Surface on the up?

skierman_jack

Active member
Noticed that surface has been stepping up their game. Really compelling offerings, sick graphics, and on paper some nice specs. Price is dreamy too. Heard some horror stories about durability tho. Anyone wanna comment?
 
I’m on my 2nd season with the Balances. And I’ve tried the royal as well. I gotta say that surfaces ride like a dream, they are insanely well built skis for the price, To be honest the durability isn’t terrible, 2 seasons with mine and only some tip and tail topsheet chips, but they are pow skis so they take a bit less of a beating. I don’t think I’d do any hardcore street shit with surfaces but from my homie who has had royals in the past says they hold up hella solid in the parks..... anyways I’ll support surface till the end, I’ve loved their skis since before I could afford them
 
Fr, 2 years ago the only reason I knew about surface was because Banks Gilberti was riding em in the Days of My Youth resort segment but now they're all over the gram.

Pretty big in Europe too.
 
Same. I only knew of them because of some boomer ass ski patrollers I saw with them.

14243627:gilbertressel said:
Fr, 2 years ago the only reason I knew about surface was because Banks Gilberti was riding em in the Days of My Youth resort segment but now they're all over the gram.

Pretty big in Europe too.
 
14243655:270on420out said:
Surface only sucks if you got blanks. All of their other skis seem to perform well.

Did the Blanks really suck though? I dont know how they rode, but for what its worth they cost $250, and you could buy a single ski right from surface too when u broke them, yea its not very efficient or sustainable to have disposable skis, but its kind of a cool premise to just get cheap park skis to charge on and not worry too much about fucking them up
 
I mean considering they didn’t really exist 2-3 seasons ago they really have nowhere to go but up lol. I skied the odyssey’s and snapped one about halfway through the season so the quality isn’t great but they were piss cheap so I wasn’t too heated.
 
They really upped their quality of materials over the past year or two. I looked at the website the other day for the first time in a while, and I was super impressed. While I love my new Line TWP, I feel like I will get a wider / softer ski from a company like surface next time. I hope they start popping up in local ski shops more so I don't have to pick and choose who gets my money.
 
14243791:Young_patty said:
I mean considering they didn’t really exist 2-3 seasons ago they really have nowhere to go but up lol. I skied the odyssey’s and snapped one about halfway through the season so the quality isn’t great but they were piss cheap so I wasn’t too heated.

Surface has been around since 04....
 
surfing.jpg
Bring back this logo and sign me up
 
14243846:Lonely said:
Surface has been around since 04....

You’re correct, but when I called them to order skis in the 2016/17 season (had to grab some cheap sticks after revision robbed me) they said they had been chilling on the down low to restructure the company and essentially save themselves from going under. Like they had no team, had been in-active for months and had been selling the exact same skis for a couple years straight.

now they’re back with a fresh team and some new skis and are once again an active ski company. So quite literally on the up! Nowhere else to go from there really
 
Got my odysseys at the end of the 2019 season for 250 with nice ass poles included. Been dailying them in the park and only two minor edge cracks to date. Only complaint is the top sheet chips extremely quick. Def some legit skis
 
I toured on a pair of surface live frees last year and they were super sick, definetly no issues with durability
 
They took one maybe two years to restructure the brand, idk how old you are but surface was pretty damn popular for a few years 2009-13 their team was relatively stacked. probably saw just as many kids on surfaces at the hill like you see on ON3Ps nowadays.

14243852:Young_patty said:
You’re correct, but when I called them to order skis in the 2016/17 season (had to grab some cheap sticks after revision robbed me) they said they had been chilling on the down low to restructure the company and essentially save themselves from going under. Like they had no team, had been in-active for months and had been selling the exact same skis for a couple years straight.

now they’re back with a fresh team and some new skis and are once again an active ski company. So quite literally on the up! Nowhere else to go from there really
 
14243940:EvanMeyer said:
They took one maybe two years to restructure the brand, idk how old you are but surface was pretty damn popular for a few years 2009-13 their team was relatively stacked. probably saw just as many kids on surfaces at the hill like you see on ON3Ps nowadays.

Ehhhh- not many shops in MN carried them due to the durability but I followed em a bit when Kai, Banks and Meeks were shredding on em.

like it’s a $300 ski, it doesn’t have to be great it just has to get the job done- and they do.
 
Stoked to hear about them upping materials and durability. My brother had a pair of new life's in like 2013 or so and they had bad durability issues. Always liked the company though
 
The royales remind me of Line Invaders back in the day with the flex, such a fun ski

Just wish I wasn't broke and I'd be all over the outsiders again
 
Surface is totally on the come up, making big moves in the past few years. I had a pair of One Lifes and a pair of Save Lifes, bashed on both of them and they could hold up fairly well. Then I got a pair of Balances, and those are super fun, especially for the price. The three stage rocker is still working for them.
 
I think they need to go back to the old "life" branding, bring back the LAB001 in a longer length, and keep selling there skis for affordable prices. The thing that blows my mind about surface is that the 3 stage rocker doesn't make a ton of sense on paper, but rides so so well on snow. The New Life was the best backcountry freestyle ski I've ever tried, it just makes everything so easy.
 
I have two pair, watch life and the skullcandy park skis. Durability sucks, I was skiing a bunch of urban, but they are soooo light.

My watch life all mountain skis are in good shape, but the top sheet is chipped in a few places. Again super light
 
Banks, John ware, khai, nick mcnutt, Anthony boronowski. Plus a handful of others I can’t remember off the top of my head.

14244333:BigPurpleSkiSuit said:
Wasn't Banks on their sticks for awhile?
 
My friend had the Reuss from 2 years ago. They seemed like they would have been decent skis, except the bases weren't flat, almost like a canoe.
 
