120's sighted

[Mindcircus]

Originally posted by kirk
Exactly Roussel. Theres no reason for people to start out on crap like Salomon when there are much better boards available. Cost isn't the issue either because SnowJams are high quality and really cheap comparatively. I started off on Salomons like most people, but I regreted it once I got to ride good quality skiboards. Theres no reason to start on crappy boards when theres good quality ones for the same price.

The problem is there isn't that big company to expose skiboards. You can't, as far as i know, go to the mountain rental shop and rent skiboards. We've all come to realize at some point that snowblades are a totally inferior product compared to real skiboards. That's why there's a bad rap. For every pair of quality skiboards you come across, there are 5 pairs of crap Snowblades. Until this ratio changes, it'll be very difficult to change the image of this sport.

As far as skiboards.com is concerned, yes they do sell crap. Yes, they do kind of hide the fact that these products are inferior. But they do sell some quality stuff also and the guys who run that place are very nice. They may not be totally true to the sport but you can't totally hate them.

[Roussel]

no doubt doc is a very nice guy and loves skiboarding, he's just too mainstream about it for most people here.

[Jason]

Besides a few people I actually know at our resort, ive never seen someone riding real skiboards. When I ask they are usually clueless.

[MikeMtn]

Originally posted by Roussel
i disagree, a reason why skiboarding is looked down upon is because of bad equipment. some people look at it and see toys, not knowing that they are high quality skiboards out there.

i'll take streetboarding (snakeboarding) as an example, for a while there where really crappy ones being make, basically materials you would find in a toy store. Dimension Streetboards got a patent for it and now u need a license to make them, since then the sport has been growing a lot steadier because no more low quality products where being made so the true streetboarding companies got more exposure.

i'm not saying u can't have fun on low quality snowblades, i'm saying why not start off on decent quality stuff so that the companies who are suporting the sport, who are sponsering events and riders get more exposure rather then the companies who are trying to monopolise the whole sport with low end products (ie salomon)

I think it is difficult to make that correlation. I see your point, but in Snowboarding, you can buy crap also. It doesn't bring that sport down. I think more than anything, people just feel that there are limitations to skiboarding. I think that for one of my brothers, skiboarding is great for him. But for the other brother, I don't think he benefits on skiboards because he can handle his skis so well. It just isn't for him. As for snowblades, I don't think that many of us would even be on this forum if it weren't for snowblades. I don't think that Greco has the resources to put rental Revolts in ski shops across the nation. That would be nice, but I'm not sure if he could make it into all the venues. That's where Salomon has the advantage. And for them to be the introduction into the sport, well that's ok. For me, I then went looking for Salomon online. My google search took me to skiboards.com because they sell them. That place, in turn led me to meet people that are on both forums, like I am now. That association got me onto Revolts this year. Revolts are great, and I'm having a blast riding them. Therefore, Salomon Snowblades are great because they introduced me to Revolts. 4 degrees of separation.

[Nic61]

Originally posted by MikeMtn
I think it is difficult to make that correlation. I see your point, but in Snowboarding, you can buy crap also. It doesn't bring that sport down. I think more than anything, people just feel that there are limitations to skiboarding. I think that for one of my brothers, skiboarding is great for him. But for the other brother, I don't think he benefits on skiboards because he can handle his skis so well. It just isn't for him. As for snowblades, I don't think that many of us would even be on this forum if it weren't for snowblades. I don't think that Greco has the resources to put rental Revolts in ski shops across the nation. That would be nice, but I'm not sure if he could make it into all the venues. That's where Salomon has the advantage. And for them to be the introduction into the sport, well that's ok. For me, I then went looking for Salomon online. My google search took me to skiboards.com because they sell them. That place, in turn led me to meet people that are on both forums, like I am now. That association got me onto Revolts this year. Revolts are great, and I'm having a blast riding them. Therefore, Salomon Snowblades are great because they introduced me to Revolts. 4 degrees of separation.

Thanks Mike, that is exactly what I think as well.... in their own way Salomon does do something for skiboarding, and that is get people interested - interested enough to search the web and eventually find SBOL and great skiboards like the Revolts etc.

Isn't that how most of us started? Can't all be that bad for the sport then....

[Roussel]

snowboarding doesnt have this problem because people already know about the high qaulity boards and the low end boards are not sold in sports stores.

sure i learnt about skiboarding on salomons also, but why shouldnt we try to change this?

[Jason]

Originally posted by MikeMtn
I think it is difficult to make that correlation. I see your point, but in Snowboarding, you can buy crap also. It doesn't bring that sport down. I think more than anything, people just feel that there are limitations to skiboarding. I think that for one of my brothers, skiboarding is great for him. But for the other brother, I don't think he benefits on skiboards because he can handle his skis so well. It just isn't for him. As for snowblades, I don't think that many of us would even be on this forum if it weren't for snowblades. I don't think that Greco has the resources to put rental Revolts in ski shops across the nation. That would be nice, but I'm not sure if he could make it into all the venues. That's where Salomon has the advantage. And for them to be the introduction into the sport, well that's ok. For me, I then went looking for Salomon online. My google search took me to skiboards.com because they sell them. That place, in turn led me to meet people that are on both forums, like I am now. That association got me onto Revolts this year. Revolts are great, and I'm having a blast riding them. Therefore, Salomon Snowblades are great because they introduced me to Revolts. 4 degrees of separation.

I'm one of the lucky ones, I never started out on snowblades. If there were Revolts in rental shops, I think I'd rent.