TOPICS & TIMES
- ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ Skis (3:37)
- Listeners’ analogies (9:19)
- Transition (18:53)
- Orange (20:05)
- Pivot Cycles (21:35)
- Guerilla Gravity (24:21)
- Bold Cycles (35:48)
- Banshee Bikes (29:36)
- Commencal (30:59)
- Zerode (32:12)
- Cannondale (33:39)
- Kona (37:19)
- Intense (38:49)
- Santa Cruz (48:02)
- Specialized (49:22)
- Trek (50:39)
- Giant (52:24)
- Ibis (53:51)
- DPS Skis? (58:49)
- Evil (1:03:57)
- YT (1:05:23)
- Pole & Nicolai (1:08:08)
Which bike company is currently the most like which ski company? Here in part 2, we get into more arguments and offer more parallels and analogies between these two industries to get a better sense of the current position, reputation, and trajectory of a bunch of different brands in these sports.
And we want to hear from you — where do you agree or disagree, and can you come up with better, more accurate analogies than the ones we’re proposing? Let us know in the Comments Section below.
Based on what you guys said about Orbea do you think that Fisher would be a good ski analogy? Fisher is really known for their racing and nordic skis, but make the type of skis we all ride and are discussing. Their free-ride line lines up well with Orbea’s mountain bikes.
Funny, I’ve been thinking a lot about Fischer, and was surprised / disappointed that we didn’t come up with a better match for them. I’ll be curious to see what others think … but at the moment … I’m at least much happier with the Orbea / Fischer analogy than the Orbea / LINE analogy that someone had proposed on Insta. :)
The thing with Fischer is that they have an unmatched racing pedigree in both alpine and nordic, and that’s a big factor in their reputation, particularly in Europe. In theory Kastle is even older, but in reality the current company is largely unrelated to the one that folded in 1998.
The closest “alternate reality” analogy I can think of would be if Peugeot hadn’t faded in the 80s/90s and had instead risen to MTB popularity like Trek.
BMC and Movement: Both European brands who’s products are race focused (road racing and randonneuring) who’s gravity or Freeride offerings don’t really translate to the North American market. They’re both more dependant on the use of Spandex than anyone over here is comfortable with. Steep head tube angles and skinny waisted skis are how they view the free ride/gravity worlds.
Colnago & Kastle. Both are top of the line, traditional, sexy, and carry premium price tags!
Here is your eyes wide shut bike:
http://www.flowriderracing.com/product/bikes/revel-rascal-29-lt-custom-bike/
Spoiler: 17,150 big ones :)
Hmm, I don’t think that competes with gold-plated skis made with 8000-year-old bog oak, for a couple reasons:
First, that’s a one-of-a kind “show bike” rather than a production model, complete with a prototype (and otherwise unavailable afaik) Ingrid 1×12 groupset. Maybe Shimano or SRAM would like to buy it for competitive analysis?
Second, that actually looks to my relatively inexperienced eye like a build that a good cyclist might actually want to ride. I can’t really say the same for the bog oak ski, but maybe that’s a function of my comparatively better knowledge of skiing.
Ya points well taken. Guess I saw the price tag and the one-off groupset and just posted it.
I am, however, interested in the potential damping properties of 8000 year old bog oak :-) . I would certainly give the bog oak ski a few laps to at least get an initial impression. Given that the designer behind them was a world cup ski racer maybe they rip the ‘roy?
Note that the bog oak is only used in veneer form for the topsheet. The rest of the ski is a conventional metal/carbon laminate with an ash/pawlonia core.
Also the only “Andreas Pichler” in the FIS database is a former WC (barely) alpine snowboarder, and it has WC results at least back to the 60s (I looked up Jean-Claude Killy for kicks to confirm that).
Noah Bodman should do an article on his ski collection, lots of interesting stuff it seems, XXL’s, black ops 118s, bodacious, etc.