Rossi B2 vs. K2 Apache Recon

[JimG.]

Originally Posted by volklyokel

I was just in the local ski shop on Friday, faced with exactly this choice. I walked out of the shop having paid for a set of 167cm K2's (I'll pick them up this Friday). The Bandits are an awesome ski, no doubt. The B2 and the Recon are virtually neck-and-neck, in terms of what conditions and kinds of skiing they're designed for. So why did I pick the K2's?

I bought these exclusively for Utah skiing, which I do for a couple of weeks every year. These past several seasons have offered mountain conditions as varied as anything: some years have had great powder, other years gave no fresh snow at all & everything, including off piste, was hardpack or packed powder. So what I was looking for was a ski that can "do it all." I rode Volkl Vertigo G2's in 2003, and they were o.k. In 2004 & 2005 I was on P50's GS skis. 2005 was fine with those since there was no fresh stuff falling for the two weeks I was out there. But they really lacked in 2004 when the snow got deep and we had two 15"+ dumpings. I was restricted to the groomers which was a bummer, that year.

So, armed with the Fall issue of Ski Press (which has all the ski reviews), the riders who contributed to the tests gave the nod to the Recons in that they were: stable, have superior edge grip and they gave it high marks in the versatility department. Ski press reviewers, gave the B2 a review that either was the same as, or a couple of notches down, in all categories, from the review they gave the Recon. Having studied previous Ski Press reviews and demoed a few of those skis in past years, I feel pretty confident in their reviewing process.

Now, I've yet to ride the Recons, and so I won't really know until I give them the once through, especially out in Utah in March. I admit that I took a risk and bought without demoing, but I did so because the Recons are selling like hot cakes and I didn't want to be faced with the prospect of having waited too long, and not having been able to get a pair later in the season.

Background: I'm 5'-9" and weigh in around 180, but have been skiing pretty solidly for the last 5 seasons, but have been on and off skis for 30 years. My favorite Utah hills are Snowbasin, Alta/Snowbird, Brighton/Solitude & Deer Valley. I'll go down practically anything except cliffs. Here in the east I ride Volkl P50's (when I feel like going fast) and Six Stars (for fooling around). I enjoy Blue Knob and various small hills in southern PA. Its all warm-up for Utah.

Cheers - VY

Love the handle volklyokel...hard to believe you're skiing K2's .

Welcome aboard.

[SKIQUATTRO]

1 word.................DEMO

no one skis like you do, each and every ski will feel and ski different for everyone, you must demo.

did i mention.......DEMO


Also, make sure its tuned properly. When I demoed my Atomics last year they were fantastic, then I bought them at my local shop, when skied them the next day with the shop tune and the skis were AWFUL..wasnt until I tuned them myself did they come back to life and be the ski that they are.

Oh,,,DEMO

[salida]

After working in ski hardgood marketing this summer for a amherst, nh based ski company, I found that all those ski tests are a bunch of crap, the magazines "feature" your skis based on the advertising dollars that you spend with them... Just a heads up for people who go into shops with preconcieved notions based on magazine tests

[volklyokel]

Quattro: It's a shame that your local shop is so inept at setting a tune for the skis they sell. My experience has taught me that shops that focus more on rentals only seem only to know how to de-tune. It is a true blessing to have a shop that has been in business for more than two decades, who prides itself on having skiied everything they sell and knowing what they're talking about. I'm a repeat customer with my local shop and in the half decade I've been with them, they've never steered me wrong. I agree, demoing is the safest bet. I purchased the way I did because the long-term availability of Recons is not very well guaranteed.

Salida: Last year, I demoed five different pairs of skis on a demo weekend at Elk Mountain, PA. I made notes on how each of the skis I tried behaved. Then I went back to various magazine reviews (notably, Ski, Skiing and Ski Press) and the Ski Press reviews offered in the Fall 2004, by golly, were on the money, for the most part, with four out of five of those reviews. With regard to the Ski Press reviews, I remain unconvinced that a favorable ski rating is only correlated with the amount of advertising revenues.

Volklyokel - with a little K2 on the side

[salida]

volklyokel

its not what the review says, its whether the ski is reviewed or not, any ski that is reviewed gets a good rating... sorry to burst the buble

[RossiSkier]

Originally Posted by salida

After working in ski hardgood marketing this summer for a amherst, nh based ski company, I found that all those ski tests are a bunch of crap, the magazines "feature" your skis based on the advertising dollars that you spend with them... Just a heads up for people who go into shops with preconcieved notions based on magazine tests

I couldn't agree more. What a 150lbs twenty-something thinks about a set of skis is USELESS to me. I buy the preseason guides for all the technical specifications that they contain.

[batman]

Thanks for all the great advice!

I skied on the Rossi B2s last season while at Whistler. I found the skis easy to ride (probably because of the lenght, sidecut and softness), however, found them a bit unstable at higher speeds. I imagine that is because of the softness of them. I asked the rep and he thought I wasn't skiing on them properly. I'm a pretty aggressive skier. By looking at me, one wouldn't think that.

I'm leaning towards the K2s because they seem stiffer than the Rossi B2s, however, I've never skied on the K2s and have some worries about that.

My logic is if I get the K2s I can always work them harder to make them do what I want. However, it would be difficult to do that with the Rossi B2s because I've already surpassed their upper limit.

[RossiSkier]

Originally Posted by batman

Thanks for all the great advice!

I skied on the Rossi B2s last season while at Whistler. I found the skis easy to ride (probably because of the lenght, sidecut and softness), however, found them a bit unstable at higher speeds. I imagine that is because of the softness of them. I asked the rep and he thought I wasn't skiing on them properly. I'm a pretty aggressive skier. By looking at me, one wouldn't think that.

I'm leaning towards the K2s because they seem stiffer than the Rossi B2s, however, I've never skied on the K2s and have some worries about that.

My logic is if I get the K2s I can always work them harder to make them do what I want. However, it would be difficult to do that with the Rossi B2s because I've already surpassed their upper limit.

Last year's B2's are different from this year's. This years B2 became last years B3. Last year's B2's became this years B1, etc. Now they're all midfats and fatties. Point being is that now it's a different ski.

[dmo]

As mentioned a couple of times, all of the B series dimensions have changed. Over the last few years though, I've found the whole lot of them to be soft, unresponsive, chattery and slightly boring.

But, to each his own!

[batman]

Originally Posted by RossiSkier

Last year's B2's are different from this year's. This years B2 became last years B3. Last year's B2's became this years B1, etc. Now they're all midfats and fatties. Point being is that now it's a different ski.

Hmm, interesting. I'm fairly certain I skied on the 2005/06 B2s because it was a vendor demo day and it was in April (where there was snow at Whistler!). It would be highly unlikely that they would have the old stock for people to try. Most wouldn't buy skis at that time of year, but probably in the following season - like me.

I found a shop that is selling the K2 Recon (including IBX12) for about $150 less than the Rossi B2s. If I go with K2, this will be my first pair of non-Rossi skis!