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Now that the season has begun on each coast I was hoping to get some recs/experiences about mounting a Mantra 184 and a Mojo 90 193? On the line? back "x"mm? etc. Going to use both as an everyday ski on the right coast (marginal park). Thanks in advance for the info! -G
(PS: I know there is a little quiver overlap, but couldn't pass on the deals that I hooked up w/ for either)
Strongly recommend mounting the Mantra on the line. That was intended as the most versitile mounting point. That is where I mounted mine last year in March, and have had very good results in a wide variety of conditions (mounted Fritschi Freeride) with no tip dive in deep Tahoe "powder". Squaretail who knows a thing or two concured with the center mounting. There are also some who advocate mounting 1 to 1-1/2 cm in back of the boot center mark. This would probably make it a more powder specific ski and longer turns.
For the Mojos, I got nothing....
Cirque,
Good lookin out! -G
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cirquerider
Any addtional input. Thanx-G
mounting it 1 - 1.5cm back will make it initiate easier in powder, because it is a stiff ski
you'll lose nothing in terms of hard snow performance either
I'd mount it back 1cm as a compromise
I am looking at having my 184 Mantras mounted this week.
Any other thougt... So squaw, you don't think 1cm back will affect the performance on groomed?
I will be using them 60/40 groomed to powder, since I have some goats too.
I had last year's Mojo and did not like it mounted at the designated point. I have skied other twin tips but it was too centered for my taste (as a powder ski). It was good in the bumps, groomed, etc. but felt very short nosed in the pow. I had the 186 so it may be less of an issue with the new 193. There should be some old threads on the Mojo and several mags recommended mounting back.
I don't sense any problem in turn initiation in this ski at the standard mounting point. Why would it be desireable for the ski to "twitch" into a turn faster? My experience is that there is a load of float and bend in the front of the ski in deep pow. Just changing edge angles is sufficient to initiate a turn. IMO the advantage of mounting back, is to keep from falling forward after a huck into soft snow, or charging a drift. Mounting back reduces pressure on the tip and should make the ski less easy to initiate using forward pressure and edge. For a guy using the ski in the East (geo039), this would certainly not be desireable. Going over the handlbars was not a problem for me, even with forward pressure in pow, and I weigh over 200 lbs. Squawman, when you finally get to ski these, I hope you can do a comparison based on your experience. I suspect the difference is rather small, but for maximum versatility, the OP should stick with the center recommended mount.Quote:
Originally Posted by SquawMan
miniracer and cirquerider:
I'm just going with what squaretail and several other Volkl team people told me about their own experiences from the spring as well as my own thoughts after demo'ing a 184 for an entrire day mounted with crappy marker demo bindings
for the East coast, you could certainly mount them on the line and be happy
cirque, yours are mounted with Fritschi's, so I think that they should turn over easier because you're so high off the ski anyway
for regular flat-mounted alpine bindings, moving the mount point back a touch will make the tip come up faster and the tail sink back more (you're farther back on the ski)
I highly doubt that at 1cm back you'll have any problems on the East coast, it's really not that big a deal (it just helps with initiation and that's it)
squaretail is located on the EC and he's got his back 1.5cm and said it rides great everywhere
just my 2 cents
Thank you every1 for the input!!! 1 back on the Mantras, and i will be putting th Mojos 2CM back due to the extra 10 in length.
I was going from the following:
And I agree that the Freeride may alter the flex. Enjoy the skis SM! Hope to see you out there.Quote:
Originally Posted by squaretail
Ended up mounting the Mantras (ZRs) at the line. I skied them yesterday on some gumball sh** here on the EC..... great overall feel. Held tight on ice and overall a hot everyday EC ski in a 184. The wider tip was not really an issues and the torsional stiffness is very Volkl..perfect for variable conditions.. I can't wait to hook them up on some real snow.... (x-fingers here)
I had mine out today too....no gumball sh**
Really nice powder runs under Palisades, but you either had to hoof it back to the lift or wait for the truck/tram.
nice pic cirquerider.
I mounted my 177's on the line and they ski like a dream in powder.
I'm about to mount a pair of 177 mantras. After reading the posts it seems that mounting at the designated point will work just fine. Primarily gonna use em in the hoth system, but could get some EC work depending on conditions....
disagreements? comments? test results?
May be flogging a dead horse here, but I mounted mine on the line and am very happy with the results. I'm a big guy (220 lbs) and I haven't experienced any tip dive. I haven't skied any super-deep powder yet this year, though.Quote:
Originally Posted by DonJohnson
I also found that the nearer-to-center mounting position helped a lot in the trees. Easier to swing them around in tight spots.
For east coast skiing, they're still a very hard-charging ski that will do well on ice/groomers.
Squatch, what size did you get...184? 191?
Some feedback: I ended up mounting them at the line with on old set of ZRs. My impressions after 5 days:
1) Great 1-Q EC ski. Torsionaly stiff, has some shape for all conditions, and damp. (Has that pingy ceramic sounds but no issues with edge hold). I would reccomend this ski to any diehard here on the EC. I can carve it on ice as hard as I would my Stockli race skis. (Go fat!)
