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Have I bought the right skis?? Aaargh!

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
My skis arrived today - Fischer Koa 78s - and I am panicking because they are wider than expected.

Are they going to be too hard to turn?!

I am 5ft 9 and bought the 159s. I only weigh 55kilos though and would describe myself as an intermediate skier.

What do you think? Should they go back for a narrower waisted ski?!
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Assuming they are 78mm underfoot, they're still pretty much piste skis, so I wouldn't worry. Also width doesn't make much difference to turning.
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you ll absolute love them, honest! I grin everytime i use mine. Mainly used them on piste but they can cope with a bit of gentle offpiste too. Thye carve like a dream and with your weight will be able to drive that length beautifully with your skill level - great choice - chill!
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flipperthesnowholedigger, I'm sure they'll be fine, they've got a good rep, but the only way to find out is to ski them! Also, do you even have the option of exchanging them? If not, just go enjoy the ski. For your weight, 78mm is great for "all-mountain". They won't be the quickest edge-to-edge but for most people this really just isn't an issue.
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flipperthesnowholedigger, I tried those skis at Tamworth last year in 165 (although I'm a similar height to you I'm considerably heavier Embarassed ) and loved them. They were great for nice tight S bends indoors and had excellent edge hold on the hard icy Tamworth surface. I certainly didn't find them too wide (trust me, I've tried some skis that resembled a snowboard for each foot before! Never again!). Hope you enjoy them. Very Happy Very Happy
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Quote:

Also width doesn't make much difference to turning


call yourself an instructor?
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Thanks for your comments guys (gals?) Erm - under a new name - does that mean that in your opinion width DOES making a difference to turning??!

Am feeling more reassured - good to hear from people who have skied on them. I think the Fischer website worried me too as it said they are for advanced to expert. I would describe myself as an intermediate skier - but see often skiing divided into beginner, advanced and expert so I guess on that kind of range I AM advanced! ???

Clarky999 - I thought piste skis were described as 63-73 underfoot? Have only ever hired before and not really paid any attention to what I was skiing on to be honest! These came recommended and looked good - but they just look quite wide! Then again - am heading to Cairngorm over Xmas so they'll be good for the powder there if its anything like last year - which it seems to be.

Thanks all.
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flipperthesnowholedigger, depends on how exactly you're doing the turning! wink
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flipperthesnowholedigger, After 4 days skiing I was on 76 or 78mm underfoot and never went thinner apart from trying the odd piar of race skis. Now on 98's and still feel that they are a good all round ski for both on and off piste.


Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Thu 9-12-10 0:07; edited 1 time in total
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too narrow
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under a new name wrote:
Quote:

Also width doesn't make much difference to turning


call yourself an instructor?


I don't think it does - apart from the milseconds extra it takes to roll into an edge. IMO tortional rigidty makes much more difference, although obviously turn radius makes a difference with regards to how different sorts fo turns feel.
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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.
clarky999, ummm, hmmm, no, it obviously makes a difference, as you agree as there is not just the edge roll timing but the force required to lift the skier off the snow, etc., I would certainly concur that torsional rigidity makes a huge difference. Wasn't trying to be too cheeky, BTW, Razz
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You should be fine, in most different types of riding skis are getting wider over the years and I would by no means say 78 is to wide for piste, in fact its probably a pretty regular sort of size for a piste ski these days.

I'm with Clarky somewhat on the width thing, it will have some effect but in terms of how a ski feels to use width is probably less important then other factors like sidecut, camber, torsional rigidity etc. This is proven by the fact that many good modern off piste ski's well over 100mm handle admirably on piste as well.

A little extra width in a piste ski will also help if the snow is fresh and soft on piste as you won't get bogged down as much. Basically you should have nothing to worry about.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Quote:

This is proven by the fact that many good modern off piste ski's well over 100mm handle admirably on piste as well.


Sounds like you've swallowed the marketing hype hook line and sinker. A narrow waist ski will always handle better on piste than a wide ski. Trends change, physics don't. The fact that the new wide skis handle better on piste than older wide skis does not mean that they are as good on piste as narrow carvers.

That said, flipperthesnowholedigger, you shouldn't have any issues with a 78 waist. Don;t worry about it, but don't believe the BS bandied around about 100+ wide skis being just as good on piste.
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Excuse me, but where did I say they would be just as good on piste as piste specific carvers??? I said they handle admirably and I mean considering their width and intended use the science that has gone into these ski's has got them to perform alot better on piste than their width might suggest. I am by no means recommending ski's that wide for a piste only application.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
[quote="Dr John"]
Quote:
The fact that the new wide skis handle better on piste than older wide skis does not mean that they are as good on piste as narrow carvers.


