 Poster: A snowHead
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So, having been persuaded to buy skis, probably from sport conrad, would I have to do anything to them before use i.e. wax, tuned, or will they be good to go?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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New skis should get a good coat of wax before hitting the slopes. This will protect the bases of your new investment
If you buy used skis, you should be able to check the edges to see if they are due for a tune or deburring, and as always, wax. It never hurts to wax, especially because you'll want a temp/snow specific wax for the best results.
I tend to use a stone to take care of any small burrs every time I ski but only sharpen the edges as needed. I know some people who sharpen more frequently than I do, but I think that takes a lot of material off the edge, and I know when my edges are due for a tune.
Also, if you buy used skis, its a good idea to have the shop check the bindings.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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SnowHot, thanks - they will be box-fresh new  . I didn't know about temp/snow specific wax
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Those people who seem to know about these things say that it's good to clean the bases of new skis as there is a bit of debris in them from the manufacturing process. This means a hot wax and then scrape immediately so the wax and the debris it picks up is removed. After that a normal waxing with an all-temperature wax will be be suitable for most conditions. The edges should be OK unless you are fussy about edge angles.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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holidayloverxx, Temp/snow specific wax is good when you get into extreme cold or extreme warm ski temps. There are some hard waxes that are more difficult to apply that are great when you're skiing on man made snow or granular spring conditions. Howeverrob@rar, is correct. Most cases, a good all temp wax is fine.
Congrats on the new skis. What'd you get?
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SnowHot, haven't got yet but looking at burnin' luvs - previous season bargain. problem is I don't get my boots till the boot clinic on 4th October so I have emailed to see if I can reserve a pair in some way till I know the sole length for the bindings.
rob@rar, thanks, good avice from you as always You've seen me ski, I think - I doubt that edge angles will worry me too much at this stage.
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| holidayloverxx wrote: |
| I doubt that edge angles will worry me too much at this stage. |
Have to confess that I'm not entirely certain I can tell the difference either. I tend to keep my edge angles at whatever the factory default is for that ski.
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| rob@rar wrote: |
| holidayloverxx wrote: |
| I doubt that edge angles will worry me too much at this stage. |
Have to confess that I'm not entirely certain I can tell the difference either. I tend to keep my edge angles at whatever the factory default is for that ski. |
I keep factory edge recommendations on most of my skis also. The only exception may be the karma, just because I may have a different use than it was intended.
The important thing for edge "health" is deburring at the end of a ski day, and putting a cote of paste wax on them when you store at the end of the season.
As for the choice of the Burnin Luv, you should LUV it!
If that falls through, I will be happy to share some of my demo experiences. Other skis I've enjoyed as much as the burnin luv have been Olympia victory, Olympia Conqueror, Elan Wave Spice, and Speed Magic.
Womens skis are really stepping up a notch for performance!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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holidayloverxx, thanks for asking this - I think they were getting a little fed up with me!! This is now two sets of advice - someone told me that the factory set wax will do for the first week, buy Sypderjon and now rob@rar, have suggested this hot wax treatment. I wonder how much this will cost if I take them to skee-tex locally. Otherwise I reckon the lady in the resort shop would do them for me, but I don't know how long she would need me to leave them for.
In terms of getting skis treated is it a fairly standard thing that most shops can get right, or can service be variable, and what should I look for know if its been done correctly?
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SnowHot, Aaah - wave magic is my alternative - to be honest, I would like to test more but the BL price is just too good to miss.
Megamum, I hope someone answers your questions, I don't know the answers either. as far as regular tuning goes I pass nottingham fairly often so can detour to spyderjon when necessary. I quite fancy having the lesson so I could do it myself.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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holidayloverxx, you could get the bindings un-mounted, if you're worried. If you got them mounted to your current boots, it should be possible to adjust the bindings still. They wouldn't need re0drilling unless there was a huge difference in size.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Don't worry too much about the factory preparation..... as long at the tune is good, just get used to them and if you think they are slower after a few days, buy a universal all round wax in stick form and just rub it on...... If you are interested in this sort of thing then buy a stone or file for de-burring the edges but just to take the burrs off..try not to mess around with angles unless you understand them. 90 degrees is fine..!! and remember every tune of the edges means there is less metal left there.
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holidayloverxx, I have always been taught to give my new skis at least 5 coats of wax/scrape cycles before skiing them...
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You know it makes sense.
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Helen Beaumont, don't have any boots - I'm buying at the boot clinic for the first time.
JT, little tiger, thanks - even though the advice conflicts, but hey that always happens round here 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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SnowHot, How does wax protect the bases? It all gets scraped off  I've always just used my skis straight out of the plastic. Well, I get the bindings added I suppose. Maybe that's why they only last around 120 days?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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holidayloverxx, OK, then just get the skis and ask for the bindings un-mounted, any good ski shop will be able to do them for a small charge. This is what I did last year when I bought my hubby's new skis as his boots were in France and I couldn't check the sole length.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Megamum,
Trying not to complicate things here... but a sharp edge will get more blunt as they get more wear....
Sharpness of an edge is typically measured by seeing if it will scrape off a tiny slither of a thumbnail.
edges burr up when they ride over hard things, maybe tiny stones in the snow..
Take care when testing edges because running your finger over these edges may well cut your finger/hands...
Anyway...a stone or a file will help deburr these edges...but try and mantain a right angle in the 1st instance or you will round the edges off..
A little wax and deburr are daily things you may want to check... and attend to. A proper ski tune is something more. Most people may do this after every holiday ready for the next one. If you get base shots then you will need to get these repaired.... getting more involved here..
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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rob@rar,  ...I promise to take good care of my investment.
