2026 RIS Summer Gear Guide
Surf, Skate, SUP, Epic Sound & Adventure Gear – plus Shades, Shades & More Shades. Buckle Up Buttercup… The Gear Guide Is Here.
Summer is not just a season. It is a full-contact lifestyle. The 2026 RIS Summer Gear Guide is built for long days outside, road trips, hot pavement, mountain water, open trails, surf checks, backyard sessions, and the gear that makes it all better. This year’s lineup brings together surfboards, skateboards, technical waterwear, performance eyewear, mountain bike protection, outdoor audio, truck audio, and one full-send electric mountain bike.
From the beach to the backyard, from the lake to the trail, here are the standout picks for summer:
BOARDS & Shades That Rock & Roll
Sector 9 – Strand Shralper
The Sector 9 Strand Shralper is a 34-inch surf-skate complete built to pump, carve, and flow when the waves are flat or the beach is too far away. With surf-style truck performance, soft wheels, smooth bearings, recycled plastic risers, and a maple build, this one brings surf-inspired movement to dry land.
Why it made the guide:
When the waves are flat or the beach is too far away, the Strand Shralper gives riders a surf-inspired way to keep moving.
Best for:
Surf-skate sessions, carving, boardwalk cruising, park riding, and flat-day fun.
ZEAL Optics – YAMPA
The ZEAL YAMPA is a compact rectangular polarized sunglass built for outdoor movement, travel, and everyday summer adventure. With a lightweight frame, polarized lenses, strong color contrast, and a clean adventure-ready profile, the YAMPA is made for people who want performance optics without oversized styling.
Why it made the guide:
The YAMPA is compact, sharp, and versatile. It works for travel, water, driving, hiking, and whatever else summer throws at you.
Best for:
Skating, hiking, water days, driving, festivals and of course summer adventures.
Arbor – Shakedown 34 Craft
The Arbor Shakedown 34 Craft is a compact hybrid complete built for all-around skating — street, park, cruiser runs, and downhill lines. At 34 inches long and 9 inches wide, it brings enough board underfoot to feel stable without losing that quick, responsive feel. With sustainable Canadian maple construction, Paris trucks, Arbor wheels, ABEC bearings, risers, and grip tape, it is ready to roll straight into summer.
Why it made the guide:
This is the kind of summer board that does not need perfect conditions. Cruise it, carve it, session it, or keep it in the car for spontaneous pavement therapy.
Best for:
Cruising, carving, park sessions, road trips, and everyday pavement therapy.
SUP & Surf
Surftech – The Chameleon
The Surftech Chameleon is built for paddlers who want more than a casual cruise. This hybrid stand-up paddleboard bridges the gap between recreation paddling and adventure touring, combining stability, glide, and drive in one versatile shape.
Why it made the guide:
The Chameleon earns its place because it is a true summer all-rounder. For lakes, harbors, flatwater, and open-water exploring, this is the board that lets you stretch the session.
Best for:
Stand-up paddling, lake days, harbor cruising, fitness paddles, adventure touring, flatwater exploration, and paddlers who want one board that can do a little bit of everything.
Smith Optics – Strand
The Smith Strand brings retro surf styling into a modern polarized sunglass setup. With clean lines, strong sun protection, and a lifestyle look that still works around glare-heavy summer environments, the Strand fits perfectly into the beach, travel, and everyday side of the guide.
Why it made the guide:
Not every pair of summer shades has to look like race gear. The Strand keeps the style casual while still delivering the function you want on bright days.
Best for:
Beach days, driving, surf checks, travel, festivals, and everyday summer wear.
Gordon & Smith – The Hazelwood
The G&S Hazelwood brings classic longboard energy with real San Diego surf heritage. The Hazelwood is built for surfers who want trim, glide, clean lines, and that timeless longboard feel. It is a premium board with enough range for stylish summer sessions and traditional surf days.
Why it made the guide:
The Hazelwood is not just a pretty longboard. It has real function, heritage, and a classic-meets-modern personality that fits Revolt perfectly.
