skate ski design
 

i am wondering why skate skis are designed with (when unloaded) a
pocket in the middle.
i can see why you would want a pocket if you were putting kick wax in
there but skaters are putting glide wax on the entire ski. ice skaters
certainly have a very flat ice-skate interface with no pocket. if the
reason is to circumvent the effect of weight on the center of the ski i
would argue that the ski needs to be made of a material that does not
flex very much.
this would save weight and also make skis which would not need to be
matched to skier's weight. for example - a titanium/carbon fiber ski
might be possible.
thankyou for your comments in advance.

"wintermutt" wrote in message
oups.com...
i am wondering why skate skis are designed with (when unloaded) a
pocket in the middle.
i can see why you would want a pocket if you were putting kick wax in
there but skaters are putting glide wax on the entire ski. ice skaters
certainly have a very flat ice-skate interface with no pocket. if the
reason is to circumvent the effect of weight on the center of the ski i
would argue that the ski needs to be made of a material that does not
flex very much.

you can try a ski like that: the Fischer Pacer Skate is darn stiff compared
to the same length racing ski. I like to ski on a board that matches the
snow conditions. Extremely stiff is only fun on near-ice: like crust skiing.

this would save weight

stiffer usually means *more* not less weight.

and also make skis which would not need to be
matched to skier's weight. for example - a titanium/carbon fiber ski
might be possible.

esoteric materials are certainly possible, but consider that a $200
(med-to-high-end retail?) pair of skis needs to have a manufactured
cost-of-goods below $40 and you will see that 1) current ski manufacturing
technology is amazing, and 2) you and I are not going to find titanium or
carbon fiber skis affordable.

thankyou for your comments in advance.

you're welcome,
Bob

OK i think i get it now...a really stiff ski won't perform very well
except on very hard snow.
that makes sense.

wintermutt wrote:
OK i think i get it now...a really stiff ski won't perform very well
except on very hard snow.
that makes sense.

And a very soft "flat" ski won't perform very well on wet/soft snow,
and will be ok on very cold snow.

Instead of buying expensive waxs, it makes sense to buy several pairs
of skate skis.

Laurent