[Vibram] Vibram let me down...ish.

[wake_rider]

Well, after playing in the Vibram Birdie Bash I fell in love with my Trak. It quickly became my go to fairway driver for dead straight tunnels. However, just two weeks of use led me to a day of sorrow when I clanked a drive off the basket and the gnarly roll following led to a splash into the pond that a 1.5 hour swim could not lead to the rediscovery of the beloved Trak.

A week of waiting led to the arrival of a replacement 168g Trak in my mailbox, though it was a x-link firm rather than the same weight medium it replaced.

Fast forward 2 weeks to today (amount of time seem familiar?), where I again lost a Trak while it remains in my posession. While playing the Noble course this morning I reached for the trusty straight line Trak and sent it flying down the tight wooded fairway. After reaching about 200' down the line it caught a tree solid and dropped dead where it hit. "Yes! No crazy kick into the woods," I thought, but then I went to pick up my disc and came across a gruesome discovery. VIBRAM DURABILITY IS A FARCE! Well, at least it was in this particular case. It seems that in attempts to clear out the shrubby brushes of the already crazy-tight Noble course, the developer cut off a branch close to the trunk of the tree that I hit and left a little bit of a sharp edge sticking out off the trunk towards the teepad. This said edge plunged itself deep into the indestructible Vibram rubber, chewed it up, and spit it out laughing and asking if this is all I had. My disc and I were ashamed and defeated. To add to the shame, this all happened while I was wearing my Birdie Bash shirt too, proudly displaying the name of the trusty rubber in which the shirt instructs that we trust.

A hole of failure...

 

[wake_rider]

The bright side of the day is that I finished the course at 4up, and that was with two bogeys coming on two of the more simple holes (15 & 16) at Noble which I more than half of the time bird. Let my focus down and poor and rushed putting cost me. However, shooting anything within 6over at Noble is a very, very solid score.

Also, I made the 45 minute drive up to Tye F Cunningham Memorial course in Edmond (AKA Mitch Park), and busted out an ace on #4 on the longs placement...

While still wearing my Vibram shirt...with a GL Flow. Might be a sign...

 

[wake_rider]

Picture proof...


edit just turn your screen sideways. I can't figure out this silly smartphone.

 

[techn9cian4life]

From your description that sharp piece of tree would do damage to any disc. That sucks man.. that's a sweet lookin' Trak too. I myself have recently fallin in love with the Trak as well. Got one in trade about a week ago, and I have already traded for 2 more. It flies past my go-to champ Teebird by about 25' every time. The Medium plastic is freakin amazing.

 

[nolangherity]

you aren't supposed to throw at trees anymore.

 

[techn9cian4life]

Also have a Medium Ascent on the way jus to see if Vibrams other fairway is just as great.

 

[wake_rider]

From your description that sharp piece of tree would do damage to any disc. That sucks man.. that's a sweet lookin' Trak too. I myself have recently fallin in love with the Trak as well. Got one in trade about a week ago, and I have already traded for 2 more. It flies past my go-to champ Teebird by about 25' every time. The Medium plastic is freakin amazing.

Right on. I still use my champ T-bird when I need a little fade, but the Trak can get some crazy straight distance, and keep a low hard line while doing it. Realky like the disc.

That said, I'm really surprised to see the amount of damage this thing took from a tree that far off the teepad. It was a legit 200' away and I really didn't get ahold of it; it was much more of a half-pull for accuracy. Had it been right off the pad I would have agreed that no disc aside of the champs and optos would have fared better, but it had to have been slowing down quite a bit by that distance. Beyond that, I guess I just expected better from a disc material that makes such robust claims of durability.

you aren't supposed to throw at trees anymore.

I didn't, but the bastard tree must bave moved itself just as I was releasing. Ever since losing that lower branch that the tree was so close to, it just hasn't felt complete. So much sorrow leads it to playing chicken and jumping in front of perfectly thrown discs and bullying them to the ground.

The insane amounts of trees littering the fairways of Noble leads me to believe that many share this hardwood sorrow...

 

[Craton]

Could have been worse:

POW!

 

[Allurex]

I don't think you can blame Vibram for a disc that isn't as durable as you'd like. Sometimes weird things happen and discs take more damage than you'd expect.

I had a KC Pro Roc once hit a tree and lose a chunk the size of a penny. **** happens :/ .

