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Shop Recommendations in Eastern PA

Wendy

Resurrecting the Oxford comma
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Santa Fe, New Mexico
Have new set of skis, Lasar AR on order. IS there a general consensus from the other Philly region locals on where to take the skis for initial tune and setup?

I’ve bought from Alpina, Buckmans, and even Blue. But never seen real tune-up. As this pair of skis is a big upgrade from me, trying to figure out the best place to take for tuning in the region.

I see Elk come up a lot, which I can do but it’s not super continent for me. Will if that is the place to go though.
I had my AX’s ground at Blue after discovering they came from the factory railed. They did a nice job. Have a new Montana machine and the technicians seemed very knowledgeable.

Also, the tuning at Alpina is good, too.
 

Blizzboy283

Booting up
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Joined
Nov 7, 2021
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11
Location
Marlton, NJ
Hey Guys, I just got new boots and the last time I did, I had custom footbeds from Salter’s put in. Obviously that’s not an option anymore, so I’m wondering who people recommend in the Philly area for footbeds?

I’ll try the salter ones in there but in all honesty, I wasn’t the biggest fan of them. My left foot always felt out of place on the footbed.
 

Wendy

Resurrecting the Oxford comma
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Hey Guys, I just got new boots and the last time I did, I had custom footbeds from Salter’s put in. Obviously that’s not an option anymore, so I’m wondering who people recommend in the Philly area for footbeds?

I’ll try the salter ones in there but in all honesty, I wasn’t the biggest fan of them. My left foot always felt out of place on the footbed.
Best footbed builder I know is Billy Kaplan. He’s a certified pedorthist. He doesn’t sell boots, but he does boot fitting and lots of customization as well as footbeds. Great guy - he’s who I go to.

215-760-8226.
1753 Bridgetown Pike
Feasterville PA
 

Olesya C

Always learning
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Feb 21, 2016
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429
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East Coast
I also second Billy. He had a massive impact in new boots, footbet, and overall setup. Literally open my world into how much of an impact boots have, especially if you have troublesome foot/legs like i do.
I third (is that even a verb lol) recommendation for Billy. I had a lot of unusual needs for bootfitting too - much taller and heavier woman then average, long tibia legs that needed tall and stiff boots, limited dorsiflexion, but narrow feet. He was able to put me in the boots that worked with minor tweaks. I am in stiff men's boots because of physiology, weight/height and ski level. I highly recommend Billy, he is very knowledgeable, very good at evaluating alignment isssues and he also he really listened to me and what I need in my skiing.
 

Blizzboy283

Booting up
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Nov 7, 2021
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11
Location
Marlton, NJ
Thanks so much for the recommendation guys. It seems as if we are lucky to have Billy in the Philly area.
Best footbed builder I know is Billy Kaplan. He’s a certified pedorthist. He doesn’t sell boots, but he does boot fitting and lots of customization as well as footbeds. Great guy - he’s who I go to.

215-760-8226.
1753 Bridgetown Pike
Feasterville PA

I also second Billy. He had a massive impact in new boots, footbet, and overall setup. Literally open my world into how much of an impact boots have, especially if you have troublesome foot/legs like i do.

I third (is that even a verb lol) recommendation for Billy. I had a lot of unusual needs for bootfitting too - much taller and heavier woman then average, long tibia legs that needed tall and stiff boots, limited dorsiflexion, but narrow feet. He was able to put me in the boots that worked with minor tweaks. I am in stiff men's boots because of physiology, weight/height and ski level. I highly recommend Billy, he is very knowledgeable, very good at evaluating alignment isssues and he also he really listened to me and what I need in my skiing.
 

mikes781

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Mar 30, 2018
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836
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NJ
Thanks so much for the recommendation guys. It seems as if we are lucky to have Billy in the Philly area.
I’m right around the corner from you in Mt Laurel and it’s definitely worth taking the ride to visit Billy. He fitted me for boots last year over several sessions and I couldn’t be happier.
 

Blizzboy283

Booting up
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Nov 7, 2021
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Marlton, NJ
I’m right around the corner from you in Mt Laurel and it’s definitely worth taking the ride to visit Billy. He fitted me for boots last year over several sessions and I couldn’t be happier.
Thanks Mike. I’m definitely going to call him this week. What are the costs like? Maybe we can make some turns together this year.
 

mikes781

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Thanks Mike. I’m definitely going to call him this week. What are the costs like? Maybe we can make some turns together this year.
You’ll do the initial consultation and he’ll recommend a couple of pairs to boots to buy. You’ll come back for another visit with them and he’ll work with you to figure out what works best for and you return the rest. Total price for his services will depend on what you need/want done. I’m looks for my receipt but couldn’t find it. I can custom inserts made, some molding and alignment work done and probably paid around 350mon top of the price of the boots. That was for 3 sessions of fittings of a few hours each. If I went to him to begin with I would have saved a few hundreds on the two previous pair of boots lol.

