Volkl Two

[ahlerscurtis]

Any thoughts on the Volkl Two as a powder ski. Thinking of mounting jesters on them. I have gotama's and love them but would love a true powder ski that's more on the playful side. thanks.
-Curtis

[gregL]

Völkl Two kills it in pow and isn't half bad on the groomed no matter what binding you put on it.

[volklpowdermaniac]

Wonder greg if you've ever skied the kuro and could compare the two, KURO rip, one of the greats.

[WaistDeepGroomers]

Fun ski. Can handle speed and shitty runouts for sure. Real stable. I'm more partial to the one cuz I ski slower and like the tighter turning radius and pretending im a jibber. Didn't notice a huge difference in flotation between skis, but was impressed with how much of a charger the two was.

[ahlerscurtis]

How did the two do in the trees? It has a large side cut and that is what i'm kind of worried about. I enjoy big turns but I also like to hop in the tress too.

[JeffreyJim]

How did the two do in the trees? It has a large side cut and that is what i'm kind of worried about. I enjoy big turns but I also like to hop in the tress too.

This is sort of a silly comment to me. Are you really "carving" between trees like a slalom racer? Most aren't. Most times you ski trees are skiing them in pow, or looking to anyway. In situations like this a reverse camber straightish ski will let you vary your turn radius far more than a tight radius more conventional ski.

http://earlyups.com/gear-volkl-two-review/

Overall the ski is surfy, easy and considering its not all that stiff (its not soft either) - it likes to ski fast.

[gregL]

Wonder greg if you've ever skied the kuro and could compare the two, KURO rip, one of the greats.

Sorry, VPM, I've never skied the Kuro. The Two is not quite as stable as the Shiro and the edgehold is predictably less bomber, but I really prefer the tapered tip of the One/Two/Three series to the blunt shape of the older skis - it tracks better in thick fresh and doesn't "plow." The One and Two are quite different IME, the One being super surfy and pretty much impossible to carve a clean turn on and the Two being pretty good at longer radius GS type turns (I expected the opposite).

Tree skiing? The Two will work fine, but then I enjoy skiing trees on Legend Pro 115's and Bodaciouses so you might want to ask someone else.

[ghosthop]

How did the two do in the trees? It has a large side cut and that is what i'm kind of worried about. I enjoy big turns but I also like to hop in the tress too.

Spent a couple days hot lapping trees at Jay with a buddy on the two, he's a bigger guy and a strong skier but had good things to say about them the entire trip. I took a couple laps on them through trees at Stratton and enjoyed them, but I'm only 120lbs and prefer something a little easier to flex like a SFB when I want a surfy and poppy ski. My everyday ski is a Sickle and I thought the two skied fairly similar, the two isn't as damp and was smearier.

[Mex]

I've got a buddy that has the twos as his pow boards in fernie and he loves them. He's got the 186 and he's about 6ft maybe 170lbs.

[DGamms]

Bumping an old thread. Anyone else have more time on the Twos? I've read the Earlyups review a couple times. It sure makes this sound like an awesome resort and side country soft snow ski.

Anyone try a different mount point on the 186? Is the rec'd line about -8 cm from true center? Any comparisons on pow and chop performance with similar skis like the Bent Chetler, the Jeffrey 122, or the Protest?

[whyturn]

Buddy skied the one and prefers shiro and kuro. His comments were too playful and soft. Two is just bigger. Volkl rep at demo said more of jibby pow ski. Protest was stiffer for sure. R2 was more in line but has camber. If you jib around and get more soft than chop may be a good bet. Resorts get tracked so quick
Hope it helps

[DGamms]

Thanks whyturn. I know it is billed as a jibby pow ski like the One. But the Earlyups review and some of the prior TGR comments in other posts frame the Two as more of a slarvy soft snow charger than a jib stick. If it can charge, sparse, and still get around for an occasional 360, then I'm quite interested in trying a pair. I own the Ren and EHP for soft snow, and I like them. But I wouldn't say either is great at charging variable resort snow in UT. I also don't think they are the best design for holding a long slarve. I have a harder time with the semi pintail design of the 4frnts when I turn my body away from the fall line. They ski better with the tips pointed down the hill and making turns by shifting my weight side to side.

Anyone else have time on the Two? Any concrete comparisons to other soft snow skis?

[WaistDeepGroomers]

Thanks whyturn. I know it is billed as a jibby pow ski like the One. But the Earlyups review and some of the prior TGR comments in other posts frame the Two as more of a slarvy soft snow charger than a jib stick. If it can charge, sparse, and still get around for an occasional 360, then I'm quite interested in trying a pair. I own the Ren and EHP for soft snow, and I like them. But I wouldn't say either is great at charging variable resort snow in UT. I also don't think they are the best design for holding a long slarve. I have a harder time with the semi pintail design of the 4frnts when I turn my body away from the fall line. They ski better with the tips pointed down the hill and making turns by shifting my weight side to side.

Anyone else have time on the Two? Any concrete comparisons to other soft snow skis?

I've spent time on both the one and two and big difference in feel between them. The two feels much more like a stiffer more straight line charger than the one, which is much poppier, quicker, and jibbier. Both can ski soft snow plenty well, but depends what kind of feel you like.

[DGamms]

I picked up a pair of new 186 cm Volkl Twos cheap on Gear Swap (thanks Mike!). No time on snow yet, but the hand feel and dimensions have me pretty excited.

