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Help me buy men's skis...

campgottagopee

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Holly crap---a lot of mumble jumble in this thread---here's my .02 simply put.....
Buy him something that is in the "all mountain cruiser" catagory. You can't go wrong, I promise. These types of skis are just what the claim to be---good at everything. You can ski bumps, groomers, hard-n-soft snow, trees, steeps etc.
As for height, weight vs. length of ski, well, that's all crap. Just look at World Cup skiers. You've have some seriously big/strong dudes rippin it on 160's, why, well because of how stiff the ski is torsionally. That's what will allow someone who's bigger ski a shorter ski. I'm 6'4", 250 lbs and ski 178's (nordica top-fuel) thats 123-78-108 w/r18. I've skied the nordica world cup doberman slalom ski at 155. Very, very, very stable but you needed to be on edge at all times---not the type of skiing I like to do.
Anyway, hope that helps. Remeber, just look for all-mountain cruiser/expert catagory and you'll be good.
 

jack97

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damn that was fun. I don't get a chance to talk physical mechanics all the time. It's mostly electro mechanics and statistical analysis.....


Yeah, they got the big boys on short skis, but thats for slalom events. IIRC they will start enforcing a minimum length rule along with sidecut restrictions for that event. For the GS and down hill events they have them longer.
 

campgottagopee

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damn that was fun. I don't get a chance to talk physical mechanics all the time. It's mostly electro mechanics and statistical analysis.....


Yeah, they got the big boys on short skis, but thats for slalom events. IIRC they will start enforcing a minimum length rule along with sidecut restrictions for that event. For the GS and down hill events they have them longer.

Glad you guys were having fun...you guys share slide rules or do each of you have you own:razz:

Yes, for GS & DH the skis are much longer because you want them flat and not on edge. Speed baby---it's all about the speed
 

jack97

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Glad you guys were having fun...you guys share slide rules or do each of you have you own:razz:

Sliderules???? It's PCs nowadays, last person who I share my files with.... I ended up marrying her :blink:
 

Marc

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damn that was fun. I don't get a chance to talk physical mechanics all the time. It's mostly electro mechanics and statistical analysis.....

:beer:

Anytime you're game I am. It's good to have someone to bounce ideas off of when you're figuring this stuff out.
 

awf170

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Back to dork conversation:

Marc, how about forward and backwards motion of the skier? (Skiing too far in the backseat or too far forward) If I get way in the backseat my CM is going to be way further back then a skier of the same weight but different height. Thus causing me to have more torque on the ski. Also, when leaning forward, it will make it easier to over-flex the ski. (Though that probably means you would need a stiffer, not longer ski)
 

Greg

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Back to dork conversation:

Marc, how about forward and backwards motion of the skier? (Skiing too far in the backseat or too far forward) If I get way in the backseat my CM is going to be way further back then a skier of the same weight but different height. Thus causing me to have more torque on the ski. Also, when leaning forward, it will make it easier to over-flex the ski. (Though that probably means you would need a stiffer, not longer ski)

I was going to bring up fore/aft movement of the skier, but this thread sorta has me frightened.
 

Greg

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Jeez, Randi, something about the threads you start that turn into....um....well, they're different....

Ironically it started shortly after she posted her profile picture a few weeks ago... :spin:
 

MRGisevil

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Jeez, Randi, something about the threads you start that turn into....um....well, they're different....


ya rly....

But on a serious note, Tim did go through this post and read everyone's responses and it answered a lot of his questions for him, so thanks for being so crazy guys :razz:
 

Paul

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ya rly....

But on a serious note, Tim did go through this post and read everyone's responses and it answered a lot of his questions for him, so thanks for being so crazy guys :razz:

Oh sh*t.... he reads posts here?



Jeebus, I hope my wife doesn't. :-o:lol:
 

Grassi21

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Oh sh*t.... he reads posts here?



Jeebus, I hope my wife doesn't. :-o:lol:

Forget the wife. I hope my boss doesn't. I've sent her a few links about Mt Snow related stuff. Her fiance has a house up there.
 

bvibert

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Forget the wife. I hope my boss doesn't. I've sent her a few links about Mt Snow related stuff. Her fiance has a house up there.

I've been very careful to never mention AZ anywhere near the vicinity of anyone I work with...
 

Marc

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Back to dork conversation:

Marc, how about forward and backwards motion of the skier? (Skiing too far in the backseat or too far forward) If I get way in the backseat my CM is going to be way further back then a skier of the same weight but different height. Thus causing me to have more torque on the ski. Also, when leaning forward, it will make it easier to over-flex the ski. (Though that probably means you would need a stiffer, not longer ski)

No, all it means is you need to ski balanced.

That's actually a good point, one I hadn't considered... but just running some quick numbers here-

Even if you have an entire foot on someone that weighs the same as you... your CM is only about 2/3 of your height. So you're down to an 8" difference. The perpendicular distance of the effective moment arm in a fore/aft imbalance.... we're talking a lean of maybe 60 degrees... 55 at the most under normal skiing conditions.... about a 4" difference. If you're 6 feet tall, then your lever arm in such an instance would be three feet. That means taking off a foot of someone's height only changes the lever arm a little more than 10%. Said another way, this would be the difference in exerted torque of someone the same height as you that weighed 120 lbs instead of 135. Considering this a less than desirable instance, and the striking similarity of force exerted through a turn of skiers the same weight and different height, I'll stick with my original position that there's no need to factor height in when selecting ski length.
 
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