 Poster: A snowHead
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The Conditions: The mighty Milton Keynes massif, with it's extensive network of lift, had a light dusting of caster sugar like manmade, on a base of hardback (manmade), scraped off in places to a layer of manmade very hard hardpack with a couple of patches of bonafide knock-off-a-chunk-and-stick-it-in-your-bourbon ice. Again, manmade. The weather was outside, the so I can't tell you much about that. Skis kindly supplied by the good people of Ellis Brigham (helpful, enthusiastic, knowledgeable and well deserving of a pay rise and a good xmas do).
The Athlete: 34, 6 foot 1, 220lbs, at least some of which is muscle, can turn, control speed, stop and use a drag lift unsupervised. Usually found on 07/08 186 Prophet 90s. Assume, for the sake of argument, that I'm not in the market for a race ski.
After ensuring the drop in wasn't sketchy - safety first, always whack your pole - and digging a quick pit to check the snowpack (a nasty layer of plywood hoar at about 3 inches in places, but it was low angle) I got the show on the road.
First up K2 Kung Fujas - low 180 something length I guess, Marker schizo binding. A good ski, stable, dependable. Dull. Felt clunky edge to edge doing short turns, but nice in wide arcs across the whole of the run. No visible signs of life at low speeds. Gave the impression you could straightline a bunch of crud and mashed potatoes with this and feel pretty happy it wouldn't do anything too horrible to you, probably good for the flippy spinny brigade as well - no nasty surprises if you land it badly. Skis well with weight driving down and forward. Didn't like it. Might be that I'm too heavy for it and not getting enough oomph out of the tails, might be that it's just a fairly boring ski. The rather smaller and thinner shop guy loved em and hated the Bacons.
Next Line Sir Francis Bacon - 178cm, tyrolia weighs-a-ton demo binding. 4 word review: I love this ski.
You know how when you put a kid in wellies they automatically run to the nearest puddle and jump in it, just because they can? This ski is linked directly to the part of the brain that causes that sort of behaviour. Fun. It does the lot - short, long, wide, shallow, grip, felt great edge to edge, stable, poppy, reasonable weight for something the size of a small canoe with a demo binding on it. It's a Line, so skis well with weight centred and a fair bit of pressure though the heel, I quite like this, some people seem to hate it. I'm buying a pair in 184. If you want a negative, I'm dubious about plain white tips and tails, as it'll make finding the things an absolute bug after the inevitable yard sale. Just have to hope they land base up. It's 140ish-107-130something and has a bunch of rocker at both ends. It's safe to assume that it'll have fairly decent float. Lower rocker than S3, Seth etc, fairly mellow early taper also, so Line's 'longer effective edge' claims do seem to stack up, and it feels like it. Bit more rocker than the Kung Fujas, as I recall.
Wanted to try the Gotama, but no demo available (yet) - the ELP rocker is an almost-not-there-rocker now, its basically a flat camber throughout most of the length to the untrained eye. Also fancied a quick go on the Mr Pollards Opus, but again no demo available.
The Bacon is great, seriously. It was going to be a soft snow only kinda ski but I think I'll just end up using it everywhere for everything. The most fun ski I have ever, ever been on. Just need to release them into the wild.
If you'll excuse me I must now away, to assist in the construction of a Tartiflette. Tough day.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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yeah the franny Bs are awesome, was chatting to a guy on the lift at a very hard packed serre che last season and he was on his first day on them and loved then even in less then ideal conditions.. would have got myself some if i had'nt got a really good deal on some CoreUPT Richard Permins
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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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Thanks for the review, think I'll be getting a pair of Bacons this season to replace my ageing Prophet 100s which I have to say have been great fun. These look even more versatile with a bit of rocker and should be perfect for interior BC soft snow conditions on and off piste. I was considering the Opus too, but I suspect these will be more versatile as a one-ski-quiver.
I'm planning to try them in the MK fridge too over the next week or two, so will report back on their performance in interior MK conditions!
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Cunners,
Thanks. Great review to read. It's just the sort of super technical language us laypeople can understand.
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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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Good review. Would be good to hear thoughts comparing the SFB with the new Prophet 98.