Its also worth bearing in mind that what you are referring to as "narrow carvers" today are generally wider with more sidecut than what you would have referred to by the same name 10 or 15 years ago, yet generally speaking modern carvers are going to out perform older designs, despite the fact many have slightly larger waists.
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under a new name wrote:
clarky999, ummm, hmmm, no, it obviously makes a difference, as you agree as there is not just the edge roll timing but the force required to lift the skier off the snow, etc., I would certainly concur that torsional rigidity makes a huge difference. Wasn't trying to be too cheeky, BTW, Razz


I'd still hold that there are more important things than width that determine how well a ski will turn - for instance, would you rather race on a big stiff ski like a Dynastar XXL at 109mm underfoot, or a floppy donkey dick park ski at 85mm underfoot?

Guess there's also the difference between how well something turns and how easy soemthing is to turn, which I kinda missed in the OP.


Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Thu 9-12-10 12:02; edited 1 time in total
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to be fair, XXLs are better at going in a straight line than turning Little Angel
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Arno, I assume they still RAIL a carved turn though - just a huge 40-odd-metre mutha of a turn!!!
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clarky999, At 100% resistance, on softer snow the radius could be halfed, assuming your a big biffer like ARNO. Toofy Grin
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Okay - erm - I think I'm reassured if a bit baffled at the same time.

The good news is that I rang the store I ordered from - as I worked out last night that the reason the width took me by surprise is that they have the wrong sidecut dimensions on their website!!! Which is why i didn't get what I thought I ordered! However - they also reassured me about the suitability of this ski for my ability and what I want to do with it - and said that if after skiing on it for a week I DON'T like it - they will collect it and give me a FULL refund as it was their mistake in the web description. You can't say fairer than that for customer service!

Who knows - maybe they've done me a favour and I will lurve the 78 mm underfoot! I'll know soon enough!

Cheers for all the comments. Very Happy
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Sounds like excellent customer service even if they did make a mistake on the advert, who did you buy from?
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flipperthesnowholedigger, With excellent customer service like that you should name them they deserve to have the compliments
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flipperthesnowholedigger, in which case whether the 78mm will bother you or not depends on your level of skiing and what you might want to do with them. No question that 78mm underfoot won't be the best for edge-to-edge turning but if that isn't your wont or you have big feet it'll probably not matter much at all.
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flipperthesnowholedigger, I am your height, though you will have by far the better figure Embarassed I am approaching being an intermediate skier. If it's any help I took on Elan Magfire 78 Ti's this year - same width as yours 15.4m radius, I had problems with them for the first couple of days (I had come off of Elan Wavemagics 69mm 13.7m radius) - the titanium sheet made the Mags quite stiff, but once I got used to them they turned wonderfully and I wouldn't go back now (though they made me curse a lot for the first 10 mins!!). I think if you initially find a problem with them I would, on the basis of my own experience, persevere with them for that whole week and see if they grow on you.
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clarky999, yes - wide open spaces required

SMALLZOOKEEPER, sometimes being big boned has its advantages, although a bit more skill on my part wouldn't go amiss either
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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.
Good point! It was snowfit in Norwich. Excellent chap there called John.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
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I'd call myself an intermediate skier and I ski 89mm (all mountain ski) on piste and have found them absolutely fine, they don't feel unwieldy.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
I went from 64 to 80 and thought I was skiing on two snowboards, but after a day, I would never go back to skinny heavy race skis unless the it had not snowed in weeks and there were some nice wider motorways.

Moving up to some 96's soon and looking forward to doing it all over again.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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flipperthesnowholedigger, Snowfit are awesome, i've had a couple of pairs of skis from them in the past and their service has always been brilliant, they even chucked in a free padded Line ski bag with my last pair.
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 Poster: A snowHead
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starskee wrote:
I went from 64 to 80 and thought I was skiing on two snowboards, but after a day, I would never go back to skinny heavy race skis unless the it had not snowed in weeks and there were some nice wider motorways.

Moving up to some 96's soon and looking forward to doing it all over again.


with you on this.

i started off at 74, went to 79, went to 84 and have this season moved up to 98. I can't tell much difference in turn response times between the 84 and 98 to be honest.
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And at last, the pennies are dropping like flies.
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how many flies? Very Happy
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