Sender Free 110

[noslow]

192cm Blackops 98 would be a good hard snow option with similar build and rubber damping like the Sender Free 110. Longer turn radius than the current 191cm Enforcer 100 with similar sidecut length and flex pattern(check Soothski.com).
See Corbetts has discounted stock on the BO 98 at $509 CAN/$380 US too.

[JRainey]

you and I very much seem to like/have the same skis.

I saw you were looking for a hard-snow companion to your 110's. What did you end up with?
Myself, I'm interested in the new enforcer 99, but waiting for the 191 size to be released.

Still looking, honestly I've been going crazy fucking with my powder ski choices, I've been trying not to think about the skinny ski option.

Blackops 98 is a bit off the list because I want something a little softer/easier

Mfree99 is the #1 spot

Reckoner 102 is getting serious consideration as Altacoup (EH ski lover) is raving about them.

I do want something that's pretty chill as the SF110 is really holding it down as DD. So then I just need something to be playful when the snow sucks or I'm skiing with my kids. I get super bored skiing groomers, so MFree and Reckoners seem like they will keep the fun finding jumps around the mountain.

I have Revolt 104 now in a 180 (too short), which aren't so bad in spring conditions, and in the park. I just never really loved the ski. It's not really too short for hard snow and slush. Just variable, which I'll don't need to worry about any more.


My biggest conundrum is do I get Blackops 118. Been trying out 190 pow skis, but I think I need to try the monster truck...

[noslow]

Remember the 185cm MFree 99 is the same length as the 183cm MFree 108 if length is a concern of your harder snow ski. Reckoner 102 184cm will measure just over 184cm though.
The 24/25 Reckoners also get beefed up a bit with wider sidewalls and their Spectral Braid laminate(tighter braiding underfoot for more stiffness and more open tip/tail for more forgiveness). Think SkiEssentials did a review on the new 102 a few weeks back.

And always yes to trying out the BlackOps 118/Sender Free 118! If you’re larger, just mount it further back. I’d go around -3cm from rec if you’re around 200lbs and maybe -3.5 or -4cm if you’re heavier than that. Still playful at -4cm as I have some 240lb friends on them.

[DoubleBogey]

What if you’re 6’5”? It just doesn’t seem long enough for me.

[Judo Chop!]

What if you’re 6’5”? It just doesn’t seem long enough for me.

I'm 6'6", and I had the same worry, but it's ok. I mostly chose it because of lack of better similar style long ski alternatives.

The 191 SF110 replaced my OG Devastator 194, which other people say are beasts (I find them fun and playful).
Compared to Devs they aren't as good in deep, and they don't monster-truck through crud as well, but they are still just as playful, pivoty, stable enough, carve better, and maybe a bit more poppy on little side hits and stuff. I've been pretty happy with the SF110 as a W/B daily driver when there is any sort of soft available, up until it starts getting super deep (then I switch to Renegades and haven't even tried the SF110).

I mounted -2cm and it's good.

if you get along with centre-mounted skis, and (maybe ?) don't want it as your super deep pow tool, you'll be good.

[JRainey]

I'm 5'8" and hoping to be back under 160 by next ski season, so I think on the blackops 118 I might try the rec mount to start.

I do have a unique, almost Incan, type physique where the lower half of my body could be stretched up to a 6'2" human and still seem beefy. Like little oak trees that ate too many donuts...


The softer, but longer running length of the R102 seems to be pretty awesome.

NoSlow, I discovered the SkiTalk forum blackops thread, pretty impressive that one.

[kid-kapow]

Mfree99 is the #1 spot...

My biggest conundrum is do I get Blackops 118. Been trying out 190 pow skis, but I think I need to try the monster truck...

