Salomon BBR - Strange new ski - Demo Day

[Rambo]

Today, Sat. 3/5/11, at my local ski resort, Greek Peak they had a Demo day.

I demoed, Volkl, K2 and Rossignol.
Volkl:
RTM 84 (RTM series replaces the AC series). RTM 84 is basically the new AC 50 and is an awesome serious all mountain ski. Tried the 176.
KENDO - 177 - also an awesome, wider all mountain ski. I think it is like the Line Prophet 90.
MANTRA - 177 - Very wide... but I prefer the narrower more versatile Kendo.

Rossi:
S3 - (178cm) A twin tip all-mountain ripper. Was ok.
E 98 - A wide all mountain ski. Just ok. Prefered the Volkl Kendo.
82 TI - (170) Carves quite well. Prefered the Awesome Volkl, RTM 84.

K2: AFTERSHOCK (174) - Only ok. Liked the old K2 Xplorer much better. In my opinion the rockered tip ruins the ski. The Xplorer without the rocker made smoother turns.

ANYWAYS: There was these strange looking skis and I asked a guy from Bergers ski shop, what they were. He said they are Salomon BBR's and that Salomon brought the guy who designed the original Salomon X-Scream skis out of retirement to design a new and different (bad arse) ski. He said that if you ski them be careful initiating the tips into the turn or else you will do an unexpected 360. I didn't get a chance to try them, but saw a guy on them and he was making really nice turns.

Found this on youtube:

 

[thetrailboss]

Those are probably the ugliest skis I have seen in a long time. Salomons aren't of interest to me really. The Original Trailboss bought a pair of Salomons a few years back and they pretty much died in less than a season. I hear similar things from other folks. Expensive skis that go about a season or so.

 

[pro2860]

Those are probably the ugliest skis I have seen in a long time. Salomons aren't of interest to me really. The Original Trailboss bought a pair of Salomons a few years back and they pretty much died in less than a season. I hear similar things from other folks. Expensive skis that go about a season or so.

I'm just curious...how does a ski die?

 

[thetrailboss]

I'm just curious...how does a ski die?

It loses stiffness. Gets too soft and loses lateral stability such that they do not hold turns as well. Some describe it as skiing on wet noodles. You know it when you experience it.

 

[pro2860]

It loses stiffness. Gets too soft and loses lateral stability such that they do not hold turns as well. Some describe it as skiing on wet noodles. You know it when you experience it.

Thanks....I just got back into skiing this year and bought new skis. I hope I get more than a year out of them!

 

[thetrailboss]

Thanks....I just got back into skiing this year and bought new skis. I hope I get more than a year out of them!

If you have a woodcore ski then you should not have any worries. The problem, as I understand it, was that Salomon and some Atomic models used foam cores in the mid-2000's. Foam is cheaper but it disintegrates much faster. Woodcore skis, depending on how you ski them and how you care for them, will go anywhere from 100-150 or more days. Foam cores were on the lower end obviously. The only models that use foam today are the cheaper, lower end entry model skis.

 

[Glenn]

I wasn't a fan of the rocker on the K2 either. I thought the ski was too chattery.

That BBR is an interesting ski! Here's a pic I found of it:

 

[thetrailboss]

I wasn't a fan of the rocker on the K2 either. I thought the ski was too chattery.

That BBR is an interesting ski! Here's a pic I found of it:

I still stand by my initial gut reaction of uke: But that is just me! :wink:

 

[wa-loaf]

I skied the BBR in Tahoe for a run or two, Philpug had a demo pair. I didn't like them much. They ski petty normal, like an easy turning cruiser. Really didn't like them at speed at all. I think they would be good out west in not so deep soft snow in the 6" range. Not at all an east coast ski.

 

[KD7000]

Those BBR's look an awful lot like waterskis.

 

[Rushski]

Seem a bit odd, will try them at Sunapee Thursday if I can get my hands on them. Don't expect much of them.

Salomon's have been good and bad over the years from people I've known skiing them. I have a pair of Crossmax 10s, which are OK but not great at any one particular thing. They've help pretty well at least.

A demo day I did with some friends in the early 90s saw the first couple models of their skis failing in their first day out. Might have been the X-Screams mentioned with the creator of these new skis(?).

 

[drjeff]

Those BBR's look an awful lot like waterskis.

That's EXACTLY how the owner of one of the local shops at Mount Snow described them to me! He also said that I had to take them out for a demo, and then even though they look so far out of the box compared to a "normal" ski, that in the soft stuff they perform! I'm thinking a spring crud/mashed potato day might be a good time to try them out!

 

[drjeff]

I wasn't a fan of the rocker on the K2 either. I thought the ski was too chattery.

That BBR is an interesting ski! Here's a pic I found of it:

And you can't tell me that as soon as you read that name that you weren't thinking the K2 PBR! :lol:

 

[Rambo]

OK - so i was at a Demo days on Fri. 1/6/12 and at the end of the day decided to try the Salomon BBR... tried the 176cm - called the "BBR 8.9" . I asked the Salomon rep what the dimensions are and he stated that they are part of the mystic and are unknown - he did say that back behind the mid point boot mark the ski measures 89cm, and underfoot it is wider. I read somewhere that the tip is 147cm wide.

Anyways this is a great ski... lots of flotation in the soft piles and it will carve very good on the ice patches. Easy to turn, stable and only a little squirrly if bombing high speed straight runs. Should excel in the warm spring slush and sierra cement conditions. Construction is a full woodcore. Would really like to try this ski again.