Best for:
Longboarders, clean summer surf, noseriding, trim, and classic style.
VALLON Heron Ocean
The VALLON Heron Ocean in Tortoise brings glacier-style side-shield protection to open water. Built with polarized lenses, side-shield coverage, leather details, and a lightweight adventure-ready frame, the Heron Ocean is designed for intense sunlight and reflective glare around water.
Why it made the guide:
The Heron Ocean has that rare mix of vintage expedition style and actual summer utility. This is not just a good-looking pair of sunglasses — it is protective eyewear built for brutal sun and reflective water.
Best for:
Fishing, sailing, kayaking, boating, beach days, lake days, and open-water adventure.
Stio Men’s CFS Drifter Short
The Stio Men’s CFS Drifter Lined Short – 7″ is a quick-drying summer essential built for sunny days in and around the water. The short is built for movement, water, and heat, with stretch performance, a quick-drying liner, a drawcord waistband, and sun-ready coverage. It is the kind of piece that works from the river to the lake to the beach to the drive home.
Why it made the guide:
Every summer guide needs a legit amphibious short. The CFS Drifter is clean enough for everyday wear and functional enough for water-heavy days.
Best for:
Swimming, rafting, paddle days, beach days, hiking, and travel.
VALLON Waylons
The VALLON Waylons in Green / Polarized blend classic rounded acetate style with outdoor-ready performance. The polarized lenses help cut glare, while the handcrafted frame, UV protection, and detachable sports headstrap give the Waylons more utility than a basic lifestyle sunglass.
Why it made the guide:
They look like lifestyle shades, but the headstrap, polarized lenses, and performance-minded build give them more range than a basic pair of sunglasses.
Best for:
Travel, hiking, kayaking, climbing, road trips, festivals, and everyday summer wear.
Stio Women’s CFS Board Short
The Stio Women’s CFS Board Short is built for multi-day river trips, evening SUP sessions, cliff jumping, and warm-weather movement. Designed with quick-drying stretch fabric, a secure waist, and an active cut, it is made to move through water, heat, and long summer days without slowing down.
Why it made the guide:
This is a clean, functional board short that works beyond the beach. River, lake, SUP, travel, swim, repeat.
Best for:
SUP, river trips, swimming, beach days, travel, and everyday active summer wear.
ZEAL Optics – HAWKER
The ZEAL HAWKER is a modern aviator-style sunglass with polarized performance and an elevated summer look. The Matte Rose / Copper setup adds a more polished style option to the guide without losing the outdoor utility that makes ZEAL a strong fit for active days.
Why it made the guide:
The HAWKER brings a more refined style angle into the lineup. It is clean enough for resort days and summer events, but still built with real sun protection in mind.
Best for:
Travel, road trips, resort days, summer events, and polished everyday sun protection.
Stio Men’s CFS Board Pant
The Stio Men’s CFS Board Pant is a durable, water-ready pant built for wet wades, river trips, long travel days, and full-sun exposure. With quick-drying comfort, stretch performance, an easy-wearing fit, and sun protection, it is made for days when shorts are not quite enough but heavy pants are too much.
Why it made the guide:
This is practical summer utility. The CFS Board Pant gives anglers, river travelers, and outdoor crews a lightweight pant that can handle water, sun, and movement.
Best for:
River trips, fishing, wet wading, travel, shoulder-season water days, and sun protection.
Stio Modis Jacket
The Stio Men’s Modis Hooded Jacket is the layer you want when summer weather turns sideways.
Built as a lightweight waterproof/breathable shell, the Modis Hooded Jacket is made to shed wind and rain without feeling bulky. It is an easy packable layer for mountain missions, camping, travel, and unpredictable weather days.
Why it made the guide:
Summer still throws storms. The Modis gives you a reliable outer layer without overpacking.
Best for:
Alpine starts, summer storms, travel, camping, hiking, and shoulder-season weather.
