Volkl Shiro

[Kirkwood]

Last season I skied 195 SS7's mounted -2. I agree with the write-ups that S7' skis short and I felt the SS7 was a great ski except for the fact that two pairs de-lam'd under the binding. So I've decided to go back to what I found for me to be tried and tested. VOLKL!

About me, 6' 210lbs, everyday skis are '11 190cm Katana mounted +2. My plan is to replace the SS7's with the Shiro but not sure whether to order the 183 or the 193. I've noticed that the 193 is not commonly found at online retailers.

I read on Voelkl's website about Mat Phillipi (5'7") mounts his Shiro's +2.

Given the limited user experiences and write-ups on the Shiro, has anyone (that has skied the Shiro) found it to ski long or ski short as I am coming from 195 SS7?

[Shu Shu]

You are coming off a 195 and asking if you should replace it with a 183? Are you planning on using them for park or what? WTF did I just get trolled again.

[bojangles]

Well I would have to say 193 with out a doubt.

[Kirkwood]

SHU SHU? Feeling trolled? WTF? I guess I should respond with "OMG" "NFW" another pair of canuck flapping lips.... Are you saying you've skied the Shiro? If not, don't respond.

By understanding how a ski feels/behaves helps a skier understand where to mount a binding for personal preference.

[fatkid]

ive skied the katana 190 for seasons, skied the ss7 195 a few times in the right conditions, and skied the shiro in good conditions, the ski i ordered for my pow ski this year is the Blizzard bodacious, so much better than the shiro, if you are looking for the strong edgy powerful feel from the katana but wider and a better rocker profile, you gotta get the bodacious. the shiro is noodly, no metal, more like a mini kuro than a big katana. just my 2 cents.

[Kim Jong-un]

ive skied the katana 190 for seasons, skied the ss7 195 a few times in the right conditions, and skied the shiro in good conditions, the ski i ordered for my pow ski this year is the Blizzard bodacious, so much better than the shiro, if you are looking for the strong edgy powerful feel from the katana but wider and a better rocker profile, you gotta get the bodacious. the shiro is noodly, no metal, more like a mini kuro than a big katana. just my 2 cents.

Plus, if you get the Bodacious, you can get a "save the tata's" sticker, cut out the word "tata's" and slap it on your skis to read "Bodacious tata's". All the kool kids will be doing it this year.

So long and good riddance to "I heart Porno Tongue" stickers.

[131crew]

Just a heads up about this season's Volkl's, they run much longer (truer to length) than previous years. As a reference, my 2012 186 Gotamas are the same length as my '11 190 Katanas.

I didn't care much for the Shiro when I tried it, I thought it was kinda planky and easily deflected, but I love the redesigned and made in Germany Gotama and Katana.

[Kirkwood]

fatkid - good call on the bodacious. i hadn't considered it. The atomic atlas could also be put into the mix.

[bendtheski]

SHU SHU? Feeling trolled? WTF? I guess I should respond with "OMG" "NFW" another pair of canuck flapping lips.... Are you saying you've skied the Shiro? If not, don't respond.

By understanding how a ski feels/behaves helps a skier understand where to mount a binding for personal preference.

I believe the correct response would be EABOD, but only if you're interwebz savy.
Also try this; need help searching?
But yeah, at your height and weight, the 193.
So many great skis out there. The Atlas looks good, also Moment's Night Train or Jaguar Shark, ON3P's Caylor, PM's Bro Fat, Praxis BPS or RX, and so many more, but again, prolly something over 190.

FWIW, I'm only 5' 7" 165lbs and am going with 186cm, and I'm lazy and old!

[Shu Shu]

SHU SHU? Feeling trolled? WTF? I guess I should respond with "OMG" "NFW" another pair of canuck flapping lips.... Are you saying you've skied the Shiro? If not, don't respond.

By understanding how a ski feels/behaves helps a skier understand where to mount a binding for personal preference.

