Rokslide and Kuiu

[rodney482]

Unfortunate

 

[jlsteel]

Love both Kuiu and Rokslide. I understand both sides. Hopefully they can work it out.

 

[Shrek]

This has been a Long time coming.....

They seem to get bashed on almost every post, we ourselves may have ruined it for the Rokslide owners on this one.

Most companies and people who get bashed have usually done something to deserve the bashing. Kifaru bashing ? Very little and they owned up to what they got the little bit of bashing for and fixed it. SG bashing ? Really haven't seen any. First Lite bashing ? Not really , just some mild criticism for sizing and stuff. Kryptek bashing ? Haven't heard any. I could keep going for every sponsor here but it's boring. Only Kuiu attracted the constant bashing. Maybe they should have looked in the mirror and found the problems instead of running away.

To finish the thought , it wasn't Rokslide or the members creating an unfriendly atmosphere. The problems were with Kuiu.

 

[mallacootasmoothie]

Damn I was really keen on kuiu's new tent because it has everything I'm looking for in a tent (external poles, duel vestibule, double wall, pitch as one, mesh inner, weight)
I'm not so sure now.

And I'll send $20 to see their new pack thrown off a cliff.

 

[voidecho]

They definitely should have let the Ultra be thrown off a cliff. All of the experts here expect it to break anyways, so there's only an upside. It's less expensive and lighter than the other bags tested. If you're looking for a bag, you have to weigh the plusses against the minuses.

 

[wilkes]

In fairness, If I owned Kuiu and knowing that Rokslide was moderated by someone working for my nearest competitor, I would probably take issue with the test too. Whether they are in the wrong or Rokslide is, the fact is the test isn't technically independently done (even though they are said to be tested equally.)

Could you imagine the Ferrari team organising a driving test against a Lambo, Maserati and Porsche? Regardless of the outcome, the average guy would assume favour towards the Ferrari.

I'm not saying Rokslide would favour one over the other though... As discussed here at length, I have been pointed towards other brands from Aron himself and he is always practical to peoples needs over brands. But, I still see how Kuiu see it and I can respect that.

What I don't respect is all the other little niggly issues that I have seen arise from them. What a waste of an opportunity for them to leave Rokslide! It is an awesome launching pad for their new products and a place to get some serious performance feedback. Oh well.

Thanks for all the good info you bring to us Rokslide.

 

[a3dhunter]

Kudos to Ryan, Robbie and Aron.

I'm sure they will have a problem with the statements made, but I feel it is the right decision to disclose the reason for parting ways.
It's your website, run it like you want to!

 

[pyroducksx3]

For the record I think kuiu clothes are possibly the best, their other products I can't speak of as I've never used any of them. I had decided to support other companies before this fallout just because of the way they started treating the customers and their competition. They seem to have strayed from that North American made and customer service of the early kuiu. With first class companies with excellent customer service and one being vetern owned I made the decision to start buying from them, except attack pants I can't give up the attack pants thank god they make them in solids. Good luck kuiu I hope they find their way back to customer service instead of maximum profits and cutthroat business

 

[Colo4x4XJ]

Does anyone remember the letter they published to their website back around Thanksgiving? It definitely turned me off from their company and seemed to be a foreshadowing. No sweat off my back, there are plenty more well established, well developed companies that deserve my hard earned dollar

 

[kodiakfly]

Does anyone remember the letter they published to their website back around Thanksgiving?

No. What did it say?

 

[2ski]

In fairness, If I owned Kuiu and knowing that Rokslide was moderated by someone working for my nearest competitor, I would probably take issue with the test too. Whether they are in the wrong or Rokslide is, the fact is the test isn't technically independently done (even though they are said to be tested equally.)

Could you imagine the Ferrari team organising a driving test against a Lambo, Maserati and Porsche? Regardless of the outcome, the average guy would assume favour towards the Ferrari.

The original test of the Bikini frame and Stone Glacier was done by Matt, who does not work for Kifaru and Kryptek. He actually uses a Kuiu Icon, if memory serves.

 

[Shrek]

I think Matt kept the Bt1 and uses it these days but I'm not sure. Matt...?

