Tahoe Techs

**sevensixfive** · 03-09-2006, 12:04 PM

On a note related to BLDSWTSTL's post about a mis-mount.......
Does anyone have a solid tech/shop in Tahoe to mount or repair your favorite skis? I just moved here from PNW with new skis, 916's, and a fear that someone will screw their holy union up.
Whos the best?
In an effort to avoid a jonging, I did a search but found nothing on this specific topic.

**El Chupacabra** · 03-09-2006, 12:09 PM

Where are you, specifically? At Tahoe? North/South shore? Or in Reno?

**The Dad** · 03-09-2006, 12:10 PM

I used to be gung ho on Granite Chief in Truckee, but my last experience with them was distinctly sub-par. They didn't do half the work they were supposed to (fortunately, I noticed and therefore didn't pay), and they even mounted the wrong bindings on my daughter's skis (which I let be, because they were equivalent and I didn't want a redrill).

Still, I've never had a bad experience at Granite Chief at Squaw.

I've only taken one pair of skis to Tahoe Dave's in Truckee, but we brought them in at 9pm Friday and picked them up at 8am Saturday, mounted perfectly as far as I can see, for $30 or $35.

Finally, I've only brought one pair of skis to Alpine Ski & Sport, at the base of the Alpine Meadows access road. My daughter tore the crap out of the base of her prior pair of skis a month ago; I brought them in Saturday afternoon and picked them up at 8:30am the next day, well-repaired at a reasonable price.

**irul&ublo** · 03-09-2006, 12:17 PM

Basom, one of the maggots, works at Dave's in Truckee, and I've heard good things about their shop.

Work I've had done at Granite Chief in Truckee has been good and quick; but I've not had any mounting done.

Start Haus and Head North in Truckee are both race oriented, and supposed to be good on tech stuff.

**slim** · 03-09-2006, 12:34 PM

Tahoe Dave's in Truckee. Ask for Pickles. He's the best.

**El Chupacabra** · 03-09-2006, 12:37 PM

In Reno: I recommend Bobo's for real tech work (excellent work), and REI for simply mounting bindings to skis (never had a problem, never heard of a problem, and they're a bit less expensive than Bobo's)

At Tahoe: I had my Spatulas mounted by a friend of Darkside's at Porter's, and they did an excellent job. My tele-skiing office co-worker said he's always brought all his BC gear to The Backcountry in Truckee, never had a problem there.

**MTT** · 03-09-2006, 12:56 PM

Same Question;
Where @ Lake Tahoe are you? I know a good shop and sometimes a (Name) of the guy @ that shop who will take care of you.

So what town in the greater Tahoe area are you located?

**sevensixfive** · 03-09-2006, 01:19 PM

Im between SF and Truckee/TahoeCity for now. Thanks for the suggestions. Ive got a pair of ffgs, and as those of you who have ordered them know, the mounting point has to be carefully measured by chord length-so they need someone who will take the time to do it right.

**El Chupacabra** · 03-09-2006, 01:22 PM

Originally Posted by sevensixfive

Im between SF and Truckee/TahoeCity for now. Thanks for the suggestions. Ive got a pair of ffgs, and as those of you who have ordered them know, the mounting point has to be carefully measured by chord length-so they need someone who will take the time to do it right.

Recommendation: mark the boot center mounting point YOURSELF, no matter what shop you bring them to. Use a sharpie. You can clean off the marker ink with windex afterwards.

**MTT** · 03-09-2006, 02:03 PM

Originally Posted by irul&ublo

Basom, one of the maggots, works at Dave's in Truckee, and I've heard good things about their shop.

.

Given your Location you probably should go here.

**sevensixfive** · 03-09-2006, 02:12 PM

Given that K-wood is on my hit list, I'll travel to anywhere in Tahoe for a good shop.

**The Dad** · 03-09-2006, 02:13 PM

Originally Posted by irul&ublo

Basom, one of the maggots, works at Dave's in Truckee, and I've heard good things about their shop.

