Review: Lotus 138

[Vicious]

I think it's just weird lighting, but I'll be home in a few hours and find out for sho...

Edit: Just weird lighting...no problem.

[1000-oaks]

Lets keep the 138 reviews coming, damnit.


I know it's summer but I'm itching to pull the trigger on a pair of these...

[The Dad]

Indeed. In particular, this:

Review to come soon

...feels far too Beckettian to be good.

[couloirman]

umm, yeah... im about to pull the trigger. Im so dumb, i dont have the money for this, i just bought bros too, but i dont care. now where the hell can i get these mounted in boulder when they finally arrive? Marshal?? Vicious?? boulder ski deals always screws it up, jibij is ok, and neptune is only good for AT setups.

So who wants me to use their rep refferal code? Anyone want to be a good rep and PM me?

[adam]

Have marshal mount them. I believe he has an altered jig to be able to do it.

[Vicious]

So who wants me to use their rep refferal code? Anyone want to be a good rep and PM me?

PM Marsh for his rep code. He's also the man to talk to about the mount...he altered a jig just enough that it was perfect when we mounted my 138s.

[Vitamin I]

Trigger=pulled last night. Flex=3.

Big thanks to all who posted/PM'd me about these skis, helped with my flex decision, and also for marshal's rep discount. Special thanks to dp himself.

Without maggots, there is no way I could have pulled the trigger on $900 skis with experimental shape. There is simply not enough info outside this forum. What a special resource! When I am clicked in, I am often reminded that this virtual thing has a big impact on my real ski experiences on the hill.

OK, now I'm $900 down, so you bastards better buy all my old skis when I liquidate in November!!!

.

[Vicious]

You won't be disappointed. Stoked for you.

[adam]

Congrats. My Jefes will probably be here by the end of next week or something like that.

[upallnight]

Trigger=pulled last night. Flex=3.

Big thanks to all who posted/PM'd me about these skis, helped with my flex decision, and also for marshal's rep discount. Special thanks to dp himself.

Without maggots, there is no way I could have pulled the trigger on $900 skis with experimental shape. There is simply not enough info outside this forum. What a special resource! When I am clicked in, I am often reminded that this virtual thing has a big impact on my real ski experiences on the hill.

OK, now I'm $900 down, so you bastards better buy all my old skis when I liquidate in November!!!

.

congratulations!

i'm down $1800 cuz of marshal!!

curious: why'd ya go with flex 3? i thought they were saying that next year's flexes are a bit stiffer, and they found the stiffness last year didn't work quite as well in the softer snow/continental snowpack vs. the coastal snopack.

i went with a flex 2 in the 120 & 138...but then again i'm on AT gear.

[Vitamin I]

...why'd ya go with flex 3? i thought they were saying that next year's flexes are a bit stiffer, and they found the stiffness last year didn't work quite as well in the softer snow/continental snowpack vs. the coastal snopack...

Actually, I didn't hear that the flexes are getting stiffer next year. I'll stick with my choice anyway.

I chose flex=3 because:

A) I love heavy weight, and marshal said flex=3 is a little bit thicker, heavier, with more wood. Birdos 11s came to mind, but I decided against it.
B) I am in Tahoe one more year, then Whistler longterm. Coastal snow is dense, helps push the tips up a bit and plane on top.
C) my theory is I won't need to flex it into an arc to harness the ski's powder performance---Lotus 138 is already built in an arc, I don't need to flex it much more beyond that. A gamble, we'll see. I have faith DPS will not build it so stiff that it sucks in deep pow---their whole passion is pow.
D) marshall agrees that stiffer will rule the cut up/windbuff/heavy stuff better on not-so-deep-and-fresh days
E) sack check. I wanna progress more, test my limits, and see what I got on the baddest boards. Another gamble---might discover I have no sack at all.

I did not buy these just to rule the deepest days (but I am confident they will). The deepest days are already insano-fun no matter what fat ski I'm on. Instead, I bought this ski hoping to make medium-deep and marginally-deep days ski more like the deepest days. I feel that effect with Spats, hoping Lotus 138 amplifies that effect. If 5" fresh on crust skis more like 12" (with an occasional little knock here and there), then I win the gamble.

***Please do not gamble on flex=3 without getting advice from marshal, dp, and others first. If I wanted Lotus 120, I would probably get flex=2 (because it has less rocker, so I'd want to flex it more into an arc in pow), and maybe I'd just speed check a bit before hitting the not-so-deep-and-fresh snow with a softer ski.

I'll provide a Lotus 138 flex=3 review in December if marshal doesn't beat me to it.

.

[upallnight]

Thanks for going through all that, V-I...much appreciated.

Sounds like a flex 3 scenario all the way! From what I understand, flex 2 does not equal "soft", so I'm hopeful that the medium-deep days will still be OK on 'em (I'm sure they will).

Sounds like a few tweaks are being made to improve their performance in continental snowpack even further -- the coastal snowpack performance is dialed (and some maritime users have reported incredible performance already).

The Spats rule on windbuff and crust (largely due to the shape I think-- reverse camber causes problems in some of those scenarios), so I'm hoping the 138s in any flex pattern will improve upon that performance.

I look forward to hearing some TRs/reviews from you when the winter rolls around, and I'll have some of my own 138 vs 120 vs Spat feedback to report.

Now, all we have to do is wait. Did you get an ETA on delivery?

[marshalolson]

PM Marsh for his rep code. He's also the man to talk to about the mount...he altered a jig just enough that it was perfect when we mounted my 138s.

if anyone orders 138's and ski salomon bindings, hit me up so we can coordinate letting me drill the skis for you before dp ships them....

[upallnight]

Planning to freehand-mount the 138 & 120 w/ a Freeride & Dynafit.

[Vitamin I]

...From what I understand, flex 2 does not equal "soft"...

Agreed. I did not mean to say flex=2 is soft at all. I'm sure flex=2 would be stiff enough for me. It's just that I think flex=3 will encourage me to get down to some serious business. I'll likely keep Spats for carefree fun.

.

[upallnight]

Agreed. I did not mean to say flex=2 is soft at all. I'm sure flex=2 would be stiff enough for me. It's just that I think flex=3 will encourage me to get down to some serious business. I'll likely keep Spats for carefree fun.

.

Makes sense. I think you're probably right -- the definition of "stiff" changes when the ski is already "pre-flexed" (reverse camber).

Would love to try both, side-by-side.

Sounds like the tail is stiffer than the tip for all flexes, so that has me psyched.