# Arbor: My Experience



## Atoxa (Feb 11, 2013)

So I'm an experienced snowboarder, I ride all terrain, work as a lift operator and need a good board. Last year I was riding mostly park at a small ski area in Montana, so I bought an Arbor Westmark 2014. The board treated me alright, seemed like nothing special, but less than a year into ownership about a 2 1/2 inch long piece of my edge, along with the wood under it, next to the grip-tech just straight up came off. I considered this a fluke, maybe the next one will be better.

This season I bought a westmark 2015 from REI. It rode same as the last one - except 5 days into riding, I clipped a rail at northstar (the rail was normal, no protruding screws, no problems) and my edge totally bent in and broke next to the griptech. Frustrated, I went to REI to attempt to return this board, as this is a 150$ fix, but they wouldn't take it back.

I've been riding it a bit since, but the board just fucking sucks. It has issues in other spots in the edges too - just seems like shitty quality. They said it was my fault for "riding in the park" but a westmark is a fucking park board. I don't want to ride a snowboard and have to constantly be doing repairs just to ride the stuff I want to ride.

I'm thoroughly pissed at Arbor and want my money back on this board, and I can't even use the warranty feature on the website because it is glitching out. Any advice on going about it? Need a board that will last - I'm riding almost every day I can and don't want to have to constantly be babysitting my edge, and don't know how long it will be till I can dish out money for like a never summer or something.


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

If it was a defective edge I'd say you have a reason to be mad. In reality, when you ride tough terrain or the park, your boards are gonna get messed up quickly. We have ducked up boards on the first day, more than once. It's frustrating and pisses me off but that's the name of the game.


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## Nivek (Jan 24, 2008)

So you clipped a rail, bent your edge, and you're blaming Arbor? I'm confused.


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## Atoxa (Feb 11, 2013)

Nivek said:


> So you clipped a rail, bent your edge, and you're blaming Arbor? I'm confused.


How does this happen so early? I've been snowboarding for a while, and I've clipped my edge on a rail plenty of times and never had the edge bend in like this and break. The edge totally snapped, seems so flimsy! The edge will never be the same, even after 150$ of repairs. It's a park board- its meant for this type of shit, how does that even happen on my 5th day on it?


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## AmberLamps (Feb 8, 2015)

I thought REI had a no questions asked 1 year return policy


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## Atoxa (Feb 11, 2013)

AmberLamps said:


> I thought REI had a no questions asked 1 year return policy


Apparently it's just "Customer Satisfaction". I told them I'm not satisfied with the way this board is breaking but the guy wouldn't take it back. Super frustrating.


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## 16gkid (Dec 5, 2012)

Buy a rossignol, built like a tank, my freaking jibsaw flew off the roof of a friends car and 3 years later, you can barely tell theres any damage, ive run it into trees and have had it banged around plenty and theres zero delam, best part was that it cost less than 3 bills.


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## Phedder (Sep 13, 2014)

Atoxa said:


> Apparently it's just "Customer Satisfaction". I told them I'm not satisfied with the way this board is breaking but the guy wouldn't take it back. Super frustrating.


It's breaking because _you_ broke it. It sucks but it happens, the wrong pressure and the wrong angle and things can break when you might not think it should have. My 3rd day on my Flight Attendant I was well off-piste in some glorious spring corn, ran over a submerged shark tooth and took out a massive chunk of my base. Now should I argue that it's a freeride orientated board and it should be able to ride over sharp rocks without any damage? Hell no. Just like a park board shouldn't be able to get smacked into rails without damage. Point is if you didn't fuck up, your board would be fine. Same in my situation.


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## linvillegorge (Jul 6, 2009)

I've owned a lot of boards and I have to say that the Arbor was noticeably the least durable of the bunch. It was one and done for me and Arbor.


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## Nivek (Jan 24, 2008)

linvillegorge said:


> I've owned a lot of boards and I have to say that the Arbor was noticeably the least durable of the bunch. It was one and done for me and Arbor.


Out of curiosity, was that an Elan or SWS Arbor?


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## Nivek (Jan 24, 2008)

Atoxa said:


> Nivek said:
> 
> 
> > So you clipped a rail, bent your edge, and you're blaming Arbor? I'm confused.
> ...


I've gone full seasons without ever getting a flat on my bike. Then I've also had single weeks where I've gone through 4 tubes. It's not the tires fault, even though it's designed to be ridden in rough terrain. 

A friend consistently put about 150 days on Westmarks/Blacklists as his everyday board in Colorado for I think 4 years straight. No catastrophes as a result of board construction.

If you really want to try and have something that will handle you abusing it, find something like a Ride or Nitro that does double thick edges.


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

Went to evo, filtered for park boards, sorted by highest price first, and had to scroll to second page to find the Westmark.

In that sense, question to those who know plenty of brands: 
In terms of snowboards, is price an indicator for quality or does one pay for a name?


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## linvillegorge (Jul 6, 2009)

Nivek said:


> Out of curiosity, was that an Elan or SWS Arbor?


That was back during the Elan days.


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## chomps1211 (Mar 30, 2011)

linvillegorge said:


> I've owned a lot of boards and I have to say that the Arbor was noticeably the least durable of the bunch. It was one and done for me and Arbor.


I'm no "seasoned" rider! Dont ride park. I'm No expert on gear or terrain,.. I'd say I'm a solid "_beginner_-intermediate!" I own & ride 3 boards & have limited experince riding a few other in the almost 5 years since I started,..! 

All that was to preface this next part,... (Prepping for the "WTF do "I" know arguments!) . My very first board was the 2010/11 *Arbor Roundhouse 163.* It's the deck I learned to ride with. As such, I've crashed & been crashed into! Hit shit and been roughed up by skiers/boarders and the like bashing it repeatedly in the lift lines, etc. etc! 

While I agree in part with linville,.. (And I don't ride _nearly_ the gnarly type stuff he does,). Many aspects of this board seem fragile & easily damaged,... Most of my problems with it seem to be cosmetic and confined to many small, easily repaired peels and curls of the topsheet near the edges. In fact,.. I had to stop jamming the nose/tail in the snow to stand it up after noticing that's where most of the TS peels & damage were occurring. 

Aside from that, I haven't found the steel edges or the sintered base to be particularly delicate!! I've ridden over sticks & pinecones melting out of the snow in the spring. I've even gone over the odd shredded beer can or two. This has resulted in a few moderate scratches to my base and nicked or burred edges in a couple spots. But nothing requiring major repair. :shrug:




neni said:


> Went to evo, filtered for park boards, sorted by highest price first, and had to scroll to second page to find the Westmark.
> 
> In that sense, question to those who know plenty of brands:
> In terms of snowboards, is price an indicator for quality or does one pay for a name?


That's a valid question. My Arbor retailed on the higher end of the spectrum. $580-$600+ on a few sites. (...although I bought on sale for less than half that.). So maybe that has something to do with my experience with it. MY NS Proto retailed on the higher end as well, and it's been skied right over the topsheet with little visible sign of damage to anything but the stickers. (...gotta luv that unicorn fur/fairy dust composite "Carbonium" topsheet NS conjured up!!)  :laugh:

Conversely,.. , my Rome GR retailed at or under $250 at the time I got it. It's had similar experience with all the types of incidents I described above & it has little in the way of any marks or damage to it! :dunno: So it's hard to say for certain, but I suspect that the quality vs price equation is going to be completely dependent on, and vary _*widely*_ from manufacturer to manufacturer! 

:hairy:


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