Revised Kusala Size Poll

[splat]

Keith and I spent some time talking at Praxis yesterday. I gave him a shitload of carbon fiber I found in my garage, enough for the whole run, along with a couple rolls of the same fiberglass I used to build the Kusalas, to further replication of the ski as it was designed and built. Don't know if he'll be able to offer a transparent topsheet to show the carbon, but the choice between wood veneer and carbon tops would be awesome and using more carbon makes using lighter weight glass possible. Keith was hesitant about only charging $750 but my donation of materials to the cause keeps the price at $750. Tip height will be increased by only 5 mm to maintain that surfy pivot action that Lindahl talks about. I'll be there when the first pair pops out of the oven to look them over. Very fucking stoked.

[Norseman]

Word.

Any talk of UL core option? I can understand wanting to keep the process simple by offering only the enduro, but I'm more interested in this ski for dedicated pow touring.

[tgapp]

+1 on the UL layup. I would get this as a fully dedicated pow touring ski. Looks fucking sweet!!

[N1CK.]

"5++ flex" ?

Sounds not soft!

[happytimefunbox]

Prefer 191, 189, or 186, in that order.

Yes

But I've lost a couple Lbows so maybe 189 would work

[glademaster]

Word.

Any talk of UL core option? I can understand wanting to keep the process simple by offering only the enduro, but I'm more interested in this ski for dedicated pow touring.

FWIW, my dedicated pow touring skis are an enduro/carbon/veneer build(well, they will be when Keith ships them). But I also save weight by being happy with flex 3 for a powder touring ski.

[Norseman]

I worry that the dimensions of this ski will accentuate the difference in core mass. My enduro/veneer Lhasas are 2150g/ea iirc... tolerable for the travel role they were purchased to fill, but too heavy for a touring ski. Kusalas are fatter, and this version is nearly as long. I bet this batch will be 2300g w/ enduro. My hope for an UL would be in the 1900g range maybe.

Part of my, ahem, problem, is that the only hole in the quiver is the fat & light tourer, which is rarely needed out here.

[splat]

You guys might want to send Keith a message on the UL core. In talking about it he said the paulonia presses different than the other woods. The hybrid Kusalas I made weighed in around 2400 g per ski.

[lucknau]

Should there be a new thread for these now that they’re up for preorder? The title of this one might be a bit misleading to latecomers and people who already weighed in and moved on.

[splat]

Yes, you're right lucknau.

[RiderX]

I am curious why such a stiff flex (Flex 5) was selected for a pow ski. I am under the impression that pow skis are usually softer. What's the benefit for making a pow ski so stiff? My GPO's are flex 4, which I like.

[Self Jupiter]

Order placed

Looking forward to your take on them.

[2FUNKY]

I am curious why such a stiff flex (Flex 5) was selected for a pow ski. I am under the impression that pow skis are usually softer. What's the benefit for making a pow ski so stiff? My GPO's are flex 4, which I like.

Reverse pow shapes such as these don’t rely as much on tip flex to get them to plane up but rather on the shape. The stiffer flex allows them to slice through inconsistencies in snow without out issue to the rider or deflection. It also won’t fold the tip which can bring the ski into a smaller turn radius which is not a good thing at speed in pow resulting in a high side.

[Kopi_Red]

^^^ Yup. This guy knows his stuff.

[splat]

The planing beats plowing.

[2FUNKY]

The planing beats plowing.

True story.

[RiderX]

Reverse pow shapes such as these don’t rely as much on tip flex to get them to plane up but rather on the shape. The stiffer flex allows them to slice through inconsistencies in snow without out issue to the rider or deflection. It also won’t fold the tip which can bring the ski into a smaller turn radius which is not a good thing at speed in pow resulting in a high side.

Thanks for the explanation. After posting the question, I found an old thread from 2011 discussing soft versus stiff powder skis. Next time, I will try to read first then post. Anyway, your post is a nice succinct summary of the thread.

[Lindahl]

Reverse pow shapes such as these don’t rely as much on tip flex to get them to plane up but rather on the shape. The stiffer flex allows them to slice through inconsistencies in snow without out issue to the rider or deflection. It also won’t fold the tip which can bring the ski into a smaller turn radius which is not a good thing at speed in pow resulting in a high side.

This. Absolutely 100% this. Plus... they stomp cliffs like mad. 4FRNT has a video about this somewhere from the first year they had the Renegade. Sterbenz talks about why the stiffer flex on the Renegade, and Hoji is sitting there nodding along. I used to have a link for it, but I can't seem to find it anymore. It was on their website and they had a video about each of the skis describing the design.

[2FUNKY]

This. Absolutely 100% this. Plus... they stomp cliffs like mad. 4FRNT has a video about this somewhere from the first year they had the Renegade. Sterbenz talks about why the stiffer flex on the Renegade, and Hoji is sitting there nodding along. I used to have a link for it, but I can't seem to find it anymore. It was on their website and they had a video about each of the skis describing the design.

Sent you a PM about a different topic.

[Lindahl]

We were in Zermatt for the weekend and I spotted this in the basement of the North Wall, it's a newer place, I think, so it was awesome to see.

[splat]

We were in Zermatt for the weekend and I spotted this in the basement of the North Wall, it's a newer place, I think, so it was awesome to see.

HA!!!!! It was on the way to Zermatt from Geneva, in Bern, that I found FKNA as graffiti on the arches on the main street of town.
So fitting you saw that in Zermatt.