Bluehouse: Cons and Pros

[skibum193]

Cons: Ok, so I have been having a blast on my Districts, skied them a few runs at A-Basin and a day at Loveland. Super poppy and really plow through crud. So anticipating icy conditions for night skiing Friday at Keystone, I brought out the Districts because they have nice sharp edges (as opposed to the park skis). After skiing, I look at the tip and see this:





I was really dissapointed in the fact it was their third day on snow, and the tip delamed. I'm sure since this is their first batch of skis, there were bound to be a few lemons. Just sucks to have to pay for another mount.

Pros: I called Bluhouse saturday morning, and after explaining what happened, the guys were super understanding (said obviously that shouldn't have happened), and I have a new pair on the way. I have nothing but rave reviews for Bluehouse's customer service, I just hope the second pair holds up better.

[flyby]

If they let you keep them, epoxy+clamp and see what happens. That's some mad tip delam. How do the other parts hold up, i.e. sidewalls/bases?

[skibum193]

If they let you keep them, epoxy+clamp and see what happens. That's some mad tip delam. How do the other parts hold up, i.e. sidewalls/bases?

I have to send them back when the new ones show up. The rest of the ski is holding up good, and I forgot to mention i skiied these saturday and sunday as well because my other skis were in Boulder.

[njfreeskier]

DAMN! other than the delam, what are your thoughts on the skis

[plugboots]

Yes, President Lincoln, how did you like the play?

[BaconMan]

Ouch! Glad to hear that they stand behind their product though. Just bought some myself. Anymore detail on how they ski? Where'd you mount them? What binding?

[skibum193]

I mounted them at the freeride line with p12s. These are gonna be awesome as a charging/big mtn ski, although the tail is a bit too soft. For the bigger guys (im 160 lbs), these are gonna be too soft, but I love em. They carve really well and can take a lot of shitty snow without much chatter. now i just gotta see how they are in the fresh

[BaconMan]

Glad to hear you liked em. Haven't mounted mine yet (no snow in these parts yet)... just a matter of time!

[gaijin]

is that ribbon of pink, the anti-vibration material... rubber?

bluehouse isn't the first company to experiment with rubber, but very few companies have stuck with it. epoxies are essentially liquid-based plastics... different from the solid forms of existing solid plastics. Very hard to glue to. Glue sticks best to itself... not other glues.

I'm no plastics engineer, but that delam is plain-as-day to me. (if that is in-fact a rubber strip.)

I applaud the hand-made boom of late. And that shape looks really appealing. But I also understand that epoxy-compounds are what make skis. Epoxy-compunds changed the ski industry when Mr. Burton introduced new approaches 20 years ago. New glues brought tortional stiffness- brought the shaped ski revolution. Remember those days? That was chemistry... not mathematics.

I often hear of many underground company skis delaming. they have always stood behind their product. And big companies delam too. But... I'm just taking note of the amount of research that goes into developing the right epoxy. That shit takes decades.

I hope they get it right. And, I'm glad to hear they're backing their product.

On a side note- if that is rubber, I don't know if your metal-based JB weld epoxy that guarantees a fix with any fiberglass/wood Volkl on the block is going to cut it. Try to find an epoxy that takes days/weeks to cure and requires heat to set up. Oh... and saturate that rubber to hell with an isopropyl alcohol and let dry before you apply anything.

gluing to rubber is tricky shit.

[Core Shot]

^^^ I think the pink/red is the sidewall material.

But - why is it extending all through the tip?
- and why is it soo wide?

[hemas]

^^^ I think the pink/red is the sidewall material.

But - why is it extending all through the tip?
- and why is it soo wide?

Core Shot, you're right... It's the same material as the sidewalls (ptex?). And like most semi twintip or full twintip skis, the actual ski core doesn't like that much bending hence they use tip (and tail) spacers. I'm willing to bet than almost all skis have that, with significant flair or twintip in the tail.

[marshalolson]

mount:

pm marshalolson (aka me) and have him do a mount for free - i will take care of the front rangers supporting indie companies with mounts and such. its a few minutes out of your way (c470 and morrison rd), but you'll be steezed out. and stoked on the new skis.

[skibum193]

mount:

pm marshalolson (aka me) and have him do a mount for free - i will take care of the front rangers supporting indie companies with mounts and such. its a few minutes out of your way (c470 and morrison rd), but you'll be steezed out. and stoked on the new skis.

thanks very much, pm on the way!

