 Poster: A snowHead
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Reviews of essential Product to Follow.
Marker Duke.
Black Diamond Skis.
Carbon Ice Axes.
Rottafella NTN bindings + compatable Boots.
Modifed Plug Shells for Mortals.
Reverse cambered powder skis.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| SMALLZOOKEEPER wrote: |
Black Diamond Skis.
Rottafella NTN bindings + compatable Boots.
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No BD boots then?
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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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SMALLZOOKEEPER, What's the theory behind reverse camber skis?
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[quote="SMALLZOOKEEPER"]
Rottafella NTN bindings + compatable Boots.
[quote]
Are these going to be big? Or take a few years to shake off the "Betamax" potential?
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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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comprex, There are major production problems at the moment. Coupled with Dynatfit whom refusing and fighting agaist the use of inserts for Lite-Tech Binding compatibility. (Rumour?)
spyderjon, I can't work it out, The K2 "Hellbent", Salomon "Rocker" are an odd concept to me. I skied the "Hellbent" Full Reverse camber in powder and then on the piste. It was as good as you could expect off piste in 60cm of powder, given she's so fat. But on the piste useless, in fact worse than useless. I too on the same day tested the "Katana" from Volkl. She's cambered to flat and is the best ski that i've skied in powder and although 'skitty' on the piste was no serious problem. Reading the blurb from K2, it explains nothing. 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| SMALLZOOKEEPER wrote: |
| ......spyderjon, I can't work it out..... |
 , I'm glad it's not just me.
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fatbob, I'm not doing either boots or bindings in a valley renound for Telemark. The binding is too complex(will ball up too easy), dangerous(i've nearly lost a finger each time i've activated it). As for the boots, i'm not sure why but can't be hasseled convincing clients over there multifuctionallity.
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SMALLZOOKEEPER, but will you have your balancer up'n'running for the 07/08 season?
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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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spyderjon, I would hope so.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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spyderjon, Including V8?
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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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| SMALLZOOKEEPER wrote: |
| spyderjon, Including V8? |
He's an alignment/balancing fan but needs some convincing re the balancer. I'm sure he'll be along to chip in soon.
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reverse camber theory:
| Quote: |
Shane McConkey wrote:
On normal skis camber is used to add power and extra pressure to the tip and tail of the ski. This gives the ski stability, strength and helps it initiate a turn. It also and adds power through the arc of the turn. This is true, ON HARD SNOW!
In soft snow camber has these negative effects:
1. “The Sunken Plow” – Tips and tails are constantly trying to dive down into the snow. No matter how much you load up the skis with pressure or how soft the skis are the tips still always want to dive lower than the waist of your skis. This causes excessive unweighting or bouncing and leaning back onto your tails. It puts you in an unbalanced position. The point is to get up out of the snow not down in it.
2. “Franz” - Skis will only ever turn by carving. Skis will not in any way be made to slide. Tips and tails during unweighting are always lower than the center of the skis prohibiting any attempt at a slide. Throwing the skis sideways in anyway will end in a caught outside edge followed by a quick whiplash onto your side.
The Spatula’s decamber will prevent most Sunken Plow situations depending on the skiers weight. (The lighter you are the more you will reap the benefits of the decamber.) You will notice that you will not need to lean back on your skis in the powder nearly as much as you would on normal skis. This will allow you to stand upright and attack the mountain much more efficiently.
Having the option to eliminate the Franz carve from your powder skiing will open up a whole new world for you. Try sliding a bit sideways as you finish your turn. Remember to stand on both feet. Try doing a long slide instead of doing a turn at all. Skiers constantly link one turn to the next in powder because in the past we lacked the ability and technology to slide. It also has traditionally been considered proper style to make identical, consecutive linked turns down a powder slope. Now you have the option to carve, slide, crab sideways, hockey stop (If your really good) and basically use the slope in many creative ways instead of such a limited, traditional style. |
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You know it makes sense.
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[quote="Arno"]reverse camber theory:
| Quote: |
Shane McConkey wrote:
.......The Spatula’s decamber will prevent most Sunken Plow situations depending on the skiers weight. (The lighter you are the more you will reap the benefits of the decamber.)....... |
No benefit to me whatsoever then.
Thanks for that Arno.
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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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spyderjon, something that arises from those benefits is that you can have a stiffer ski but less tip dive if you go for a reverse camber ski so maybe useful after all.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Look forward to thoughts on Black Diamond for off ski touring / blasting on piste. A difficult combo I know!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Arno wrote: |
reverse camber theory:
| Quote: |
Shane McConkey wrote:
On normal skis camber is used to add power and extra pressure... |
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Shane's drunk the kool-aid then. 
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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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weeSKI,
We had a bunch of their skis out in Le Grave as they had a test centre there.
Our group tested the Havoc, Kilowatt and .....can't remember the third as I didn't get on it... the others did. Maybe do a search on these skis as the dilligent chaps did not post in the review section....  but the jist was that BD are making nice discerning kit and the skis were worth a look. AT or alpine bindings where available. I am not sure I would buy/ski any over my fave ski this season - the Mantra - but they are making a good name for themselves, IMV.
