Mantra 102 - where to mount it?

**Bandit Man** · 04-03-2022, 08:49 AM

Originally Posted by Sylvan

Any thoughts compared to your 191 K108s? Ski similar in length? Sounds like the K108s might be 'easier'? Admittedly, I didn't love my 191 M102s for how I used em (firm only), but after spending some time on a B97, I realized I just prefer more running length and camber for my high pressure ski. After reading the K108 thread however, I've convinced myself the rocker profile may work very well for me as a variable soft snow DD (a lot of top end/damp but still relatively easy to release/maneuver sort of thing). Looking forward to getting my K108s mounted up! Thanks Bandit Man.

Bry is really the guy with lots of time on both the M102 and K108. I’ve more or less “sampled” both at this point.

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**Sylvan** · 04-03-2022, 10:16 AM

Originally Posted by Bandit Man

Bry is really the guy with lots of time on both the M102 and K108. I’ve more or less “sampled” both at this point.

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Fair enough; thanks Bandit Man. Probably splitting hairs, and hopefully I'll be able to answer my own question shortly. Been rehabbing an angry back for a few weeks so going a little stir crazy, haha, but fingers crossed I'll be able to catch the tail end of this current cycle. Definitely interested in thoughts if Bry or another mag has been on both 191s. Not always easy to find direct comparisons in the longest lengths. Stoked to get on mine; thanks!

**bry** · 04-03-2022, 10:54 AM

They're very similar but the 191 K108s a touch softer and pow forward with the big ass shovels. Awesome flex and rotation under foot in pow. I felt compelled to shed one and the M102s stayed. Now that I have B97s and my LP105s tune dialed I haven't been taking the M102s out, but think I might try and get some K108s back in rotation at some point.

K108s are about 100g heavier, I think they'd be fun +1 or 2 and might try them more forward than the line next go around to mix it up. I have really loved the Sender Squads, Commander 118s and MVP 108s sliiiiightly more progressive (~ -8 from TC is where I put them) and balance in softer snow.

If anyone wants to try some 191 M102s PM me I can send you mine as well.

**Sylvan** · 04-03-2022, 11:22 AM

Great, thanks Bry! Helpful for sure as we prefer similar sticks. Also thinking plus 1 as I've enjoyed a lot of skis around -10 from TC. B97s will be in the fold for a while I'm sure, and CMD 118s are my favourite hero snow resort ski to date. After 40 plus days, absolutely love CMD 108s, but my back doesn't (old injury, not the ski). Intend to keep em in the fold for slack country but been searching for something else to minimize down days. Grabbed a heavier (2530g/ski) 192 Cochise 106 that has some good attributes; need to hit the tips and tails with a gummy I think to see if I can make em a little more predictable when transitioning from firm to soft and vice versa, but otherwise a solid WB ski. Gonna A/B these with the Katana (hopefully soon

to try and nail down a resort smasher DD. Moved my Squads un-skied to a buddy who hasn't mounted em yet, but look forward to stealing em for a few runs. Will post up some thoughts in the appropriate places on the Cochise and Katana once I get more time on em. Appreciate it! Thread drift complete.

**Fred Pabst** · 04-04-2022, 07:10 AM

Spring is ski sale season. Picked up a pair of M102 in the 191cm recently. Mounted yesterday morning and skied in the afternoon. Lately with new skis I have been all about the rec line. These I ended up mounting at +1. A game I play when I get a new ski is compare mount points to similar length skis. When compared to an old 192 cm blue/orange bull Cochise and a couple of other 190 something skis, the M102 rec line was about 1 cm behind those other skis, so went with the +1. Seems just fine.

Wish I could say my first session on these was on good snow, but is was not. Machined groomed with boiler plate patches to dodge up high and corn down low at Sugarloaf. 6' and 220 lbs lover of big skis. These things are going to be a lot of fun. Sugarloaf is a great cruising mountain and the M102 are going to love to do that. I'm sure they'll be a little clumsy in some places/conditions but I'm ok with that.

Hadn't owned/skied a Volkl since the very first Mantra. How many years ago was that?? They still have that same "klinky" sound.

**1000-oaks** · 04-04-2022, 10:47 AM

No clink anymore, but the M102 awesomeness more than makes up for it. Not perfect for anything, but damn good for a really wide range of conditions.

