PM Gear Kusala pow

[powdork]

wow, i gotta say i'm surprised at all the talk of detuning. i've never felt like i had to detune a ski more than the lhasa fats, and since these came from pat i felt they might be the same way so i spent like 10 seconds with a quarter on the tips and tails and their very first runs were icy bumps with out a touch of grab. actually that's not true, they were a bit grabby until i moved the mount back 1.5cm.
as far as playfulness and lhasas, i always felt the regular lhasas were far more playful than the fats, but you had to move back off the tips a little to achieve this, and with my background as a tailgunner this was never a problem. ;-).

anywho, new boots arrive tomorrow, i picked up some more dynaduke plates today so i can switch back and forth between the kusala and the new kusalhasa. :-)

[auvgeek]

wow, i gotta say i'm surprised at all the talk of detuning. i've never felt like i had to detune a ski more than the lhasa fats, and since these came from pat i felt they might be the same way so i spent like 10 seconds with a quarter on the tips and tails and their very first runs were icy bumps with out a touch of grab. actually that's not true, they were a bit grabby until i moved the mount back 1.5cm.

This particular pair of Kusalas didn't come with a factory tune because splat was rushing to get them out the door for gordy camp. The pair we mounted up and had tuned down there was perfect -- couple passes with the gummy stone and all issues were solved. They railed the shit out of groomers. This pair doesn't seem to be behaving anywhere close to the same way. No idea what's up with that. I checked them with a true bar, and they've been flat from day 1 so that's not the issue. Weird, to say the least. I'm blaming the tech up here, personally. We had a mag hookup down in SLC who knew his shit and put some TLC into them. I should have just taken them to mofro261 and paid him in beer and Scotch.

so i can switch back and forth between the kusala and the new kusalhasa. :-)

Say what?!

[Chugachjed]

Methinks you folks that think the Lhasa fat isn't playful need to eat a cheeseburger or 10.

[splat]

Say what?!

powdork is test driving the new 122 waist Lhasa fat 186 this week.

[powdork]

powdork is test driving the new 122 waist Lhasa fat 186 this week.

with full rocker, or reverse camber, or whatever it's called. but not today. today was the regular kusala on dust and crust at kirkwood. they killed it, as much as i would allow them to anyway. i still have a bad tech fitting on my right boot so i couldn't pressure them too much making left turns on crunchy stuff.
i had talked to ottime about throwing a pair of dukes on the plates, but they were locked in his car, which was running, for two hours (had to find a way to throw that in there )

[Ottime]

Ha. I was just warming up my boots. When I finally got them on they were so toasty.

[jumpturn]

In case you missed it, here is some more BRO 179 stoke....while waiting for the Kusalas.....

[splat]

They'll be there before your sternum grows back together, John.

heal up!

[powdork]

regarding the kusalhasa pow fat here is a video with mostly it, but also a little kusala stoke from before they were mounted up. the kusalhasa (my name for it anyway) likes to charge and is extremely comfortable at high speeds and in cruddy changing conditions. i know it will slay big fast lines in pow. the one thing pat wanted me to check on was the performance in hard conditions and whether the tail would wash out at all. unfortunately we've been in the 60's without overnight freezes so i haven't been able to do that yet. right now, both pair are mounted on the roof of the subaru hilton heading for utah and wyoming where i hope to still not encounter firm conditions.

[splat]

Just spent the day at Squaw on the Kusalas, mostly granite cause I had the gf in tow. I went from the frozen to the corn to the slurpee and even slipped in some small airs to check the landing. At the end of the day I looked at her and said, " My new powder skis are now my new go-to everyday ski." Very stoked. I am digging the shit out of them for every radius turn imaginable, edgehold, landings and railing. With the pow test behind me, this day really blew my mind.

Another thing, after skiing 191s, 194s and 196s most of the last few years, I saw a reflection of myself in a window holding the 186 and thought to myself how small it looked and was a bit amazed at how well it rode for me in that length.

