front grip area and 26.5/30.5 (oval) in the rear, oval cross-section ensured a super grippy feel, a lighter subjective sailing sensation and significantly less forearm fatigue in the cold test temperatures.
How the Duotone Mega Slim boom rides
On the foil, the 7.2 test sail with this boom suddenly looked downright filigree - and even well powered up on the fin, our testers (83 to 86 kilos) had nothing to complain about in terms of stiffness despite 40 centimetres of tube extension (at 2.00 metres). The head piece is adapted for SDM or RDM with clipped-in adapters, sits solidly on the mast and gives the boom a very high level of stiffness in the front area in the vertical direction.
surf summary of the Duotone Mega Slim
The thinner diameter is simply a pleasure and the boom still looks stiff. This combination has never been seen before in aluminium.
The Mega Slim is available in lengths of 140-200 cm (499 euros), 160-220 cm (519 euros) and 180-240 cm (529 euros, please note: tube diameter 27.5 mm).
- Further information at duotonesports.com
