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Took this year's splitboard geckos out for the first time today in temps from ~10-20 F. Had no issues with the "glue" coming off and sticking to the base of the board. They weren't the best on steeper slopes, but I wouldn't say they performed any worse than my previous Voile Tractor skins. Will continue to post updates as I log more days w/ them, but so far so good.
Been using mine for 4 weeks now. For any reasonable skin track no slippage. Great glide on the flats, can really get a good kicknglide going. Had them out last weekend in -15 to -25 F temps (fucking cold!!!) and no glue problem at all, storing them in the pack. Worked just like they did yesterday at 27 F. I'm not using tail clips so the tails have been dragging in the snow. No issues at all with them peeling off due to incrasing snow contamination. No problems with the glue coming off (rare issue that can be warrantied from what I've heard). Really really happy with these.
2nd year on mine now. pretty happy in general, same complaints as above. ALWAYS seem to get snow between skin and ski at the tip. had a few small spots of silicone come off but doesn't really effect sticking to ski. was nice to wash dirt and pine needles off when i turtled over when taking skins off without taking ski off. geckos usually come out with me but have brought old skins as backup on storm skiing days which is kinda weak
Any ideas on rejuvenating a pair of gecko skins? GF has a pair that have worked well for a decade but lately any vaguely damp conditions cause a failure.
The mohair is in good shape. I’m half tempted to put some pomoca glue on a small section to see if it even adheres.
I don’t think there’s a US distributor any more right?
I tried hot-gluing a glueless skin ( not sure which brand ) and every bit of glue came off until I had a big 20$ ball of glue so it didnt work for me and personaly I wouldn't fuck with it again
Attachment 482863
I think sgt dreyfus who posts here does skin-reglues for people and sez he can do glueless skins so you might ask him how, or get him to do it ??
Good idea thx
Citrus degreaser then handwashing with dawn makes them work pretty well.
I found a new fix that seems to work well. I toss them in the washing machine with detergent and oxy after a few tours.
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You can try washing Gecko skins with a mild detergent and sponge (dawn is usually best) but you get diminishing returns over time.
Contour hybrid glue is similar but can be removed and replaced with regular glue.
Gecko Clueless skins I hadn't dealt with those until the end of summer, and my assumption they were similar to contour's version was wrong as I ended up with the same results as XXX-er. That was a first for me in over hundreds of reglued skins.
Gecko must apply some sort of treatment to the backing that doesn't work well with regular glue.
But contour hybrid and volkl vacuum skins can both have the weird shit taken off and regular glue applied no problem. Gecko are the only skin I say belong in the trash
I have volkl. Good to know they can be reglued. I figure the washing machine is easy enough to do every couple of tours.
well gosh now i don't feel like such a dumbass, I have been wondering WTF the sgt was doing right that I was doing wrong, maybe livivng a more pure lifestyle or drinking the right beer ?Quote:
Originally Posted by Sargentdrufus
I don't think they were branded as Gecko but possibly Gecko sold by a different ski company ( armada ?? )
in any case I refuse to spend any time or money wanking about with hot glue on glueless skins
https://www.skiskinsonline.com/
these ^^ intrigue me
this pict is the skin that the glue did not stick too, other side was yellow with a tractor pattern ( armada ?? )
Is removing the contour hybrid the same as removing normal skin glue? I have a pair that shot the bed at the end of a long day last year, that I’d love to reglue if possible.
More or less the same just way harder. I am happy to do it for people. I'm located in SLC. But I have had a bunch of people mail me skins over the years I've been doing reglues. Or you can do it yourself. Set aside at least 1.5-2 hrs time for your first one with the hybrid glue. A heat gun a chisel and somewhere to put the used glue are also good things to establish before handQuote:
Originally Posted by Shred Baron
Thanks Sargentdufus. It’s been a while since I’ve reglued skins. Does the paper bag/iron trick work well in the beginning to remove some of the bulk or just jump right to heat gun and scrape?
Sergentdrufus sounds like you do this a lot. What is your opinion on pomoca vs black diamond re-glue? Which one lasts longer?
think about why some random dirtbag skier would use an iron/ paper bag to remove glue insted of a heat gun ?Quote:
Originally Posted by Shred Baron
Cuz he didnt own a heat gun
whereas the average tech talk poster will have every tool known to dentists in his 2 car man cave/ garage half of which he has never used
BTW if anyone reading this does use paper bags and runs out Don't use newspaper cuz it will make a mess
Yeah fair enough, I have progressed past the full dirtbag stage, but not to full tech talk gear queer. But I did borrow a heat gun from work. I’ll skip fucking around with paper bags. If I ever get the chance I’ll buy ya beer for the adviceQuote:
Originally Posted by XXX-er
IME tacking the skins down beside each other on a 16" off cut from a 4x8 sheet of plywood was ideal becuz then I could easily pick up the board to put the skins out side for off gassing over night cuz its nasty stuff
when I scrape I wana have somewhere to wipe my glue scrapings, don't be standing there wondering what to do with this wad of old glue on the scraper so be set up
I believe sarge charges a very reasonable rate to reglue skins and he has done a lot of them
Functionally there's really no difference. I Have switched to Pomoca glue almost exclusively due to being able to get it in larger quantities and I find it spreads nicer than the BD gold label. But those two coltext And contours regular glue are all all essentially the same. Skip the paper bag and iron tricks. Go straight to the heat gun. It helps if you have a nice surface that you can lay the skins out flat on I'll send a photo of my setup if the photo does load right with this. Reglue jobs once you have done a couple are cake. Getting through your first few can be tricky. I charge 50 bucks to cover glue and give me a bit extra my goal is more keeping skins out of landfills and having side cash for gear rather than bonus income and a business beyond that. But I do enough volume that it is worth it for meQuote:
Originally Posted by Cocximus
Thanks for the tips. It was surprisingly easy. On the first skin, there are a few areas my OCD compels me to smooth out. Does direct heat from a heat gun damage the glue in any way? I use a heat gun to renew old glue, but will it shorten the lifespan of new glue?
I have always used the heat gun to get the glue off and a hot wax iron to apply the glue ... thats why they call it hot glue
altho some people just spread glue on and don't use any heat, never tried that, never tried a heat gun to heat the new glue
a waxing iron is around 270 to get the wax on without smoking but I use a digtal toko T-12 waxing iron maxed to 320 for hot gluing
if you wana make the glue look smoover and you got the old transfer paper that came on the skin you can iron the paper over the glue and it will look really smoove or use baking parchment ( NOT wax paper) I let the skins cool before pulling off the transfer paper or parchment paper, I put the skins outside to off gas & cool overnight
or if you got a good touch just use the iron directly on the glue which i have done
but glue doesnt look pretty for very long
You can use a heat gun on low, but honestly after a couple tours you wont even notice that spot and it certainly won't hurt anything. And yes reheating it will shorten lifespan. I use the heat gun on low when applying glue to help it spread and stay even but I'm under no guises that it's going to be as smooth as factory applied. So I don't stress a bump or two here or there
Thanks all, borrowed a glue gun from work, and reglued. Scraping took longer than expected. I threw a price of plywood on some saw horses and clamped the skins right to it, which held them pretty secure. You can kind of tell how hot the glue is by the look. It gets a little shiny, and that’s just scrapable, then it blisters, and it’s really easy, seems to be catch it at the first sign of a blister. I did get some light browning on the edges of the plush. There’s a good chance I’ll give them. A go tomorrow morning.
I did a 20+ transitions traverse in a day with the volkl skins. They performed perfectly after washing them in the washing machine.