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#1
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Newbie question rock skis
Sorry if this is covered in a FAQ somewhere.
Couple of quick and easy questions... What do people mean when they talk about 'rock skis'? Just old junky skis that you can afford to beat up on rocks, I assume? On a similar note, is there anything that can be done to fix minor dings and scratches on a perfectly good pair of new skis? Thanks! |
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#2
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Newbie question rock skis
"Bob" wrote in message
m... Sorry if this is covered in a FAQ somewhere. Couple of quick and easy questions... What do people mean when they talk about 'rock skis'? Just old junky skis that you can afford to beat up on rocks, I assume? Yes, in general it's someone's older skis that they are less concerned about. Not necessarily junky though in my experience, but sometimes so. My "rock" skis are perfectly good skis, just not my newest/best. I have a second pair each of striding and skating skis - about 10 years old each - well skied, but well taken care of. Therefore when conditions are marginal with the chance of running over some dirt or stones, I would use them - but I'll also be as careful as possible because the skis aren't really all that bad and I don't want to ruin them. I'm sure there are a lot of people who actually have skis that are so old or beat up that it really doesn't matter at all. Maybe they've gradually been beat up by being rock skis? I have a semi-serious highschool kid who only has one pair each of skate and striding skis - pretty nice race quality skis. Early in the year she was doing dry land instead of skiing because she didn't want to run her good skis over the dirt patches. I appreciate her responsible attitude (believe me, some of my friends' kids have NO clue about keeping the bottoms pristine!). I would have liked to see her skiing (I think she felt a little left out too). Before next year, I plan to keep my eyes open for some *cheap* second hand skis so she can have some rock skis. On a similar note, is there anything that can be done to fix minor dings and scratches on a perfectly good pair of new skis? Usually it just involves gradually filling in the scratch with dripping from a burning "p-tex candle" and leveling it with a flat, sharp scraper. It's really quite simple and straight forward for a minor scratch. You can probably do OK by reading a book or website on base repair. Even fairly deep and large scratches (limited to the base material) are definitely a do it yourself, but you might try to find someone to show you how the first time. My guess is that someone you know knows how to do it or a nice person at your local ski or board shop would be happy to show you. The technique is the same regardless of alpine, nordic or snowboard. Hope this helps. Grissy |
#3
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Newbie question rock skis
"Bob" wrote in message
m... On a similar note, is there anything that can be done to fix minor dings and scratches on a perfectly good pair of new skis? You can patch the ptex but the patch won't hold wax. Unless it's obviously reducing the glide (like, you can actually feel the drag) I wouldn't bother patching it. Just make sure there aren't any hairs or points of chewed ptex sticking out into the snow where they *will* cause drag. If there are, then *carefully* trim them off with a sharp knife (razor, exacto, etc). Don't remove any more than you have to! I ski on 3 different pair of skate skis (including my wife's pristine pair). My "rock ski's" are the 4 year old Rossi deltas. The bases on those old rossis are obviously chewed. There's a gouge (pine cone?) in one that runs diagonally across the width of the ski, 5mm wide and 1mm deep. There's a 3cm section on the edge of the shovel of the other one where the core is exposed. The edges have been trimmed to remove the evidence of more than one long icy descent (aaaaaaaaaa!!!) Despite all this, the rossis are still the fastest I have in soft, wet conditions. They look ugly so I call them "rocks" but I still try to take care of them. So far, that consists of removing the "scar tissue" and waxing them after every day out. Bob |
#4
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Newbie question rock skis
A related question--I've noticed that even with a very light touch and a
freshly-sharpened plexi scraper, that I end up with some tiny indentations from the scrape (like 1 mm in depth and maybe 2-3 mm in from the edge, perpindicular to the length of the ski), esp. in spots that are tricky to scrape (i.e. transition from glide to kick zone)...Q.1 is are these unavoidable & 2 is are they likely to make any difference in the performance of the skis? thanks Derick "Bob" wrote in message m... On a similar note, is there anything that can be done to fix minor dings and scratches on a perfectly good pair of new skis? You can patch the ptex but the patch won't hold wax. Unless it's obviously reducing the glide (like, you can actually feel the drag) I wouldn't bother patching it. Just make sure there aren't any hairs or points of chewed ptex sticking out into the snow where they *will* cause drag. If there are, then *carefully* trim them off with a sharp knife (razor, exacto, etc). Don't remove any more than you have to! I ski on 3 different pair of skate skis (including my wife's pristine pair). My "rock ski's" are the 4 year old Rossi deltas. The bases on those old rossis are obviously chewed. There's a gouge (pine cone?) in one that runs diagonally across the width of the ski, 5mm wide and 1mm deep. There's a 3cm section on the edge of the shovel of the other one where the core is exposed. The edges have been trimmed to remove the evidence of more than one long icy descent (aaaaaaaaaa!!!) Despite all this, the rossis are still the fastest I have in soft, wet conditions. They look ugly so I call them "rocks" but I still try to take care of them. So far, that consists of removing the "scar tissue" and waxing them after every day out. Bob |
