Looking to get into a set of classic XC skis and feeling a bit overwhelmed by the options and, at least with my googling to date, a shortage of detailed online advice into the different options. The manufacturers websites don’t give much usable information for a newbie on the various skis and there don’t seem to be a lot of magazine or review sites similar to what you can refer to for info on bikes. Wax/waxless, sidecuts and camber. I’m so confused. Maybe I’m just not looking in the right place?
These skis will be for winter cross training and recreation, I don’t see any racing in the near future (not the next couple of years at least). Will mainly be used in Eastern Ontario. Willing to drive to groomed trails but will likely find myself on non-groomed rail trials a bit as well (this will be secondary). I’ve rented the recreational style of ski (shorter and wider and waxless), and while it was easy to use, I was annoyed at not keeping up with my friends on the downhills as they didn’t seem to have the best glide (although it was a really cold day and I don’t know what kind of glide wax was on the rentals).
I don’t need race ready gear, but I don’t like feeling like I’m being held back either. I’m looking for the XC ski equivalent of mid range carbon bike with a 105 group and Ultegra/Open Pro wheels (the sweet spot of cost vs performance). I’m 6’ tall, 165 lbs. Can you recommend a specific model? Wax or waxless? What about the binding system with the double bar attachment points, is this a useful upgrade?
Many thanks for your advice and recommendations.
Shane
Go to a shop that is having a sale. With such crappy snow this year in the midwest, there are a lot of skis on sale. They will help get you on a ski that works for your size and type of skiing.
Buy the cheapest you can find:
Skis
Poles
Buy the nicest you can afford:
Boots
hand straps
Learn how to do your own waxing. Buy a cheap iron, but don’t skimp on scrapers and brushes. A vice to hold your skis when working on them is nice, but not necessary. Buy lots of different kinds of cheap wax to experiment with. I use snowboard wax on my skate skis because it works nearly as well and costs about 1/100 as much by weight.
First I’d say to check out these guys: http://www.bouldernordicsport.com/ I realize you are not in CO but this is arguably the best shop in North America and they’ll be very helpful as is their site.
In regards to your specific questions:
You slowness in comparison to your friends was most likely the glide wax on your skis, rental skis never have good glide. But, with classic its not that easy. Considering you were on touring skis they were probably a bit soft and you may have been dragging the kick zone. Since they were touring skis they would not be as quick as a straight classic ski just due to construction in general.
If you are looking for a mid range classic ski that can work on various types of trail I’d recommend the Fischer RCR crown. If your never breaking trail these will be great. You don’t need machine-set tracks but nothing works very well when breaking trail and the primary benefit of the touring ski is it is softer and wider so it will break trail better but be absolute crap on set track or well worn in non-machine set track.
I would recommend the crown so you don’t have to deal with kick waxing. But get the crown, the other waxless skis, the Zero, only work in a very narrow temp range and take some skill to ski well.
You will need to glide wax any type of ski if you want it to be quick. The spray or wipe on stuff works ok sometimes but only for about 5k then its gone. Glide waxing isn’t that difficult and usually you can get away with a wide range glide wax or a basic hydrocarbon wax of a given temp if the weather in your area is pretty steady. But, you will need to glide wax in some way if you want to glide well.
The trick is finding the right flex for your height and weight. You probably want to call BNS and ask if they can give a flex recommendation. If the ski is too stiff you will have horrible kick. If it’s too soft you’ll drag the kick zone and be really slow on the glide. If I were to guess I would say you need 207 Medium or 202 stiff. That is what I ski and we are about the same size.
As for bindings: you mention the two bar? I’m guessing you are talking about the Salomon Pilot system. If you already have the boots then you can go with that, but it is not necessary. Keep in mind the two bar pilot system had been mainly for skating but they introduced a two point classic system in the last two years. It is really a race set up though. I’d say to stick with Salomon Profil bindings. They are cheaper and just as good. Be sure you have the right boot to work with the binding. There are two basic systems Salomon and NNN.
I rented a set of skis, boots, and poles from my university rec center for a 3 day weekend last year. Figured out that I liked xc skiing, and what size boots/poles I needed. Then I went and bought some mid-price Rosignol classic skis, boots, and poles from REI. That worked out fine for me last winter, although I am probably not sophisticated enough to know better. When it snowed, I would just ski in the fields around our house to have something different to do. No snow yet here this winter…
If buying local, make sure a first thing a shop does is put you on a ski and check the grip pocket. Not good to have too stiff ski you can’t get the grip down, or vis-versa. A good online shop does this via weight, pre-checking each pair.
Generally snow conditions around North America are pretty sucky so there should be some good deals found.
I second the recommendation for Fischer RCR crown. These are high quality, race-width skis that have a no-wax grip zone. Easy to maintain, fast enough to keep up with all but your fastest buddies on groomed trails, and OK to take off trail now and again. I use a pair for training days when grip waxing is likely to be a massive headache (e.g., rapidly changing temps around the freezing point). I definitely pay a time penalty compared to waxable classics, but for just training they are great skis.
If you do take up racing some day, you’ll want a pair of waxless for training purposes anyway. So it’s nice that these are not a disposable-level piece of gear.
As far as the bindings, find the best boots you can and get compatible bindings. I think Salomon Pilot (double bar) bindings are unnecessary for classic and can be a pain. In fact, last year Salomon released the new classic Propulse binding, compatible with Pilot boots but using (drum roll) a single point of attachment. As a bonus, it’s a few bucks cheaper at the racing level than Pilot.