True length straight pull: 185 cm
Measured widths: 144-122-136
True center: 92.5 cm
Rec'd mount point: - 10 cm from true center, or 102.5 cm from the tip
Tip taper length: 23 cm from tip to widest front width
Tail taper length: 18 cm from tail to widest tail width
Maximal tip rocker splay height: 7.5 cm
Maximal tail rocker splay height: 7 cm

Flex is medium-stiff throughout, round and uniform. Weight guestimate is 10-10.5 lbs. Bouncing them off the floor produces a dull thonk, a reassuring, damp resonance like my Rossi Sickles or pre 2010 Katanas. The amount of taper over the width of the tip and tail is very subtle, probably less than 0.5 cm total width change over the 20 cm of length that the taper runs.

Ok, enough nerding out on the numbers. I'll probably mount these 2-3 cm forward of rec to end up around 7-8 cm back from true center. I'll try to report back once I have some Wasatch soft snow days on them.

[LiveLarger]

I have a buddy who is an astronaut and he says they are just fine. Took them to the moon and back. It's true! Maybe.

[Eluder]

Just bumping this hoping for some mounting insight. This will be a directional ski for me as I suck at the steez. Currently leaning +1.

[Eluder]

Anyone? looks like if I use the existing front holes I am at +.05mm Should have room at +2mm if going forward makes sense.

[DGamms]

I finally got some time on my 2014 186cm Volkl Twos.

Me: 5'10", 150 lbs, ski PC/Alta/Wasatch BC
Setup: 186 cm Volkl Two, mounted 2+ of rec (or -8cm from true center) with Salomon Wardens and Fischer Ranger Pros + Zipfits

Groomers: totally passable. The skis tracks pretty straight despite the full reverse camber. It can sort of carve slow lumbering turns as long as the surface is softish
Bumps: much more work in hard bumps than my daily driver 186 Sickles (duh), hurts my old man knees unless I slow things down
Chop: I actually thought this was the Twos strongest area. In steep terrain and soft chop, they just steamroll everything. For me, they were more predictable and just as fast as my 2nd gen 186 Renegades in these conditions. Bigger sweet spot for balance than the Rens too
Pow: good but not great. More boot drag than the Rens, not as fast either on moderately pitched untracked pow. They come alive with more speed and steeper terrain. Occasional tip dive feeling was a surprise to me on a ski this fat with a fair amount of tip rocker splay.

Overall, a great resort pow ski. Especially since untracked pow in the Wasatch doesn't last more than an hour after opening new terrain. The Twos are awesome in soft deep chop, which is the condition I find I ski most on inbound Utah pow days. For those that like more traditional mounts, I'd say mount them on the line (-10 cm from true center). Maybe this would reduce the tip dive in low angle pow a bit too.

[DGamms]

Another update after a few more days on my 186 Volkl Twos:

Skied more than 20 laps off 9990' at Canyons earlier this week on my Twos. Dry Utah powder 6-18" over variable hard snow and small moguls.
- No tip dive this time around. Steeper terrain and less than 24" of new may have been the difference
- Fast and pivoty between tight trees. Easier to ski tight trees than the Ren
- No speed limit if the snow is mostly soft. Hard moguls under 6" new snow are pretty jarring, but not more so than any other ski greater than 120mm underfoot that I've tried
- Easier and more stable when drifting a long surf turn than the Rens. I had a blast on the Twos getting sideways to the hill and drifting a long ways without losing any speed. When it is time to stop drifting and pivot the next turn, they will do so predictability and with ease
- More versatile than you'd expect. If the resort base layer is anything but bulletproof and there is more than 4-5" of new, I'll likely be pulling these out over my Rossignol Sickles 186 or metal Katanas 190

[Johnny Deep]

Wonder greg if you've ever skied the kuro and could compare the two, KURO rip, one of the greats.

AN olde thread, but what the heck...

I had the Kuro. Couldn't find the luv unless it was a knee deep day. Too rockered and too soft for anything else. The Kuro had tons of swing weight and bounced the shit out of you in the crud. The 2 skis more like the Shiro, stiffer, more stable at speed and good for anything other than the iciest of days.

[Bandit Man]

Adding my mini-review to this thread for continuity purposes...(I found this one after I wrote mine).

Volkl-Two One-Day-Mini-Review

[swissiphic]

Bought some 185cms two used this past fall; mounted at plus 1 and bent more rocker into the tip/shovel.

In factory form, skis felt planky and threw me in backseat with all mount points from minus 1 to plus 3 (adjustable mount point bindings) The subtle tip to tail reverse camber with flat section underfoot just didn't have enough tip splay and the rocker contact point was too far forward for a tip to tail balanced feel in true deep pow conditions, imo.

Eyeballed then shaped in a rocker line about 12-14 inches back from the tip (haven't measured). Over the years of experimentation with modding other skis bending various rocker shapes into other skis, I've noticed that pulling back the rocker splay line in the shovels often alleviates a 'throws me into the back seat' feel of skis...even ones with existing tip rocker...that's for me anyways, YRMV.

With the custom tip rocker mod, skis now feel very balanced tip to tail and float like dream boats. Super loose/slarvy and fun in all soft snow pow i've skied. Had a few days on true bulletproof refrozen train tracks and truck ruts doing workout laps on a logging road. They were okay but a bit chattery on steeps. Did some aggressive detuning of full length of edges and cured that ailment. Skied some deep coastal wet crap chop and groomers and these puppies slayed it all with lots of stability and damping.

Stoked on the 2. They're heavy on paper but ski surprisingly lighter than their 2600gram per ski wegiht would suggest. I'm doing full day tours on em and really don't notice their mass while striding along..thought the toll is noticeable incrementally as long days wear on. The long sidecut radius and flat section underfoot make em track really well for uphilling in variable snow and steep sidehilling. With the extra tip rocker, great float for breaking trail.