Grip 1 EVA Foam Traction Pad

This is the three-piece front pad designed to go on the deck of your surfboard in front of your RIKT interchangeable kick tail. The grip is great and combined with your superpower level RIKT kick tail, you've got a combination ready to take your surfing to the next level.

A good reason to buy a RIKT front pad is to help keep the mounting plate from being ripped off during a wipeout. If the ocean can snap your board in two, it can certainly rip off a mounting plate and kick tail. Since the deck pad goes on top of the mounting plate it offers another layer of 3M adhesive helping to keep your mounting plate in place. When installed correctly, your mounting plate may stay on just fine, but it isn't a bad idea to use a deck pad to help keep that mounting plate firmly attached to your board.

When installing this traction pad, for best adhesion, make sure the board temp is between 70˚F and 100˚F during installation and then keep it at that temp for 72 hours before exposure to water. During this curing period the 3M adhesive bonds to the surfboard deck with much more strength than if you stick on the pad at night and head out to surf the next morning. If you live in a colder climate (like the U.K. or New Jersey in the USA during the winter, or really anywhere the outside temp is below 70˚F), heat your board with a hair dryer during the install then bring it indoors for the curing period.

If you want to take your surfing to the next level and get the highest level of performance from your current surfboards, it's a no brainer.... you want to start riding a RIKT.

IMPORTANT! It’s undeniable that RIKT kick tails take your surfing to the next level. But it’s very important to choose the right RIKT product for your surfboard and install the RIKT mounting plate properly if you choose to ride our interchangeable kicks like the one featured in this package.  Our interchangeable kick tails offer the highest level of performance of any RIKT product, but the mounting plates require a pretty smooth surface for the adhesive to bond to that is 100% free of wax or dirt so the bond between the board and the required mounting plate is at full strength. For this reason a new board is the easiest fit for an interchangeable RIKT. If you want to use a RIKT on an older board that has pressure dings from your heel where a mounting plate needs to be installed, a RIKT Grip 2 traction pad is your best bet and we would NOT recommend an interchangeable kick tail set up. The pressure dings will make the surface area under the mounting plate uneven, the adhesive may not bond at full strength and your kick tail could come off in the water. Our Grip 2 traction pad has an integrated kick identical to the Chris Ward flat top, offers great performance, and supports your entire foot like the interchangeable kicks.

But if your board, new or used, is a good candidate for a RIKT, to insure the mounting plate adhesive bonds at full strength you need to thoroughly clean the deck surface before securing the mounting plate the board. If you attach a mounting plate to a new or used board the adhesive requires 72 hours of curing time between 70˚F and 100˚F  before exposure to water to bond to your surfboard deck at full strength. This is coming straight from 3M tech support and is good practice for any traction pad installation, but critical for a RIKT mounting plate. If you live in a colder climate we recommend heating up your board with a hair dryer to get the board temp above 70˚F. We also recommend using clamps or anything you can find to weigh down the mounting plate during the curing time. Clamps from your local hardware store work best but if you don’t have clamps you can use a can of paint, books, just use something to press the plate onto the deck and keep it there for 72 hours. With a RIKT you can push with tremendous force against your tail so it’s much more critical to let the adhesive have the time it needs with pressure applied to achieve a full strength bond to the deck of your surfboard.

Using clamps, thoroughly cleaning the deck surface and waiting 72 hours before exposure to salt water we installed a RIKT mounting plate on a 35 year old board and it’s stayed on great so you can install a RIKT on older boards if you follow these recommendations.