MF99s are fun, but they are 181.5cm as mentioned above - not 185. They will not ski longer than 180 Revolt 180s - they might even ski shorter due to their deep rocker lines. I would check out 190 Moment Wildcat 101s or 102 BO98s if you want a longer ski. The latter is probably the more ski. I ski BO98 and find them to be easy to fun ski that are loose enough and with a construction that makes their playful shape work on everything from bulletproof groomers to shallower pow. I think they compliment SF110s well.

You could get B0118s too, yet an ON3P Jeffrey 118 191 might be even better if you need more length. That being said, BO118s are freaking magical and should be fairly easy to find at nice prices, so perhaps the only way to know is to try. The family resemblence with the SF110 is pretty obvious.

[JRainey]

Thanks,

Yeah, the real problem I have with the revolt is it's got no pop, cuz it's low key RC.

I doubt I'll do anything about it this season, because I've got a line on some barely used BO118, and buying pow skis in the middle of march is way more important than all other things.

I had an insane day on Reckoner 122s on Thursday, and then so much fun with crud cleanup on Friday with the SF110. I was maybe having more fun on Friday. Imagine that BO goodness balancing out the deep up high with fluff on hard down low. SF110 was just in full motocross mode.

191 Reckoner was the shit, but it made my decently big terrain go by really fast. And at my weight suspension and pop suffered. Might mount them close to TC just to see.

I'm feeling a bit obsessive about trying things out right now. But I have a feeling if the BO118 is like I think it is, then I might settle on that for a while.

Edit to add the revolt feels to short only in variable snow where the low tip splay and forward mount would snag on shit, and send me forward. MFree big tips are super attractive, and the high tail rocker for turning around from switch in fucked up hard snow.

[NotSoBright]

That’s awesome! Mount them close to rec and get at it!

You called it!

Two days on them, both at WB:

First day, alpine stayed closed so it was laps of mid-mountain. Ended up skiing steep, sporty trees off Garbanzo. Deep, sendy, and thick at the bottom, with cement on icy moguls back to the lift. I thought they would be a handful at 191 in the trees, but they were shockingly easy to ski. And so good! Work as advertised - some voodoo magic combo of burly but also surfy and slashy. It did take a run to adjust to the rec mount point (I've skied mount points all over the map).

Second day (today), only alpine, leftovers from days and days of new snow. I can see why the FWT athletes are on these. Go fast, stomp hard.

Really glad I went with the 191s and the rec mount point (not that I can compare, as I haven't tried -2).

Happier on these than the Nordica Unleashed 108s, which are good, too, but different feel. Nordicas feel torsionally stiffer, and unsurprisingly carve better. But they also feel pretty floppy, even hingy, up front and stiff in the back (perhaps because of the more traditional mount point?). Also, Nordicas less camber and rocker, so more flat along entire ski, which I'm not sure that I love.

Anyway, the hype is real. Super happy with them.

[noslow]

You called it!

Two days on them, both at WB:

First day, alpine stayed closed so it was laps of mid-mountain. Ended up skiing steep, sporty trees off Garbanzo. Deep, sendy, and thick at the bottom, with cement on icy moguls back to the lift. I thought they would be a handful at 191 in the trees, but they were shockingly easy to ski. And so good! Work as advertised - some voodoo magic combo of burly but also surfy and slashy. It did take a run to adjust to the rec mount point (I've skied mount points all over the map).

Second day (today), only alpine, leftovers from days and days of new snow. I can see why the FWT athletes are on these. Go fast, stomp hard.

Really glad I went with the 191s and the rec mount point (not that I can compare, as I haven't tried -2).

Happier on these than the Nordica Unleashed 108s, which are good, too, but different feel. Nordicas feel torsionally stiffer, and unsurprisingly carve better. But they also feel pretty floppy, even hingy, up front and stiff in the back (perhaps because of the more traditional mount point?). Also, Nordicas less camber and rocker, so more flat along entire ski, which I'm not sure that I love.

Anyway, the hype is real. Super happy with them.

Awesome to hear you love them! Not surprising as they are fantastic skis.

