Author Topic: Review: Kastle FX 84  (Read 6537 times)

jbotti

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Re: Review: Kastle FX 84
« on: January 05, 2010, 08:46:38 am »
In response to Gary's question, I often hear words like "overly damp" and lifless to describe Austrian made skis (very often directed at Head skis). My presonal feeling is that most making those comments don't bend the ski in a carved turn. If you truly bend a Head or Kastle sandwich ski in a tight arc on hard snow you will get so much rebouund that the ski will buck you off the snow. This is the opposite of "lifeless"!! Having said that if you lay them flat or just ride the sisdecut (with little or no pressure to the tip of the ski) the ski will absorb much or all of the vibration and to me this feels super solid. I personally like a ski that does not deflect and where the tips stay engaged through undulations in the snow. So to answer the question about the Kastle FX 84, to me they could actually be damper. The ski gets super rebound when the tips are engaged and pressured and the ski is bent. It is very solid on edge through crud and chop. Again considering how easy it is to ski, I could actually go for more stiffness and a more damp feeling.

I draw the line on skis where when I pressure the tips hard and the ski won't bend or worse when I pressure the tips hard and the ski is so stiff that it bucks me off  the tips into the back seat (Volkl AC50 and most burly Nordica skis!!). I presonally think this is absurd because I have a pair of Dynastar Race stock GS skis that are 192cm long (they don't come much more burly) and while it takes everything I have to bend this ski, it does not buck me off the tips. IMO when a sksi does that, it is just a poor design.

The Head IM 88 is a ski that is on the edge IMO. I can barely bend the ski. It is nearly impossible for me to tighten the arc on edge locked carved turns. I consider the IM 88 a an excellent ski becsue it is one of the great crud busters of all time. But being that solid it still doesn't buck me of the tips.

Back to the FX 84, for those that like the Watea 84, the FX is a vastly imporved version. Just as easy to ski, actually more lively if bent, and has way more high end, and most importantly, the tips don't flap on hard snow!!!

Now I will wrtie a brief review on my favorite big mountain ski that I have been on in the last 5 years!!