Was more of a comment on how crazy it seems to come off a 195 ski you stated liking aside from build quality, and ask if the 183 is best for you. I'm sure they ski differently but its a pretty huge drop. Also seems to me that regardless of mounting point buying what I presume would be your pow ski significantly shorter than your everyday ski is a wierd idea. But whatever your right I've never skied the Shiro and so maybe some how playing with the mounting point will have some crazy effect that would make the 183 the right choice. Good luck with your decision </canuck flapping lips>

[avitas]

Only skied it once for 2 or 3 runs. right before the Gotama, and forgot what I skied before that.
The Goat was tons of fun compared to an almost dead flexing feeling Shiro. I see Jen Berg and a bunch of other Volkl pros seem to be showing off that they're using it.

I felt like it might be good if you wanted a damped down feel, decent edging on firm, maybe great for charging manky/cruddy softer stuff, but there wasn't much of that around that day.

I'd second the notion that there are a lot of other skis that will do most things better while being around the same price or less.

[Kirkwood]

bump.... So after a little research, I've been reading good things about the ON3P Billy Goat. Consensus is the BG isjust as fun as the SS7 only stiffer. God knows I need a burlier ski to carry my fat a**.

Has anyone that has been fortunate enough to ski the Shiro also skied the Billy Goat 191? Opinions welcome.... other than to tell me to skip dessert and lose weight. HA!

[JayBruce]

having never skied the 191 BG, ON3P is proclaiming the 191 stiffer than the other lengths which might be right up your alley then.

[dcpnz]

This thread is interesting to me - all the magazines and many early online testers raved about the Shiro so I was pretty interested in them - seemed a good girth, rocker profile etc for a dedicated pow board for a light skinny guy like myself.
But now TGR mags are really negative on them.
Is it volkl's ad spend that "bought" good reviews or what?
Is there anyone out there that really liked these skis?

[Meathelmet]

But now TGR mags are really negative on them.
Is it volkl's ad spend that "bought" good reviews or what?
Is there anyone out there that really liked these skis?

Wrote something on epicski :

Well, I prolly could ad something to phils short writeup...

Agree on couple spots with phil but disagree on others.



Skied the skis (183s) for a day in norway in the beginning of june for a day.
180cm,75kg,sporty and with long,blond,curly hair.


I have skied a bunch of volkl skis (few editions of gotamas,mantras,sumos,explosivs etc) so I have a certain image
of how Völkl skis feel. And Shiro does not feel like a Völkl.
Völkls have a certain kind of glass´iness in them, few skis can replicate the sound "KLING!" they make.
Metally,poppy and stable. Shiro felt very different,very un-völkl.

Conditions: Summer slop,breakable slush, refrozen ice,corn and...25cm of wet pow. So late season extravaganza.



Shiro felt burly but kind of chunky from the start. Instantly when clicked in the felt solid but could feel that they lack the
aaah! feeling. Couple of first runs were on CrustyMankTM and they felt solid,but lacked the confidence inspiring OMG feeling. Couple of runs later with some breakable slush and occasional mank,they starter to feel better, they felt damp and solid, albeit a bit rubbery and over damped lacking the acute feedback. They tracked well in and all kind of hookiness was absent due to the rocker (was on my elan1010s for the first runs) and the shape in general. On icier/harder snow they felt predictable but lacket the machete like edge hold that elans have.

Over the day as the visibility improved a bit we started to find more and more of wet pow & corn stashes and could finally open up a bit more and start to "charge" as you americuns say. The skis arced big turns with confidence and ease but were really easy to cut loose and slash/slarve to scrub speed. They were kind of confidence inspiring but not like in a "WHOOO!" kind of way.


The day left me duly...unimpressed.

Skis were predictable and...good´ish. But nothing spectacular and definately lacked the "Völkl" feel.
Hell,I would be tempted to say that any person that would say that,havent even skied the skis! The lacked totally the normal glassy and sharp völklism, and reminded me more of some bastard child of K2 AK maidens that have mated with old Rossi Scratch BCs. Rubbery,overly damped and kind of boorish.

Dont get me wrong, skis were ok.
I have skied way shittier skis but I had quite high expectations towards the shiros.
I thought I would get the "wide explosiv", or "slim´n´stiff sumo" or "katana on stereoids" but no. Teh dissapoint.
Too wide to be a good euro/shítsnow ski and too narrow to be a dedicated pow stick.
I think their optimal snow would be some kind of british columbia snow : Ski that plows through wet pow and dont mind the occasional thin layers of crust.