 

[Snipershirt]

For what it's worth, I believe this is the article;

http://blog.kuiu.com/2013/11/27/kuiu-called-out/#sthash.I4IYVq12

 

[bcv]

In Osaka, Japan.. Kuiu translates to Control Freak

 

[RosinBag]

So I read this entire thread and not sure I even want to comment, but will anyway.

I have great respect for the Rokslide owners and have been friends with Aron before Rokslide even started. I also live about 20 minutes from Jason and Kuiu and have known him since the Sitka days.

I have used all of Kuiu's earlier clothes and have no complaints. Fit is great, materials are great and they have worn well enough to make the value ok.

I ran their first pack for one hunt and broke off a small portion of the delta strap attachment and it squeaked when I walked. To Jason's credit he spent several hours with me finding a perfect, non squeaking pack and took care of the problem. He also included me in several prototype products and I still think Kuiu makes a very good clothing line, a few other items worthy of using and customer service department that does very well.

As far as the pack testing, I don't think it is an apple to Apple comparison. I don't think Kuius packs are in the same category or class as the others named packs. The Kuiu for me is like a small class of truck and the others are full size trucks capable of everything. They are just not robust enough to put them in the full size truck class. The biggest problem is that Kuiu promotes them as full size truck and they shouldn't.

The Kuiu pack is a fine pack up to about 60#'s and then the shortcomings are exposed. Kuiu should advertise accordingly.

I personally think there isn't a comparable pack to the Kifaru Duplex Timberline, not even another Kifaru. The Duplex frame and suspension is as good as it gets in my opinion.

I had the Kifaru before Rokslide or Aron's affiliation. Aron and I spent countless hours on the phone over the years from the days of wearing Badlands 4500's.

I don't think it does any good to just bash a product. If you have first hand experience with a product and say something negative, give your reasons so the reader can evaluate on his own.

And for 2rocky, I have worn my Rokslide sweatshirt into Kuiu before, but at the time all was ok between the two.

 

[Bonedalien]

reading the "lets introduce ourselves " thread its easy to see most of us are working folks,fire fighters tradesmen,ranchers and farmers,even a good bunch of retirees. not realy a monetarily rich bunch. nice to think the Rokslide admin are thinking of our bottom line and not THE bottom line when it comes to sponsors.

 

[LazyV]

The analogy of comparing a full size truck to a light one is apt in regards to the pack test in my opinion. Of course the new ultra can't do everything most of the other new packs can, it weighs under four pounds and is half the cost of some of the others. If I owned a company it would concern me giving advertising money to a site where one of the main mods is a employee of a competitor and on the pro staff of another. That being said I've never read anything from the staff here that struck me as biased, but as someone mentioned above its easy to see why someone could jump to that conclusion. I don't really see this incident hurting either company nor changing my future purchases one bit.

 

[idahoelkhunter]

As a business owner that has sponsored quite a few of these types of forums in the past , I would not support a site that allowed open bashing of forum sponsors product . I believe there is a fine line between honest reviews and concerns and straight up bad mouthing from people that arent even using said product .
I would have pulled the plug as well probably wouldnt have waited as long as Kuiu did . I believe this a a great site and I do enjoy reading the stories but there are quite a few people here that chime in on anything Kuiu to throw stones !

Mark

 

[RosinBag]

Mark I would agree that people do like to bash without first hand knowledge. It also goes the other way and people will promote for various reasons without any knowledge. That is why giving reasons for people's opinions is critical for reviews.

 

[a3dhunter]

As a business owner that has sponsored quite a few of these types of forums in the past , I would not support a site that allowed open bashing of forum sponsors product . I believe there is a fine line between honest reviews and concerns and straight up bad mouthing from people that arent even using said product .
I would have pulled the plug as well probably wouldnt have waited as long as Kuiu did . I believe this a a great site and I do enjoy reading the stories but there are quite a few people here that chime in on anything Kuiu to throw stones !

Mark

Sponsoring a site should be to advertise, it should not be to have control over the conversations that take place. That includes positive and negative feedback that gets posted.

If you expect to control the conversations that take place, then a company should open and operate your own forums that all of the fanboys can go to in my opinion. Several bow companies have done this and it works for them.

Every product out there will have some sort of negative feedback, you can't please everyone, but to think that paying for advertising gives you a right to mute that feedback on an open forum is ridiculous. Those type of people should stick to advertising in magazines and tv shows, which are not open to public comments.