mr.tibblesStuff looks awesome. So a 178 Commander 108 has a 19.5M radius and an effective edge of 1345. Can you help someone who doesn't understand much about ski construction understand - how does this ski with little tail rocker have less effective edge than a 172 PB&J? Does this mean it is going to ski short?
Effective edge refers to the length of edge between the two widest points of the ski, so the rocker doesn't play into this spec. For example, a full rocker ski still has a good amount of effective edge, even though the entire length is rockered. The smaller effective edge on the Commander 178 (vs a PB&J 172) is due to the tip and tail taper. The widest point of the tip and tail on the Commander is closer to the center of the ski when compared to the PB&J, thus making the length of the effective edge shorter.
You can also see an example of this in the Transition 179 vs the Governor 196, in which the Transition has more effective edge because it has virtually no tip or tail taper, while the Governor has a hefty amount of taper at both ends.
The Commander won't feel like a short ski, the stiff core, Titanal and directional shape allow it to charge. Our resident athlete Tyler Curle can attest to this, as he usually rides 190+ cm skis for big mountain, yet felt right at home charging on the Commander 178.
mr.tibblesAlso, what's the thinking behind the radius - I thought chargier skis generally came with a longer turn radius and this one seems less than some other Moment models. Does this have something to do with the multiradius sidecut? Just trying to get a sense of how this one skis/turns.
The 19.5 m turn radius is a combination of a few radii throughout the ski, which all average out to 19.5 m. Charging skis used to have larger turn radii, but that trend has changed recently due to improvements in materials, design and the expansion of taper / rocker combinations. You can see evidence of this by looking at some of the other charging skis out on the market right now:
> Blizzard Bonafide 187: 20 m radius
> Black Crows Navis 187: 19 m radius
> Nordica Enforcer 185: 18.5 m radius
> JSkis Master Blaster 181: 17 m radius
The only one that really stands out to me that isn't following this trend is the ON3P Wrenegade 184, which has a 24 m radius. This is mostly due to the lack of tail taper in the design (If I'm wrong, I'm sure iggyskier's spidey senses will go off and he'll come correct me).
Due to the combination of tip / tail taper, the multi-radius sidecut and the rocker profile of the Commander series, the ski will still be able to make big sweeping turns and charge hard at high speeds, yet maintain an ability to be nimble and quick from turn to turn for those tight chutes and trees. Another benefit to the rocker profile is the ability to kick them sideways without much effort at all, which makes scrubbing speed an easy task.
Overall we're very excited about the Commander series. I generally steer clear of skiing extremely fast and aggressive, and usually stick to tight trees and goofing around on more progressively mounted skis, but after testing the Commander towards the end of last season I might have to change my ways. I'll probably ride that ski more than anything else this coming season as it inspired confidence in me, and for the first time I was suddenly looking for bigger and bigger cliffs to jump off and faster chutes to fly out of every run.
