For some time now, Faction has been one of the hottest brands in skiing. But how much do you actually know about the company? This week we are talking about the history of the brand, some key moments in the company, and some big recent changes; you’ll hear what it’s like to go skiing with and design skis for Candide Thovex; and we go over Faction’s lineup for the upcoming season.
We’re joined by Faction engineer, Daniel Tanzer; product manager, Josh Cohen; and North American marketing manager and monoski advocate, Henrik Lampert.
TOPICS & TIMES
- Describe Faction (3:05)
- Introductions: Hank, Josh, Daniel (4:32)
- Changing factories & other watershed moments (11:21)
- Designing skis with Candide (19:38)
- 20/21 Lineup: Dictator series (33:03)
- Agent Series (47:06)
- Prodigy and Candide series (51:40)
- Le Mono (55:01)
- Le Machine (57:45)
- Le Mogul (1:00:33)
- Final Thoughts (1:05:54)
- What We’re Celebrating (1:07:25)
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What are the optimal edge angles for the previous 4.0? I liked the factory angles and structure but when it was time for a regrind my shop pooched it. Would appreciate your knowledge on this.
Thanks
1 degree base bevel and 88 degrees side
cheers
Daniel
Talking about a tune making a ski unskiable. Back in 2006-07 I bought a pair of Line Prophet 100s from a local ski shop but they didn’t carry the bindings I wanted. I went to another shop in town that had the bindings and also them do the mount and full tune. Now the ski tech there was known as the best tech in town, but he was known for being the best race ski tech in town. Well the first day out on the Prophet 100s I thought I was going to die. All I had to do was think it and I would catch an edge. I couldn’t even side slip. Forget about turning. I was like WTF these skis suck. After a few scary runs I headed back to town to the shop where I bought the skis. The shop guy took one look at them and was like, who tuned these? He did a major detune on the tips and tails, I went back up the mountain and had zero problems after. I did go back to the ski shop that did the tune and the shop guy was not really surprised, yeah we’ve had problems with Line skis. They just hadn’t adjusted to the fact that not all skis should have a race tune.
Surprisingly, the Dictator FeelGood models were not mentioned in the discussion. Ok, they are probably aimed mostly at the rental market, I’d guess, and not an essential part of the lineup.
The Dictator 3.0 is my absolute favorite ski at the moment. I would definitely urge people to try it. If you are aggressive (within reason) and like a rather forward stance (again within reason), this is a really fun ski. Short or long turns, very reactive. I enjoyed it on most snow conditions.
Now one question for the Faction folks maybe, is the 21 version (with the Dictator logo in orange on the website) any different from the 19/20 with the Dictator logo in black (that I love)?
I wish he would have talked more about the Prodigy (particularly 4.0) changes. They seem to be significant. And I assume they won’t be tested in time for the buyers guide. C’est la vie.
I wish there was more time spent on the Prodigy 4.0 update as well as the decision to stop making the Candide 4.0 but stoked to see if these things are addressed in the reviews!
had a pair of prodigy’s last me 8 days and faction failed to warranty them. They’ve lost my support, when paying that much for skis you’d expect them to last longer. Ive heard other horror stories similar of factions not lasting.
Really interested to hear the discussion about the Prodigy vs the Candide. I skied the CT2.0 in New Zealand last year and it was the loosest ski I’ve ever been on, to the point where I had to significantly slow down from my normal pace. If the Prodigy is even looser than that again I’m not sure it’s something I’d ever consider for inbounds terrain.
Really hope you can get La Machine to test, sounds a lot of fun