The lack of a marketing machine combined with attractive prices made us curious what to expect from the just released Pure 3.0. There are many more reasons why we keep on being interested in the twin tips from Saul Custom. His new home in Europe’s kite capital Tarifa means riding -and thus developing- non-stop. Resulting in a lot of detailed knowledge with an impressive track record. The 12 years of board shaping experience -including custom graphics and a lifetime warranty- is just the top of the iceberg.
Test Pure 3.0
We like a lot of aspects of the Pure 3.0. Most obvious characteristic is its playfulness. Easy to get it airborne and it’s very comfortable. Which means you won’t break your knees coming down from a big jump. Bump & jump and pop till you drop. User-friendly in all conditions. Which makes it is very much at home in a rough sea. It rather goes over the chop than through it. An interesting mixture of medium to soft board stiffness combined with pleasant shock absorption. Although we used the rather small 40mm fins going upwind is surprisingly easy for such a playful board.
What is new on the 3.0 version?
The difference with the 2.0 version is best noticeable when being powered up. The Pure 2.0 was a very loose lying board. So the opposite from being on a fixed track. The 3.0 comes with a few millimeter deeper channels and shaped a fraction differently. Resulting in a bit more grip over the previous version – which wasn’t the best feature of the Pure 2.0 – when edging hard. But that typical loose feeling hasn’t gone. It isn’t the fastest board we know and we got the most joy out of it in moderate winds.
Quality
We -and we test a lot of boards- have no doubt the quality of Saul’s boards exceeds that over the majority of other brands. The Pure twin tip can be ridden without any problem with boots for example.
And the rails are much better attached to the board over other brands. Strong and careful attention guarantee his twin tips will last for years. And that is why he states a ‘lifetime warranty: ” …top quality boards that cannot be broken..:! Another interesting fact is that you may already have ridden on one of his boards without knowing it. As he produces twin tips for brands like Best and Ocean Rodeo.
Accessories
The details that can ruin a good board; the straps, pads and fins. Like most brands Saul gets them from a third party. We got the boards -including the previous Pure 2.0 version- specially made for this and the pads&straps test with the 40 mm ‘Rebel‘ fins made from G10.
They come from the Slovakian Slovakvin company ‘SFC’. Which is the fin supplier for a big amount of kite brands. Saul advices to order your preferred fins directly at Slovakvin. Which isn’t an easy job as they have 2 dozen different ones which most of them in at least 3 sizes. It is quite important to note that we did try bigger fins on the Pure 3.0 but we clearly preferred the smaller (40mm) ones.
For the pads and straps the Yeti Combo Q4 is his choice. He cooperates with Yeti to make it the perfect match. A full review of a dozen different brands of pads&straps will be published on We Test Kites later in 2021. We can already confirm that the Yeti’s have the best price -130 Euro’s – to quality ratio.
Testing in Tarifa
Saul has gotten -like most brands- several types of boards and up to nine different size options. There is a lot the choose from; 7 different type of boards. Saul is also known to be the specialist for the right sized boards for kids. And there is even the option -if you have the knowledge- to create your own shape, outline, rocker, stance type of fiberclass and even the type of carbon. Troubled choosing what you think suits you best? Contact Saul and ask for a free test ride in Tarifa.
List Price
Saul Custom Pure 3.0 (board only) including custom graphics 450,- Euro