The 184cm at -2cm to -3cm would be slightly easier to whip around in really tight spots but at rec the 191cm is still easy to manage as you’ve discovered. The 191cm definitely more stable and better in crud.

The Sender Free 110 will be both longitudinally and torsionally stiffer everywhere but maybe similar underfoot. So the Sender Free 110 has a more uniform flex pattern tip to tail rising more slowly underfoot compared to the more peaky flexing Unleashed 108.

Deeper rocker tip/tail on the Sender Free 110 along with more forward mount so that’s why it should be easier to pivot them yet on edge they should be pretty similar. Mounting the SF 110 back a bit would improve their carving ability but sacrifice its ease in bumps.

[Jongle]

My 2 cents on the 184cm Sender Free 110s (mounted at -2cm) after a couple of days.

5'7, 165lbs. The Blackops 118 and Sender Squad are probably my two favourite skis of all time and I've been DDing the Squads at Whistler for the past couple of seasons. I picked up the SF110s in the hopes that they would share some of the unique characteristics of the Squad and BO118 while being more playful and engaging when I'm taking it easy.

I was a little underwhelmed after day 1, which was a deep pow day last weekend (not what I bought them for but I was keen to get them on snow). They don't match the float, looseness or stability of either the BO118 or Squad in deep snow - no surprises there. In particular, one of the best traits of both the BO118 and Squad is that you can ski fast through cut-up pow without getting that "hitting the brakes" feeling of suddenly slowing down when you go from a skied-out patch into a section of heavy, untracked pow. They just float over/through it. The SF110s get tossed around a little more. Still a good chop ski, but not mindblowing like the other two.

The other issue was that the tips felt squirrelly, kept catching an edge when running bases flat. When I got home I checked the tune (note to self: always do this first) and found that there was virtually no bevel on the tips and tails in the rockered parts of the ski. I put a 1 degree bevel on them and hit them with a gummi stone for good measure.

Took them about again today in spring conditions and had a MUCH better experience. The hookiness was gone. They carve beautifully for a 110 and have respectable stability while also being pretty loose and easy to whip around. As someone who's skied the Sender Squads for ~90% of my resort days this season, the Sender Frees felt immediately intuitive, like poppier Squads with stability dialled back 20% and quickness dialled up 20%. This analogy may only make sense to people in a similar demographic, but skiing the Squads reminds me of driving as Bowser in Super Mario Kart back in the day, whereas the SF110s are closer to Luigi (more maneuverable, better acceleration, but lower speed limit). They don't quite have that great damp rubbery feel of the Squad/BO118 in the tips and tails but the midsection is strong and substantial.

If I could pick just one of the three skis I'd probably go for the SF110s in the 191 length, but the 184 makes a better pairing with the 194cm Squads.

[Bandit Man]

Ski the 191. Also, shame on you for being a WB skier and not detuning your rockered sections before a deep day. [emoji6] The 191 floats just fine in deep coastal snow in my experience and is crazy loose when properly detuned.

I guess I should add, if you are used to a Sender Squad and 186 BO118, then you really have no business on the 184. They are just too short and lack the mass of the other two. The comparison just isn’t close.

[Jongle]

Ski the 191. Also, shame on you for being a WB skier and not detuning your rockered sections before a deep day. [emoji6] The 191 floats just fine in deep coastal snow in my experience and is crazy loose when properly detuned.

I guess I should add, if you are used to a Sender Squad and 186 BO118, then you really have no business on the 184. They are just too short and lack the mass of the other two. The comparison just isn’t close.

See, I figured there would be too much overlap between the Squads and the 191 SF110s. The 184s are supposed to be for when I'm with the family, or skiing bumps all day, or doing old man park laps. But damnit, I do want to try those 191s now...

[noslow]

@jongle Did you check if the bases were flat too when checking the tune? Both my BO 118 were base high and got them ground before skiing but my SF 110 didn’t seem “too bad” but seemed less planted and stable than I thought they should when skiing.
Sure enough, base high as well and hugely improved after a grind. Went over the edges by hand and just smoothed/detuned above the widest taper points, not contact points and they are perfect now.

