Taking a Ride

Rideshop, a subsidiary of the popular shoe retailer Zappos.com, offers edgy fashions as well as functional clothing, and accessories for skate, snowboard, BMX and surfing aficionados. The site caters to men, women and children and offers free standard shipping, both ways. Rideshop carries products from a wide variety of manufacturers and covers everything from casual styles to technical and pro products.

You can search by individual sport, by brand or by product. Like the Zappos site, you can also narrow your search by size, color and price range.

The best thing about Rideshop is the fact that you can view products, from multiple manufacturers, in one location. There is even a section for sale items. The free shipping is also a big plus because you don’t have to pay extra if you need to ship the item back. You also don’t have to worry about shipping rates increasing the amount of your order. The site offers an impressive range of products and may even have products that you can’t find in stores. The site has a wide choice of colors and styles to fit every taste.

One minus to the site is that navigation is a clunky. The default setting is for men. When you select your desired sport, you have to tell it to look for women’s items under each category. If you hit "back" from the results page, the original page defaults back to the "Men’s" option. The other down-side is the sizing option--especially with the technical and pro products. For example, snowboarding boots don’t fit like regular shoes. If you are unfamiliar with a particular company’s sizing, you may have to try the product on, in a store, before buying it online. And, if the product is not available in your area, you may find yourself taking advantage of the free return shipping.