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rob@rar, that'll be like our new canoe then  . I agree, no good being precious, but a little care doesn't go amiss.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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OK - so what wax is recommended?....opens up a whole new can of worms
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| holidayloverxx wrote: |
| OK - so what wax is recommended?....opens up a whole new can of worms |
Something like this would be good, but any general all-temperature wax should be OK.
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| Quote: |
A little wax and deburr are daily things you may want to check... and attend to.
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Well, yes, but many people (including me) spend many years happily skiing around on their own skis, doing few of these things, and certainly nothing daily, just taking them into a shop now and again for wax and edge. You can frighten people off, you know!!
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You know it makes sense.
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| pam w wrote: |
| Quote: |
A little wax and deburr are daily things you may want to check... and attend to.
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Well, yes, but many people (including me) spend many years happily skiing around on their own skis, doing few of these things, and certainly nothing daily, just taking them into a shop now and again for wax and edge. You can frighten people off, you know!! |
Daily might be a little bit keen (but if you do it this frequently it doesn't take long just to touch things up). I try to do my skis every three or four days if I can. If I leave it for more than six or seven days I notice the difference, and if the snow conditions are extreme (either warm/wet or very cold/old) I do it more frequently, maybe every other day as I really notice the difference in how well the skis glide. Although it can seem a bit daunting if you've not serviced skis before, it really is very easy (especially waxing). Spyderjon's website has some useful guides to help get started, and he's a helpful chap if you fire dumb questions at him (as I did this week )
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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rob@rar, yes, we did a very useful session with Spyderjon, and now do our own skis, but it did take years to get round to doing this, and we do ski most of the season. I don't think a newcomer who skis a couple of weeks a year needs to get too worried about how to be a ski technician, and with good local contacts to recommend a reliable shop, which will do no more and no less than is necessary, I don't think Megamum needs to think yet about anything much more complex. By the way, I discovered a good source of irons with no holes in the bottom; a friend manages a Save the Children shop. They can't sell electric stuff, so I now have two!
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Poster: A snowHead
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pam w, yes I agree that it's not a priority for novice skiers. My view is if it's cheaper/less hassle to DIY service then you should buy some kit and give it a try because it's easy to do. But if you it's cheaper to take them to a shop for an infrequent service that's probably the best option.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I think my best bet is probably to pop them down to Skee Tex between weekly trips and possibly when I get them for this 'hot wax' treatment. They seemed to have a large and well used (lots of skis in to be worked on) workshop when I went in for my boots. The web site is at:
http://www.skee-tex.co.uk/work.htm
Judging by how busy they seemed to be lots of customers must be regulars, so I reckon they must do a fair job.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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holidayloverxx, Megamum, I'd recommend getting them waxed with a universal wax when you get your new toys as the factory wax is really only a transit wax. The K2 wax though is very good though & you'd certainly get a few days use out of them before they needed doing again. I don't think I've seen a brand new pair of Elan's before so can't comment what their factory wax is like.
A wax only in a UK store will be about £8-10, & usually it's a bit cheaper in resort were it's usually done overnight so you drop your skis in at the end of the day or on arrival in resort & collect first thing in the morning. There's too many variables to say how long a wax will last but it'll usually give you a weeks use abroad. A shop's machine wax is certainly not as good as a DIY job but it's not bad either. The ski will start to get sluggish when the wax is fading & the base will start to go grey underfoot so either or both of these symptoms is a sign for a re-wax. The Zardoz Notwax pocket puck is a great & inexpensive way of keeping your planks sliding nicely & delays the requirement for a re-wax for some time. It's also recommended if you plan on doing some Xscape sliding on their abrasive white sand as in terms of base wear a couple of hours there is like a few days in resort.
If you don't want/need to get in to DIY tuning then I'd recommend getting a little gadget called an Edge Trick to quickly & easily touch up any burrs on the edges from either rock dings or just from skiing on hard snow. If the condtions are very firm then you just give the edges a whizz over at the end of each day or if you've got soft snow all week then they probably won't need touching at all. The tool is angle adjustable to accomodate all makes/models of skis (so you can do your friends for a beer  & I'd tell you what to set it to.
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spyderjon, £6 for a wax only at Skee-tex is very good.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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spyderjon, I like the idea of being just a little self sufficient - Assuming a complete ski novice can't make a pigs ear of using them (i.e. they are completely fool proof) I think I can be pursuaded into a pocket puck (I've heard lots of people talking about having a little tin of wax in their pocket in case the snow conditions change) and the little edge tool - anything more than that and I'd chuck them at a shop, but lets face it I intend on staying well and truly on the groomed piste and I doubt I shall be that hard on my skis.
The husband of my Swiss friends services services their skis himself so must also know what to look for I'm sure he would help me to decide if my bases needed a trip to the local shop during our week together.
I must admit I thought the Skee-tex price was quite reasonable - its reassuring that you agree
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spyderjon, rob@rar, thanks again. this is all really helpful
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Megamum, Zardoz pocket puck has superceded carrying wax, afterall how do you know what temp wax to carry? Get your Swiss buddy to give you a quick lesson.
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Megamum, holidayloverxx, Don't let others scare you off with the idea that this takes away from your apres' ski time.
I've done majority of my own ski touch ups(leaving the major tune and/or ptex work to the pros).
Deburring is just checking the edges for a nick, or 'burr', which can easily be touched up with a stone and only takes a few seconds of time as you put your skis away.
The more self sufficient you are at maintaining your skis, the more you'll enjoy them.
Spyderjon, JT and a few others have given some great advice, I'm sure you wont' go wrong if you follow their advice.
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FAQ
Most damage can be repaired fairly easily.
