Member of the Month

KilaTsunami
October, 2024

Online

Welcome to the Newschoolers forums! You may read the forums as a guest, however you must be a registered member to post. Register to become a member today!

Line TC vs Blend

profile picture
Melbourne.
Posts: 133 - Karma: 301
I'm seriously considering getting one of the wider Line park skis. I'm not asking about the Chronics because I know few people who own them. I've never really heard any reviews about the TCs or Blends. What is the durability of both and how do they ride. I'm 5'10 140 lbs which would be the best/ most fun?
Mar 13 2014 6:57AM
16 1
profile picture
mattb4
Posts: 13 - Karma: 32
I have Blends and they're insane all mountain skis. Awesome for park and powder days. The durability is about the same as the chronics just bc it's sidewall construction. But honestly if you're looking for just a park ski, you might want to just go for the TC's
Mar 13 2014 11:48AM
0 1
profile picture
Twig
Posts: 6407 - Karma: 60,033
My experience with the Chronic / Blend construction has not been good. I love line skis in general but I hated the flex pattern on my Blends (2013, they were good before the construction change) and my Chronics broke instantly. I probably had a dud pair but the experience made me go for TCs as a replacement. I've liked anthems before but not skied my new rockered ones yet. Will report back in a couple of hours.
Mar 13 2014 12:59PM
0 0
profile picture
Sam__M
Posts: 389 - Karma: 610
well the TC is a pretty soft ski but due to its symmetrical side cut its all mountain capabilities will suffer. however it slays rails like a motherfucker so if you ski 80% rails its good.it also has and extruded base which means it will be slower and will not hold wax as well as a sintered base .

the blend has a sintered base,so it will be faster,it is a fair bit wider and non symmetrical so it will be a much better all mountain ski. but this does not mean it wont shred park well! just check out Rob Heule riding them and you will see for yourself that its still a very good park ski.
Mar 14 2014 5:15AM
2 0
profile picture
Twig
Posts: 6407 - Karma: 60,033
Got a 4 hour session in yesterday and have to say I loved the new rockered TC straight away. Yes it has an extruded base and a sintered would be faster. Yes it has cap construction so lacks a little precision in turning, but it is just so fun.

It has a nice smooth flex and the little bit of rocker lifts the contact points to avoid catching. The anthem has always been a fairly solid ski, in my experience far more durable than any of the skis with a Macroblock Lite core (Blend, Chronic, Future Spin).

They made a great ski better with the early rise, its a pity they are changing them next winter.
Mar 14 2014 7:41AM
0 0
profile picture
tomPietrowski
Posts: 7147 - Karma: 17,499
Have they stiffened it up. It was so soft last season I would think adding early rise would make it even worse.
Mar 15 2014 5:32AM
2 0
profile picture
Twig
Posts: 6407 - Karma: 60,033
No, I dont think they have changed it. However its very hard to judge, because my 2013s were very broken in when I last skied them and these are new.
Mar 15 2014 7:49AM
1 0
profile picture
tomPietrowski
Posts: 7147 - Karma: 17,499
Did you try carving them hard at all? Last season when I skied them I foun them almost unskiable on anything steep and hard. Not bad just messing around on but useless all mnt
Mar 15 2014 9:28AM
2 0
profile picture
Twig
Posts: 6407 - Karma: 60,033
Honestly, no, I only skied park. Will be a few weeks before I ski a proper mountain. That said I never had a problem carving the old ones on soft snow. I always have heavily detuned edges on my park skis so none of them carve on hard/icey snow. They clearly aren't a ski for someone who wants to carve around hard at any kind of speed, more for the surfy playful skier, like all lines really.
Mar 15 2014 1:34PM
0 0
profile picture
Melbourne.
Posts: 133 - Karma: 301
how are they on jumps?

Mar 16 2014 11:50AM
0 0
profile picture
Twig
Posts: 6407 - Karma: 60,033
for me they are fine, I prefer them to blends. Chronics are better than either on jumps though.
Mar 16 2014 2:46PM
0 0
profile picture
olic
Posts: 294 - Karma: 928
Really? Not calling you out here at all man, but I took my 2010 Anthems (basically TC's) to 115kph carving a relatively steep run pretty hard and they held up just fine, obviously not the ideal ski for charging but far from unskiable. I've had them as my all mtn ski for the last 3 years (switched to Chronics for this season) and never struggled anywhere, other than deep powder...

Once you break in the Anthems/TC's they will be soft and pretty playful, a seriously fun ski for in the park, there are better skis for all mtn but they hold up just fine if you're a decent skier. If you spend most of your time in the park or jibbing all over the place, they're an awesome ski in my opinion
Mar 16 2014 3:01PM
1 0
profile picture
tomPietrowski
Posts: 7147 - Karma: 17,499
How big are you? I skied them down the Dave murry downhill and although yes if you just point them straight you can get them going fast, it was when you needed to put them on edge hard they fell down. They simply could not hook up an edge as well as most other skis I tried. As a park only jib ski I would think they would be great but for a bigger guy skiing hard they are not an ideal all mnt ski.
Mar 16 2014 3:14PM
2 0
profile picture
olic
Posts: 294 - Karma: 928
I'm only 5'7" and 66kg so could potentially see a bigger skier pushing them to the edge a bit more, but I'm far from a delicate skier having learned to ski from a swiss downhill skier, my style is naturally very aggressive. I maxed them out carving a run in the The Three Valleys trying to push how hard they could go so wasn't just straight lining (that's a cop out), I'm not saying they're a perfect charger, far from it, but for most people I reckon they'd be fine as an all mtn skier with a jib and park focus.

Not calling your opinion or knowledge into question here either, as I said earlier. You've helped me out with some other stuff on these forums, and from your posts I've seen you're clearly knowledgable and I respect your opinion. Just saying a good skier will be able to take them anywhere and not have a terrible time as long as they aren't expecting a full bore hard charging ski, but then they wouldn't be buying these or Blends...
Mar 16 2014 8:26PM
1 0
profile picture
tomPietrowski
Posts: 7147 - Karma: 17,499
Yeah fair enough and some good points. I have been noticing that what I look for in a ski, build, flex and rocker ect is pretty different to what most people here want. I want a ski to charge on and simply can not ski something soft, but from what I can tell I seem to be in the minority.

I had something similar in a thread about On3p. i just got some jmo's and I find them really soft whereas everyone else says they are mid stiff. So I guess its just me, maybe I just need to move over to TGR already haha.
Mar 17 2014 11:34AM
3 0
profile picture
olic
Posts: 294 - Karma: 928
I know what you mean park skis never really feel like chargers to me after years on super stiff carvers, except the old K2 PE's those things were like the Volvo of the snow, you couldn't pop off moguls cos you just went through 'em! I've just adapted how I ski to work on them so I don't have to lug loads of sets of skis to the mountains.

Ha ha I've got just under 3 years before I have to switch to TGR...

Mar 17 2014 8:39PM
0 0
All times are Eastern (-5)