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

- and why is it soo wide?

the core looks really 'narrow' too. I wonder if it's that narrow throughout the entire ski or just at the tip here.

[pechelman]

is that on the tail of the ski?

ie could this be an issue from jamming them into a rack or hitting them on the ground when youre carrying them?

but yea, epoxy + rivet = give it a shot

[brettf]

the core looks really 'narrow' too. I wonder if it's that narrow throughout the entire ski or just at the tip here.

not that unusual for tip/tail... unusual for the rest of a ski though...

[skibum193]

is that on the tail of the ski?

ie could this be an issue from jamming them into a rack or hitting them on the ground when youre carrying them?

but yea, epoxy + rivet = give it a shot

it couldn't be from jamming them, because i didn't take them off for the four hours i was skiing, and there is no indent in the tip (ie from impact). just the delam.

i gotta send these back when the new ones arrive, but otherwise i would be all over the epoxy and rivet idea

[flip]

is that ribbon of pink, the anti-vibration material... rubber?

bluehouse isn't the first company to experiment with rubber, but very few companies have stuck with it. epoxies are essentially liquid-based plastics... different from the solid forms of existing solid plastics. Very hard to glue to. Glue sticks best to itself... not other glues.

I could be totally misunderstanding what you're saying, but it sounds like you're confusing rubber with plastics. To be clear, rubber is not a plastic.

Then it sounds like you're confusing fiberglass with epoxy. It's not epoxy that changed the industry, but fiber composites... yes they are set in epoxy, but it's not the epoxy that gives torsional stiffness.

Anyway, gluing to rubber is not that hard, and gluing to plastic is easy. Now pressing a ski... that's really hard if you haven't done it a bunch before, and it's to be expected that any startup that is newly tooling up (versus having an existing factory make their shit) will have delam issues. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with their ski design. Not really sure what you're trying to say.

edit: also the pink isn't rubber. That's just the filler at the tip. Same material as the sidfewalls, so probably ABS though I don't know exactly what they're using.

[iggyskier]

the core looks really 'narrow' too. I wonder if it's that narrow throughout the entire ski or just at the tip here.

The core is just that narrow in the tip. A lot of skis do not even have any core in the tips, just tip spacer materials.

Others, like the ones pictured above and for example this early Praxis prototype, make the core thinner to make it easier to bend to the tip curve.


And I am guessing, based upon the description from the website, that the tip spacer material used was likely ABS as they use ABS for their sidewalls.

Too bad about the skis. Looks like it was a bond issue between the ABS and the fiberglass layer underneath. Hope the next pair holds up better.

[flip]

the core looks really 'narrow' too. I wonder if it's that narrow throughout the entire ski or just at the tip here.

I'm sure it's just the tip. Most sandwich skis that I know of use a wide sidewall "spacer" just like that at the tip (and tail if it's a twin).

The only wierdness is running full wrap edges, because steel just don't bond as well as any of the other materials... I think that's the reason PMGear went to the aluminum tips, and few big box ski run edges all the way to the tip.

[Dhelihiker]

I predict a busy warrantee department at Bluehouse this year

[flip]

it couldn't be from jamming them, because i didn't take them off for the four hours i was skiing, and there is no indent in the tip (ie from impact). just the delam.

Hard landings will do it also. The slap from a back seat landing on hardpack is about the worst think you can do to the tip of a ski short of jamming a putty knife into the end of it.

[dookeyXXX]

"I applaud the hand-made boom of late..."

I'm confused.

What constitutes "hand-made" these days?

When I hear "hand-made," I automatically think of something like Praxis or PM Gear where they are making the skis in a garage with maybe 3 or 4 guys.

It's my understanding that Bluehouse are made overseas (China), which leads me to believe that they are produced in a large factory.

I have no doubt that hands are involved, thus technically making them "hand- made" but again, that calls into question what does "hand-made" REALLY mean?

I also can't help but recalling how Line had problems the first year they switched to overseas production (I think they had delam problems early on that were eventualy rectified later in the season).

Then again I'm a self-professed ski xenophobe (Europe or USA for me).

[Core Shot]

"I applaud the hand-made boom of late..."

I'm confused.

What constitutes "hand-made" these days?
)

Hand Made = No ROBOTS

[philippeR]