Cool! ... but is this just concept or product actually exists and available?

Does anyone know how this works? Is it a complete set of tracks and battery compartment? And this is fitted into a Riift board? Can existing boards be retrofitted with this i.e. dig out current tracks, cut out a larger hole and embed this thing (by certified professionals of course)

Thus, Riift board is for Riift battery & foil assist, and trench boards are for Foil Drive?

So this thing is a FD competitor but only less 'frankenstein'? Or would FD adopt the track & battery housing concept too?

And if I see correct a couple of big board brands have signed up like KT, appletree, sunova ? I guess for board designers this is a less impact solution to their existing designs. Maybe the Riift package provides an increased level of stiffness?

If so then sounds good to me! More choice for the foiling community hopefully with more interesting pricing.

Its a proprietary battery box / cable channel that brands/builders will integrate into the boards they produce. Riift as I understand it will only make (or spec) the box and the assist bits like battery, prop, cable etc. It will allow for a quick tool-less battery swap and a flat bottom board. Overall weight of the Riift system vs FD+trench board is a big question. FD doesn’t appear to be working on battery swap/hydro themselves but rather letting third parties have a crack at finding solutions. All these questions should be answered at the Awsi show in September.

Why not just change the size to suit foil drive max box will work with longer cable and mini pod

I have tried it and can confirm its a lot better then the foil drive with the small battery.

airsail said..
That’s really strange, when the Foildrive Fusion was released it was hyped that moving the battery further aft over the top of the foil plate reduced swing weight (which is considerable). Now RIIFT is hyping moving the battery forward it a benefit.
But I do understand that the RIIFT system won’t work with a battery further aft so I guess they have to market the forward weight as a plus.

Moving the weight forward so that is is over the foil and not simply the mast would seem to make more sense to me. That way you end aligning all the weight, your body and the battery over the foil. Awesome!

Sheps said..

airsail said..
That’s really strange, when the Foildrive Fusion was released it was hyped that moving the battery further aft over the top of the foil plate reduced swing weight (which is considerable). Now RIIFT is hyping moving the battery forward it a benefit.
But I do understand that the RIIFT system won’t work with a battery further aft so I guess they have to market the forward weight as a plus.

Moving the weight forward so that is is over the foil and not simply the mast would seem to make more sense to me. That way you end aligning all the weight, your body and the battery over the foil. Awesome!

The board pivots around the mast. Any weight forward of the mast is increases swing weight but I understand that by design RIIFT must have there heaviest component forward of not above the mast.

WindMode said..

airsail said..

Sheps said..

airsail said..
That’s really strange, when the Foildrive Fusion was released it was hyped that moving the battery further aft over the top of the foil plate reduced swing weight (which is considerable). Now RIIFT is hyping moving the battery forward it a benefit.
But I do understand that the RIIFT system won’t work with a battery further aft so I guess they have to market the forward weight as a plus.

Moving the weight forward so that is is over the foil and not simply the mast would seem to make more sense to me. That way you end aligning all the weight, your body and the battery over the foil. Awesome!

The board pivots around the mast. Any weight forward of the mast is increases swing weight but I understand that by design RIIFT must have there heaviest component forward of not above the mast.

The board pivots roughly around the front wing, not the mast. Having the battery roughly above the front wing is the best place for minimal impact.

That’s actually physically impossible, that would mean the mast would have to move sideways as the board pivots around the front wing, crazy!

Maybe "pivot" is a difficult term in the discussion. If by pivot we mean roll or pitch, then definately the front wing, you feel that when riding. If by pivot you mean yaw, not sure, i'd still say the front wing, but get the idea of the mast being the point of rotation as it would be quite draggy otherwise.