[NotSoBright]

The other issue was that the tips felt squirrelly, kept catching an edge when running bases flat. When I got home I checked the tune (note to self: always do this first) and found that there was virtually no bevel on the tips and tails in the rockered parts of the ski. I put a 1 degree bevel on them and hit them with a gummi stone for good measure.

Interesting - had a similar experience and chalked it up to having not adapted to the ski.

How far back did you go with the tune? Just the rocker?

Edit: answered my own question - it's obvious when you run a file over the base edge. And it is precisely the rockered sections of the skis.

[noslow]

Interesting - had a similar experience and chalked it up to having not adapted to the ski.

How far back did you go with the tune? Just the rocker?

Edit: answered my own question - it's obvious when you run a file over the base edge. And it is precisely the rockered sections of the skis.

The issue might have been a lower than 1 degree base bevel which is more common near the contact points tip/tail. Should be 1 degree tip to tail but sometimes is .5 or even 0 as it didn’t get hit properly. Use a file guide on that base bevel tip to tail at 1 degree to insure it’s uniform.
Lover than 1 degree will cause the edge to engage quicker and could be grabby in those spots. An edge high base is another reason for a ski to feel grabby so check that the base is flat as well.

Ensure the same thing with the side edge at 2 degrees but this is less “issue causing” than a low base bevel or bases that aren’t flat. Detune/smooth above the widest taper points tip/tail.

[Jongle]

Interesting - had a similar experience and chalked it up to having not adapted to the ski.

How far back did you go with the tune? Just the rocker?

Edit: answered my own question - it's obvious when you run a file over the base edge. And it is precisely the rockered sections of the skis.

Yep, same for me. The file was catching on the rockered portion but not on the cambered portion. You could see where the bevel ended just by looking at the base edge too, the rockered portions looked totally smooth.

[Jongle]

@jongle Did you check if the bases were flat too when checking the tune?

Yep, I checked them with a true bar and didn't see any issues.

[noslow]

Yep, I checked them with a true bar and didn't see any issues.

Good! One of the lucky ones it seems. My last 5 pairs of Rossi skis have all needed grinds. Grrrrrr

[Jongle]

Good! One of the lucky ones it seems. My last 5 pairs of Rossi skis have all needed grinds. Grrrrrr

Brutal! I guess I’ve been lucky. Out of the BO118, Sender Squad and SF110, only my 110s have had tune issues out of the wrapper.

[kid-kapow]

I skied my BO98s and SF110s yesterday and today, and man - I really get on well with both of them. Both are great - especially the SF110.

I just do not understand why the good folks over at Rossi have not made a SF110 type ski years ago. Oh well, better late than never.

Now release some limited release SF110 with the same type of graphics that the BO98 and BO118 have please. And with textured topsheets too.

[Jongle]

Now release some limited release SF110 with the same type of graphics that the BO98 and BO118 have please. And with textured topsheets too.

Agreed. If they all had matching topsheets I might be able to trick my wife into thinking I had fewer pairs of skis.

[noslow]

One of the SF 110 owners on SkiTalk who already enjoyed them had a bunch of skis stone ground and had the SF 110 done too.
Much quicker edge to edge after so probably a bit edge high from the factory.
Not surprised in the least unfortunately.

[noslow]

Agreed. If they all had matching topsheets I might be able to trick my wife into thinking I had fewer pairs of skis.

Was a salesman at a high end audio store for many years that sold many companies that had many similar looking models. Linn had various amps, pre-amps and cd players that all were in the exact same sized black chassis regardless of price.

We would often be told to time when the wife wasn’t home for the customers latest upgrade to be installed seamlessly into the stereo cabinet. Haha

[kid-kapow]

well fekk me, I want so gogogoguen skis

The max paml and mandin versions are ok too, if more on par with the standard version imho