My 2013's are now relegated to Spring low tide.

**roQer** · 04-19-2022, 05:34 AM

Looks like Völkl dumbed down the new 22/23 M102 making it more „accessible“. Has anybody been on them already and can compare to the current version?
I wouldn’t like being the 184 less ski so maybe upsizing to 191 will be the way to go with the next M102 iteration?

**Bandit Man** · 04-19-2022, 08:49 PM

I think Bry skied the new 184 and mentioned he preferred the feel of the current 191. I’m kicking around picking up another pair of 184’s since those a perfect for me.

**bry** · 04-19-2022, 09:40 PM

Yes that's right, the stability was still there it was more of a preference for the more stout 191. Didn't feel turny or turnier than I expected, so easy to set whatever tone you want in terms of turn shape.

Couldn't sense a materially softer flex due to the tailored titanal in the new models, but sounds like it's like a trueblend kind of approach to build differentiation length to length.

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**GHILL28** · 01-30-2023, 11:55 PM

Thought I'd share some notes/data points here as I came across this thread:

38, Mammoth is my usual mountain, 6'/180#, ski the whole mountain (avoid silly mogul runs and jumps - I like my knees).

Found some 177 M102's at REI's garage sale with some beat looking topsheets. As I recall they came <$200. Had them mount some extra bindings I had and +2cm was the only spot they could comfortably re-mount them. Cheap experiment, but they skied fantastic. Always thought I should be on a 184 though and kept an eye out for a while.

Found some demo 184's that turned out to be almost completely unused, which was a score. These things were serious rocketships. The demo bindings allowed me to play with the mount points, and I ended up with them 2 notches forward of center (whatever that ends up being, not sure if it's 1cm increments). Turns out these skis do favor a bit more forward mount point, especially if you're going to be pivoting through trees or down steep faces. Shocker. They're still not as nimble when poking down through tight trees or gullys as the 177's. Another shocker.

Once I got on the 184's, my gf who's been learning to ski and getting up to speed fairly quick (and is also 6' tall) got on my 177's and has been right at home on those. Felt way more comfortable on those than my 180 Bonafides. We both noticed way less tip shaking on the M102's, so I ended up selling the Bonafides.

Interestingly, the 177's are just a hair longer than the 180 Bonafides. If anyone says they ski a bit long, well...it's because they ARE long for their nominal sizes. Not a problem, but tape measures don't lie.

Also interestingly, the 177 with the +2cm mounting has the same amount of ski in front of the binding as my 189cm V1 Blizzard Spurs mounted on the line.

So it would appear from those observations and the rest of the comments in this thread that these skis are 1) slightly longer than advertised (or what's expected for nominal ski lengths) and 2) the mount points do have a bit of rearward bias.

These aren't bad things. I bought another set of 184's just to have as backups since they made the newest version more tame, meaning I now have 3 of them, so obviously these things don't suck.

**Bandit Man** · 01-31-2023, 10:01 PM

Welcome to the cult of Volkl 3D sidecut and titanal frame lovers.

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**Robik** · 01-31-2023, 10:21 PM

Anyone on 191 M102 and wants to sell it? I'm obsessed with K108 but would love to try M102. M6 in 184 was fun but not enough to keep in the quiver. I guess we are spoiled with regular refills here in Wasatch this season and that's why K108 is my mostly used pair at the resort. Have MPro 105 and VW Katana 191 to offer as a trade

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**fleaches** · 01-31-2023, 11:10 PM

Originally Posted by Robik

Anyone on 191 M102 and wants to sell it? I'm obsessed with K108 but would love to try M102. M6 in 184 was fun but not enough to keep in the quiver. I guess we are spoiled with regular refills here in Wasatch this season and that's why K108 is my mostly used pair at the resort. Have MPro 105 and VW Katana 191 to offer as a trade

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Not my sale

https://sidelineswap.com/gear/skiing...gs-mantra-skis

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**Robik** · 02-01-2023, 10:40 AM

Originally Posted by fleaches

Not my sale

https://sidelineswap.com/gear/skiing...gs-mantra-skis

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Thank you for the heads up, but I'd prefer newer top sheets.

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**Djongo Unchained** · 02-01-2023, 04:14 PM

Finally mounted my 22-23 m102's yesterday. Mounted on the line.