 

[〽❄❅]

OK - so i was at a Demo days on Fri. 1/6/12 and at the end of the day decided to try the Salomon BBR... tried the 176cm - called the "BBR 8.9" . I asked the Salomon rep what the dimensions are and he stated that they are part of the mystic and are unknown - he did say that back behind the mid point boot mark the ski measures 89cm, and underfoot it is wider. I read somewhere that the tip is 147cm wide.

Anyways this is a great ski... lots of flotation in the soft piles and it will carve very good on the ice patches. Easy to turn, stable and only a little squirrly if bombing high speed straight runs. Should excel in the warm spring slush and sierra cement conditions. Construction is a full woodcore. Would really like to try this ski again.

Sounds like you skied the icy Tunkhanock and soft spring skiing like stuff on Susquehanna, a run which wasn't to bad, all things considered. Did you happen to take them for a run down the death cookies on Slalom, if so how'd they handle it?

Btw, Salomon demos at Blue this coming Thursday. The forecast is looking like they'll have warm spring slush conditions uke:

 

[Glenn]

And you can't tell me that as soon as you read that name that you weren't thinking the K2 PBR! :lol:

That's quite possible.....owitz. :lol:

 

[Rambo]

Sounds like you skied the icy Tunkhanock and soft spring skiing like stuff on Susquehanna, a run which wasn't to bad, all things considered. Did you happen to take them for a run down the death cookies on Slalom, if so how'd they handle it?

Btw, Salomon demos at Blue this coming Thursday. The forecast is looking like they'll have warm spring slush conditions uke:

Did 1 run down Slalom at Elk Mtn. and indeed it had a lot of "death cookies", But i was demoing the Kastle FX 94 and this ski handled them fine.

The 6 skis i demoed and opinions:
1. Line Prophet 98 (172 cm) - Wide ski, Floats and carves well. Turns quick and very nimble, 172 just long enough to be able to control speed on icy steeps. Love the 172!!!

2. Line Prophet 98 (179 cm) - I found it too long - not as quick edge to edge as the 172. The 179 felt like a Mack dump truck and the 172 felt like a high performance nimble sports car.

3. Kastle MX88 (168 cm) - Easy turning, smooth, fast, stable... really liked.

4. Kastle FX94 (166 cm) stable at 166 cm. smooth - handled frozen death cookies well... but preferred the Kastle MX88.

5. Atomic (Nomad) Crimson Ti (171 cm) - OH CRAP - I have demoed this model in the past and really liked it... BUT they put some ROCKER into it and it does not dig in and turn as quick as the older non-rocker models! Ski seems quite heavy.

6. Salomon BBR 8.9 (176 cm) - Great flotation, soft wide tip, easy to turn, stable, stiffer tail, full wood core, carves ice well... not sure how it would have handled the frozen death cookies.

 

[Glenn]

I'd like to give these skis a test. Along with the Lines. A number of AZers have good things to say about the Lines.

 

[〽❄❅]

Did 1 run down Slalom at Elk Mtn. and indeed it had a lot of "death cookies", But i was demoing the Kastle FX 94 and this ski handled them fine.
The 6 skis i demoed and opinions:
...# 3. Kastle MX88 (168 cm) - Easy turning, smooth, fast, stable... really liked. ...

I didn't see the MX88 168 are you sure it wasn't the BMX88 168? I demo'd that one, wasn't bad on the death cookies, held a edge but chattered as i guess would be expected. Held well on ice too but i felt it was really at home on the soft snow. I found the dual turn radius which did what they claim was something that took getting used to, had to play around with technique to figure it out, would've been nice if the Kastle rep had told me it was a dual radius ski from the start. I felt it made 168cm ski feel to short for me @ 5'7" 140lbs.
As i said, i didn't know about the dual turn radius going in and when i positioned myself to engage the smaller end of it, i was left thinking they wanted to turn more than a 17.5 turn radius ski should. In retrospect it all makes perfect sense, to bad Kastle's rep wasn't able to tell me about the feature before i took it out or after when i described my thoughts of how it skied.

 

[Rambo]

I didn't see the MX88 168 are you sure it wasn't the BMX88 168? I demo'd that one, wasn't bad on the death cookies, held a edge but chattered as i guess would be expected. Held well on ice too but i felt it was really at home on the soft snow. I found the dual turn radius which did what they claim was something that took getting used to, had to play around with technique to figure it out, would've been nice if the Kastle rep had told me it was a dual radius ski from the start. I felt it made 168cm ski feel to short for me @ 5'7" 140lbs.
As i said, i didn't know about the dual turn radius going in and when i positioned myself to engage the smaller end of it, i was left thinking they wanted to turn more than a 17.5 turn radius ski should. In retrospect it all makes perfect sense, to bad Kastle's rep wasn't able to tell me about the feature before i took it out or after when i described my thoughts of how it skied.

The ski I demoed was definately the "MX 88" as the Kastle rep wrote down the model names and lenghts of the 2 skis I demoed on a business card. I did want to try the next longer model of the MX 88 (a 178cm) but the rep said he only had some 168's. The 168's did seem stable and despite the shorter length were not squirrley. The Kastle rep said I could call him anytime with questions about Kastle skis...

From his business card... Marc Sheehan - EASTERN TERRITORY MANAGER
3 Fenway LN
Claremont NH 03743
USA
Cell +1 413 441 0648
www.kaestle-ski.com
marc.sheehan@kaestle-ski.com

Marc told one dude that his boots were not safe, because they were old Caber rear entry boots (over 20 years old) and that the plastic in Caber boots is known to harden over the years and even explode when pressuring them when skiing. The dude seemed out of it and did not seem to understand that his boots could fall apart when skiing. The rep let him use the Caber boots for the Demo - but wanted to be sure the guy was informed about the potential danger of his boots. (Marc mentioned he had been a ski racer).