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Designing adaptive ski equipment - need users help!
 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead

Im currently on a project team to design and develop a new or improved product for skiing.
As I don't personally know an abundance of skiers with disabilities I have come to this forum for help.
I want to know what some of the problems are with equipment that skiers use, be it sit skis or outriggers.

Here are some of the questions im looking to find answers to:

Does equipment preform as you would like it to?
Is equipment too expensive?
Is it difficult to adjust?
Do spring mechanisms jam up?
Do parts break, and which parts most often?
Are they easy to replace if they do break?
Do you customize your equipment yourself (ie. Put extra padding into the bucket on sit skis, or use a shop to build/ change something for your equipment)?
If you have any additional information about how you use your equipment or problems you may have (even if they're small and usually ignored) anything would be very helpful!

- Air
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person

Hi AirJewel, you may want to have a read through this recent thread for some links you may find useful, and welcome to Snowheads.
http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=66968
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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?

AirJewel, You should not ask things like that on a forum and expect to get a representative answer.

The reason market research companies make so much money is because they ask the "correct question". This is crucial. UNless you ask the correct question in the proper manner and with a sample audience that is not statistically skewed then you end up with the wrong answer.
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.

I suppose I should mention at this point that I am a University student and have limited resources and knowledge on the subject. However this project does have a history of end designs being bought and manufactured. Just simply looking for any clues that could lead me down a certain path, at which point I can gather more accurate data. Thanks Richard for your link. Quite interesting and helpful!
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Hi AirJewel,
I can give you a few tips that you might find helpful:
1. It is expensive as there isn't much of a market for it and equipment is done in small quantities, and mainly good quality (but not all)
2. It is not too bad, some models havent got much of a adjustments (some only foot rest, in more advanced mono-skis there is more adjustments to make it as good as possible for skier - otherwise it is like skiing in skiboots that are not right to the skils and few sizes too big) it takes a while to adjust it but once it is set correctly, skiers can fully use their potential and even the right chosen equipment along with good set up can compensate skier's lac of ability - within limits Smile
3. occassionally it does jam - mainly when it is very cold, around -30 C, so before getting on lift needs double checking if everything works, but not a big issue with it.
4 when used in normal condition and during regular skiing there isnt any problems for years (good equipment). Some cheaper equipment might not be made from as good quality meterials, the design might not be very good and as a result yes it can fall into pieces even during regular skiing (there is a lot of forces going through the shock absorber and the rest of the mechanism so it needs to be strong and needs to have an atest). All parts are easy to replace unless the factory is on other continent (takes ages to get it and it is very expensive with all the shipping costs) or the frame has been affected...
5. Each equipment comes as a standard (obviously seat size and foot rest in most sit skis come fitted to user's needs) the rest needs adjusting. Some producers helping out with it and some dont (as they are not even on the same side of the globe Smile
The other thing is time that a manufacturer spends on trying new solutions and improvement of his products and how many disabled skiers work with him on the product....

Hope that helps a bit Smile
Good luck and let me know once you have created your sit ski Wink
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