Do skis get distorted when they are resized?

Obviously a ski that is 186 cm long is going to ski differently to the same ski that is 166 cm long. The manufacturers can't really help that

Yeah they'll ski different. But some companies take this into effect with the side cut. Salmon rocker2s are one example I can think of where they keep the radius the same by changing the tip/tail widths on different length skis. I'm sure others do it too

It definitely varies a lot between brands as to how skis are re-sized. I would say it's pretty rare that any brand would make several different lengths of one ski model with all of the same tip, waist, and tail widths. That would definitely create extremely wack side cuts for the longest and shortest skis.

Likewise it's also extremely rare that a brand would make several different lengths of one ski model with all of the same sidecuts. Brands really do this to make it so that a model of ski feels consistent between short and tall people, however if you we're to ride the shortest and longest ski they would definitely feel very different.

NinetyFourI would say it's pretty rare that any brand would make several different lengths of one ski model with all of the same tip, waist, and tail widths. That would definitely create extremely wack side cuts for the longest and shortest skis.

Faction, Line, Rossi, Moment, Liberty, K2, and Icelantic. All the skis they are selling next year have the same tip, tail, and waist for the lengths of each model actually. At least for their women's lines that is.

MinggFaction, Line, Rossi, Moment, Liberty, K2, and Icelantic. All the skis they are selling next year have the same tip, tail, and waist for the lengths of each model actually. At least for their women's lines that is.

Aha what the hell, that's super weird. I'm having a tough time disproving this TBH.

Before I even made that post I was trying to base it off of a somewhat "diverse" quick peek at the specs of some Atomic, Armada, ON3P, and 4FRNT ski lineups and they pretty much change all of their dimensions for each model. Some do retain the same waist width between varying lengths but still had different tip and tail widths.

Looking at the brands you listed though, they pretty much just list widths, the sidecut it produces on a certain length of ski, and then just leave it at that. Rossi doesn't even specify what lengths of ski are producing the sidecut here:

http://www.rossignol.com/CG/CA/scratch--2014--RADMW01--product--alpine-men-skis.html

Or on any of their other skis. I can guarantee that it's physically impossible for all of their skis to carry the same widths, have different lengths, and produce the same sidecut though. So there is something there that won't apply to all of their skis.

Really I guess you could just cut it all down to what I said firstly, it varies a lot.

NinetyFourAha what the hell, that's super weird. I'm having a tough time disproving this TBH.

Before I even made that post I was trying to base it off of a somewhat "diverse" quick peek at the specs of some Atomic, Armada, ON3P, and 4FRNT ski lineups and they pretty much change all of their dimensions for each model. Some do retain the same waist width between varying lengths but still had different tip and tail widths.

Looking at the brands you listed though, they pretty much just list widths, the sidecut it produces on a certain length of ski, and then just leave it at that. Rossi doesn't even specify what lengths of ski are producing the sidecut here:

http://www.rossignol.com/CG/CA/scratch--2014--RADMW01--product--alpine-men-skis.html

Or on any of their other skis. I can guarantee that it's physically impossible for all of their skis to carry the same widths, have different lengths, and produce the same sidecut though. So there is something there that won't apply to all of their skis.

Really I guess you could just cut it all down to what I said firstly, it varies a lot.

Yup! Armada, Atomic, ON3P, and 4FRNT's women's skis are like that too. I was looking at the Girls Gear Guide. https://www.newschoolers.com/news/read/The-Women-Freeskiing-Guide-Hardgoods#TT5x7LTHUEzluxKW.97 I'm assuming all the info was given to them by vendors at SIA so I would think it's reliable. Unless some companies don't list all the dimensions for each size? and just use the most common/average size. I don't know.

I don't know enough about this stuff to argue a side haha I was just curious! The sidecut is what like factors into turn radius right? Less sidecut would have smaller turn radius, more sidecut would have a larger radius? Would it have any other specific impact on how a ski rides?

Edit for a later response. My full reply isn't posting at this current time.

**This post was edited on Jul 3rd 2015 at 11:12:04pm

MinggUnless some companies don't list all the dimensions for each size? and just use the most common/average size. I don't know.

This is likely, just for pure convenience (read: laziness). Really IMO ever size of ski should have all of it's own applicable dimensions listed. Scope these pages:

http://armadaskis.com/products/skis/womens/tstw/

http://shop.on3pskis.com/collections/2016-womens/products/2016-jessie-100

http://www.atomic.com/en/Products/alpine/skis/powder-freeride-touring/CENTURY_102/AA0025376.aspx?filter=468%3a3

http://4frnt.com/collections/skis/products/4frnt-madonna-2016

If you look they all have of their dimensions listed for each length of ski and they're all different.

