Rossignol S3 186 Review

[hoarhey]

What bevels are you guys running that found the S3's hooky?

[Neurodoc]

Yeah, "hooky" is not a word I'd use to describe the S3.

I mean, the tips hook up and turn when I want them to, and don't when I don't, in pretty much any conditions.

[m01766]

What bevels are you guys running that found the S3's hooky?

I haven't checked the actual angles but factory tune, mounted on the 0 line.

Maybe my pair is just off since almost everyone else seems to love them, who knows...

[XtrPickels]

^^ So you and ShortyJ both mounted on the line and felt they were hooky.

[Bandit Man]

I find the "hooky" comments interesting as well. Based on my experiences with the ON3P BG's, I detuned from the front contact point back about 3-4 inches before skiing these. They still hold a great edge, but don't feel hooky. They don't smear as easily as a full rockered ski, but they do have a very "loose" feel in soft snow when not driving the edges.

[hoarhey]

I haven't checked the actual angles but factory tune, mounted on the 0 line.

Maybe my pair is just off since almost everyone else seems to love them, who knows...

I put a 1 deg base/2 deg side and don't find them hooky
Not detuned
YMMV

[Shorty_J]

Mine just have the factory tune... I picked them up at the Bellingham REI while out in Van for a wedding, and skied the at Whistler on the way home. I will definately give them a proper 1/2, base/side bevel and de-tune. As I said though... I did try to "ruin" the tip and tail contact areas on a metal gate and it didn't do anything.

I don't think that a 1/2 bevel will do much to affect the feeling of the tails holding on, but maybe I'm out to lunch here.

The S3's have an area of no sidecut between the reverse and normal sidecut areas, right? Any coments on whether I should detune 3-4 inches behind the start of the contact point, or the end?

Are ON3P BG's as symetrical a sidecut? I thought they were more like the S7 (which is less symetrical, no)? 22mm difference in tip and tail dims for the S7 vs. 10mm difference in the same points on the S3, according to Rossi website... BG's seem like they have 20mm difference in the same points. Think this might be part of the feeling of the heels wanting to steer me without me wanting to?

[nsk040]

FYI: The 186s are back on REI.com for $299 - picked up a pair last night.

[Long Duck Dong]

Aaaaaand, gone again.

[volklpowdermaniac]

Something's that confusing me. Mostly because I have a hard time visualizing math...


We all have different BSLs... and i bring this up because I just changed from a 317 to a 306.... yet we all mount at the same point 84.6....so now I go and change my bsl, the ski is going to ski more forward, but if I remounted and still went with the 84.6, the hole would be in the same spot....

Does anyone get this incoherant rambling?

[ski whore]

I had a pair of these last year and had a similar experience with the skis feeling hooky. Had a wreck where i thought I broke my ankle (didn't) and my ankle is still bothering me 8 months later. Anyway, I attributed it to the bull shit stacked height of the dukes, swore off ever skiing them again and sold the skis and binders together.

I did have the tips and tails to the contact point detuned to bejusus and a factory tune. I was considering getting a different tune but then decided that dukes were not for me. Could have been the ski, or IMHO could have been the bullshit stack height and zero deg ramp of the POS dukes that I don't know how anyone can ski. 2 cents- see ya

[Norrland]

What would you recommend:
Rossignol S3 BC 09/10 for 229€ +bindings
or
Rossignol S3 10/11 for349€ +bindings

Cheers

[Dr.Evil]

Just wondering, where is everyone mounting their S3s? On the center/progressive line, the traditional line, or somewhere in between?

[Jiehkevarri]

Anyone skiing these tele?

I tried Armada JJ's tele and was a bit suprised not to like that much tail rocker on tele skis (ok, demo skis with too loose cables on the bindings...just couldn't get a hold on the whole set-up that well). This is the only thing I am worried about on the S3, otherwise probably a very fun tele set-up?

How do s3'S tail rocker compare to JJ's...?

[Red Smurf]

I set mine up tele at the -1 cm line. It could go back another 1 to 2 cm if you tele exclusively. I am about 50/50 at the resort and backcountry for turn style.

I will say that this ski is one of the best all around skis I have riden in awhile. I really liked the Atomic TM:EX when they first appeared a 5 years ago. On Sunday (8"-12" of fresh) I took out my S7s for the morning than switched to S3 in the afternoon. I had more fun on the S3 then I did on my S7. This ski is really fun and easy to ski. Both in alpine and tele mode these skied great. I did not feel any hookyiness that others have previously described, though I did detune the tips and tails. I hiked for a couple open pow runs and they were stellar. Plenty of float for my 210 lb frame. They held an edge on the groomers as well. Did not get a chance to test on hard pack but that is not what I want them for. It made me think about weight alot. My S7s are 195s with Hammer heads, they are heavy. They crank, go fast and blast through anything but lack a bit of quickness that I really enjoy. The S3 had a very similiar feel as to the S7 but were quicker edge to edge and I did not feel I was losing a significant performance edge. The S3 will be my primary soft snow and backcountry ski this year. It has me eyeing a few of my other skis thinking I should thin out the quiver.

The bases are noticably slow but that just means keeping them waxed. At that price point (picked up mine from REI last may for $299 and set them up with Voile Switchbacks) I would think this is one of the top 3 skis on the market for all around western resort and backcountry skiing.

[JBird]

Attempting to answer several post questions:
I've skied these for the past 4 days in various conditions, powder, broken powder, and groomed. The powder day was at Solitude and we had a constant 8-12 inches all day. (Yeah, that's what she said!)
I couldn't have been happier with the performance of the S3. IT responded well to all requests I made of it. One of the best days I've had.
At Snowbird, conditions were mixed, but I took these all over the mountain, even in some small bumps. Which they did ok, but I certainly wouldn't look for anything larger. I did find some wind blown icy areas; I got through them but had to really focus on what was around me.
I have the edges set at 2,1 and like the set up. I have not experienced any of the "hooky" feeling others have. I'm set up on the "0" line of the ski.
Hope this helps.