I copped some used royales for $45, they are beat af and I can see why they added the reinforced tips, just wished they had something around the 175ish, 180's are a tad big and 171 too small. Seems like the main sticks people ride are the give'r though, a steal for $350 though so will definitely be lookin
 
You don’t like 181 you don’t get no labs

14244247:FUUUCK said:
I think they need to go back to the old "life" branding, bring back the LAB001 in a longer length, and keep selling there skis for affordable prices. The thing that blows my mind about surface is that the 3 stage rocker doesn't make a ton of sense on paper, but rides so so well on snow. The New Life was the best backcountry freestyle ski I've ever tried, it just makes everything so easy.
 
Found a pair of used '20 give'rs locally for crazy cheap, risking the delam issues. Here are some real in person pics of the early rise, full camberish too. Need a roofbox review on them. I copped the 174's and they measure in at an actual length of 176. Had a pair of the royales as well and they were the same length ratio of around an addition 2cms.

998456.jpeg

998457.jpeg
 
Found out about Surface on the gram last year and I bought some 2020 Give'rs in 174. After a season, I can't complain too much. The delam on the 2020's was annoying, but i fixed them myself and got 50% new 2021 skis which was sick. I ended up getting the Snipers bc they had the metal caps and i wanted to make sure i had another pair of skis in case the skis didn't hold up. I kinda wish i got some off the wider skis like the Attila's or Outsider's. Only other thing was the bases seem kinda thin and get coreshots easily, or it's might just be me. I'm impressed tho I'd definitely buy from them later on
 
14243791:Young_patty said:
I mean considering they didn’t really exist 2-3 seasons ago they really have nowhere to go but up lol. I skied the odyssey’s and snapped one about halfway through the season so the quality isn’t great but they were piss cheap so I wasn’t too heated.

14243846:Lonely said:
Surface has been around since 04....

Yes but Young patty was still correct in what he said. A few seasons ago they went radio silent and I never was aware of any "okay we're back" message or explanation which was off putting because it seemed like they just wanted to not acknowledge that they'd gone silent

So uh fuck that, I'm not giving my money to a company that might just not be communicable at some point like some junkie friend. Always eager to support a cooooore company but no thanks on that one
 
14264880:SofaKingSick said:
Yes but Young patty was still correct in what he said. A few seasons ago they went radio silent and I never was aware of any "okay we're back" message or explanation which was off putting because it seemed like they just wanted to not acknowledge that they'd gone silent

So uh fuck that, I'm not giving my money to a company that might just not be communicable at some point like some junkie friend. Always eager to support a cooooore company but no thanks on that one

Gotta say I agree, although those OG surface days with the 9 lives were some of my favorite days skiing
 
Needing a real cheap backcountry set up. The dart might fit the bill of needing something lightish for the way up but all something a bit tighter turning for resort stuff since the k108s are not at all. Throw a set of cheap attacks and some daymakers and I might be set. So tempting.
 
14264880:SofaKingSick said:
Yes but Young patty was still correct in what he said. A few seasons ago they went radio silent and I never was aware of any "okay we're back" message or explanation which was off putting because it seemed like they just wanted to not acknowledge that they'd gone silent

So uh fuck that, I'm not giving my money to a company that might just not be communicable at some point like some junkie friend. Always eager to support a cooooore company but no thanks on that one

I mean, that's what change of ownership/company management is like for most companies. It's not uncommon for companies undergoing massive changes to be pretty quiet, for obvious reasons. They don't need to say " here are the internal workings of our company everyone" before or after they come back. We don't really owe surface anything and vice versa.

At the end of the day, to my knowledge, everyone who paid for skis got them and now their skis have better quality control and still are dirt cheap. I don't ski them, but I still consider them a core brand. They have a sick team and decent skis.
 
14243940:EvanMeyer said:
They took one maybe two years to restructure the brand, idk how old you are but surface was pretty damn popular for a few years 2009-13 their team was relatively stacked. probably saw just as many kids on surfaces at the hill like you see on ON3Ps nowadays.

Related to above post
 
Were they the ones on local sale?

holy shit those edges were beat.

14244480:isaacwrong said:
I copped some used royales for $45, they are beat af and I can see why they added the reinforced tips, just wished they had something around the 175ish, 180's are a tad big and 171 too small. Seems like the main sticks people ride are the give'r though, a steal for $350 though so will definitely be lookin
 
topic:skierman_jack said:
Noticed that surface has been stepping up their game. Really compelling offerings, sick graphics, and on paper some nice specs. Price is dreamy too. Heard some horror stories about durability tho. Anyone wanna comment?

Is this all you do? just make newschoolers threads? I see you everytime I come on here and seeyou alot on instagram too
 
dude wait til you meet [tag=273397]@WoFlowz[/tag]

14265150:Keeneo said:
Is this all you do? just make newschoolers threads? I see you everytime I come on here and seeyou alot on instagram too

where do you see me on instagram
 
14264838:AsherDonati24 said:
Found out about Surface on the gram last year and I bought some 2020 Give'rs in 174. After a season, I can't complain too much. The delam on the 2020's was annoying, but i fixed them myself and got 50% new 2021 skis which was sick. I ended up getting the Snipers bc they had the metal caps and i wanted to make sure i had another pair of skis in case the skis didn't hold up. I kinda wish i got some off the wider skis like the Attila's or Outsider's. Only other thing was the bases seem kinda thin and get coreshots easily, or it's might just be me. I'm impressed tho I'd definitely buy from them later on

update: one of the tips on the sniper's started separating at seam of the edge and metal cap. not very impressed bc I rode them for 3 days and no parks use. Sent a email 2 weeks ago and still haven't got a response.
 
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