Hard vs Soft - Not Selling Anything Here

[Puddy Tat]

I'm not posting this here as a 'for sale' item and in fact I won't be selling any of this equipment outside of the Edmonton area. I just wanted to post this here as I thought the observation on number of views on the hard vs soft equipment was really interesting.

So I posted 5 boards and two sets of boots on my local Kijiji site the other day. There was one hardboot set-up, 4 softboot boards, and two sets of softboots. 24 hours later the hardboot equipment has received more than twice the number of views of any of the other equipment and I've already had an email inquiry on it, I have yet to hear anything back on any of the softboot equipment. I've put a truncated screenshot below just to show the number of views.

It was just interesting as the number of views was completely opposite of what I was expecting. Apparently plates isn't a dead or antiquated style of riding. It's likely there is only so few of us because of the lack of readily availiable equipment.

Cheers,

Dave

[crucible]

Your internet experience doesn't surprise me at all.

Your internet experience does not surprise me at all.


Considering how hard it is to find actual samples of alpine equipment in snowboarding shops today, it leaves the snowboarding carving customer with forums like this one, or eBay and Craigslist as a the best shopping options.

Luckily, I have found the alpine carving tribe to be extremely ethical and accurate in describing the condition of the equipment that they place on sale. In over a dozen online transactions that I have had with BOL members over the past 10 years, (boards, boots, bindings, helmets, boots, wax, accommodation, and even lift tickets), I have never had a deal go sideways.

I like to think of the alpine carving tribe as a more sophisticated snowboard purchasing customer, although I have no accurate means of quantifying or qualifying that statement.

Geo

[Puddy Tat]

However based on the prevailing attitude toward soft equipment being generated by mass media today my assumption was that most people wouldn't even bother looking at a hardboot board. As a best case I assumed it might see an even number of views. It currently has almost three times the number of views of any of the other equipment.

Mass market aside, I posted this at the beginning of the pre-season when people are looking for deals. Most people aren't riding plates so I'm surprised I got this many views.

BTW One thing I do appreciate about alpine hardboot equipment, at least it retains some retail value. Softboot equipment seems so fashion orientated that the equipment has almost no value the following season. Boards, boots, and bindings that are physically identical from year to year with only a graphic change lose 60% of their value even when the equipment is in a new, or barely used state.

Cheers,

Dave

[snowboardfast]

I think you could stock up a lot of snowboard shops with alpine gear and it still would not sell that well because most people that snowboard are afraid to give it a try.Burton and Rosignol used to demo alpine gear for free back in the 90's and they didn't get very many people wanting to try it back then. Most people think hardboots=sore feet which is not true anymore most of the time. Of course the cost of alpine gear is way higher both new and used which does'nt help but you simply can't produce alpine gear as cheap as softboot even if sales volume was way higher. I think alpine will always be a minority sport regardless of the cost or availabilty of new or used gear.Enjoy the sport and try to promote it when you can if a person shows an interest.