 Poster: A snowHead
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so out in Les Arcs for the season, and got my rig with me (Palmer Carbon Circle & Burton Cartels - sweet) - mucking around with a load of mates who are mainly workers and therefore get free rentals...
But why or why are rental snowboards so universally rubbish - they're super heavy - a girlies 151 feels 40% heaver than my 161, and the bindings are just garbage - If I had a euro for every person who's had the binding ice up and not be able to get tension on the straps, then I'd be able to buy a 5K cocktail in verbier!! There's a range of skis available and some of the better kit really looks quite nice if that's your bag, but the boards don't seem to offer more than just 'entry-level'.
Do they expect everyone to buy after a couple of weeks or what?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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bertie bassett, rubbish rentals pushed me to buy  no idea why they can not have decent gear at the rental shops though
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Most of my rentals are decent, I have some bulletproof beginners boards that aren't that nice to be honest by the rest is all good.
The problem with the bindings is finding something that doesnt fall apart everyday, the hunt continues this year with raiden, which arent lasting that well 
The main problem with boards is no one gives a shite about a rental board so it dies quite quickly.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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you need to shop around, the last few trips in different resorts have turned up some decent boards for the guys that rent. But after you have rented a few times at stupid prices it makes more sense to buy a board
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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bertie bassett, depends on where you're getting your boards from. the place i got my trial board from gave me a brilliant new season board and bindings. but then, they are a specialist snowboard lodge and the staff are mostly ex-pros...
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If I needed to rent in a resort I would be looking for a specialist board shop - something like the Misty Fly in ValD.
Gear from places like Intersports tends to be rubbish.
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I heard there was a good board rental shop in Cham called Coco's but never found it.
In my last few years of renting, I could have bought what I rented on eBay for less than the rental. My last renter, last month, was a 2005 Vertigo for 90 a week.
My wife had 09 skis for 70 quid.
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I was forced to rent this year in Meribel. I used Freeride as that's the shop the rest of the group was using. They had very decent skis but boards weren't as good and were rental specific boards. One was a "Salomon Rental" as clearly written on teh top sheet graphics...
Maybe boards get trashed more than skis hence sturdier but not so fun boards are required...
The good skis were expensive though!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I've bought now and wish I had bought before I went to Cham at New Year. Had I done so, my recent pruchase would have effectively been almost £100 cheaper.
I only held back because a board owning friend said he regretted buying. He said he bought the wrong board and wished he had just rented the next new thing each year. I am an optimist and held off in the hope that I would, one day, come across a shop full of 09 Burton Customs or Ride Concepts etc but they don't exist.
I have since reminded my friend that you can only rent what was the next new thing from 2004, once its had several hundred hours of abuse.
The last board I rented was the best they had in the shop. A 2004/2005 Elan Vertigo. It had on it what looked like an early pre production prototype/mock up for SP or Flow bindings. You would have your life in your hands if you strapped your feet into these! For this reason, I suspect it had seen less use and certainly less hard use, than other boards in the rack, not that I would have chosen any of them. I got them changed for a pair of their best bindings, which would have cost £50 new, before considering it. It had a bit of stiffness and a good base but there was no edge left to sharpen so it would have been lethal on any ice. The rental was worth about a third of what I paid for it and only that because I had some decent powder which masked its failings.
When you consider that rental chains pay approx 50% of retail prices, paying £80-£100 a week to rent a board set up, that would cost the shop £150-£200 to buy new, is not very good value. Entry boards, such as the Salomon Rental will cost less than £150 new so after the first week its almost pure GP. Even if I hadn't bought what I have, I would have bought something/anything rather than rent again.
There are obvious and notable exceptions, such a Johnny's shop, but in general the board rental industry sucks.
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As a relatively recent convert to boarding, I was pretty shocked at how difficult it is to get decent rental gear. Skiers have it easy. A lot of rental shops stock boards "becoz they have to" or have a really limited range. Good specialists are few & far between from what I can see. I've had rental bindings fall apart on the hill.
Compared to skis there are a lot more variables in terms of binding set up as well. Every time I've asked a shop to alter e.g. the stance width they give you a look of disgust at having to get their screwdriver out, so I usually just do it myself now if I haven't brought my own board. I think it is far more beneficial for boarders to buy their own gear than skiers, who get a pretty good choice of rental gear in most resorts.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Never posted before but this thread got me thinking about the rentals I had before I bought, and I remember hiring a 02 Custom 7 years ago (02 board for the 2002 Season).
It was a shop in Courchevel though I can't remember which and it wasn't one of those specialist ones as the family got their ski's from the same place.