He definitely wasn't working when I came in -- the guys I talked to had never heard of Steep & Cheap. Which is probably good news -- it means that their techs do a good, fast job even without a hookup.

**MTT** · 03-09-2006, 02:22 PM

Yea, the only shop I am 100% sure of is Bobo,s (Ask For DAVE) that is in Reno.

That said I have NEVER heard anything bad about Tahoe Daves. I have had nothing but (Top Shelf) work from Dave's in Tahoe City. When you Take a new pair of Iggy's into Tahoe Dave's the tech you talk to will most likly bump them up-stairs to one of there old guy been working on ski's 30+ years dudes) they have a couple of them working for them.

On the South Shore? I would defer that to a K-Wood of South Shore Dude.

**dharris** · 03-09-2006, 03:20 PM

I second Bobo's and REI in Reno.

**Darkside** · 03-09-2006, 03:26 PM

The reason GC in Squaw sucks now is because Link and Sean now work at Porter's in Tahoe City. Name any Tahoe pro, and chances are Link or Sean mounted their skis. Come on in, and we'll take care of you. Ask for Ben and I'll give you the maggot discount.

**MTT** · 03-09-2006, 03:52 PM

Originally Posted by Darkside

The reason GC in Squaw sucks now is because Link and Sean now work at Porter's in Tahoe City. Name any Tahoe pro, and chances are Link or Sean mounted their skis. Come on in, and we'll take care of you. Ask for Ben and I'll give you the maggot discount.

DarkSide, thanks for the Beta. I am not looking for any ski work now, but as we all know, Its not the Ski Shop, its the (GUY) working the shop that makes the differnce.

**mday** · 03-23-2006, 10:08 AM

I need to move my Freerides to a new pair of 179 stiff Bros, and get an initial tune. I'd prefer a shop in Truckee, but could drive to Tahoe City if the consensus was I'd get a better tune, or someone more familiar with Fritschis. My gut feeling is that The Backcountry in Truckee may mount more of these, but I don't remember seeing a stone grinder or a substantial shop area when I was there. So... which one, The Backcountry, Tahoe Dave's (likely to have a jig?), Porter's in Truckee (are the techs as good as the one in Tahoe City?).

I may even end up in Mammoth before Truckee, so if anyone has ideas there let me know. It's almost the same situation, Mammoth Mountaineering probably sells more AT gear, but they don't seem to have as substantial a tuning shop as the alpine oriented shops.

**Arty50** · 03-23-2006, 10:27 AM

Originally Posted by sevensixfive

Im between SF and Truckee/TahoeCity for now. Thanks for the suggestions. Ive got a pair of ffgs, and as those of you who have ordered them know, the mounting point has to be carefully measured by chord length-so they need someone who will take the time to do it right.

I don't know any of the techs in N. Shore. However, Brent at Tahoe Boot & Ski in South Lake can definitely do this. He's located on Hwy 50 just a couple doors down from Tahoe Keys Blvd.

Ty and splat talk about him in this thread.
http://tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49121

He's good; really good.

**MTT** · 03-23-2006, 10:40 AM

Given that you are mounting Free rides and need new Bro's Shaped and tuned, drive the extra 30 Min to Bobo's in Reno and have Dave take care of them. He has handled more Bro ski's than anyone. I bet you could even ship them there and then pic them up on your next ski trip. It will not be a while you wait thing. It will take a day or two to get them done.

BTW Dave likes Alaskan Amber ale.

Originally Posted by mday

I need to move my Freerides to a new pair of 179 stiff Bros, and get an initial tune. I'd prefer a shop in Truckee, but could drive to Tahoe City if the consensus was I'd get a better tune, or someone more familiar with Fritschis. My gut feeling is that The Backcountry in Truckee may mount more of these, but I don't remember seeing a stone grinder or a substantial shop area when I was there. So... which one, The Backcountry, Tahoe Dave's (likely to have a jig?), Porter's in Truckee (are the techs as good as the one in Tahoe City?).

