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Worst Skis Ever?

Gerry Rhoades

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I feel fortunate to say that I never skied anything on that list
 

Gerry Rhoades

mtcyclist rippin' again
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Probably a pair of Hart Pros, probably 205-215cm. They had an aluminum oxide base that couldn't be waxed or repaired. They were replaced by Head Vectors at 215cm, those were real skis.:crash:
 

crgildart

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There were a lot of first generation shape skis that were really bad. Manufacturers were rushing to get product to market and they were just showing designs against the wall to see what stuck. A few that come to mind...

Fischer Revolution Ice, a shape that actually had the tail wider than the tip
Salomon Axendo, just flexing them broke the tails.

We saw a similar situate with manufacturers trying to figure what early rise was all about..

Fischer (again) with the Rocker on demand, a switch to add or remove rocker, it added nothing but weight
Head with the first Peak skis, they cut a channel just past the contact point of the tip which was designed to let the ski flex easier there but it just created a hinge point and the tip just folded over when pressured through the turn.

More Runner Ups:
Rossignol Multix with the bag of arms that you could control the flex of the skis
Dynastar with the Fusion and ID skis, asymmetrical sidewalls and sidecuts.
Salomon Pilots wth arguably the worst integrated binding design
Volant TSBD (Tight Spots Big Drops), Volant had many innovated skis, this was not one of them.
Elan SCX RP 193, the first ski made for an NFL linebacker, a PRO Bowl linebacker at that.
I had a pair of Scream 10 Pilots. It was the first truly shaped ski I bought, barely used for $100 shipped. They were very easy to ski but buttery noodles at higher speeds. Pretty sure the ProLink was just a cosmetic coolness like the blinking lights on my K2 Fours. And yes, the toe wing adjustments rattle loose.

My friend got the Fritzenmeyer Duos when they first came out. He fell for all of the untested innovations. He went from those to Kastle Newstyle Champion with the triple groove.
 

cantunamunch

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There was one Pilot ski I liked - the SX version called the W12. Very, very easy to ski, and could take some speed but Atomic brought out the Izor 9:7 at the same time - Neox bindings and excellent edgehold on ice - I simply couldn't go Salomon.
 

Bill Miles

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Probably a pair of Hart Pros, probably 205-215cm. They had an aluminum oxide base that couldn't be waxed or repaired. They were replaced by Head Vectors at 215cm, those were real skis.:crash:

I had a pair of those (the Harts),but a couple of earlier pair of wood skis were worse. After a season, there wasn't a base.
 

ScotsSkier

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Worst ever? 1976 K2 Comp with the foam core.....one edge collapsed after 4 days and the edge on the other ski collapsed after 5 days (after I had the first one repaired) and K2 would not warranty.....never bought a K2 since.....:)
 

Eastern skier

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Realskiers has an interesting article on their take of the 10 worst skis ever made. Number 4 on the list were Graves. I had a pair given to me in 1979 by a marketing guy at the company. They were manufactured in New Hampshire and I remember visiting the company on the way back to Boston from a ski trip. I can attest that they were the most unpleasant boards I've ever strapped onto my feet. Built like a tank and skied like one as well.

Did anyone have the chance to
 

Eastern skier

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Graves ski was in newburyport,ma. There's some guy down by the river who made a fence out of them. Fence is still there 35 years later. Skis were awful
 

Myles

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Is the BBR really that terrible? I never got to try them but my perception is that they just overdid the marketing be by making them out to be the best thing since sliced bread. Reality seems to be that people who like them really like them, just those people aren't the technical/aggressive "serious" skiers.


And just because it makes me giggle as an example of corporate shilling gone mad here's the otherwise highly regarded Emma + Phil at Snoworks doing their best "it makes your toast and gets the kids ready for school" advertorial.