2) Skied 18" fresh last Friday. At 6'2 185, charging hard I found some tip dive.
3) In a 191 at the line probably would be fine, but that is why I have the 193 Mojo to mount a little back.
Good luck every1 with the set-ups, G
This is our problem. 18 inches of fresh pow on the East Coast. Guys skiing fat skis in the east are confusing Mother Nature. Its supposted to be dumping here. Everyone back there is going to have to ski the Allstar or similar to restore the natural order. :cussing:
Just to throw a wrench into the whole discussion I have the 191 Mantra's flat mounted at +1 and they ski like a dream. These are not my POW ski. I have the Gotamas for that. They turn quick and have no problem in tight trees. They also rail on the groomers. They just eat the chopped up stuff. The times I have had them out it has been about 10 inches of new. I don't notice to much tip drive at all.
184 Mantras on the line for me. They rock. Can't comment on -1 as I've never tried it.
191. I'm 6'9", it really wasn't a question...I'd get 200s if mantras came that long.Quote:
Originally Posted by SquawMan
Two weekends ago.....Skied mine in three feet of light, for pnw, snow. Like I said, I am a 5'4" skier on a 177. And with the bindings, freerides, mounted on the line they swam through powder like a dolphin in the open sea. Rising at the right time and sinking, not negatively, at the right time. All in synch with my weighting and unweighting. It felt awesome.
Three weekends ago I skied the Heather Canyon Backcountry They buttered the 20" pow in those backcountry glades so beautifully.
Mount em on the line I say.
my mantras are mounted on the line and rip
Cirquerider... I will pull out my 215 Yamaha DH boards along with my Hart F-17 (combined not as wide as the tip of my Mantras) to help restore the balance... but in Jan when it is dumping out there I need some good snow karma back when it is 40 and raining here for our traditional Jan thaw. ;) GL with the snow. -G
6'0" 155lbs, demoed 177 Mantra's mounted on the line with demo markers at Copper for the day. They felt like they had two much tail and not enough tip all day. Skied them pretty hard all over the mountain on steep groomers on B lift, Resolution lift moguls, trees with deep snow in enchanted forest, and chop/variable under S lift. They have no top speed on groomers and absolutely rip, they were quick in the moguls although very stiff. In the deeper snow and chop I had a couple of near tip dive/face plant moments that made me feel like I had to constantly lean back. I would consider mounting them back 2 or 3 cm or balling up and skiing the 184 because everyone so far has been satisfied with an on the line mount on a 184. The demo place didn't have a larger size to try and it took me a while to track down this pair if you can believe it. If anyone knows of anywhere that has a large selection of mid fat/fat skis to demo in Denver/Copper/Winter let me know. Kick ass ski but a bit stiff and demanding for an everyday ride for my size/style.
I just got a pair of 177's I am 5'11", 185lbs, they are a replacement for my MSP's that my shop messed up....having them mounted 1cm back...I think they will be fine....wish I could have had the 184's, but I think the 177's will ski like my 180cm MSP's which were twin tips...I have heard great things about them...plus I have plenty of boot (x-wave 10) to drive these skis
Just as information: anybody looking for the Mantra as a replacement for the Explosive (and most others as well) should definitely consider back mounting. With running surfaces midpoint coinciding, the bootcenter mark on a Mantra 184 is 6 centimeters further forward of that of the Explosive 190. Actually, the tail of the 184 Matras are about 2 centimeters longer than the 190 Explosive tails, while the front part looks redicously short.
While I do believe the Mantra is in a sense a more moden ski and while is does have a wider floatier tip, I still feel the bootcenter mark must have been set a little bit with the jibbing guys in mind. After lots of measuring and after looking at the ski for a long time, I mounted my 184s 2 cm back. Without going into detail, this gives the ski a very nice character in both soft stuff and for the groomers. For the sceptics: even with the 2cm back mounting, the Mantra has very easy turn initiation and I would say it feels like it has more sidecut than the measurements and sidecut radius indicates. It is still a lot forward mounted compared to the Explosives. I cant really think of any benefits that mounting the ski further forwards (than 2cm back) would give me (rotations and backwards skiing being two such reasons, but thats not my cup of tea).
Expanding a bit on the mounting point. We started the year in Tahoe with some manky conditions: rained on powder, breakable refrozen crust, wind slab on pow etc. In these specific conditions, I was running out of tip and would have benefitted from a mounting point about 2 cm back. When all is right with the world and snow conditions, boot center to ski center is perfect. That said, I won't be moving the bindings, but will start looking for a wider ski to bomb crust.
im 5'7 170lbs and just picked up the 184's to mount with my nx21's. Definitley going 2 cms back to ride all day in the pow, the center line is much more park oriented than I like. If this is your pow pow ski, its gotta go back.