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Big oof, aluminum edges lol. These things have gotta be stiff as boards. The thing I think so many people don't understand about engineering (in general but also as it relates to skis) is that EVERYTHING is a compromise. The best product isn't the MOST of any one thing, but rather a perfect balance of many factors. A good example being, you could make a ski that would literally never break. But it would be so unbelievably heavy and have 0 flex. Obviously no one is asking for that. If a CNC Aluminum ski was really the best answer to the problem of "How do I make the best skis with good characteristics?" then it would have been widely implemented long ago. In their marketing they sort of shit on composites. But composites do an amazing job of solving multiple problems simultaneously, while being viable price-wise and also being able to take the abuse that skis see. I'm not here to discourage innovation or people from trying new things in the industry but I wouldn't recommend my homies go drop some cash on these puppies.
Someone who knows ski construction correct me if I'm wrong, but the big positives of p-tex bases is that it's hydrophobic and slippery, wax sticks well to it, and it's easy to repair, right? My experience with aluminum rails is that aluminum doesn't accept wax very well and there's no way it's as slippery as p-tex. I ain't trying to wax my skis every day like I'm chasing gates.
i talked with one of the employees/owners of M1 skis at eldora and he said they carve great but i'd imagine thats all their good for. cant imagine sliding a rail on full aluminum
HolteSomeone who knows ski construction correct me if I'm wrong, but the big positives of p-tex bases is that it's hydrophobic and slippery, wax sticks well to it, and it's easy to repair, right? My experience with aluminum rails is that aluminum doesn't accept wax very well and there's no way it's as slippery as p-tex. I ain't trying to wax my skis every day like I'm chasing gates.
One thing that hasn't been mentioned so far is metal fatigue. Pretty much all materials degrade over time as they are flexed back and forth. The more it's flexed, the more useful life is lost from the material.
There's a concept called the Endurance Limit which is basically the largest amount of stretching that doesn't meaningfully impact the life of the material. Composites functionally have a very high endurance limit so the vibration from skiing will never really destroy them. For aluminum though, the endurance limit is effectively zero, so no matter how much you baby the skis, they will eventually weaken, crack, and break apart. Maybe they've done the math and found that they will last plenty long enough, but but this is just another reason that all other skis are made from composites, not solid aluminum.
Volant made a mostly metal ski from like the late 90s. Was my old supervisors skis back in the day. My current buddy at work threw Tele bindings on them
With Mhssc I got my hands on a prototype over the summer of their race skis, they are terrible even by race ski standards. Not to mentioned the insane process to wax them
