After tackling broader questions like “which bike and ski brands are the current holders of their respective ‘Cool Kids Belts’” in Part One of Bikes vs. Skis, 2023 last week, we’re diving into the head-to-head comparisons: which bike company is most comparable to Rossignol skis? Who is the ski equivalent of Guerrilla Gravity? And many, many more.
And we’ll be back with a third installment next week, so let us know in the comments section what your best comparisons are, what we got wrong, and/or if there’s a specific company you want us to touch on.
TOPICS & TIMES:
- Santa Cruz (2:18)
- Road bikes as XC skis or frontside carvers (5:22)
- Santa Cruz, cont’d (11:24)
- Specialized (17:00)
- Major brands as innovators (20:41)
- Rossignol (25:18)
- Transition (27:33)
- Which brands have the best marketing? (29:52)
- ON3P (35:57)
- Yeti (38:32)
- K2 (51:06)
- Guerrilla Gravity (56:52)
- Atomic (1:03:38)
- YT (1:11:17)
RELATED LINKS:
- BLISTER+ Membership
- BLISTER+ Real World Testimonials
- Blister Labs
- This Week’s Gear Giveaway
- Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide
- Bikes vs Skis, 4th Edition (2023): Part 1
- Bikes vs Skis, 3rd Edition (2021): Part 1
- Bikes vs Skis, 3rd Edition (2021): Part 2
- Bikes vs Skis, 2nd Edition (2020): Part 1
- Bikes vs Skis, 2nd Edition (2020): Part 2
- Bikes vs Skis, 1st Edition (2018): Part 1
- Bikes vs Skis, 1st Edition (2018): Part 2
Jonathan, couldn’t be more wrong about gravel bikes!
I would submit that Gravel bike are most like alpine touring skis with pin bindings. You can take them almost everywhere. Fast growing popularity. Rarely the best tool for the job and people use them in situations that they would be better suited to use something else.
Wait … “couldn’t be more wrong”? Doesn’t sound like we disagree about the limited versatility of gravel bikes. They *are* super fun in their element – and in their element, I would say that they are the best tool for the job. But we seem to agree that the range of that element is just not terribly broad.
?
Ah sorry bad writing on my part. I meant wrong about them being front side carvers.
The answer which snow equivalent Santa Cruz is, is… Burton. Around since the beginning, and even though Burton is the giant in the snowboard industry now, they magically managed to retain a lot of the coolness. And they have a incredibly loyal fanbase. I think the closest in the ski world is maybe black crows, also because they can charge premium prices for high quality, yet remain somewhat cool.
I’m not much of a ski guy (all snowboard / mtb), but regardless this was interesting to me. Maybe do a snowboard one! And great to hear Simon’s voice! I bought ’16 Kona Process 134 largely based on their thoughts in the bible. And I hate to say this, you guys really ragged on Dylan for some reason but I thought his answers were pretty logical. I may be biased as my son’s name is Dylan and I’m also from Vermont :D
Dylan is definitely *NOT* from Vermont — check out part one for the backstory.
We love Dylan, but he deserved some grief for that one.
A generic “frontside carver” is like a commuter bike: Designed for the paved road, but not particularly fast.
A road bike is like an FIS racing ski.
You asked us to make requests for next episode. Any thoughts on how Prior Skis might fit into these topics?
Having unexpectedly fallen into XC skiing this past season, I think that road biking is actually the equivalent of skate skiing. For skate skiing you need a groomed course, kinda like riding on a road. Where as with classic XC skis a groomed course is nice but not actually a requirement (classic XC skis can be used in fresh snow, unlike skate skis), so kinda more like gravel biking (both of which are limited in versatility compared to say Alpine touring setups / MTBs). Skate / road also offer similar cardio workout and sufferfest opportunities.