If you spend most of your time looking for interesting things to do and don't want to rail hardpack much, then put them on your list
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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JT, could you remind me what the carbon fibre skis you were using when visiting us in the Serre Che? I'm looking for some light weight powder skis for Lin and I remember they were very light.
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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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chris,
Hi Chris,
Maybe they were DB Havocs with Fritschi plus bindings.. not sure Lin would like the AT bindings but they do help with the weight.
I can't recall what the weight of the ski was, but they make a big thing out of it being pretty light
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Thanks JT. The cool thing is I can get my mits on BD skiis at US trade prices aswell
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weeSKI, The Black D skis are the first of their kind, i belive. The process/concept is a little strange. The first difference is that the woodcore is CNC milled from on piece of wood, esentially meaning that almost before you start, you have a piece of wood that looks like, well, the ski. The CNC core, is then placed on a layer of fibre(which i can't remember, but it's synthetic) Then the edges, then the base and all is vacumn glued. This is a great way of reducing weight( the CNC process leaves the minimum structure in place) and creating good transmission , edge to edge. I see these skis working really well, i've skied a few. My only concearn is the fragility of the said CNC Woodcore. Apart from the vacumn applied graphic, there is nothing to protect the ski from knocks and surface damage, i see this ruining the sales as people won't want their skis looking a season old after 2-3 days.
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JT, cheers. I'll have a look for them.
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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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SMALLZOOKEEPER,
All but the new Havocs etc that we saw had such crap graphics that obviously new buyers will not be at all concerned about the way the ski looks as they would have baulked at the colours in the 1st place and not bought them..
We even asked the rep what are the graphic for next year like...and he looked at us blankly and said, these ARE the new graphics....
And none of the skis were tuned or in the best condiition which meant that some of us had to give them a once-over. I didn't get the impression that they would be as bomb-proof as a Volkl, for example, but they were light and aimed at AT so the market isn't quite the same. I'd call the Havoc a good 70-30 off piste ski alpine style but I think they will have lots of fans for touring
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brian
brian
Guest
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| JT wrote: |
| Our group tested the Havoc, Kilowatt and .....can't remember the third as I didn't get on it... |
Verdict.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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brian,
Thats the one...what did you think of the BD skis...you tried them all, didn't you...?
I bought their carbon poles...impressed with them..!!
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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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JT, Ther is still no cap to protect the core, touring or not, edges still damage skis.
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I quite like the graphics on the Kilowatt. I know I'm in a minority
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You know it makes sense.
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weeSKI, I skied the Havocs/Kilowatts/Verdicts on that same trip, and put my thoughts down here. I also skied them again for a few days over Easter, along with some K2 Apache Chiefs (98mm underfoot). Basically I loved the Kilowatts and they'd be a good blasting ski too. In giving feedback the rep actually volunteered that they weren't too brilliant on ice (or the tightest radius, so you wouldn't be taking them through a slalom course!) - which was the one condition that I didn't really get to try them out on...so I'm still a bit leery about what they'd be like going across a steep icy traverse. Their edge hold was way better than that of the Verdicts though - even though a previous tester had given the edge a fair ding (so this pair was definitely r/l specific).
BD were actually still playing around with the flex on the Havocs (I assume to improve their piste performance), and the pair I had at Easter were quite diferent to those in Feb, and I really didn't like the new flex. They'd clearly stiffened up the tips and tails to get better bite, but for me it was way too stiff for the bits attaching the extremities to the underfoot area, so still flapped around (but didn't bend very well in the softer snow). Hopefully they had another rethink after that. The general criticism of the Havocs I've heard is that they're fine in the main body of the turn, but take a fair bit of effort to get them engaged at the start, and keep it so at the end.
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brian
brian
Guest
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JT, I only skied on the kilowatts, on our 3rd day. I thought they were fine. Didn't notice them being particularly light but then again they did have rental bindings on them. tbh, it's a bit difficult to compare them to other skis, I don't often get to ski in those conditions with completely shot legs !
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Poster: A snowHead
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"Shane McConkey wrote: "...
p1sh I'm afraid.
1. totally incorrect.
2. Almost certainly incorrect if I am properly interpreting what he's trying to write in English. He gets some sympathy for being American so he's not writing in his first language.
He's an awesome skier and I understand a fine individual, nice to see he's not so good at trying to invent reasons why his new concepts work 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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David Murdoch, care to elaborate? IMV, McConkey exaggerates a bit in those explanations but there is a grain of truth in both things - normal camber is more likely to create tip dive than reverse camber and a fat, straight and flat pair of skis I own are much easier to slide than a more conventionally shaped pair.
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brian
brian
Guest
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I've seen his power slides in action !
I actually was pretty surprised how well those things handled in the non-deep bits, Arno.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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brian, so was I! The only time I have not enjoyed them was attempting some gaper slalom on an icy green run. I suppose I could just have gone slower but I didn't want to hold my group up... 
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FAQ