Kicker At Home & Kicker On The Road
KICKER OA Outdoor Speakers
The KICKER OA Outdoor Speakers bring weather-resistant sound to patios, pools, shops, garages, and backyard hangouts.
• KICKER OA Outdoor Speakers
• KICKER OA Patio Subwoofer
• KICKER OA TowerScape
The OA speaker family is made for outdoor spaces where sound needs to be clean, durable, and loud enough to carry across open air. Whether mounted around a patio, pool zone, garage, or shop, these speakers are built to bring the soundtrack outside.
Why they made the guide:
Summer needs a soundtrack. The OA Outdoor Speaker Family gives patios, pools, garages, shops, and outdoor hang zones a cleaner way to get real sound outside.
Best for:
Patios, pools, shops, garages, outdoor kitchens, and backyard sound zones.
KICKER Solo-Baric L7T Loaded Enclosures
The KICKER Solo-Baric L7T Loaded Enclosures bring deep, loud bass in a compact, truck-friendly design. The perfect fit meets the thinnest square sub KICKER has ever made. Built around the Solo-Baric L7T thin square subwoofer, the TL7T™ loaded enclosures are designed to mount under or behind a seat, making them a strong choice for adding serious low-end without giving up valuable cab space.
Why it made the guide:
This is real bass for tight spaces. The Solo-Baric L7T Loaded Enclosure gives truck owners a clean, powerful way to upgrade their sound system while keeping the install practical.
Best for:
Truck owners, road trips, tailgates, desert drives, daily drivers, and anyone who wants deeper bass without a massive box.
Ride & Explore In Style
Smith Pilot Mips®
The Smith Pilot Mips® is simple, solid trail protection for mountain bikers who want safety, comfort, and airflow without overcomplicating the setup. With modern mountain bike protection, a clean trail profile, ventilation, an adjustable fit, and Smith eyewear integration, the Pilot Mips® is made for hot-weather riding and dusty summer sessions.
Why it made the guide:
Summer riding gets fast, dusty, hot, and unpredictable. A good helmet is not optional — and the Pilot Mips® gives riders a clean, protective trail option without looking overbuilt.
Best for:
Mountain biking, trail riding, desert rides, singletrack, and hot-weather dirt sessions.
Smith Syncline
The Smith Syncline is a bike-focused sunglass built for full-coverage protection, clarity, and all-day comfort. It brings a goggle-inspired feel into a lighter sunglass package, making it a strong eyewear pick for riders who want more protection than casual shades without jumping all the way into full goggles.
Why it made the guide:
The Syncline belongs in the guide because it is built for motion — fast descents, changing light, dust, and long trail days.
Best for:
Mountain biking, trail riding, fast descents, dusty conditions, and mixed-light rides.
Trek Rail+ 9.9 X0 GEN 5
The Trek Rail+ 9.9 X0 AXS T-Type Gen 5 is the big-ticket send machine in this year’s guide. This is a full-powered carbon enduro e-MTB built for long climbs, hard descents, and serious all-day mountain missions. It sits at the high-performance end of the summer adventure spectrum — the kind of bike built for riders who want to go farther, climb higher, and descend harder.
Why it made the guide:
The Rail+ is not casual summer gear. It is a serious electric mountain bike for serious trail days — and it gives the guide one premium adventure piece with real wow factor.
Best for:
Electric mountain biking, enduro riding, long climbs, hard descents, and riders who want top-tier trail performance.
Final Word
The best summer gear is the gear that actually gets used.
This year’s Revolt In Style Summer Gear Guide covers the full spread: surf, skate, waterwear, performance eyewear, mountain bike protection, outdoor audio, truck audio, and electric mountain adventure.
Whether you are chasing waves, carving pavement, riding dirt, loading the truck, hitting the river, KICKIN’ In the backyard, or turning a road trip into a full-blown mission, these picks are built for summer.
Summer is on. Gear up.
Thanks to all our friends at Akimbo Communications, Verde PR, BF Collective, Kicker Audio, MSR Communications for helping out. Yew!
