It's official, my second pair of homemade skis has started its second season of skiing goodness!
There is about 1 to 2 feet (50cm) of snow on the ground here in northern Sweden, so this morning I strapped the Better Rockets to my backpack, hopped on my bicycle and pedalled 15 minutes to the "ski hill". Unfortunately, the lift wasn't running yet, so I had to work for my turns. I did get a couple turns in 6" deep pow which was a pretty good way to start the season. The only real drawback to the day was that the hill (Ormberget which translates to Snake Mountain) has a whopping 46m of vertical drop, and the "piste" is about 3 football fields long. Ten laps and I felt like I had gotten a pretty good workout so I hopped back on the cycle and pedalled home.
All in all a great day though, and an awesome feeling of success to have a pair of homemade skis start season 2!
Better Rockets... Season 2
Moderators: Head Monkey, kelvin, bigKam, skidesmond, chrismp
So with the end of the lift accessed season nearing its end here in northern Sweden, I thought I would give a wrap up of the Better Rockets.
In total, they have close to 25 days of hard skiing which is longer than the original AK Rockets they were modelled after lasted. I find it pretty pathetic that some dude can slap a pair of really ugly looking skis (the Better Rockets were the 2nd pair of skis I built) together in his basement and get better durability than a major manufacturer.
They were spraypainted pink (see the picture) because I got tired of how boring the clear topsheets looked. I was going to do pink and yellow sort of like the radiation symbols, but it turned out that the can of yellow only had a few drops left in it
.
Again, everyone asks about them, mostly because they really look "hembyggde".
But the strangest thing is that they went from having a few mm of normal camber to having a significant amount of reverse camber. They still seem to ski alright (and they are really easy to spin on the groomers), but I haven't quite figured out what happened to give them the backwards camber. My only guess is that something happened on the night I was skiing them at -25 Celsius because that seemed to be when their camber changed.
Also, the clear base material seems to be exceptionally durable. I have hit many rocks with only very small surface scratches, which really surprised me.
And finally, I brought an extra pair of skis here just in case the Better Rockets blew up. But I haven't had to touch the extra boards.
Here is a picture at the local hill up here:
And what I like to call the "Self Portrait" of me skiing on the home builts
. Notice the rivets that were used to repair the tip after day 4. They are only on one of the skis, and the other tip has held up the whole time.
And a couple pictures of the scenery and lines in near the Norwegian border (and further north than the northernmost point in Alaska):
In total, they have close to 25 days of hard skiing which is longer than the original AK Rockets they were modelled after lasted. I find it pretty pathetic that some dude can slap a pair of really ugly looking skis (the Better Rockets were the 2nd pair of skis I built) together in his basement and get better durability than a major manufacturer.
They were spraypainted pink (see the picture) because I got tired of how boring the clear topsheets looked. I was going to do pink and yellow sort of like the radiation symbols, but it turned out that the can of yellow only had a few drops left in it
.Again, everyone asks about them, mostly because they really look "hembyggde".
But the strangest thing is that they went from having a few mm of normal camber to having a significant amount of reverse camber. They still seem to ski alright (and they are really easy to spin on the groomers), but I haven't quite figured out what happened to give them the backwards camber. My only guess is that something happened on the night I was skiing them at -25 Celsius because that seemed to be when their camber changed.
Also, the clear base material seems to be exceptionally durable. I have hit many rocks with only very small surface scratches, which really surprised me.
And finally, I brought an extra pair of skis here just in case the Better Rockets blew up. But I haven't had to touch the extra boards.
Here is a picture at the local hill up here:
And what I like to call the "Self Portrait" of me skiing on the home builts
. Notice the rivets that were used to repair the tip after day 4. They are only on one of the skis, and the other tip has held up the whole time.And a couple pictures of the scenery and lines in near the Norwegian border (and further north than the northernmost point in Alaska):
Hey Greg,
Good to hear from you. Looks like a very beautiful place that you're livin'. Good news on the skis holding up so well. As I recall, you went with the wood sidewalls, right? If that's the case, it sure says something about the potential durability of a core without plastic sidewalls.
