FBS changed its tape after 2008, and sells both new versions in one pack

The listing is light on hard numbers. There is no sheet size, no thickness and no description of what the new materials are made of, only how FBS says they behave. Here is everything it does commit to:

• Contents: 1 pack of FBS Extra Smooth (New Formula) and 1 pack of FBS Sample D
• Price: listed at 14 for the bundle. The product data we have doesn't state the currency, so check it at checkout
• Stocked at: Fingerboardstore.de
• Reference point: both new materials are described as staying "remarkably close" to the original Extra Smooth, which FBS dates to 2008, with "only subtle differences in feel and break-in time"
• Testing claim: FBS says the materials were tested and approved by around 100 selected pro fingerboarders worldwide. It doesn't name them

Extra Smooth (New Formula)

FBS pitches this one as feeling like worn-in Extra Smooth made from the original 2008 material, giving what it calls sweet-spot grip from your very first session. Read that as no break-in period. What the listing doesn't say is how long that feel lasts, and that is the obvious trade-off to wonder about.

Sample D

Sample D is the durability option. According to FBS it needs one session to break in to the classic FBS feel, and then stays in that "golden zone" for weeks. "Weeks" isn't defined, and it will depend on how often you ride and on what. A flatbar and ledge session wears tape differently from a few minutes of flat ground at a desk.

The listing includes a prep routine worth knowing whichever sheet you pick:

1. Before applying, put a few drops of water on the tape and gently rub it in with your finger.
2. Tap it dry with a towel or paper towel.
3. Apply it to the deck and cut it to size.
4. Press a piece of adhesive tape or a sticker onto the FBS Tape and pull it off to remove excess dust.

FBS says to repeat step four whenever the tape needs a freshen-up. That is a cheap habit to build, and it tells you something about the material: part of what you feel as grip going off may be dust sitting on the surface, not wear.

Not much yet, at least not anywhere we have read. The only feedback in the material comes from FBS itself: the roughly 100 unnamed pros it says tested and approved both formulas. That is a brand claim, not a community report, and it doesn't tell you which of the two those testers preferred.

The listing has been up for about three weeks at the time of writing, which is roughly the window FBS gives for Sample D staying in its "golden zone." That makes the longevity claim hard to judge from anyone's experience so far. If you have run both sheets past a month, that report is the one people will be looking for.

Buy the test set. That isn't because it is a bargain. We can't judge that without a sheet size or a confirmed currency. It is because the whole point of this change is feel, and feel is the one thing a spec sheet can't settle for you. FBS itself calls the differences subtle. Two sheets on two decks, used on the same obstacles, will tell you more than any description.

If you are only buying one kind going forward, the brand's own framing points the same way as most tape decisions:

• Extra Smooth (New Formula) if you swap tape often, set up boards for one-off sessions, or hate that first stiff session on fresh grip.
• Sample D if a setup stays together for weeks and you would rather put up with one break-in session than re-tape sooner.

The caveat is the same for both. Every durability claim here comes from FBS, nobody has published a long-term comparison we have seen, and the listing doesn't say what changed in the material. Treat "weeks" as a promise to check, not a spec.