How is SIC doing after the buyout from BIC?

Anything changed? Positive? Not so positive?

Is SIC still seen as a top tiered brand and primarily for downwinding and racing?

I've been the Portuguese distributor for SIC in Portugal for 5 years and I can say that things seems to be doing great.

- SIC won Brand of the Year 2018 from SUPconnect and Best Race Board with the RS (and by a far margin).
- Last year SIC launched the RS and the Bayonet that were great success in the racing and downwind scene.
- The SIC team is growing in numbers and with some amaing talent at a very young age: Martin Vitry, Kody Kerbox, Guilherme dos Reis, David Le?o, Niuhiti Buillard, Seychelle and Jade Howson.
- More and more retailers have SIC (and quality retailers...). And it's easier to get stock. And prices have gone down instead of up, like other brands. A 12'6 or 14'0 carbon race/downwind board cost less 500 euros now.
- The board range is getting bigger and there was a huge improvement on the wave boards: great shapes, with thin rails, nose and tails, with solid construction at a very good price.
Here is a some of the new Slice and Slice Pro range:


You can have a look at the 2019 catalog here: issuu.com/supnorte/docs/2019_sic_cat8.31_print

And BIC Sport was bought by Tahe Outdoors at the beginning of the year... Now instead of being a small drop in the big BIC company, it now belong to a watersports company and can concentrate more efforts in R&D with less burocracy.

Nice wave boards. Look to be the right length width & volume. Well done.

Great news there above. I've always been a fan of SIC for a few reasons, especially for their designs and overall colours.

Supnorte, those points you mentioned must be really helping things. No brand alive would not want those kinds of business and distribution attributes.

How is the inflatable market looking for all brands in 2019? Have the el-cheapos come and gone yet? Have some brands dropped or slowed down on their focus of inflatable?

Top stuff.

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Supnorte said..
- solid construction at a very good price.

For the US, maybe. The European market is much more competitive, I wish them luck... they will need it.

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colas said..

Supnorte said..
- solid construction at a very good price.

For the US, maybe. The European market is much more competitive, I wish them luck... they will need it.

Am I missing something? Pretty sure Portugal is in Europe not the USA

In australia bic and sic have a massive presence, on the east coast alone i can think of 3 hire demo places together that would have 450 top of the line Bic ace tec performers for the public to use... and then thats not taking into account what the retailers are doing as well. So all in all not bad.

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Supnorte said..
I've been the Portuguese distributor for SIC in Portugal for 5 years and I can say that things seems to be doing great.

- SIC won Brand of the Year 2018 from SUPconnect and Best Race Board with the RS (and by a far margin).
- Last year SIC launched the RS and the Bayonet that were great success in the racing and downwind scene.
- The SIC team is growing in numbers and with some amaing talent at a very young age: Martin Vitry, Kody Kerbox, Guilherme dos Reis, David Le?o, Niuhiti Buillard, Seychelle and Jade Howson.
- More and more retailers have SIC (and quality retailers...). And it's easier to get stock. And prices have gone down instead of up, like other brands. A 12'6 or 14'0 carbon race/downwind board cost less 500 euros now.
- The board range is getting bigger and there was a huge improvement on the wave boards: great shapes, with thin rails, nose and tails, with solid construction at a very good price.
Here is a some of the new Slice and Slice Pro range:


You can have a look at the 2019 catalog here: issuu.com/supnorte/docs/2019_sic_cat8.31_print

And BIC Sport was bought by Tahe Outdoors at the beginning of the year... Now instead of being a small drop in the big BIC company, it now belong to a watersports company and can concentrate more efforts in R&D with less burocracy.

The new ace tec sic boards look awesome and i think they are going to be a big hit in aussie summer 2019/20

Well i got one coming, so will let you know.

@Colas - my mum always taught me to not say anything if i didn't have anything nice to say. Especially when I and the rest of the world know you are pushing a competing brand every other day of the week.

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KP. said..
In australia bic and sic have a massive presence, on the east coast alone i can think of 3 hire demo places together that would have 450 top of the line Bic ace tec performers for the public to use... and then thats not taking into account what the retailers are doing as well. So all in all not bad.

Crikey! Australia is such a watersport country. Bloody fantastic.

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MattBailey said..
@Colas - my mum always taught me to not say anything if i didn't have anything nice to say.

I wasn't ironic. I really wish them luck, Mark Raaphorst design good boards. My comment was more on the state of the European market.

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colas said..

Supnorte said..
- solid construction at a very good price.

For the US, maybe. The European market is much more competitive, I wish them luck... they will need it.

In Portugal, SIC has a bigger market share than the SUP brands that came from windsurf and a much bigger market share than some brands from France, despite being 800 km away...
Despite being a small country and the poorest from Western Europe, most of the board I sell are on the high end, and my customers aren't rich (most are middle age men doing OK). I do have some rich costumers but they are always begging for some unrealistic discount (they think the boards are free). I sell way more race, downwind or carbon wave boards than all-round composite or inflatable boards.

If people just want to spend a limited amount of money they will go for the cheaper brands or the brands that are pushing big discounts. If they want a performance board SIC (or Infinity, that I also represent) is one the options. That doesn't mean that they will always buy SIC (or Infinity), but it's definitly one of their options.