Best regards,
G-man
Good to hear from you. Looks like a very beautiful place that you're livin'. Good news on the skis holding up so well. As I recall, you went with the wood sidewalls, right? If that's the case, it sure says something about the potential durability of a core without plastic sidewalls.
Best regards,
G-man
Re: Better Rockets... Season 2
So, you are in Luleå?? That is soo cool man. I grew up there and took my first turns on a pair of skis on Ormberget. It is indeed a very small mountainGreg wrote:The only real drawback to the day was that the hill (Ormberget which translates to Snake Mountain) has a whopping 46m of vertical drop, and the "piste" is about 3 football fields long. Ten laps and I felt like I had gotten a pretty good workout so I hopped back on the cycle and pedalled home.
Listen to Black Sabbath!
Yes, the skis have wood sidewalls. One of them has bare wood, and the other is coated in the same epoxy I used for the layup. There doesn't seem to ba any difference in the performance of the untreated versus the epoxy coated.
To do the epoxy coat, I just spread some epoxy over the sidewall then cleaned up the edges. It definitely looks better with epoxy than with just bare, but you can get about the same finish or better with a urethane coat.
And, ya, it is pretty nice here. The only complaint is that you have to drive a couple hours to get to real mountains, but the tradeoff is that you can ski 15 minutes away at a Snoqualmie Passish hill.
To do the epoxy coat, I just spread some epoxy over the sidewall then cleaned up the edges. It definitely looks better with epoxy than with just bare, but you can get about the same finish or better with a urethane coat.
And, ya, it is pretty nice here. The only complaint is that you have to drive a couple hours to get to real mountains, but the tradeoff is that you can ski 15 minutes away at a Snoqualmie Passish hill.
I spent the weekend again at Riksgränsen and it was really great, except for the terrible snow conditions inside the ski area.
First off, I was packing up the Better Rockets after a day of skiing chunder, and a guy yells out "Skibuilders?". I turned around and Hendryx from http://www.hendryxskis.se/ was checking out my skis. He used to be active on this site, but from what he said, he has been too busy with his business. Apparently, he has a huge waiting list for his skis, and from talking with some friends here, it sounds like everyone wants his skis.
A shout out to Hendryx, if you read this... Thanks for saying hello, and sorry I couldn't chat longer, but I almost missed my bus. The fact that you said hello won me huge points with the girls, so thanks again.
Secondly, I think I will retire the Better Rockets. One ski has about 2cm of reverse camber, the other has about 1 cm, and the have no spring left in them. They still blast through everything on the hill, except that when they are flexed, the bounce up and down like wet noodles. . 30 days of skiing is about all they could take.
But, the good news is that the epoxy sidewalls are still in perfect condition , and the clear base material is nearly unscathed, even after having hit many rocks. The pink spraypaint lasted almost the whole season as well. But all in all, I can't believe how well these skis lasted and skied. And they were only my second pair!!!!!
First off, I was packing up the Better Rockets after a day of skiing chunder, and a guy yells out "Skibuilders?". I turned around and Hendryx from http://www.hendryxskis.se/ was checking out my skis. He used to be active on this site, but from what he said, he has been too busy with his business. Apparently, he has a huge waiting list for his skis, and from talking with some friends here, it sounds like everyone wants his skis.
A shout out to Hendryx, if you read this... Thanks for saying hello, and sorry I couldn't chat longer, but I almost missed my bus. The fact that you said hello won me huge points with the girls, so thanks again.
Secondly, I think I will retire the Better Rockets. One ski has about 2cm of reverse camber, the other has about 1 cm, and the have no spring left in them. They still blast through everything on the hill, except that when they are flexed, the bounce up and down like wet noodles.
. 30 days of skiing is about all they could take.But, the good news is that the epoxy sidewalls are still in perfect condition , and the clear base material is nearly unscathed, even after having hit many rocks. The pink spraypaint lasted almost the whole season as well. But all in all, I can't believe how well these skis lasted and skied. And they were only my second pair!!!!!