Get Gear Cheap
There’s no getting away from this: Snowboarding gear can be extremely expensive. Bought new, you’re looking at spending hundreds of pounds to get the latest gear, clothing and accesories. You’re not only paying for the quality workmanship, of course, you are also paying for fashion and the prestigious name. Snowboarding, like any industry, is very fashion-centric and fickle. If you want the best brand-new gear then you will have to pay the right price for it. That’s just the way it is.
But is new the only way to go? Well, no, it doesn’t have to be. There is plenty of second and third-hand stuff available, but the trick is with anything: you need to know the right places to look.
As well as the obvious one (Ebay), there are many other places where you can stumble across gear which has been well-used, but is thoroughly serviceable. Much of this gear may be scratched or not look completely new, but usually this is only surface damage. And the price of some of this stuff is certainly worth taking a chance on. For fifty pounds, providing you are willing to hunt things down, you can easily furnish a whole snowboarding wardrobe!
The best places to look are: car-boot sales / markets / online advertisements and forums and also newspapers. People still put ads in the newspaper for many things, and often incredible deals can be found just by flicking through the pages and making a few phone-calls. And don’t be put off by the price. It would wise to be suspicious of items costing very little, but usually they are only this price because the person selling them needs the space.
The most important thing to remember is always ask for history. And be aware that if something looks too good to be true, it very well could be.
Just came across this online contest where the prize is resorts. Everybody should really put your names in, this would be such a cool way way to spend next Christmas considering the rubbish time that we had this year…