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Yes Line have got quite a confusing line-up (no pun intended) in this do-it-all category i.e. Prophet 98, Blend, Influence 105 and the Bacon. Okay I guess the Blend is a soft park version of the old Prophet 100 and the Prophet 98 is a tweaked update of the Prophet 100. But then where do the Influence 105 and Bacon fit in here? From the reviews I've read the Prophets and Influence appear to be both fairly hard chargers while the Bacon is a bit more laid back. I wouldn't normally have considered the Bacon in previous years, but the new 'slimmed' down version looks to be a winner. Ideally I'd like to test the Bacon back-to-back with the P98, Influence 105,115 and the Opus! But unfortunately that's not going to happen.
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If you stack line up against Dynastar you've got:
Blends/Big Trouble
P series/Sultans
130/Big dump
Influence/Pro Rider
They just have a tendency to stick a twin and an extra 5mm on everything which muddies the water a bit. If you look at Rossi this year they've got the Experience 98, the S3 and the Sycthe - all 98 do everthing numbers. I wouldn't have minded getting on the Scythe & Sickle but nowhere does them.
Bacons (and I'd guess Opus also) are an oddity, they just let Pollard tinker around with things and see what he comes up with out in the leftfield. This year - Jackpot!
As you can probably tell I've been doing a fair bit of kit perving during the cold dark nights of October.
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Been doing the same! Been reading endless reviews of:-
Rossi S7, S6 (Sickle), S3
Line Prophet, Influence, Pollards
DPS 112RP
Armada TST
If I was being sensible I'd say the Rossi S3 would be a good bet and great value for money. Haven't read a single bad word about it and I'm sure it would be good for 90% of the conditions I ski in. But I'm being drawn to the Line Bacons as a progressive move up from my P100s. I'm sure the DPS 112RP would be awesome too, but I simply can't justify the cost over the other options here.
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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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I reckon that the Bacon is going to be closer to the P100 experience than the S3 in what's laughingly referred to as 'variable snow'. Lower, more gradual rocker, the thoroughly objective hand flex in the shop test suggests stiffer underfoot and a pretty lively but low camber.
I must admit that my eye was drawn to the Wailer 112 ($vs£ it the hybrid really isn't that expensive), but the tip rocker looked a bit mental in the S7/Seth style and I wanted something I wouldn't be cursing too much/pointed at and laughed at if I took it to France and everything got fohened.
It's basically as though someone designed my ideal ski. Plus it's still narrow enough that this spare pair of Griffons I've got kicking about will fit without faffing. Result!
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Cheers Cunners, I'm really hoping the Bacon turns out to be like the P100 with more float, which should be a given with the rise and extra width. Just hope it still performs like a P100 on piste. Looks like someone designed my perfect ski too! I'm also a big fan of Griffons, got them on my P100s and will probably go with them again - although I'm tempted by the Team Jester in green. These will look great on the Bacons, not that I'm bothered about the graphics. No not at all honest 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Cunners wrote: |
I must admit that my eye was drawn to the Wailer 112 ($vs£ it the hybrid really isn't that expensive |
Once you've paid all the taxes and shipping even the hybrid will look very expensive compared to most other options. I looked at shipping them directly to Canada, which is a lot cheaper on the shipping, but still have to pay tax at the US border. I've been there before in the past and it soon adds up. Anyway going with the Bacons unless something really bad happens when I test them in MK
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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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uktrailmonster, there's a dealer in France somewhere, so you can avoid taxes.
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clarky999, There are a few French retailers listed on the DPS website. French prices are €799 for the hybrid which is around £700. Taxes will inevitably be built-in to these European prices. Then there's shipping on top of that. Would be about a grand all in with decent bindings I suspect.
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You know it makes sense.
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Ouch. Was hoping they'd be more comparable with normal prices (like in the US).
