SIA (Snowsports Industry America) 2008 Report

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kelvin
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SIA (Snowsports Industry America) 2008 Report

Post by kelvin »

I'm here at SIA 2008 in Las Vegas.

I put some pictures here, but the connection is a bit slow so I'll have to upload more and annotate later, but just wanted to get some pics up.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wuanzinger ... 826283672/

If anyone wants more detailed pictures, let me know and I will try to get some more.

-kelvin
Last edited by kelvin on Sat Feb 02, 2008 10:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
rockaukum
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Post by rockaukum »

Kelvin,
Pictures are great. One problem..... Where is the SKIBUILDERS.COM booth?
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bigKam
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Post by bigKam »

Kelvin,
Pictures are great. One problem..... Where is the SKIBUILDERS.COM booth?
rockaukum
he might be wearing it :)

Image
knightsofnii
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Post by knightsofnii »

looks more like the Snowsports Invitational for Artists, ;), big graphics show there.
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Post by kelvin »

Yeah, I was wearing it. Moving booth this year.

I posted a few more pictures and put descriptions to what I could remember.

A few observations:

-Eco friendly is gaining momentum. The snowboard manufacturers seem to be leading the way.
-All companies have fat rockered/ semi-rockered skis.
-There are only 4-5 factories that make almost all the skis. (China, Slovenia, Switzerland, Germany, Austria)
-Not much new technology, mostly new graphics. Atomic and Volkl has adjustable flex skis and Atomic also has adjustable sidecut skis. However, these seem really gimmicky and are targeted at recreational skiiers that ski Aspen once a year.
-All the high end skis are sandwich construction without any gimmicky stuff.
-Sorry I didn't get more snowboard pics. However, there didn't seem to be all that much new.
-I'm glad to be out of Vegas.

Here is a link to the photo set with descriptions.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wuanzinger ... 72/detail/
-Kelvin
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littleKam
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Post by littleKam »

what's the info on Black Diamond's new rockered ski? http://www.flickr.com/photos/wuanzinger ... 8/sizes/l/

i also like these 2x4's: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wuanzinger ... 1/sizes/l/
- Kam S Leang (aka Little Kam)
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Post by kelvin »

The megawatts are: 153-125-130, 188cm length
They are zero camber with an early rise tip. Fairly light for their size.
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Post by plywood »

nice photos!

the megawatts look kind of weird. actually i`m onto something similar...but their tips are kind of wicked. REALLY wicked. they just look so high!
plywood freeride industries - go ply, ride wood!
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endre
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Post by endre »

I was at ISPO, Munich and made some videos of rockered skis, sorry I only comment in norwegian, (though I don't say much smart anyway):

http://www.friflyt.no/index.php?pagenr= ... lenr=54635
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littleKam
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Post by littleKam »

Cool vid endre. It's nice to see an overall comparison of how much rocker companies are putting on their skis. Seems some of them are getting a little out of hand...but who knows? I'm really surprised to see how much tip rise BD put on the megawatts.
- Kam S Leang (aka Little Kam)
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Post by plywood »

yay! saw the video on TGR. anyway. seems like there is some movement in ski industry! looks like this year is not a "normal" year, they came up with pretty new stuff and not only the usual "new year, new grafic, but same ski" stuff
plywood freeride industries - go ply, ride wood!
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Post by flatlander »

Definitely a fun show, it took me most of the week to recover. As far as graphics go, transparent UHMW/ TPU seem to be opening up the door to visible cores, edges, sidewalls and a lot of new styling.

The show is set up around retailers including trying to increase their sales with seminars, etc so they can sell more product, which obviously works its way down the chain. Big issues in the market today is selling direct, bypassing retail altogether, Roxy is taking some heat for deciding to sell direct from web. Stats are saying that more and more people are browsing retail and purchasing online, as you can typically save 10% from co's like getboards.com.

But as Kelvin said, nothing earth shattering coming down the pipe. Atomic variable SC ski, is for entry level riders and has absolutely no lateral or torsional stiffness. The Volkl system I found has vary little difference in the tensioned setting vs not. I'm sure the numbers show it, but its a tough feel.

I gave some photos I took to Kelvin to add to his flickr account.

Cheers.
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Post by flatlander »

One other thing of interest.

The sales rep for Movement was pitching the skis to retailers using Endre's flex chart. I found that pretty funny. Good work man.

cheers.
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endre
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Post by endre »

8)
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Post by davide »

Eh, Megawatts have really funny tips. Basically they have flat tips, like the Armada ARG, but the rocker is huge. The other companies make regular tips plus rocker, so the ski is bent twice.

There is something I foget to post, since months. They told me that Salomon, and few other small manufactures, press the skis flat, with no tips (just the camber). Moulds are easier to design and set in the press. Also base finishing is much faster.
Afterwards, the skis are put in a hot press, and the tip curvature is added.
The trick is that they put two thin layers of plastic (transparent one, I forgot the name) above and below the core. When heated up, the plastic gets soft and the glass layers can slide (or shear) with respect to the core. Just sanding around the tips and it is finished.
Appartently there are no problems.

It would maybe interesting to put this plastic over the whole ski, then it will be possible to change the camber just by heating up the ski and pressing again. Great for testing.
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