I just wanted to assure bar shaker that miracles can happen.... although the rest of the rented boards I've had were utter tosh!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I'm sure there are a few very notable exceptions around. My wife's personal instructor told me about the board shop in Chamonix. They had just renewed their entire stock with quality 09 gear. Perhaps I heard the directions or name wrong because I couldn't find it for half an hour of looking.
A Burton Custom and bindings would cost a shop approx £200-£250 to buy. I would have willingly paid £125 to rent that for a week, rather than £90 for tosh.
Stab/JLP will know the economics better than me but there must be good business in renting good gear, for a good fee. You would have to walk a long way to find crap skis to rent, these days.
We should create a sticky list of all the good board rental shops dotted around and ensure they get as much business as possible.
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| bar shaker wrote: |
| You would have to walk a long way to find crap skis to rent, these days. |
Not if you live near Nevis Range you wouldn't.
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You know it makes sense.
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paulio, Well pointed out but that's because the stones in the mud wreck the bases in the first week of use (and every subsequent week), so they just buy up the ruined ex rental stuff from the French shops, rather than paying for new stuff to get ruined.
Its a sound business plan, on this one occasion.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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bar shaker, I have 09 ICS customs with EST cartels in my rentals, 09 burton twin, 09 salomon answer, 09 feelgood and 09 salomon ivy.
Agreed though, this seems to be an exception.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Went to Heavently in 05 and mates in our group managed to rent that season's Customs complete with Missions. It was the shop at the base station on the California side.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Jonny luv plums, I've started a thread where we can name the shops that have invested in some good stock. Can you start it off and fill in the details of your emporium?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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ZeroG in Chamonix does good stuff, Misty Fly in Val d'isere as mentioned, local shop ZigZags here in Sainte Foy has some decent Apo boards as top-end rentals.
I know the guy who runs ZigZags well. Spoke to him about this very issue - why can you rent a wide choice of different top-end skis, but only sh*te snowboards? His reasoning was that most snowboarders buy their own gear rather than rent. My opinion is still that this is BECAUSE of the difficulty in renting decent gear. 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Yep, I only bought because I was fed up with renting sh1te.
Steve can you put some details in HERE please, to get it started.
I think I saw Zero G in Cham. Was it near that outside bar on the main pedestrian road? Looked like it was in a basement on a road junction? I found it too late to bother changing what I had.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Kruisler wrote: |
One was a "Salomon Rental" as clearly written on teh top sheet graphics...
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the salomon rentals are easier to repair boards, the bases dont have fancy colors, normally just black, just what you need after a week of someone using the board as a sledge down the road.
I have the salomon tracker for sale and a rental version for rent, as far as I can see the rental version is just a black base and less rubber in the sidewalls.
| Quote: |
| Gear from places like Intersports tends to be rubbish. |
I'm intersport.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Johnny post your details on the other thread. We want the business yto go to those that deserve it!
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bar shaker, ok but it would be better if I do it next week, I'm testing next years boards on monday so then I'll know what will probably be in 2010's rental.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Quote: |
Gear from places like Intersports tends to be rubbish.
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Can't really agree with that isn't Intersports just a type of franchise name and the shops all have independent owners? We found a great Intersports in Courcheval a few years back. Good quality boards and very helpful staff .We had rented 3 boards from them and they even loaned us a board for another one of our group while they fixed the binding on his own board. 
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My OH rented board & bindings from the Intersport in Tignes Les Brevieres. The bindings came loose on the second day but I thankfully had some tools on me so that we could tighten them. At the beginning of the third day, the binding ratchets were acting up but the weather was too good so we decided to plough on. Although my OH managed to get by, I think he would have had a lot more fun if he wasn't half worried about his gear.
I was almost in 2 minds to march to the shop and give them a piece of my mind about their unsafe & over-priced equipment but held myself back.
Given that less people will have the spare cash for new equipment after shelling out for the holiday itself, I reckon rental shops will be raking it in,.... they should therefore be able to provide decent equipment that doesn't threaten to ruin your precious day on the mountain!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I needed to rent boots for a day in St Anton a few years ago. Very surprised when out came that years top of the range Burtons. Very impressed I have to say.
However my OH hired a board for the day in La Plagne the other week. I had to tighten the bindings up and then realised that one was setup a a medium and the other as a large. How the previous occupant managed I dont know!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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flying planet, you are right that there can be good 'Intersports'. But the problem with using a franchise name is that all shops get tarred with the same brush.
My experience of friends hiring from Intersports is not good.
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All other things being equal, you will often get better service from an indie as they rely on their good name and word-of-mouth for business, unlike a franchise who get a steady stream of punters pulled in by the big brand name, so they don't have to try too hard.
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You know it makes sense.
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I'm heading to Sestriere in a few weeks time, anyone know of a good shop?
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