On the classical euro scale, from 4-to-10, I would give them a solid 8-.

Stable,easy,predictable,damp but passive,unpoppy,rubbery and booooring kind of skis.

And yeah,my review still stands.

Granted, didnt get to ski them in perfect conditions, still...
But you get the feeling of a ski quite quickly,regardless of what kind of snow you are skiing with them. They have the vibe in them, if you know what I am after here?
Shiros totally lacked that vibe for me.

It´s like being on a date with a model and ending up staring at the waitress after couple of minutes. Things just didnt click.

[ZekeWolf]

I have never skied my shiro but mp +2. Ian MacIntosh mp is +3.

[sqikunst]

So I've decided to go back to what I found for me to be tried and tested. VOLKL!

Somewhere an Austrian just rolled over and died.

[srface_hoar]

Just a heads up about this season's Volkl's, they run much longer (truer to length) than previous years. As a reference, my 2012 186 Gotamas are the same length as my '11 190 Katanas.

I just measured the 2011 Gotamas (186) with my 2012 Gotamas (186) and they are the same length. Both are about .5-1cm shorter than my 2009 190 Gotamas.

By the way, I am looking to trade this years 2012 Gotamas in 186 for a pair of this years Gotamas in a 194. If anyone is interested please PM me.

[Brianskis]

The Shiro skied great. For a short answer pick the 193's, mount them at Boot Center, ski 5 days on them and you'll porbably never look back. While also being a former Katana owner, The Shiro was the most exciting ski I have skied from volkl recently, Falling In the Middle between a ski like the Bodacious and the S7. Skis like the S7 (Bentchetler, BG's, JJ's, Rocker 2 etc...), no matter how stiff, ski great in new snow for someone making short quick turns. The only real ripping skiers I know who really enjoy those kind of skis are lighter weight or shorter, or they just don't make big high speed turns. If you want the ripping high speed turns, with the ability to go from 60-0 instantly, go with the Bodacious. If you can't decide and want something in the middle go with the Shiro.

[dcpnz]

Bump for January and new snow

I know they're not so popular around here cos they're not indy but anyone out there spent much time on the shiro yet?

Got a pair of 183's sitting here waiting for a binding.
Recommended line looks really far back - at least compared to an old identical length cambered ski I have) - and all this talk of + 2 +3 mounting makes me second guess my initial intent to go boot center.

Would love to hear any feedback from anyone whose spent some decent time on them.

[Chaman]

Sam Smoothy (6ft 180lb) winning the Chamonix stop of the WFT on a pair of Shiro.

[ulty_guy]

Sam Smoothy (6ft 180lb) winning the Chamonix stop of the WFT on a pair of Shiro.

Looks like the dude is so good he'd have killed it on a pair of toothpicks.

Amazing run given the horridly crusty conditions yesterday.

[whyturn]

Liked SUper 7 in Kirkwood. Skied 183 shirk and wanted 193. Only drawback in both is weight. But shirk is recurve, ripped on groomers though surprisingly

[dcpnz]

If any ski can make me ski like Smoothy in that vid I'll buy two pair!!

[Mannix]

I skied the Shiro @ Buffalo Pass last year, 12-15" new on top of a semi firm base. 183cm, shorter than I'd want if I were going to buy them, but I was actually really impressed. I'm a big guy (260+#), solid skier, blah blah blah - they did not ski as short as I thought they would, they felt damp, stable, shrug, I was actually very impressed. I liked them a LOT.

That said, I can completely see where those that did not like them are coming from - they DON'T feel like other (recent) Volkls I've skied, which, to me, is a good thing - I like bigger, damp skis (and due to my weight, I bend the crap out of just about everything, maybe I get more pop because the skis are bending farther?).

I've likedish other Volkls at low speed/groomers with the kid, and I know the "vibe" others are speaking of, I just crush that vibe at anything over about 10% effort.

I can see it being a "love or hate" kinda ski. I loved it, but it does seem to be a bit of a departure from the "typical" Volkl.



Iain