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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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| clarky999 wrote: |
| Ouch. Was hoping they'd be more comparable with normal prices (like in the US). |
European importers have to pay VAT and US prices are always quoted VAT free. So not really that surprising, especially with the poor exchange rates on top. No big deal though, I think I'll be more than happy with the Lines.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I tried both the K2s' mentioned and i wasn't impressed with either, I thought the Fujas were heavy and uninspiring and took far too much effort to 'fire up' and unless I was straight lining i felt i would get nothing from them
The Francis B were a little better but again, the rocker technology is waisted on me, maybe a little flimsy and i thought they felt like they chattered at higher speed.
All in all i think K2 skis are not bad but maybe a little 'all fur coat and no knickers', so it's a no from me.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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davidhammy, Where did you try them out of interest and in what conditions?
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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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| uktrailmonster wrote: |
| davidhammy, Where did you try them out of interest and in what conditions? |
Hiya
At an American resort in decent weather conditions although i am not sure how this effects the review - are the skis only good in certain resorts in certain conditions? If they are then I am defo not buying them now! 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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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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I skipped the snowdome test and bought a pair of Line Bacons which arrived this morning. Regardless of how they ski, they certainly look the business, especially with the green Jesters  Going off my past experience with Prophets I'm pretty confident I'll enjoy them immensely in the soft snow and hopefully won't see much hardpack in Feb. This will be my first intro to rockered skis so looking forward to something a bit different. Will probably keep my Prophets for the not so powdery days too, but intend to replace them with something more piste oriented if the Bacons work out as expected.
Roll on the new season!!
Thanks again for your review here too, certainly helped to confirm my choice of weapon for this season.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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I very much doubt you'll regret it if you liked the Prophets and are out at somewhere like Big White. Fun, fun, fun.
Seems EB are now all out of 184s but never fear, I now have a pair right here thanks to Sail&Ski. I think the folks at Edge & Wax, who sponsor this here place also have some, if anyone else is looking for that size.
3v and Sunshine/LL to look forward to - the stoke is strong with this pair.
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Cunners, Cheers, yeah I'll be out in Big White over Feb/Mar this season. I got my 184s from snowtrax in the promotion they ran last weekend. I'm surprised EB have run out of them already, it's only November!!
Enjoy Sunshine/LL too, great skiing out there.
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I thought I'd update this with a bit of on-mountain experience. 3 Valleys to be exact. Soft snow, groomed, freeze/thaw breakable crust, tracked out, and finally the good stuff - Powder and a lot of it.
WALL OF TEXT ALERT.
These things are burlier than they make out, in a good way. Soft tips and tails, easy to noodle about on, but get the things up to speed and point them at a piles of choppy mank and they can tank it. The mid section is surprisingly stiff and this equates to stability. The flex is nicely progressive throughout so you don't get flappy tips and any shocks of hitting foot deep heaps o'mank are nicely damped out.
They behave as expected on soft groomers. Nice, quick, fun, turny.
Crust (thick sun crust, slightly wind affected, breakable but not too firm - nothing that made me fear for my legs) If I jumped off a lip of something I could get these things to whoomph into the crust, but I coundn't get them to go under. When they were cutting into/though on edge the didn't feel catchy/hooky. Confidence inspiring. No sastrugui to test them in, thankfully.
Hard groomers. OK, when I say 'hard' I'm talking a bit of really high traffic largely artificial snow on an icy base in an almost permenantly shady spot in one of the busiest bits of the 3 valleys. I won't lie here - I did need to wind the speed in a bit. Still skiable, not ideal. Keep it mellow and use the underfoot stiffness though, and you can find traction, just don't try and lay it over in GS turns on ice. The radius is all wrong, for a start.
Powder. Indecently good. Visibility was mostly horrific so didn't get much chance to go mental fast or launch the things but they did what I wanted. Surfy, pivoty, loose, brilliant slashing around in the trees but very controlled in survival turns when you realise that you have no idea where you are and visibility is all of 4 feet. They also seem very happy sideways at speed in drifty slarvey turns. I need to work on these - this is a new one on me - akin to doing a high speed counter-steered turn over loose stuff on a mountain bike. Whatever it is, these things do it well and it's fun.
