Need recomendation for GS skis

I'd like to note that I suggested the ski in a 177. For a person of this kid's size a 177 would be a boat load of ski. think about how your wife would react if you took her off her 163's and put her on a 177... same idea. You don't even ski the 177... so I still maintain that the Head would be a lot of ski for a kid this size... but he already purchased a Rossignol R11, so it is a moot point now.

Point taken...thank you very kindly for the clarification.

We wrapped up the USSA season this year about two weeks ago. My son did great on the Rossi R-11s, usually in the top 1/3 or so of the J2's. The details ain’t important, but he went back to the Head GS skis for the last two weeks of the season, including the championship, and did not fare nearly as well. In fact, I beat him at NASTAR during this change at least twice. This weekend he put the R-11’s back on and he beat me.

 

As a side note, I started using the R-11s when my son switched back to the Heads. It is by far the best ski that I have every used, especially on ice. This is the first ski that I have used where I can consistently engage the entire edge on ice. In fact they are so “grippy” that I have to be very careful when making a fast slide stop, for fear of engaging too much edge and overpowering my legs.

 

I’ve re-read through the earlier recommendations in this thread and again I say thank y’all for your thoughts and information. It looks like Vokl’s or Rossi’s are the way to go for my son. The decision is likely to come down to price, and since I ski for a local shop’s team that carries Rossi they’ll probably give me the wholesale price.

 

Since I’m not sure what the 2010 USSA regs and enforcement will be I’ll obviously wait until next October or so to make the purchase

The new USSA rules were finalized and posted on September 1. J1s and J2s are now required to run 180cm max, 21m minimum for GS. The 2010 Vokl and Rossi WC skis are 185/27 (which are the WC rules). After a lengthy search though I found some 2007 Rossi WC skis that meet the 180/21 rules.

SM,
You mentioned a few posts back that you've tuned your skis to 1 base & 3 edge.
I'd suggest trying 0.5 base & 3 edge -- this config works well for skilled racers.
If it doesn't work out, it's easy to go back to 1 degree on the base.
Be sure to get video feedback from the coach.

I used that myself and it worked out well, but I really couldn't find much of a difference for a 1/3, so I've pretty much gone to 1/3 to make it a bit easier at prepping a bunch of skis for the next day. Do you think it's that much of a difference?

@ Southern Man - what do you think of the Salomons?

 

I've never skied Salomons. They were the right specs and the right price, and my son has Salomon boots that have worked very well for him, so I figured it was worth $150 to put them in our quiver.

I got a pair of old (still in box) Rossignol Mayflex 150 bindings that were supposed to fit the 2007 Rossignol skis. It turns out they are 2006 bindings and don't fit the plate. The toe fits, but not the heel. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Yes. Buy bindings that fit. (Rossi Axial MFX or Look PX MFX)

That's what these are: "Rossi Axial^2 World Cup Maxflex".

MFX stands for Maxflex. http://www.rossignol.com/US/axial-worldcup-150-mfx_RC9A076_product_ski-men-bindings.html (click on "specs")

Here's pictures of the ski and binding. The S/N on the skis are is 416181 6 70190. The seller told me they were 2007 skis. (I assume that the 6 in the middle of the S/N is the manufactured year?)

I don't see an obvious S/N on the bindings. They are supposedly 2007 models. On the bottom of the toe piece there is a number "1427" and stamped on the bottom of the brake pad is "Made in France 13 07". The "warning" brochure was printer "04/98", the picture mounting instructions are undated and the owners manual was printed "05/2006"

the bindings you bought are the current model (08/09 or 09/10 MFX), the ski and the plate that are on it are from the 07/08 season.

the plate on that ski is a FKS plate, it takes an FKS binding available in 12, 15, or 18 DIN. They have not been in production for 2 years.

rossi/look are releasing an updated version of this binding sometime before christmas. they will only be available in 14 and 18 DIN versions, and will be very expensive.

we have 12 FKS and 15 FKS in stock at the start haus.


jim

I found that 0.5 on the base did make a difference.  For the kids I've been working with, they were skilled enough at K2 level (13/14) to be able to manage this configuration.  Good lateral balance is the key.  The quickness helped on the hard snow that we get on a pretty regular basis in S. Ontario.