I skied a pair of BBRs this weekend, owned by a friend in his late 60s who started skiing a few years back. While ugly and ungainly looking, they were not bad skis, and I can see why an older skier with limited experience might want a pair. They can turn easily, hold an edge better than I would have thought, and absorb terrain quite well. That said, they did not handle speed well and that giant shovel just feels weird on piste, but I imagine that it would work well in a few inches of fresh snow at low speeds. I am not sure how Emma and Phil felt comfortable skiing chutes on them. As for the other skis on the list, the Olin MK I is the only other that I have tried, like skiing with a mogul attached to your sidewall. I am sure that using new high-tech non-stick materials, the vented sidewalls could make a comeback, particularly in this new era of light-weight skis. Imagine, a ski with koroyd and papier machè core, milled out using the Fischer airtech process, a top sheet of graphene, carbon tips, tails, and bindings, and vented sidewalls with ILAG non-stick coating (http://www.ilag.ch/en/non-stick-ultimate.html), which could also be applied to the bases making for a no-wax ski. This way one's skis could also be used as a kitchen utensil during the summer months.
 

Tom K.

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Worst one I ever owned: Hexcel Sundance. It did nothing well, but at least one of the toe pieces pulled out during a demanding, 400-foot vertical run in MN, on the first day I owned them!

Worst one I ever skied: My Mom's Hart Camaros. Metal leaf springs with modestly sharpened edges.

Skis have come a little ways since those days......
 

James

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BBR- Sidecut of 12.5m at 176cm and 13.5m at 186. Sounds like a nightmare to me. Off piste?? The center of the ski is heading to the earth's core while the enormous tip is a helium balloon.
. But I never skied those lawn darts. Not sure if it was looks or performance why they didn't sell but lots of shops had those lying around for awhile. I do remember a prototype being skied by someone at one of the epic ski academies in Aspen.

I did ski the Flo Skis once at ABasin. I was skiing I think with @Bob Barnes and we ran into I guess Adrian who pretty much insisted I ski them. I believe Bob had already gone through the trial so he demurred. They were real short with bindings mounted way back. I wouldn't say they were the worst things ever but there wasn't much point to it as far as I remember. They were damp and they worked pretty well for the length but really just an oddity not a game changer.
The selling point was no tail so they're safer for the acl. Of course there's not much in front either. So doing say 30mph and auguring in wouldn't exactly be safe. Adrian also had flo packs you could mount on your own ski. But to demo them he just had clear packing tape. We tried but failed to mount them to whatever ski I was on.

There used to be a binding plate made that had the ball bearings in oil inside it. Reliable Racing used to sell it.
 

Philpug

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Some of the worst skis came out of the shape ski revolution when manufacturers were scrambing to get anything to the market and used the consumer as the guinea pig.
 

Lorenzzo

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I can only say what the worst ski I've ever been on was . By 8 miles was the original Blizzard Cochise. If I wasn't able to sell them I might have set fire to them. Although given how they skied we might have had a toxics situation.

It's the ski the taught me to demo first.
 

James

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Oooh I loved that ski, if we're talking about the one with the thorns and frost graphic.
Yes that's the one. Stockli VXL. Great ski. Was fantastic with the Vist Aluminium speedlock plate. But it was heavy!
 

Frankly

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215 Spaulding Squadra Course ~ 1979 on the right
212 Rossignol ROC ~ 1977 on the left
Sally 555 Gold

It's what you did when you broke just one ski.

(It's actually a pretty funny drill to do to kids, put wildly different sticks on each foot.)
 

markojp

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I saw a LOT of Rossi FMs exlode. I had a pair of 175 cm that held up fine but I only weighed about 95 pounds when I was skiing them.
The 175 was a jr. ski.
 

markojp

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I've always claimed that if weight was a beneficial characteristic then skis would be better with added weight. To hear knowledgeable Phil and the authors put the Fritzmeier with its added weights in the worst ski category gives some support to my position.

However, I kind of liked the BBRs (maybe a little less when I found out they weren't named PBRs) and really wanted Durafiber skis so maybe the judgment is suspect.

Eric

The best ski I skied on this weekend was the heaviest. Footrests solve the 'up', and the 'down' is so easy the skis come with cup holders. ogsmile. With a couple of notable exceptions, really light skis are terrifying (rattling, deflection, lack of tracking, etc...)and take more energy to ski, but then again, I'm sure I outweight you by a fair chunk.ogsmile
 

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