Must not have seen this thread when it was posted... way to bump Stephen! Todd, I love my Vagabond. Truly don't have any complaints. The shape is awesome, with the different rockers along the outside and center of the board I get really smooth, mellow cuts and a forgiving ride from the outer continuous rocker combined with great pop from what is essentially a 3-stage rocker down the center of the board. The edge bevel changes from more aggressive in the tip and tail to mellower between the boots which lends to the forgiveness I mentioned earlier. It's not insanely stiff, I'd say 7/10 but is still responsive, carries speed well and kicks off the wake strong but predictably. Landings are fine even in the trough or out into the flats and can say that confidently with bad knees and a hip surgery under my belt. I've broken a couple but it's not a recurring issue, more like me just putting abusing my boards (in a good way, I almost always have my board in a neo wrap when it's not in a rack or under my feet.)
Now that I'm done preaching about the Vagabond, my experience with the Franchise. First off, it's limited. I've taken a handful of sets on friends Franchise but this was circa 2015. The shape hasn't changed since then (or 2010 for that matter.) All continuous rocker, edges are a bit more aggressive so it locks down and carries a ton of speed into the wake when cutting. Pops well and was consistent. Landings were nice and soft and the board has almost the same core as the Vagabond, save for the Vagabond having the carbon criss-cross.
Bonus input: I've ridden the Kruz (both cores) plenty and just got to take my first sets on a Relapse last weekend. Fast, poppy boards but too much edge response/aggressiveness for me. I love the Vagabond because it rides so mellow and almost surfy, but still pops like a mofo when you want it to!
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