What’s Up with K2? And Rossignol Mtn Bikes? (Ep.50)

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To mark the occasion of our 50th episode, we brought back our very first guest on the podcast, Jed Yeiser. Jed is the Senior Ski Designer for K2 Sports, and if you haven’t already listened to that first podcast, you should, because you’ll learn a whole lot more about Jed, his backstory, and his path to becoming a ski designer.

Blister Gear Review: 20 Questions with Jed Yeiser, Line Skis
Jed Yeiser, Senior Ski Designer at K2 Sports.

We also wanted to bring Jed back on because there have been some pretty massive changes recently at K2, and many people have been wondering what’s going on there. So we talk to Jed about the current state of things at K2, and what the future looks like.

There are actually four distinct parts to this conversation, so if you have a short attention span, check the show notes below, and you can skip around as you wish.

First, we talk about backcountry safety, and Jed talks a bit about two very impactful experiences of his own. We then talk about K2 — what’s going on with the company, and some of Jed’s favorite skis in the lineup. From there, we talk a bit about Line’s new Sick Day series of skis, and we then conclude by talking about Rossignol’s announcement this week that they’re moving into mountain bikes. Jed and I discuss the challenge of successfully cross-branding into areas outside of a company’s core competence, in addition to offering some thoughts on the Rossi Soul 7 and … plus-sized tires.

TOPICS & TIMES

  • Backcountry Safety – Jed talks about two impactful experiences of his own (4:31)
  • What’s up with K2? (15:05)
  • Jed goes in-depth over a few skis in K2’s 17/18 lineup (24:30)
  • All-Mountain skis — What does “All-Mountain” mean? (39:30)
  • Where is K2 headed? (53:15)
  • Line’s new Sick Day series (58:31)
  • Rossignol’s move into mountain biking (1:11:00)

5 comments on “What’s Up with K2? And Rossignol Mtn Bikes? (Ep.50)”

  2. The Rossi bike brand is designed to compliment the recent acquisition of the Time and Felt brands by the ownership group. You are on to something with the direction that Rossi will be heading with the bike brand/products. They are going to be marketing toward resort fleets, hardgood dealers with existing Rossi partnerships (I.E. current ski dealers who rent recreational bikes in the summer, e-bikes, fat bikes, etc). They are not going to try and be a direct competitor to Santa Cruz, Giant, or even Felt (which they own). They are going to bring Rossi bikes to a market that is easy to infiltrate; recreational riders who want to rent a bike from a ski shop or resort in the summer.

  3. Proof that I made it to the end of this podcast…Jason Hutchinson hasn’t reviewed any skis, in what 5 years? What ever happened to him?

    • Congrats on making it to the end! And it hasn’t been 5 years — Jason has been weighing in on skis for us, but it’s been more in the background. He just completed his doctorate in physical therapy, so we gave him a long leave of absence to get that done. But now he is done, and once he gets settled, you should be seeing more of his work again.

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