Matt Broze wrote: >BTW I bought my first pair of shaped skis at a garage sale for $25 last year. John Fereira wrote >Still haven't done that. I'm still skiing on my old 203cm Rossignol 3G Kevlar GS skis. Shoot, I just finally got a pair of the Salomon Force9 skis I always wanted at the ski swap last year for $40! And the other regular alpine skis in my quiver are my old 195 and 200 K2 TNC's. But I have to admit to trying the forbidden fruit of the shaped ski. Got into tele skiing last year, and fell in love with some Atomic TM-22's. Wow! I remember when shaped skis came out and they were all the rave because they "make you a better skier". I still don't believe they make you a better skier. The old, long, skinny straight skis make you a better skier. But the shaped skis do make you _ski_better_! So, you can buy skis that were $500 10 years ago for $25 at a garage sale. Why can't I buy a 10 year old kayak for $50?!? Shawn *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Thank goodness we don't have a sea kayak industry dedicated to convincing us that last year's perfectly good kayak is completely obsolete and socially unacceptable. A reasonably well maintained 10 year old seakayak is a perfectly fine boat! We do see some of that on the WW side -- but part of that has to do with the fact that the sport has been changing focus. > So, you can buy skis that were $500 10 years ago for $25 at a garage > sale. Why can't I buy a 10 year old kayak for $50?!? *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
> Thank goodness we don't have a sea kayak industry dedicated to convincing us > that last year's perfectly good kayak is completely obsolete and socially > unacceptable. A reasonably well maintained 10 year old seakayak is a > perfectly fine boat! Well... it's gear-intensive, and new kayak cost is perhaps 30-50% of the total bundle (and still much more than $500 for the super new skis). Dry-wet clothing, accessories (purely kayaking and general-camping), paddles - this all is developing faster than kayaks. One of reasons of our luck could be non show-off nature of this sport. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
My post just disappeared in mid-sentence, so let's try again. 1) Wear and tear. Skis flex each and every turn. Turn after turn after turn. This flexing is absolutely necessary to turning, for the flexing creates an arc which when combined with the side-cut of the ski helps define the turn. This flexing wears them out. I go through a pair of skis each season without abusing them. By comparison, it is pretty hard to wear out a sea kayak in one season. 2) R & D. Developments in materials and design have led to skis that out-perform earlier models. Lighter, stonger materials with better flex characteristics, better designs including core wraps and over-arching caps, and tinkering with widths and sidecuts have led to skis that out-perform those of previous years. For short an medium length radius turns, capped shaped skis are far more responsive than their predecessors. As long a skiers wish to improve the quality of their skiing, they will pay for gear that helps them do this. As long as the industry keeps producing better and better products, the market will be there. If, however, the industry fails to produce better products, then I expect that the demand will flatten out. Cheers, Richard Culpeper Past member, Canadain National Ski Team, Telemark Division *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
This recent thread suggests that not a few members of this list are, like me, tele skiers. Tom *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Shawn asked: >>>>>So, you can buy skis that were $500 10 years ago for $25 at a garage sale. Why can't I buy a 10 year old kayak for $50?!?<<<< You can if it is a beat up or outdated WW kayak. A ten year old sea kayak usually fetches more than was paid for it 10 years ago (if you don't correct the dollars for inflation). BTW Shawn, I bought two pair of Solomon Force 9's that looked to be in excellent shape for $5.00 a pair at a garage sale last summer (from a ski instructor couple who told me the were very good skis but they were required to buy new model skis for next year). However, I was disappointed in them. They were kind of loose and squirrelly on the snow. The ski instructors likely had beveled the edges to make them turn easier at low teaching speeds. I'll either need to get them ground down flat again $$$ or just mount the relatively new bindings on some good older skis I know I like (with poor old bindings) so that I don't have to put any more money into them. Matt Broze www.marinerkayaks.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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