[BaNosser]

Sounds like you really nailed this one Splat... I am soooo looking forward to Wednesday...

I mean.. really..

[keith-stone]

These skis sound so awesome, ive been drooling over this thread for a while now. What are the chances of them being available for all by next seasons start?

[splat]

They're available now. About two to three weeks for delivery because we've been customizing different characteristics for people. Since things have slowed down seasonally, we've been taking orders for personalized flexes, all carbon versions, etc. I'm also taking some ski days before the resorts shut down. Pow day today. Had to get after it.

[BaNosser]

Pow day today. Had to get after it.

Slayed via Kusala?

[splat]

Yep. Schweet. Yours arrive tomorrow. Z-Bos, too. Signature required.
PM powdork to discuss his dynafit mount if you want to compare. I put the bcl line at 99. I'm at what looks to be 98.7.
But it seems to vary in location preference.

[BaNosser]

Yep. Schweet. Yours arrive tomorrow. Z-Bos, too. Signature required.
PM powdork to discuss his dynafit mount if you want to compare. I put the bcl line at 99. I'm at what looks to be 98.7.
But it seems to vary in location preference.

Had to work all day yesterday, but am done for the day today... so am about to go pick them up...

[BaNosser]

Picked them up this afternoon...




11meg close up pano



They hand flex almost as stiff as my full carbon Lhasas.. the tip has a more progressive flex down to a stiff underfoot... fyi I had requested a touch 'softer' version.. well.. there ain't nothing 'soft' about these... lol.. tho they aren't I beam stiff (thanks Pat).. Bomber beautiful fukkin skis mags have grown to expect from PMGear.. Kudos Pat and many thanks



smiling

[arild]

Those are very pretty, looks like a very nice general variable soft snow ski!

[Leisg]

Do you have a quiet romantic evening in front of an open fire with your new kusalas planned?
Don't think anyone would blame you... beautiful!

[BaNosser]

Do you have a quiet romantic evening in front of an open fire with your new kusalas planned?

Damn straight...

[SchralphMacchio]

^ I hope it's not too thrunty filling a PMGear thread with pics from a different ski mfr from the other side of Reno ... but that's exactly what I did when I got my new Praxis 1.5 years ago

[bsavery]

Picked them up this afternoon...




11meg close up pano



They hand flex almost as stiff as my all carbon Lhasas.. the tip has a more progressive flex down to a stiff underfoot... fyi I had requested a touch 'softer' version.. well.. there ain't nothing 'soft' about these... lol.. tho they aren't I beam stiff (thanks Pat).. Solid beautiful fukkin skis mags have grown to expect from PMGear.. Kudos Pat and many thanks



smiling

Sploosh.



What did they weigh in at? Did you go for full carbon or hybrid?

[splat]

Looks like I totally spaced polishing those edges for you before shipping, BaNosser. Sorry. I think we were pressed to make FedEx. I really did soften them up a touch. However, this design seems to make flex somewhat irrelevant, skiing more under foot, unless going too soft might impact the way it skis, which I doubt.

[JRainey]

Them's some sexy skis. Holy Shit. Love the rocker profile. Splat, do you have an idea yet of weight difference for all carbon vs. hybrid layup?

[splat]

As anyone who's fondled them will tell you, it's damn hard to get a pic that does them justice.

We have noticed weight savings across almost all models of 1 lb. per pair between hybrid and carbon. Might be more on the Kusalas though, because we get our glass and carbon in six inch roll widths and usually cut off a fair amount in cleaning up and finishing. However, as we have gone wider with the Kusalas and 186 Lhasa Fats (with a 150 mm tip), I've also noticed that we're utilizing those six inch wide composites a lot more. In using more glass that would be replaced with carbon, the all carbons might take it out to a 9-10 ounces weight savings per ski, depending which weight carbon we use. We're working on the first carbon Kusala pair next...