Bluehouse - first impressions. (MR 179cm)
September 24, 2007
INTERESTING
First off they are -thin-, almost too thin for anyone not fully used to the thinness of the old full-metal-jacket Volants.
The second thing one notices upon taking off the wrapping is that the topskin finish is a very curious texture, like someone just put a thin coat of bug shellac onto a vinyl balloon.
Finish: fair to very good. There were a few snap/crackle rice krispies on full deflection, but all that's really telling me is that these spent no time on a shop floor between being laid up and put into my grubby little mitts. There are visible but slight discontinuities in the base grind, in fact one can tell where the grind started and where the twintip was pulled off the wheel. One ski has a little bit extra grind, I suspect to finish off the edge at the tip and to give it a smooth continuous bevel. Nothing remotely worrisome.
Flex. Wow. These things do bend easily. The comparison to the old Chubbs is very close. They are stiffer than Pep Fujas might ski, but I can't say they are stiffer than stock PEs. The forefoot is noticeably stiffer than the tail, particularly in the first 50cm or so.
Damping. Pretty damp. Pretty durn damp with a pert little stiff-sidewall action as though the sidewalls were absorbing a lot of the energy. Damper than the Chubbs. Far damper than, oh, a 999. If Fischer had built a fat full-metal-cap-ski like the Chubb I might expect something similar. This bodes very well for a Eastern pigslush ski.
Sidewall and top edge finish: perfectly professional. No nicks, burrs, unsharp corners, router divots or anything untoward.
Base finish: as noticed above, these were obviously finished by hand by someone with very good quality control but also under pressure to get them done. There are noticeable grinding marks at the tips, where edge smoothness took priority over base polish.
Edge finish, again very good in the main body of the ski. Imperfections noticeable at the break of the front tips, again consistent with above observations and no real functional biggie.
Overall, a very good value. These might turn out to be the Pocket Rockets of the next couple of seasons. There will be a lock on this pair.
JimK,
There are 2 models Dostrict which is 103mm in the waist and 187 cm long and the MR which is (I think) 92mm waist has options for 179cm and some smaller size.
No plans to ski them on Mid-Atlantic groomers, at least until a month or so after the snowmaking stops. They feel like they could be a fun Vermont tree ski given enough cover.
The flex is soft enough that someone ~20lbs lighter than me could use them as a pure pow ski. In fact, the gf wants them for a primary Utah & Tahoe ski.
Right now, the plan is to put drill them for Railflex at the powder line: she'll get her wish.
If I was to say what or whom these were designed for, I'd say they were designed for a teenager living a bus ride from Brighton.
JimK, these are the narrower MRs, they are also available in 171cm. The company is a design house that contracts to Chinese manufacturers, much like Kogswell do for bikes.
What are the exact dimensions?
Do you plan to ski them on Eastern groomers, Western Powder, or everything?
the MR's I got are 125-93-120. not for groomers tho. they will be my powder tool
I put touring bindings on em, and plan on using em to skin up the mountain at WG and ski freshies all winter