If there's any chance in the forecast of soft snow, powder or big waterskiable slushy puddles I'll be using these. Great all rounders, compromised a bit on hard stuff, but still plenty of fun and far from hopeless. If a trip falls into week 3 of a high pressure event and nothing's expected I'll be taking my old Prophet 90s*, but dependent on what/where/with whom you ski you could probably get away with just the Bacons.
*I am, sadly, in no way affiliated with Line. I just like their skis.
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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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Hey great review Cunners, a quick question re binding position - did you mount on the recommended line?
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Yep. was a bit dubious about the position when I first saw them mounted, but they work. When I demoed a pair I just skied the things without really checking them over first, plus they were 6cm shorter - it was a bit of a shock to see just how centered they were after the real mount was done.
Tips stay up though and the positive cambered section is stiff enough that you can get over the fronts. If you don't go asswards much you could maybe go around -1cm, but in half the fun of these come from the centered messing about feel. Plus the tail rocker/sidecut shape means that if you want these to ski cleanly on piste/hardpack you need to have enough grippy stuff behind you to finish the turn properly.
I dunno, maybe I'm just backseat as hell.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Thanks.
I suspect you aren't back seat driver at all.. Isn't it easier to be back seat on short tails?
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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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Cunners, Nice follow-up review. I'm packing these puppies for the big trip out to Canada at the weekend. Can't wait to finally get out on them, they've been stood in my study since November. I've had a few worries about the central mounting point too, but you've made me feel a lot better about it. All I need now is some powder to arrive next week.
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Cunners, just choked on my drink for the description of the resort.
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You know it makes sense.
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An update after spending a full month on these puppies out in Canada (Big White BC)
Me: Male, 44, 6' 1", 86kg, have a reasonable idea what I'm doing (skiing regularly since the mid 80s), modern 2 ski technique pointing forwards - twin tips incidental for my use.
Ski: Line SFB 184, mounted as standard (damn near centre)
Snow: Light powder on most days (hit the resort at the best time), a bit of soft-pack groomed/ungroomed and very little hardish-pack, no ice.
Results:
As Cunners said, a whole load of fun in anything vaguely soft. Float in the deeper powder was great and they pivot so easily it made tight tree skiing ridiculously easy. The odd time I took to the air, landings were pillow soft and the long tails kept me from falling backwards. It would have to be seriously deep snow to want/need anything more than these.
Chopped up deep powder was despatched nicely too, charging through it like butter. Same with soft bumps, easy to charge over/through/around or whatever.
On soft groomed they were great too, easy and fun to carve medium-large radius trenches with a reasonably high speed limit. The mid section is actually quite stiff - perhaps more so than my old Prophet 100s - and they do really like to turn quickly for such a big ski. Only slight limitation was at mega high speed where the natural turn radius just feels a bit too tight and they start to get unsettled. In this respect alone the P100s are slightly better, but I prefer the sharper turning ability of the SFB at slightly lower speeds. It's just more fun to ski.
There was very little hard-pack around, but I did take them out one frosty morning on a steep slightly scraped black and they were not too good - usual fat ski chattering and general lack of edge hold. This was the only time I would have swapped them out for a dedicated piste carver. No worse than my P100s though and easily manageable with a bit of sliding around. But if you ski this kind of stuff on a regular basis, this is really not the tool for the job.
Summary: The SFBs lived up to (maybe even exceeded) my expectations as a one-quiver ski for places where it snows a lot. They rendered my Prophet 100s completely obsolete, which was one of the most fun skis I've ever owned. I was concerned about the centre mounting, but in practice it wasn't an issue at all. Maybe I naturally ski centred, but I didn't find that I needed to make any special balance adjustment for these. They just felt right from turn 1. Hats off to Eric Pollard and Line on this one, I really couldn't find fault here.
They look great too with their understated topsheet graphics (okay the bases are perhaps a bit wild) and they seem pretty durable after 30 days solid use (although not a rock in sight).
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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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found this really useful guys have been uming and arring for some time what ski's I want to replace my 4FRNT MSP's, I looked at Kung Fuja's, Line Blends, ARV's all sorts. I've finally gone for the Line Sir Francis Bacon;s and cant wait to use them.
