Riviera quality issues?

[Zooport]

Was just talking to the guy who does a lot of my repair work, and he says the Riviera boards he sees are often poorly constructed.  He says the handles especially are not installed well, are just sort of glued in and not really glassed into the board well.  He said they often leak and often break. 

Not sure if I believe him or not; he's a good tech, but he's kind of anti-SUP.  He may not be giving me an unbiased opinion.

Anyone have any negative experience with Riviera? 

[anonsurfer]

I know someone who had an issue with the handle on their Nugg.  Some others have had the same issue:

http://www.standupzone.com/forum/index.php/topic,24274.0/topicseen.html

[supsurf-tw]

Rivera is an awesome company and stand behind their products. If you dig deep enough you'll find issues (mostly minor) with most companies. Any issues, Riv will make it good. They're great people.

[PonoBill]

took the words right out of my mouth.

Anyone having products built in Asia will have occasional quality issues. the difference between good and bad is what the company does about it. The riviera folks seem really good.

[supsurf-tw]

I took my Bump paddle back as the blade was broken which wasn't their fault. I was prepared to pay full pop and walked out of the factory with a brand new paddle at a nominal cost. The family that owns the company are San Clemente locals are are top notch people. Top notch people generally own top notch companies.

[Zooport]

Thank you for the info.  I'm interested in buying a friend's Riviera, and my repair guy got me spooked today.

I think the dude just hates SUPs and looks for anything to rip on.  In a good-natured way, he says things to me like "why do try to surf with a paddle in your hand?" or "your boards are too big to ever perform well, why do you bother?  Just paddle like everyone else."  I like to reply something like, "Don't ever try it, or you will get hooked and be eating those words."

[lunchbox]

I've got a Turbo Nugg and 2 Ron House Coastal Cruisers (12'6" and 14').

I really like all the boards and so far, no issues!

The folks at Riviera are great to deal with as well.

[mik911]

I've got a 12'6" Riviera Coastal Cruiser, and must say that it is more fragile than any of my other boards (see my quiver below).  I'm easy on my equipment, but the CC gets dinged fairly easily.
I still like the board, it does what it advertises, but it's not the most robust board out there.

I'm sure the Riviera Ohana are good people.  That's not what the OP asked.

[kayadogg]

I know multiple people (3 of which are on the Zone) that have had major issues, specifically related to the handle being the major issue. I have seen a lot of Riviera boards not withstand daily use after a few months. I don't dislike the company, they're all very nice people and do a lot for the industry but I thought it was pretty common knowledge that their boards have quality issues. Seems to be more with the surf sups and all arounders that have a layer of bamboo under the paint.  The carbon race boards seem to be on par with most brands.

[mrbig]

The nuggs used to fold like tacos in small waves; my local shop had to stop carrying them  as they sent him factory seconds passed off as new stock.. Perhaps things are different now. But there is a reason 404 left...

[PonoBill]

Having been in the paddle biz, I'd suspect the issue is more the uneven quality of asian boards--no matter which company sell them. Naish had some nasty problems for a while. Most companies that don't have an on-site QC inspector have issues.

People might remember the quality issues Ke Nalu paddles had for a while. After two shipments of perfect blades, the company apparently forgot how to make them and started shipping blades with dimples--about half of a shipment had cosmetic flaws. Emails flew, "oh yes, problem identified, all better now" and the replacement shipment was half dimples and flaws. In some cases the dimples didn't show up immediately, and they got worse with time.

It would have been deadly for the company if we hadn't stood behind the paddles and replaced any that didn't meet customer's expectations. That's why I say that the willingness of the company to stand behind their product is the most important element with asian products. Quality is a standard teething problem for companies importing product. If the company is good and stands behind the product they can put it behind them. If they aren't, they die a well deserved quick death.

[dietlin]

I weigh 175 lbs and my 12'6" CC developed footwells where I stand.  I also "still like the board, it does what it advertises".  But if I wasn't so careful with my gear, I might not like the board as much.

[kneecapSUP]

I've had four boards by Riviera. Three were great one dings if you look at it too hard. They are a good price point company in my opinion and do have solid customer service.

I'll be buying my kid a carbon race board next year from them as they're pretty much the only company that offers a 12'6" ×22" that isn't a $3k custom.

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

[PaddleBreaker]

I have owned an 8'0" X 31' X 4" 135L, Riviera Door for about 18 months now and I can tell you all, first hand, the quality of construction of this board is terrible. Very thin Epoxy over cheap, low density polystyrene (cooler) foam. At this point, this board has had many rail repairs. On one occasion, I fell onto the rail, landing on my port rail squarely on my left glute. This resulted in a depression measuring about 7" long X 4" wide X 1/2" deep. in addition to these facts, one can easily feel how thin the glass is by pressing anywhere on the board with their fingers.

That said, I LOVE this board! It's supper fun and skatey in small, mushy surf and super fast as a quad in clean, crisp peelers. The low density foam and thin glass make it super light. I haven't noticed any issues with the handle but, other than the finger channel, it's completely covered by the deck pad which covers the entire deck from stem to stern.

[Weeble]

One of my friends had an issue with his Nugg.  Basically after a few months one of the fin boxes for the side bites just fell out.  He took it to an "approved" repair shop that Riviera & the SUP shop he bought it from agreed on and it was repaired, but failed again as there was an issue with the foam inside.  He got a new Nugg from Riviera right away.