[hoarhey]

Attempting to answer several post questions:
I've skied these for the past 4 days in various conditions, powder, broken powder, and groomed. The powder day was at Solitude and we had a constant 8-12 inches all day. (Yeah, that's what she said!)
I couldn't have been happier with the performance of the S3. IT responded well to all requests I made of it. One of the best days I've had.
At Snowbird, conditions were mixed, but I took these all over the mountain, even in some small bumps. Which they did ok, but I certainly wouldn't look for anything larger. I did find some wind blown icy areas; I got through them but had to really focus on what was around me.
I have the edges set at 2,1 and like the set up. I have not experienced any of the "hooky" feeling others have. I'm set up on the "0" line of the ski.
Hope this helps.

Just to confirm, your tune is 2 degree side and 1 degree base, correct?
cool that you're stoked on the ski

[JBird]

Hoarhey, Yes. 2 degrees on the side and one on the base. Sorry for the confusion.

[Like a Boss]

What would you recommend:
Rossignol S3 BC 09/10 for 229€ +bindings
or
Rossignol S3 10/11 for349€ +bindings

Cheers

Get the 10/11s. 09/10 bases are doo doo butter. Worth the extra cost.

[Jiehkevarri]

. At that price point (picked up mine from REI last may for $299 and set them up with Voile Switchbacks) I would think this is one of the top 3 skis on the market for all around western resort and backcountry skiing

Thanks Red Smurf.
Probably going to mount those with Voile Hardwire CRBs if I end up buying the skis.

(NTN prolly next season but I have still perfectly working/fitting Scarpa T1s...not going to invest in NTN before those die...)

How do you think the ski behaves on hardpack (mounted tele)? I wouldn't like to ski ice/real hard snow with these but groomers and occasional park for sure.(EDIT: re-read your post, "They held an edge on the groomers as well. Did not get a chance to test on hard pack but that is not what I want them for". But if anyone else have opinions/experience, go ahead...)

[MakersTeleMark]

I have about 40-50 days on them tele with Axl's. They rail groomers. Best all around ski I've ever tried. So easy to ski.

[coloskier]

Also really loving this ski. Got about 10 days on it in bounds. Park, bumps, groomers, etc. Mounted with Barons for 90% resort. Mounted at 0 but could have gone back a little.

[Jiehkevarri]

have about 40-50 days on them tele with Axl's. They rail groomers. Best all around ski I've ever tried. So easy to ski.

You guys serioysly feed my (very unrational) new ski fewer...4 pairs alpine, 1 tele and one old snowboard. And I use those all way too seldom. And now I am pretty convinced that I NEED these skis...

But I guess I can't go wrong with these sticks and the price is pretty reasonable here in Euroland too (Sport-Conrad.de)

[schwerty]

Bump for another review.

I picked up a set of 186cm S3's for resort use about a month ago. Stuck some STH 916's on them.

Skis I ski: (mostly ski AT boots and binders)
A whole mess of Iggies
DPS 120's and a couple days on 112's.
Movement Thunder
K2 Coomback

Needed a resort only ski that could ski the entire mtn, whether I am skiing flat slow laps with my daughter, following my outta town clients down shit they can't ski or riding solo on anything less than a big powder day.

*** I had reservations about buying a Rossi ski due to busting a Bandit XXX and turing another 2 Bandit XXX's into perma rockers about 10 years ago***

First impressions:

Fantastic ski! A little hooky even with the tips detuned like others have said but a simple adjustment of stance fixes that. I'll be doing some base and edge work this weekend which should remedy the problem. Left unchanged, I still dig the ski.

The rocker on both ends feels more like a standard twin in most conditions tip due to the camber and shape. I found the S3 to carve well on corduroy and choppy groomers. The ski likes to turn and is at home in soft, bumpy trees. For those that ski JHMR, I skied the Crags on them and had mostly fresh tracks. They are by far the best ski I've skied in the 100mm or so waist category in untracked snow. Float was better than expected.

Con: They lack what it takes to power through heavy, cut up snow at speed. I didn't expect them to do this though.

Great ski!

[D(C)]

I had my first day on the 186 S3s yesterday and I thought I'd share my thoughts so far. There are lots of reviews that already give a good idea of what this ski is like, but I spent all of last season on 188 S7s and figured some comparison would be useful for S7 fans looking at this ski.

The S3 skis more differently than the S7 than I thought it would. I think the main difference is the sidecut, with the heavy taper on the S7. In comparison, the S3 feels almost symmetrical. It is a better carver on packed snow than the S7 but the tip feels narrow at turn initiation and doesn't bite like a conventional ski. In comparison, the S7 tip bites but the tail doesn't complete as well. The second main difference is feel. The S3 feels lighter and less solid, more playful and nimble. It was lighter on edge and skied shorter than I expected. The S7 has a more damp, smooth feel but is less easy to throw around (though not very difficult at all). The 186 S3 to me felt like a shorter ski than the 188 S7, but that could be because all of my days so far have been on Kastles so I'm coming from a different point of comparison.

Anyway, I think the S3 will be perfect for what I had in mind, days spent mostly in the trees with no or mild amounts of accumulation, spring conditions, bumps, jumps, trips back East, etc. If I didn't have other skis, I'd go with something with a bit heavier feel that give back a bit more, and I could see some finding this ski a bit wimpy. It's possible I need more time on it to appreciate its true capabilities.