Bones

I'm in Ottawa as well. T & L is very heavy Burton, to say the least. There may be one, possibly two models from each of the other major companies. I know that I've gone in, for years, hoping to find something on my wish list, but nada. And I'm not talking smaller brands, I've talking Salomon boots, Rome bindings, etc. And only go to the flagship store on Bank St. as the staff at the suburban stores don't know anything, but will feed you BS until you buy. My advice is to do your research before you go to T&L because....well, let's just say that I always overhear "outright untruths" while I'm thumbing thru their racks. "all Burton coats are goretex", "Never summer is a European company" "Burton Motos are some of the stiffest boots you can buy", etc.

Do yourself a favor and drop into Surf Side on Carling, out by Lincoln Fields. Small store, niche market, knowledgeable staff. Never Summer, Lib Tech, Arbor, etc. No Burton, they can't afford to have the big B take over their limited floor space.

Spyrothedragon9

I believe the Tommy and Lefebvre website it quite new. I know they didn't have the option to buy anything last year. I also used to live near Montreal. Anyways I can do a little more looking around for different winter sports stores. Tommy and Lefebvre does have a good selection. They have a tonne of Burton, K2 and several other board brands. I saw the entire lineup of Burton Bindings too. Lots of boots too, Burton, 32, etc. When I bought my setup I didn't spend as much time looking around, and trying different things as I should have. I just kind of took what the guy recommended. I'll be sure to take a day and take my time looking through their entire selection.

Spyrothedragon9

I checked out the Surfside website. I must take a trip there. I see all of my favourite brands. 32, Dragon, K2, VonZipper. I've heard a lot about ride, Never Summer and Arbor. Do you think its a good idea to break away from Burton?

lonerider

I found K2 stuff (boards and boots) to be pretty good. I rode the cambered Jibpan 150 and my friend won and still rides a rockered Jiban 153, I also rode the Parkstar and Fastplant back in 2010 and they were solid boards. Two of my friends sport K2 boots (a Maysis, and something I can't remember) and like them.

My personal opinion, but 32 boots are garbage. The Lashed is a floppy piece of crap. The Tm-Two was a decent medium stiffness boot (5 out of 10 in my scale), but it mushed out in like 20 days. The Prime is better... but support and durability again was an issue. The caveat is that I haven't ridden their boots in 4 years, but I haven't read anything that implies that they have completely redesigned their boots. Now I repeat this is my personal opinion (riding for 15 years, 30-35 days a season).

lonerider

YES. To be fair, Burton still makes decent (if slightly over-priced) bindings - but particularly there are so many other board makers out there making quality stuff.

Spyrothedragon9

Yea, the 32 boots I tried on were mushy. I think they make nice jackets though. Can you recommend good quality, stiff boots, bindings, and a board? Something that is good for riding black and double black diamond trails?

lonerider

For boards... check out my previous post (I listed a bunch that I recommend).

For boots... it's really hard to say what will work for you without knowing the shape of your foot. I have super narrow heels and medium wide toes with flat feet and Nitro boots (Team or Select models) work really well for me. If you have a medium wide heel Salomon boots (Dialogue, Synapse, Malamute) are good too. I have tried all of those models and can personally recommend them for you to try out (I listed them in ascending order of stiffness).

For bindings... worry about boots first. then boards.

glm

Seconded. I got my Arbor Blacklist out there and windsurfing stuff in the summer. Super nice staff, even gave me a 10% discount just cause. If you're ever wanting cheap snowboarding stuff in the summer, check out the T and L warehouse sale. I got goggles 40% off, and there were better deals.

Bones

I'm not going to get into the whole Burton vs ??? debate.

All I'm saying is that you need to do your research before you head into T&L on a shopping trip. If you don't, then you might as well buy everything online based on the number of stars it has. With the exception of some of the tech guys, the floor staff hasn't got a clue. Although they think they do.

It's the kind of place that you want to walk in and say "I wanna see this, that and this in a size 10" If the guy says "wanna see this as well?", then you'll have enough knowledge to recognize that what he is offering is entry level crap or a reasonable alternative.

The Surfside guys seem pretty well educated on their product lines and the industry in general.

blunted_nose

Cartels are so much better then those k2 recliners, lol i laugh so hard when i see those with that strap on the highbacks...