About the reviewer

A guy that has 88kg, could not have some random boat, chosen by the ocasion. Normally i do Creek rivers, lots of stone, and i demand a lot for a boat.

Test environment

I've tested my Magnum 72, at the upper Vez river at the north of Portugal. This part of Portugal is mainly mountains, so the river is a rocky river, whithe lot of falls, not huge falls, but big enough to test the boat

Review

Magnum 72 is THE BOAT, the smaller version of Magnum 80, is a excellent choice to who wants a very resistent and stabel boat. As soon I started to paddle, I saw that that was a fantastic boat, and I've proved that on the first boof, where the boat kept stabel on the way out, never loosing speed, and God, how i loved that.
However, not everything on this boat is perfect, and the confort is awsome in the first hour, but after that you will spot, becouse the pain on you legs is huge. But all that pain is rewarded by a perfect boat in water. By far, the best i've ever paddled.

Conclusion

Like i've said... A boat to everyone and for everywhere, this boat is fearless, there is nothing better than this boat, it may exist really good boats, very close to the Riot Magnum 72, but nothing is even as best as, or (on your dreams) better than Magum 72.

Years of paddling Dagger Zydeco, Rafts and duckies. Now jumping into real whitewater kayaking. Took lessons last year and have paddled 5 times since.

Cartecay River in GA. Class II-III drop and pool. Although levels low during the test drive.

Main things I noted. The river was low so had to do some rock avoidence in the shoals. This boat turned on a dime and staryed on course far better than the others I tried. Felt extremely stable. Easy eddy in/out. Very fast. We played Kayak water polo in the slow water and this boat out raced everyone and as I said turned on a dime. I am just at the low end of the weight range and did not feel like there was too much boat.

I am a beginner so my technique could be the factor on some of my review.

Although a creek boat, I am finding that this is the ideal beginner whitewater boat for me. Tracks good, turns well and goes where you tell it to.

About myself

I am 17 years old and a pretty small guy, but the Magnum is very manageable for me. I have been kayaking for about 4 years, and paddling class V for about one year. It is a wonder on steep creeks.

About the test environment

I have only paddled it about 6 times, on the Green Narrows. It boofs nicely and feels super stable on slides.

Review

I absolutely love the boat. It is manueverable yet fast, easy to roll and stable. Outfitting is superb. Super comfortable. Not sure how strong the plastic is, but it is holding up fine so far. The Magnum is very light which makes it ideal for creeks that you have to hike or portage on.

Conclusion

If you can I would highly suggest demoing the boat, I think you will be very pleased.

About me

I paddle creeks 95% of the time

Test environment

quebec creek class IV-V

Review

Got a Magnum this spring and I love it. The outfitting is great and easy to adjust. The thigh braces do a great job for me and when you had the triangular minicell and the other side of the knee you have great control on your boat. The Magnum has enough speed to do the must do ferry or catch the smallest eddy but it's not too fast. It's got a good accelleration and can keep its line yet it's easy to change direction. The new plastic is solid but if I could I would get one with a nose cap. The Magnum has very good first and second stability. It rides high on the water so you're not influenced by the boogie water, the volume distribution and rocker are very good and that helps you punch over the hole. There's a lot of volume on the stern and that helps a lot avoiding back endering.

I will go on class V creek withs confidence in my Magnum, because it's stable and it punches trough holes easelly and with its speed I can do any ferry and catch that last eddy before the big class V rapid. I would give 5 star if it came with a nose cap.

This is the start of my second summer paddling so time to get a creekboat and push it along some more... Access 10 on the Tongariro is a grade 3 run and is 16 cmecs due to hydro scheme taking water out above. this makes the river a boulder dodge, normal flows about 40 cmecs. Plenty of short rapids with walls below. We usually take playboats down here but I wanted to get used to the new Magnum. The boat is really light for a creeker, changes direction quickly, when you want to get a move on it takes off. stays upright and carves well probably to do with the rails from the front of the cockpit back, enough volume to go in any hole on the run and feel fine blasting straight through, round enough to bounce off or scrape around rocks easily. The hull is really good, well done Riot. The fit out though is good in some areas and not so in others. The main drawback for me is the hip pads, is there a shortage of pocket material to stuff foam into and a lack of velcro in Canada? I got a bit stuck on one rapid and fell over between some rocks, by the time I had scaped down to the pool below I had to grab the bottom of the boat and pull my butt back into the seat before I could roll up, just my cagdeck holding me in the boat. I am now in the process of replacing the hip pads with some glued in carved foam ones, having taken out the Riot double layer system. I couldnt get enough foam in the pockets provided and feel snug, the outer velcroed on cushioning is a bit slidey. Plus the back band I have lifted it up and drilled some more holes so it sits more in the small of my back, still feels a bit low though, plus the ratchet will slip over the teeth on the snowboard type binding strip just as you are getting it cranked into position, better to set it before you get in the boat. The roll around thigh braces are ok for control and would be good if you had to bail in a hurry, footplate fine but if you had longer legs than me the aluminium strips to secure could be a bit short and possibly encroach on your foot space, I have bent mine out from the footplate to give more foot room and now they are on their last hole. Once I have sorted the hip pads I am really looking forward to taking on some bigger water and feel this boat wont let me down, all in all am well pleased with my purchase.