MinggI don't know enough about this stuff to argue a side haha I was just curious! The sidecut is what like factors into turn radius right? Less sidecut would have smaller turn radius, more sidecut would have a larger radius? Would it have any other specific impact on how a ski rides?

More sidecut = smaller turn raduis & less = larger. Think of it as the edge's curve continuing in a full circle, the less side-cut the larger the diameter(or radius) circle if you did go all the way around.

But this is an interesting topic. Cool find.

related: I usually ride a 180-185 park ski, but the dims/specs are often for the mid 170's models. I have noticed different models/brands with very similar t/w/t listed perform much differently. I wonder if this has something to do with it?

I've always liked it because I like riding longer skis with a long turning radius. It sucks if you don't like the characteristics of your size of ski but sometimes they ski a bit differently than you expect and will surprise you (in a good way).

Bottom line is if you're worried about it then try to ride the skis you're interested in for a couple days and get a feel for them.

You can change sidecuts to not be perfectly round with a flat section underfoot or a more parabolic shape meaning that the sidecut could be pretty close in feeling, it probably takes a bit of technical knowledge to be able to do that, which I currently don't possess.

I would argue that a full resize including waist width seems most ideal over keeping the waist the same as the person riding them will also be "resized" causing the ski to have a similar feeling to that size of person, i.e. a 150 cm tall person won't handle a 100 mm waist width in the park the same way a 180 cm tall person would. It would be weird trying to ride both ends of the spectrum to compare as neither would be ideal (unless you fit at one end or other other).

threads because I want to hear Iggy's response

The majority of companies keep the same dimensions throughout the lengths. It probably has to do with creating molds, but don't quote me on that. Iggy will have the real answer.

And yes, a size run of skis with the same dimensions will ski differently. Think back to when the invader was around for example. They made that from a 151 up to a 177, all 110-83-110. There is obviously a huge difference between the characteristics of the 151 and 177. But think about who skis each of those sizes. A bigger / taller person will not be hindered by the longer turn radius. Plus, a long ski with a tight turn radius will be very squirrely compared to a short ski with the same radius.

None of that is scientific, just my perceptions on all this.

LemuelThe majority of companies keep the same dimensions throughout the lengths. It probably has to do with creating molds, but don't quote me on that. Iggy will have the real answer.

And yes, a size run of skis with the same dimensions will ski differently. Think back to when the invader was around for example. They made that from a 151 up to a 177, all 110-83-110. There is obviously a huge difference between the characteristics of the 151 and 177. But think about who skis each of those sizes. A bigger / taller person will not be hindered by the longer turn radius. Plus, a long ski with a tight turn radius will be very squirrely compared to a short ski with the same radius.

None of that is scientific, just my perceptions on all this.

this makes me wonder, what ski covers the widest range of sizes? I think the afterbang went from 133 all the way to 184 one year, any others rival that?

I've been harping on this quite a bit around here ever since I found out about it, could be one of my rants that you read.

I'm constantly digging into ski specs because I'm a huge gear nerd and am constantly curious to see what the latest thing will be, as well as breaking down exactly what the specifications are that make a ski feel good (to me).

I've known for a while that I like a 20meter sidecut. That's just the sidecut length that feels the best to me. For some reason for a long time I just assumed that the sidecut the manufacturer listed was true for "Every" size but after some lamentable ski purchases I found out this is not the case more often than not. The easiest way to check is to look at the tip-waist-tail measurements, they are generally listed on sites like evo and backcountry. If the tip waist tail stays the same for every length then the manufacturer was lazy and did non resize the ski at all.

The scary thing is exactly how much the sidecut changes between each size when you don't resize the tip and tail. It's usually at least a 2m difference between each size, which means you end up with a radically different ski if you are skiing the smallest ski size.

The other weird thing is that it's not brand specific. Faction has skis that it resizes and skis that it doesn't, same with rossi and others. Armada and 4frnt seem to be the most consistent about resizing proportionally.

The other thing is how the ski is resized. Some resize the tip waist and tail, some only resize the tip and tail. Some resize to keep the sidecut exactly the same, some only resize just enough so that the sidecut only changes 1m between each size as opposed to the 2m+ that it would otherwise. It's all very random.

The only thing that remains consistent is that most the major brands do not bother trying to scale their skis down proportionally at all. Which if you are buying the smaller size ski you really need to be aware of.