Traditional skier, 57 years old, 45 years skiing, 33 in JH.
Skied today, 20k vert in a few hours, almost all groomers.

I was thinking that the function of the tailored titanal might be affected by mounting off line. Who knows, cares?
The feeling in a larger radius shovel turn vs a tighter arch turn was noticeable and pleasing.
I'm digging them.

**MD12** · 02-01-2023, 05:32 PM

I’ve skied the og in 177 and 184 and the new version in 184. I much prefer the new version. Blends the best attributes of the old 177 and 184 for me. I’m 190 and 6’2” and only skid them on the east coast.

**GHILL28** · 02-06-2023, 11:46 PM

Got mine out last weekend in Mammoth with some new Technica Mach 1 130 boots. I do not know why the hell I ever let people talk me into 120 boots before. No reason I should have been using something like that.

Played with mount points on the demo bindings on my 184's. Back at the factory mount point with them. Could be a result of the recent edge tune or the stiffer boots, but that's where they felt balanced.

Hit a bluebird groomer zoomer day, then a good storm day on Sunday. I got my Spurs out in the morning just to try them out, but I hit the same untracked tree runs at serious speed with the M102's mid-day. It frankly made my Spurs a bit disappointing because the M102's did so well, but this wasn't the super deep powder that those things need.

These things are rocketships, plain and simple. Regularly able to touch the ground at 50+ on the groomers and they'll do whatever I want in the blink of an eye in the low angle powder through the trees.

Another interesting note - these do REALLY well with some de-tune to the edges.

I've got my Spurs solely for an Alyeska trip coming up. Thinking of what else could be a good ski between the M102 and the Spur. Mammoth is mostly where I ski. Commander 108?

**gaijin** · 02-07-2023, 12:26 AM

Sounds like the FR110.

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**GHILL28** · 02-07-2023, 12:33 AM

Originally Posted by gaijin

Sounds like the FR110.

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FR110?

**fleaches** · 02-07-2023, 12:50 AM

Originally Posted by GHILL28

FR110?

https://heritagelabskis.com/products/fr110

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**GHILL28** · 02-07-2023, 10:26 AM

Originally Posted by fleaches

https://heritagelabskis.com/products/fr110

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A little confused here. Unavailable for another year? Pricing looks good. Made in China though? Anyone actually used these things?

**J. Barron DeJong** · 02-07-2023, 10:55 AM

Originally Posted by GHILL28

A little confused here. Unavailable for another year? Pricing looks good. Made in China though? Anyone actually used these things?

If you want some answers, this thread is a good place to start:

https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...ted-Love-Songs

**GHILL28** · 02-07-2023, 11:13 AM

Originally Posted by J. Barron DeJong

If you want some answers, this thread is a good place to start:

https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...ted-Love-Songs

Thanks for the link. Was reading up on the other thread on the front page too. Their mission sounds like a neat concept. I don't know if I have enough tribal knowledge of some of these older skis they're using as inspiration to understand where they're coming from with them. Relatively new to higher-end (read: nicer) skis and actually paying attention to performance details, but not new to skiing.

It's interesting looking at the trajectory of the gear development in this sport versus some other like mtb, where there's virtually NO positive nostalgia of gear performance. Lots of negative nostalgia, and "glad that trend is gone" sentiment.

**GHILL28** · 02-08-2023, 11:05 AM

I still end up having a wandering eye for the K108's in a 184. Are these going to be a bear to make last-second pivots with in the trees? I end up loving the M102's there so I don't want to lose much of their quickness. I end up disagreeing with some of the reviews saying that they need to be moved around with a lot of force in those situations, so not sure how to interpret the same reviews of the K108's.

**Robik** · 02-08-2023, 01:29 PM

Originally Posted by GHILL28

I still end up having a wandering eye for the K108's in a 184. Are these going to be a bear to make last-second pivots with in the trees? I end up loving the M102's there so I don't want to lose much of their quickness. I end up disagreeing with some of the reviews saying that they need to be moved around with a lot of force in those situations, so not sure how to interpret the same reviews of the K108's.

Not apples to apples, but I find my K108 in 191 to be a bit easier to release than M102 in the same length. Katana feels damper and a touch softer than M102 which is a bit crispier. But I haven't tried them in the same conditions though.

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