Why is the R-Series So Popular?
You can imagine the bittersweet moment recently when someone said to me "I didn't even know you guys made fiberglass boards, I thought Almond was a soft top company."
On the one hand, we've spent the last 16 years building custom surfboards and shipping them all over the world, so that felt like a slight dig.
On the other hand, the remark speaks to the prevalence of the R-Series Surfboards up and down the coast. Which begs the question, why is the R-Series so popular amongst surfers of all levels?
To find the answer, we dipped into the hundreds of 5-star customer reviews we've received over the last few years...
For starters, the R-Series construction is an approachable platform—it's easy to use, easy to care for, and in most cases, gets the surfer the desired result: more good waves.
Second, the price allows surfers to try out a new class of surfboard before making an investment in a custom. Many of the questions we receive are about moving from a longboard to a mid-length or a mid-length to a shortboard. The friendlier price tag of the R-Series range allows surfers to broaden their quiver and getting some experience before buying a fiberglass board (which is undeniably a larger investment).
The third observation we made in reading the reviews is "no wax needed" this attribute regularly comes up. Not needing wax allows surfers to keep this board in their car or at the beach with them for the day without the concern of melted wax going everywhere, which is a bonus no doubt, but comes up more often than we would have predicted.
Lastly, the performance. A majority of the reviews just simply center around the performance of the board—which is the one we are most pleased to read. We put a lot of thought and design effort into making these boards perform "like the real thing" and we're delighted when customers' experiences echo that.
While we don't ever want to be thought of as exclusively a "soft top company" we are incredibly proud of these black foam boards. They remain an active part of our personal surfboard quivers and are a category we are going to continuously push to raise the bar on.
Whatever your level of surfing is, having an R-Series surfboard in your quiver remains a really good idea. Thank you all for the thoughtful reviews that give us an insight into what we're doing right—and what areas we are still pushing the development.
So, whether you want to call us a "soft top company", a surfboard brand, a surf shop, or a custom board builder, we'll take it... because at the end of the day our mission is unchanged: to equip you your maximum enjoyment, wherever your surfing takes you.
What's Next?
