Gear of the Century, Part 2 (Ep.376)

8 comments on “Gear of the Century, Part 2 (Ep.376)”

1. Step-in snowboard bindings were such a game changer for me. Watching my friends drop me off the lift getting first tracks because they had K2 Clickers (which were no longer made when I was looking). Thankfully Burton came out with their first gen Si-X step ins and I was soon keeping up getting freshies with them. Not perfect but I still have those bindings and boots. The K2/Shimano Clickers were the first though, mid 90’s and made so much sense being a mountain biker, not that they didn’t have issues.

   • I would argue that the first were the hardboot bindings on alpine/carving snowboarding rigs (remember those?)

2. Rocker: Kneissl Ergo instead of White or Red Star?

   • Yup, that’s exactly right. 1992.

   • Ergo was the shaped ski. I skied that proto type in 88-89. The rockered ski was in production and sold on the market (in retailers inventories) in 87-88. All canal skis were in groupings. Blue star, red star or white star. White star was always the pro/race level quality. I believe the blue star was learned to ski. It had a straight side cut. But was lifted off the snow, i.e. convex on the tip and tail so that a beginner could pivot the skis. Much easier.

3. I remember the rockered Kneissl that Greg mentions. Kneissl did some crazy stuff back in those days, those as Greg says they couldn’t market their way out of a paper bag.

   It’s important to realize that tip rocker had a long history in alpine SG and DH racing skis, going back to at least the 1980s (that’s when I became aware of it). At the time it was called “tip splay”, and it was done to prevent the tip from engaging when running the ski flat at higher speeds. Some skis (like a pair of early-90s 212 cm Atomic SGs that I once owned) would pair tip splay with tail taper, such that the effective edge when on edge was displaced forward relative to the running surface when running flat. Basically the ski handled as a very directional racing ski when up on edge, but more like a center-mounted ski when you were running flat down in your low tuck and couldn’t drive the shovels as effectively.

   • Clarifying a bit, “tip splay” as practiced in speed skis from the 80s and 90s didn’t extend very far back (contact point moves maybe 6-8″ back then the skis are pressed together) and not particularly pronounced (separation of maybe 5 mm at the “un-pressed” contact point when pressing the skis flat).

     Those skis were designed for icy race courses, so it didn’t take much rocker to keep the tip from engaging and destabilizing the ski when running flat at speed.

     Also when I talk about tail taper I mean that the tail is unrockered and has taper extending forward of the contact point, such that the running surface when flat extended further back than the effective edge. I could really feel it in my Atomics – They’re still the most stable SG I’ve ever ridden when flat, almost rivaling my old 220-223 cm DH skis, but with fairly engaging tips when brought up on edge.

4. Rally car skis sound super fun.