I may even end up in Mammoth before Truckee, so if anyone has ideas there let me know. It's almost the same situation, Mammoth Mountaineering probably sells more AT gear, but they don't seem to have as substantial a tuning shop as the alpine oriented shops.

**mday** · 03-23-2006, 11:25 AM

But the stop in Reno is likely to triple the cost of the work (unless I can stay the hell away from the craps tables). The shipping the skis is a great idea; I was hoping the next trip would be BC, and didn't know how I could swing getting out if my new skis were in a shop, and my trusty G4s were binding-less. Just need to gaze into the crystal ball a little harder to see if I'm definitely going to make it back up to Truckee before I go to Mammoth again...

**The Dad** · 03-23-2006, 11:44 AM

I had Granite Chief in Truckee mount and tune my Bros (albeit with Look/Rossis) in December. They did an excellent job -- they didn't even ask me if I wanted a grind, just put a nice structure in the base. But I gave them several days to do that job -- dropped them off on Sunday, picked them up Friday for the next weekend. (My more recent bad experience with GC was when I dropped off the gear a half hour before closing for pickup the next morning at opening.) If you can wait a few days, it's probably a good choice, although I'd call them to ask about the bindings first.

**skier666** · 03-23-2006, 12:05 PM

I second Brent in South Lake at Tahoe Boot/Bike/Ski works....he's the shit, and will measure everything out to make sure its perfect.

**s.p.c** · 03-23-2006, 12:50 PM

One of my buddies runs the repair shop over in flatstar, goes by the name of wiz... honestly, they have a great grinder, and he has a ton of structures preprogrammed that are pretty bomber. never had anything pull out that he mounted, plus he is a nasty tele ripper, so he could probably accomodate you for b/c tele stuff. i think he might be running their hard goods store right now, but is also managing the shop (snowell) still.

**MSG** · 03-23-2006, 12:56 PM

Beware of Sports LTD in South Lake. I bought my Jaks there for a screaming good deal but they fucked up on the mounting. One binding was mounted 1/4" off from the other.

The Karhu rep hooked me up in Tahoe City at The Backcountry Store and fixed it for me. Great guy, great store.

My 2cents.

**doctapow** · 03-23-2006, 01:32 PM

Originally Posted by mday

I need to move my Freerides to a new pair of 179 stiff Bros, and get an initial tune. I'd prefer a shop in Truckee, but could drive to Tahoe City if the consensus was I'd get a better tune, or someone more familiar with Fritschis. My gut feeling is that The Backcountry in Truckee may mount more of these, but I don't remember seeing a stone grinder or a substantial shop area when I was there. So... which one, The Backcountry, Tahoe Dave's (likely to have a jig?), Porter's in Truckee (are the techs as good as the one in Tahoe City?).

I may even end up in Mammoth before Truckee, so if anyone has ideas there let me know. It's almost the same situation, Mammoth Mountaineering probably sells more AT gear, but they don't seem to have as substantial a tuning shop as the alpine oriented shops.

I had almost the same dilemma and ended up having to get things done in 2 steps/shops. Took the skis to The Backcountry for mounting the Dynafits (not very many shops have jigs for Dynafit) and then took them to Tahoe Dave's in Truckee for base-tune and wax. The Backcountry does not have a stone-grinder.

Your situation might be a little different - I bet more shops are familiar with FreeRides than Dynafits - so you could probably get it all done in Reno.
If you aren't in a hurry The Backcountry will probably send the skis out for base-prep for you if you don't want to schlepp them yourself I was told they use Tahoe Dave's for any base-work that they don't have the equipment for.

Tyler at Backcountry did a good job on the mount and Tahoe Dave's in Truckee did a good job on my bases - spent a lot of extra time waxing them and several extra passes on the stone grinder to get 'em flat - plus they seemed genuinely interested in the Bros and getting a good tune.

it was worth it - on soft snow the baby Bros rock. I think I might need to detune a little on the hardpack -still playing with that.

hope this helps,

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