Thanks Jim. Since he'll be using these likely for the next three years and plans on club racing in college I think I'll opt for the 155's, unless you think otherwise.

What about a binding recommendation for the Salomon skis pictured in post 34? They have a "Pilot system race Hangl plate"

What the heck- we'll try it again. Thanks for the advice.

hangl's were built by salomon, and based on positioning of the pivot points on the plate mount,  salomon 916's fit very well, although there is a way to reverse the holes that the pivot pin goes through to adapt for the full range of boot sizes that might get mounted on the plate.

other flat bindings can work, you just need to make sure that the binding screws do not go directly on top of the pivot pins.

jim

OIC now. I thought there was a binding that fit this specific plate by fitting to the machining on the sides of the plate or something fancy like that. But instead you just drill into the plate itself. I'll have my local shop mount these MFX Rossignols on them, unless I sell them on Ebay. Since they're the current model I might be able to turn a profit.

Check out the Stockli Laser GS in an 180 cm for him (23 m radius).  The 185 cm is the standard 27 m radius.  The FIS version is what they use on the World Cup and Europa Cup...the real deal.  Tina Maze picked-up a bunch of podiums on the WC with them last year (#3 GS skier in the world and 6th overall).  Many racers drop Stocklis when they hit their national teams because Stockli doesn't have the budget to support many racers.  They only produce 40,000 pair a year, and most are sold in Europe. Regardless, they are used in every WC race (technical and speed).  At least they are profitable, and that is better than Rossignol.  It is a typically stiff, wood core, vertical sidewall, ski that is VERY well made.  The best set-up, and the one typically used on the World Cup, is .5 degree base bevel with a 3 degree side bevel.

I agree with Quant2325 on this one. Stockli has one of the best, if not the best, normal production skis, as far as production quality and consistency goes. If you get 5 pairs of skis, they will be closest together, so even WC technicians likes them for testing (actually right would be, they would love to have them for testing instead of this what they are using :)). They are expensive, but you I would say Stockli is pretty much only company, where normal store skis almost match race stock skis.
PS: Just that there won't be some misunderstanding. I was always on Fischer, back in my racing time, and also now when I ski just for fun, so I have nothing to do with Stockli ;)

Yep, Stockli is a really good ski for all the reasons presented here.  Lots of Masters racers on them the last couple of years.  In terms of design and manufacturing quality, I also think the current Atomics are pretty fabulous.  I've been on Atomic for a while, and the quality I've been getting is just amazing.  I deal with a shop that gets race stock, and the stuff we get is basically very, very close to World Cup in terms of quality.  I just picked out a pair of 165 D2 SLs and a pair of 184 D2 GSs.  The flex numbers were on the tail; all the GSs had the same flex pattern, and I flexed a bunch off pairs, matched them up, and I couldn't tell the difference between the pair I picked and the other ones.  The SLs came in two flex patterns, I picked the softer one.  Same great quality.  Took very, very little additional work before I hotboxed them...the factory tunes and waxing are amazing. 

I also like the plate and binding system.  I trust 1018s, the plates get better and better, and any idiot can mount bindings and set them up in about 10 minutes.  Finally, I also like Atomic boots, and it's really nice to have parts that were all designed as pieces of a single system...

My coach told me that Atomic race skis are the most difficult among the well-known race ski manufacturers to find the right balance on.
If you can - and you like them - great.  But as a general rule - she recommended trying any of the other big name race skis, e.g. Head or Volkl - or any of the other well-known manufacturers.
I normally ski Volkl - and have demoed Head - and can recommend either one.

so now im confused. are volkls stiff or not? ive always understood that they are stiffer than rossis but has that changed?

and unless you like having to replace your skis, i would steer away from volkl. they delaminate pretty easily. but im not sure if that is the same for their gs skis...

I skied them three weeks ago. Compared to the Rossignols they are just OK. They are easier to turn (bend) and have decent stability.

Front of the ski, outside ski -- not really difficult to find at all.

Fischers ski very similar to Atomic, so if you don't like Atomic, stay away from Fischer too.

Head skis (FIS models at least) would also be categorized similarly, so watch out for them.  Great results showing up on those skis (see Vonn, Cuche, Riesch, etc...) but you need to to be strong to make them work.