Trail monster, like yourself I also would like a pure piste ski for hard pack
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Poster: A snowHead
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aw-hicks, Yeah I just bought a pair of Movement Le Fers for piste duty. Won't get to ski them until next season though.
The SFBs are awesome when it snows though, wouldn't swap them for anything at the moment
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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've just had a PM pointing me back at this so, to the guy who sent it - fire away! Happy to reply.
The short - Yep.
Longer - I've skied them in France and Alberta (Louise and Sunshine) this year, both had everything from deep freshies (whoa! deep on occasions) to refrozen steep groomers.
The performance on the latter wasn't stellar, but you can chuck them down something like a solid LL Mens DH first thing in the morning pretty damn fast if you feel the need.
The performance in soft, loose and steep stuff is brilliant, however. Surprisngly robust in choppy snow too. A complete cheat ski for trees - head for the glades as fast as you dare, and chuck in massive slash turns - perfection. I did this first by accident; bombing over a run out and not realising just how fast a surfy rockered ski can go where something else would sink and lose speed, amazed at surviving, I spent the rest of the day repeating the move. Fun, fun, fun.
Was talking to someone who said this years are mounted -1cm. I can see why they might do this, but I figured I could get the same added lift by simply going faster. My bindings are staying put.
There's a couple of dings in the base that could do with a spot of Ptex, but they're called the Rockies for a reason, and my line choice is usually a bit shoddy, so nothing to worry about there.
Errr - what else? They're light, very light with Barons. Nice for hiking with, insofar as hiking in skiboots can be considerd nice. And I suppose they're pretty neutral, natural feeling skis. You get out what you put in. Think of them as a big rockered extension for your foot with a nice picture of a tree on it.
Basically:
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I'm just gonna keep doing laps until I run out of powder.
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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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Cunners, I read that the new standard mounting point is a whopping -0.5 cm back from 2011. Like anyone would notice. I suspect they moved it a tad just because the original mounting point seemed ludicrously centred, but it works for me and I don't even ski switch. For once I'm not even looking for a new ski for next season (at least not for powder playtime), these are just sublime in gladed powder.
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I have read discussions about the "new" mounting point on some forums & sites but there seems to be confusion there. They say 11/12 is 2.0 cm back from true center and 12/13 2.5 cm back. However: Line website clearly says that 11/12 SFB is 25mm from the center. No change between '12 and '13 then...
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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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On the Line SFB specs page it says stance -20 mm for the 11/12 SFB. Which bit of the website says -25 mm? Anyway 20 or 25 hardly makes any difference.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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I have looked at the general specs for all Line skis, a sort of spreadsheet with all their skis 11/12. On that one it says Opus 20mm but SFB 25mm.
(That is found on Line website).
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Pretty sure that's a typo then. I'm pretty certain they are -20 mm as per the Line SFB spec page. Also pretty sure the only change for next season is to -25 mm
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I've been skiing on Line's since the original ('99/'00, I believe) 1260. I've always remained loyal due to their devotion and contribution towards progressing free skiing into what it is today, not to mention all the dudes I met from the company growing up skiing all over Northeastern U.S. were always cool. With that said, I had a chance to check out the upcoming 2013 Kung Fujas in person the other day and I think I might finally jump brands (well, not really since K2 owns Line now). It didn't seem as clunky as described from OP's experience with last year's model, though it doesn't appear like much has changed aside from perhaps moving the widest portion of the tip a bit further down the ski. Looks like other shops are starting to get models in now - pretty early for next year's gear. Just found a brief video giving a basic review of this year's Kung Fujas here: http://www.park2peak.com/K2_Kung_Fujas_Skis_2013_K2_Twin_Tip_Skis_p/k2kungfujas3.htm
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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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Have any of you bought the new Bacons in 190? I had the 184s and although they were great fun, there just wasnt enough ski up front. I bought the 190s and am a bit torn now. I do like the centred stance, and agree that the -6cm 'recommended' line is ridiculous, but I'm not sure if i want to mount at pollards point vs. 1cm or so back. Im just not sure ill benefit from the extra length of ski if I mount on pollards line and am conscious that I will have a massive tail. Any thoughts?
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FAQ