 

[wake_rider]

I don't think you can blame Vibram for a disc that isn't as durable as you'd like. Sometimes weird things happen and discs take more damage than you'd expect.

I had a KC Pro Roc once hit a tree and lose a chunk the size of a penny. **** happens :/ .

You expect some chunking on KcPro material, and that's partially its appeal. I just didn't expect to see Vibram rubber take such a bad and deep slice on a relatively routine impact, especially with all the durability touting their marketing is solidly based upon.

Like you said though, crazy stuff does happen. Cars break down on the interstate all the time, you just don't expect it to be a Honda Civic you're looking at all broke down. Similar concept with this case.

 

[Sid the Kid]

My firm Ascent hit the number plate off the tee and had a bit more damage than the Trak you have pictured.

I too am skeptical of the durability. Almost all slow discs are fairly durable due to design, so the putter torture tests should be repeated with the fairways and the Lace. I'm sure they wouldn't be too excited to post their results.

I'd much rather have a tacoed or warped disc than a big ol chunk missing, you can manually fix warping but chunking is a one way street.

 

[nolangherity]

I THINK THERES SOMETHING YOURE NOT TELLING US, OP.

whats the secret

 

[Craton]

My firm Ascent hit the number plate off the tee and had a bit more damage than the Trak you have pictured.

I think the problem here is that we are use number plates to begin with.

1) Their edges are somehow always exposed.
2) They reward people who miss high.
3) They beg for graffiti.

 

[PhillyMatt]

It sounds like you let yourself down

 

[dehaas]

Firm is their least durable blend, the softer the blend the more rubber it contains. Send them an email with pics and see what happens.

 

[tbird888]

Firm is their least durable blend, the softer the blend the more rubber it contains. Send them an email with pics and see what happens.

I would recommend this. I haven't dealt with Steve Dodge since he left Prime Discs for Vibram, but he went above and beyond for me the one time I sent him a (polite) email with pics of some issues I had with some new discs.

 

[ru4por]

You expect some chunking on KcPro material, and that's partially its appeal. I just didn't expect to see Vibram rubber take such a bad and deep slice on a relatively routine impact, especially with all the durability touting their marketing is solidly based upon.

Like you said though, crazy stuff does happen. Cars break down on the interstate all the time, you just don't expect it to be a Honda Civic you're looking at all broke down. Similar concept with this case.

Funny, exactly what I do expect. I see crappy Honda's broken down on the side of the road all the time. Of course, I also see fine Ford, GM, and Chrysler vehicles driving by the broken down heap of inferior technology. Not a big fan of Vibram, outside of footwear. Never seemed to me that it could be a durable as other plastic. End rant. :gross:

 

[blammo]

wonder if you can melt it back together? If steve dodge doesn't want you to send it in for examination, I'd certainly try heating it up and repairing the wound. I do that to my DX all the time. I too would be willing to bet that a medium Trak would have held up better. Live and learn.

 

[mjoyce]

Just cut the chunk out. Bet it doesn't really effect the flight too much.

At least it didn't puncture the flight plate making the disc illegal for tournament play.

 

[Tmart]

Vibram durability has let me down as well. I picked up a Lace when it came out, took it out to the course and it flew just like a destroyer/nuke for me. Tiny bit of turn on 400' power and it held nicely till 350' before fading out. Now that the weather is nice I put it in my bag instead of my Nuke and used it as my primary distance driver. 3 rounds later and this thing is flippy as hell, this disc literally lost it's stability in the exact same way and exactly as fast as a DX destroyer. The disc is useless to me already unless I want to use it for sky rollers, but since it's rubber it's not a good sky roller candidate. Part of the reason it got flippy so fast is because any spot that it has hit a tree the actual edge of the disc has split into separated layers. It's like the discs are made by laying out many layers of rubber and when you hit a tree the layers separate and fan out - definitely not something you want for a flying disc.

Funny, exactly what I do expect. I see crappy Honda's broken down on the side of the road all the time. Of course, I also see fine Ford, GM, and Chrysler vehicles driving by the broken down heap of inferior technology. Not a big fan of Vibram, outside of footwear. Never seemed to me that it could be a durable as other plastic. End rant. :gross:

Lol - Ford, GM and Chrysler having superior longevity to Honda? You need to check your facts again, pretty much all Japanese cars are more reliable than American made and there are dozens of studies to prove it.