NEW BOOTS

[DHS]

Hey guys. I am needing a new pair of ski boots this year. (My others are now 10 years old). Any advice on where the best place to buy them is? I don't want just any Joe fitting me up. Paul is probably the obvious choice, but I live in Warnnambool, and was hoping for somewhere in Ballarat, Geelong or Melbourne. Cheers!! ;)

[Rednut]

I cann't vouch for their bootfitting as i haven't bought boots there, but Wetsports in Ballarat have a few brands of boots and a sidas footbed machine... ask for matt, he's a snowboarder but he seems to know what's what!

Geelong i've got no idea, but for melbourne... in alphabetical order of those i remember ;)

Ajays - Ringwoodish
Altitude - City, Elizabeth St
Auski - City, Hardware Lane
Bumps - Elsternwick
EMC - Deepdene
Rider Plus - City & Ivanhoe

If i think of any others i'll put them up... but it's early in the year tongue.gif

[Azz]

No offense to Paul...................(have not met him yet, hope to soon)

D.H.S, take a holiday to Brisvegas and go see Greta. She should be back from Whistler soon.
:D

[Paul Oberin]

Altitude in Elizabeth street if shopping in the city, ask for Mario.
Otherwise the others listed like Ajays see Robbie, EMC look for Doug and Bumps, see Peter or Andy, all have good boot fitting reputations.
Add in shops like Skiman at Hawthorn, and the Preston branch of skiers edge.

[Paul Oberin]

Try to shop close to where you can get back to easilly as there is a good chance you will need adjustments along the way, so I don't suggest a trip to Brisbane, even though Greta is an excellent boot fitter.

[Rednut]

skiman was the shop i couldn't think of... is box hill ski and skate still linked with skiman and selling boots?

[Paul Oberin]

Originally posted by Rednut:
skiman was the shop i couldn't think of... is box hill ski and skate still linked with skiman and selling boots? Last I heard Box hill ski is now closed down.

[DHS]

Thanks guys. Bought my B1 bandits from Matt the rat in Ballarat. I will give him a try with my boots. I just wanted to make sure I got someone who knows what they are on about. After all, the boots are just as important as the skis!!

[Paul Oberin]

I have to ask as I have not heard of this Matt, how do you determine from the advice given above that "Matt the rat" is the best person to fit your boots, as that shop was not mentioned as being good at fitting boots, no offence to Matt, he may be a good fitter, then again he may not be.
Having a Sidas machine doesn't automatically mean that you have the expertise to use it and also have the many years of fitting experience to know how to fit boots, and has he done any advanced boot fitting clinics like Masterfit or the advanced sidas one, if so he may be alright.

[ 20.02.2008, 10:08 PM: Message edited by: Paul ]

[BrumbyJack]

Rednut recommended him if you read the top posts ;)

[Paul Oberin]

Rednut didn't use him, so how would he know.

[Paul Oberin]

I have a couple of young snowboarders working for me during winter, they do sell skis, and we have several Sidas machines as well as a Masterfit machine, but my snowboarders who work for me wouldn't have a clue about fitting ski boots.
All I am saying is find out if Matt DOES know his fitting before heading in there, maybe he is good, but maybe he is not.

Take the risk out of it, buy from a shop that has a bootfit guarantee, if they don't fit you get your money back.

[ 20.02.2008, 10:14 PM: Message edited by: Paul ]

[Rednut]

Originally posted by BrumbyJack:
Rednut recommended him if you read the top posts ;) He hasn't made boots for me, so i can't recommend him from experience. They sell boots and have a good set up which i have seen!

[DHS]

Thanks Paul. This is what I was after. I think I might go see Mario at Altitude in the city. Much appreciated. smile.gif

[Paul Oberin]

Originally posted by die_hard_skier:
Thanks Paul. This is what I was after. I think I might go see Mario at Altitude in the city. Much appreciated. smile.gif Don't write off Wetsports yet.
Assuming the shops have a good bootfitter.
This is my advice.
The best two places to buy boots.
1. close to where you live, so you don't waste good skiing time getting them fixed / adjusted, Wetsports is your closest shop.
2. where you ski most often, this is my second choice, as you will loose skiing time getting them worked on.
A good reason though to buy from Altitude if you live in Melbourne and ski Buller, is that they are easy to get too, and more importantly, they have exceptionally good boot fitters at both the Elizabeth street shop, and also on mountain at Buller.

But do some reasearch on Wetsports, if they have a good fitter, then they are also a good choice, like I said, see if they offer a fit guarantee, good shops with good fitters are confident enough to offer that policy, if their fitters are bad, then they usually don't offer it.

[ 20.02.2008, 11:15 PM: Message edited by: Paul ]

[DHS]

I ski Hotham. Are there any fitters that anyone knows of that operate from hotham as well as off mountain?

[Rednut]

hotham i've heard positive comments about zirkys... and paul's not too far away ;)

[skichic]

Originally posted by Azz:
No offense to Paul...................(have not met him yet, hope to soon)

D.H.S, take a holiday to Brisvegas and go see Greta. She should be back from Whistler soon.
:D I'll second that ;)

[Azz]

the bootfitters at Hotham come in from Austria and last yr weren't available for the whole season. Zirky's is part of the ski company now. Closest to Hotham for boot fitting is Ray's at Myrtleford, and of course Paul... you can't go past him if you are close by.
I got my boots in Bris.. from Greta... sadly too far away now for tweaking since the move to Vic. Think I'll take up snowboarding. :D

[Azz]

Oops,and that's Tambo, not Azz!