#5
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Newbie question rock skis
"Derick Fay" wrote in message news A related question--I've noticed that even with a very light touch and a freshly-sharpened plexi scraper, that I end up with some tiny indentations from the scrape (like 1 mm in depth and maybe 2-3 mm in from the edge, perpindicular to the length of the ski), esp. in spots that are tricky to scrape (i.e. transition from glide to kick zone)...Q.1 is are these unavoidable & 2 is are they likely to make any difference in the performance of the skis? 1: I haven't been entirely able to avoid making these marks.They seem to happen when I accidently let the scraper stop while still on the ski (like when my stroke gets jammed up hitting the vice or something else around the wax area). Since the plexi isn't actually removing any ptex when this happens, I think repeated hot waxing brings the deformed base material back to near normal. 2 I doubt it. Maybe someone else can chime in about this, but little nicks like this seem to fall into the category of "unintended structure" ;-) Do your best to avoid making the nicks in the first place but don't fret when they happen. And don't make it worse by trying to "fix" them. Bob thanks Derick "Bob" wrote in message m... On a similar note, is there anything that can be done to fix minor dings and scratches on a perfectly good pair of new skis? You can patch the ptex but the patch won't hold wax. Unless it's obviously reducing the glide (like, you can actually feel the drag) I wouldn't bother patching it. Just make sure there aren't any hairs or points of chewed ptex sticking out into the snow where they *will* cause drag. If there are, then *carefully* trim them off with a sharp knife (razor, exacto, etc). Don't remove any more than you have to! I ski on 3 different pair of skate skis (including my wife's pristine pair). My "rock ski's" are the 4 year old Rossi deltas. The bases on those old rossis are obviously chewed. There's a gouge (pine cone?) in one that runs diagonally across the width of the ski, 5mm wide and 1mm deep. There's a 3cm section on the edge of the shovel of the other one where the core is exposed. The edges have been trimmed to remove the evidence of more than one long icy descent (aaaaaaaaaa!!!) Despite all this, the rossis are still the fastest I have in soft, wet conditions. They look ugly so I call them "rocks" but I still try to take care of them. So far, that consists of removing the "scar tissue" and waxing them after every day out. Bob |
#6
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Newbie question rock skis
On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 12:45:01 -0800, "Bob" wrote:
"Derick Fay" wrote in message news A related question--I've noticed that even with a very light touch and a freshly-sharpened plexi scraper, that I end up with some tiny indentations from the scrape (like 1 mm in depth and maybe 2-3 mm in from the edge, perpindicular to the length of the ski), esp. in spots that are tricky to scrape (i.e. transition from glide to kick zone)...Q.1 is are these unavoidable & 2 is are they likely to make any difference in the performance of the skis? 2 I doubt it. Maybe someone else can chime in about this, but little nicks like this seem to fall into the category of "unintended structure" ;-) Do your best to avoid making the nicks in the first place but don't fret when they happen. And don't make it worse by trying to "fix" them. Bob thanks Derick I would agree that they are probably not going to make enough difference to be noticeable. If they realy bother you a stone grind will usually taike care of most of them. g.c. |
#7
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Newbie question rock skis
"Griss" wrote in message ...
Yes, in general it's someone's older skis that they are less concerned about. Not necessarily junky though in my experience, but sometimes so. There´s a very real danger that if you use cheapo junky skis early in the season - which is usually the period when rhe "rock ski" conditions persist - you can train yourself away from good, efficient technique, and it won´t necessarily be so simple to shed the bad habits when you get on your good skis. This is especially so in skating, IMHO. I once encountered a chap who argued that there was no point in straining to get the wax right in training, because a poorer glide would only make you work (at a certain intensity) at a lower speed and a poorer grip would only teach you to make sharper kicks...) Anders |
#8
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Newbie question rock skis
I have a pile of garage sale skis starting with ultra rock skis (I get to
ski before everybody else in the season), to regular rock, to pretty good, to bought new and nice. The rockier ones are considered disposable. gr "Bob" wrote in message m... Sorry if this is covered in a FAQ somewhere. Couple of quick and easy questions... What do people mean when they talk about 'rock skis'? Just old junky skis that you can afford to beat up on rocks, I assume? On a similar note, is there anything that can be done to fix minor dings and scratches on a perfectly good pair of new skis? Thanks! |
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