And there's a lot of options in terms of price in the SIC range.
All-round and super durable boards are between 899 and 999 euros. Great range of touring and downwind boards between 1700 and 1900 euros (Bullet, F-Series, the new Okeanos, that looks amazing). And SCC + Innegra (RS, Bayonet, Bullet) boards will go for 2599 euros (if 12'6) or 2899 (if 14'0). Compared to other brands I think that it's a very competitive price.
And the new Slice Range is between 1399 and 1599 euros, depending on size (from 6'10 to 10'0). Again comparing to major brands it's a very competitive price for a board that has a double wrap fiberglass composite, oak laminated reinforced deck, carbon/innegra rails and carbon bottom, with carbon fins. Lightweight and super solid.

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Supnorte said..

colas said..

Supnorte said..
- solid construction at a very good price.

For the US, maybe. The European market is much more competitive, I wish them luck... they will need it.

In Portugal, SIC has a bigger market share than the SUP brands that came from windsurf and a much bigger market share than some brands from France, despite being 800 km away...
Despite being a small country and the poorest from Western Europe, most of the board I sell are on the high end, and my customers aren't rich (most are middle age men doing OK). I do have some rich costumers but they are always begging for some unrealistic discount (they think the boards are free). I sell way more race, downwind or carbon wave boards than all-round composite or inflatable boards.

If people just want to spend a limited amount of money they will go for the cheaper brands or the brands that are pushing big discounts. If they want a performance board SIC (or Infinity, that I also represent) is one the options. That doesn't mean that they will always buy SIC (or Infinity), but it's definitly one of their options.

Well said, stick that up your arse France

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Imoutthere said..

How is the inflatable market looking for all brands in 2019? Have the el-cheapos come and gone yet? Have some brands dropped or slowed down on their focus of inflatable?

Top stuff.

The inflatable market is divided in two segments. El-cheapos inflatable have the biggest share of market, but it's mainly for people that won't be dedicated SUP paddlers. They see people having fun or they do a SUP tour and they go and buy one. They tend to go for the cheapest possible, regardless of size or quality. So you see a lot people using 9'' boards or even smaller for touring. An inflatable board for 500 euros would be considered expensive for most people.

There's a smaller and more dedicated segment that buys touring and racing inflatables from well-known brands or all-rounders as a second board or family board. In my quiver there's always a 14'0 and inflatable race board (this year is the RS 14'0 x 26"). It's great because I usually go on a big trip with my wife to warm places and I can always bring a board with no hassle. And I also use that board a lot if I'm doing SUP tours with costumers.

I don't know about other brands, but SIC narrowed a lot their range of all-round inflatables. There's only one now (TAO Fit 10'6 x 33'' ) and focused on the touring/downwind/race boards with several options (RS 11'0, 12'6, 14'0 x 26'', 14'0 x 28") and Bullet (14'0 and 17'4).

The slice pro looks interesting, quite a wide nose for a pro board?

I see theyve dropped the sic carve from the range? I used to have one and was a fun board!

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Supnorte said..

Imoutthere said..

How is the inflatable market looking for all brands in 2019? Have the el-cheapos come and gone yet? Have some brands dropped or slowed down on their focus of inflatable?

Top stuff.

The inflatable market is divided in two segments. El-cheapos inflatable have the biggest share of market, but it's mainly for people that won't be dedicated SUP paddlers. They see people having fun or they do a SUP tour and they go and buy one. They tend to go for the cheapest possible, regardless of size or quality. So you see a lot people using 9'' boards or even smaller for touring. An inflatable board for 500 euros would be considered expensive for most people.

There's a smaller and more dedicated segment that buys touring and racing inflatables from well-known brands or all-rounders as a second board or family board. In my quiver there's always a 14'0 and inflatable race board (this year is the RS 14'0 x 26"). It's great because I usually go on a big trip with my wife to warm places and I can always bring a board with no hassle. And I also use that board a lot if I'm doing SUP tours with costumers.

I don't know about other brands, but SIC narrowed a lot their range of all-round inflatables. There's only one now (TAO Fit 10'6 x 33'' ) and focused on the touring/downwind/race boards with several options (RS 11'0, 12'6, 14'0 x 26'', 14'0 x 28") and Bullet (14'0 and 17'4).

Spot on, I have friends that don't surf or SUP ( I know go figure ) and they can't understand why boards are so expensive ( over $500 )
hey supnorte your English spelling is great except for costumers it should be spelled customers, glad I could help

Is Red Paddle Co. still the top premium brand for inflatables?

Do the other top tiered brands offer just as good inflatables or better?

I could be in the market for an inflatable race board again later this year.

I'm not the best person do comparisons between brands (I'll certainly be biased). There are a few brands with good inflatable race boards.

I always have an inflatabe race board in my quiver to go on holidays or to have a good board doing tours (without having to take my carbon race board). In the past couple of years I had the SIC FX-Pro 14'0 and now I have the new SIC Rs 14'0 x 26''. I sometimes also surf and downwind with these boards and they are super fun!

Here's a video I did from my last frip to Thailand. Instead of bringing a suitcase I just put everything on the backpack/trolley.