I ski Blue just about every week so hit me up if you ever end up there.
 

sdmay59

Booting up
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Apr 17, 2021
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14
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PA
I highly recommend Alpina ski shop near Jack Frost. Dieter (the shop owner) does a great job tuning skis, very knowledgeable about ski gear. He is also an excellent bootfitter. @tinymoose @Large Squirrel and @Wendy all shop for ski gear and do their bootfitting at Alpina. In fact, they introduced me to Alpina and Dieter when I moved to PA 3 year ago.
Agreed. Dieter takes the time to get you fit in a boot- and he welcomes you to come back for further adjustment if you have problems with the fit. Alpina Ski Shop/940 Snowboards located on RT 940 near Jack Frost/Big Boulder
 

Blizzboy283

Booting up
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Nov 7, 2021
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Marlton, NJ
You’ll do the initial consultation and he’ll recommend a couple of pairs to boots to buy. You’ll come back for another visit with them and he’ll work with you to figure out what works best for and you return the rest. Total price for his services will depend on what you need/want done. I’m looks for my receipt but couldn’t find it. I can custom inserts made, some molding and alignment work done and probably paid around 350mon top of the price of the boots. That was for 3 sessions of fittings of a few hours each. If I went to him to begin with I would have saved a few hundreds on the two previous pair of boots lol.

I ski Blue just about every week so hit me up if you ever end up there.
Thanks for the insight. I’m going December 15th for my first session.
 

SurlyTemple

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Aug 25, 2021
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Vermont
I don't live in PA anymore, but Blue always did really great work on my skis. I've had bindings mounted and all kinds of work done over the years and was always happy with the work and the staff was always pleasant and helpful. If JD is still in the shop there, he's a good bootfitter, too.
 

tube77

Getting on the lift
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Joined
Feb 4, 2019
Posts
245
I don't live in PA anymore, but Blue always did really great work on my skis. I've had bindings mounted and all kinds of work done over the years and was always happy with the work and the staff was always pleasant and helpful. If JD is still in the shop there, he's a good bootfitter, too.
Blue is not for boot fitting. They don’t even have the expander. They refused to work on my son’s boots that I purchased from them so I had to head to Dieter.
 

SurlyTemple

Booting up
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Aug 25, 2021
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Vermont
Blue is not for boot fitting. They don’t even have the expander. They refused to work on my son’s boots that I purchased from them so I had to head to Dieter.
Yeah, they don't work on boots except to do heat-molding, but if you're trying out boots, they have that one guy who is knowledgable and can steer you well to a good fit, or tell you they don't have what you need.. It can be a good place to start before you go further afield.

Decent boot-fitting in and around the Lehigh Valley is pretty scarce. I went to Buckman's years ago to try on a specific model boot that I was curious about. The "bootfitter" yelled at me about my size choice and then insisted on "helping" me try them on, whereupon he fell off his stool into the floor, giving me an unwanted full view of his arse.
 

tube77

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Feb 4, 2019
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245
Yeah, they don't work on boots except to do heat-molding, but if you're trying out boots, they have that one guy who is knowledgable and can steer you well to a good fit, or tell you they don't have what you need.. It can be a good place to start before you go further afield.

Decent boot-fitting in and around the Lehigh Valley is pretty scarce. I went to Buckman's years ago to try on a specific model boot that I was curious about. The "bootfitter" yelled at me about my size choice and then insisted on "helping" me try them on, whereupon he fell off his stool into the floor, giving me an unwanted full view of his arse.
I guess you luckily have different experices from mine. They sold me the boots first then later when we came back for the fitting they said they couldn't work on the shell. That's how I found Dieter from this forum. Also Buckman is miserable for boot fitting as well. Most of the staff are seasonal and their so called 'fitter's were short trained. Couple of years back for my own boot, I spent 3~4 visit to expand the toe box with the seasonal 'fitter' but he eventually failed to make it right and in the end he offered me to exchange with the wider version of the boots.
 

Blizzboy283

Booting up
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Joined
Nov 7, 2021
Posts
11
Location
Marlton, NJ
You’ll do the initial consultation and he’ll recommend a couple of pairs to boots to buy. You’ll come back for another visit with them and he’ll work with you to figure out what works best for and you return the rest. Total price for his services will depend on what you need/want done. I’m looks for my receipt but couldn’t find it. I can custom inserts made, some molding and alignment work done and probably paid around 350mon top of the price of the boots. That was for 3 sessions of fittings of a few hours each. If I went to him to begin with I would have saved a few hundreds on the two previous pair of boots lol.

I ski Blue just about every week so hit me up if you ever end up there.
Billy was amazing! I know you guys said he was good but he even exceeded my high expectations. I can see why US Ski Team members fly in to see him. One session done so far, but it was amazing the tweaks he was making and how much different it felt. He's had people fly in from Chile and I know that if I ever move, I'll have to fly back in to see him.
 

ihocky2

Putting on skis
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Joined
Dec 4, 2021
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59
Location
Allentown, Pa
Does anyone have experience with Pelican in Quakertown? I've bought pants there and looked at the ski rack but never dealt with anyone. Are they more of just a retailer or do they have anyone with knowledge?
 

Philpug

Notorious P.U.G.
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Nov 1, 2015
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Reno, eNVy
Does anyone have experience with Pelican in Quakertown? I've bought pants there and looked at the ski rack but never dealt with anyone. Are they more of just a retailer or do they have anyone with knowledge?
I didn't know they were even still around.
 

MikeW Philly

Getting off the lift
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Mar 10, 2019
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266
Location
Harleysville, PA
Does anyone have experience with Pelican in Quakertown? I've bought pants there and looked at the ski rack but never dealt with anyone. Are they more of just a retailer or do they have anyone with knowledge?

I guess it depends on what you are looking for also. With boots it’s very hard for me to not recommend Billy. But I have giant calfs (feet aren’t too crazy) that makes even ski socks be tight enough to impact circulation until I stretch them.

For skis Alpina is another recommendation but I usually l prefer the advice I get here myself because you have more options/choices.

So what are you looking for?
 

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