was looking to get a pair mounted in westchester NY. Anyone used hickory recently. Would they be able to follow a request for a certain mounting point?
Maybe pedigree? Any opinions appreciated....thanks
any one have any experiences with any shop in the Berkshires? Kenver seems like a decent store but have never seen their work.
In Westchester, Hickory and Tweed is a great choice. You'll probably find younger kids working the ski retail and rental area on the 2d floor, greeting you and handling basic rental returns and customer service. But if you have specific concerns, by all means ask to talk with Skip Beitzl, the owner, or Bino ("Bean-o") Cummings, who oversees the ski shop and is willing and more than able to deal with special requests. There are a number of good ski techs there who you'll find down in the bike shop on the first floor, which connects to the actual ski shop (i.e. tuning) area. I've probably had about 10 or 12 skis mounted there over the past few years, including several oddball sorts of requests (including for a specific mounting point on at least one occasion), and they've always followed through carefully. In short, H&T does high quality service work that's worth the premium price you pay in a suburban location far from the mountains. Especially if you talk to one of the higher-ups and give them enough time, which seems to be the case if you're asking in June.
IMHO Pedigree was in the same price range or higher, but seemed less reliable and lacked the personal touch and flexibility that brings me back to H&T. I used Pedigree a fair amount before switching to H&T about 5 years back -- since then I've stopped back on occasion at Pedigree and it doesn't seem much has changed.
YMMV of course but one additional difference: I don't purchase much from either store, especially at full retail, but have been a frequent service customer (tunes, mounts, etc.). Pedigree didn't seem pleased with that customer profile but H&T is quite friendly.
