2017 Praxis Skis Info and Resource Thread

[Muggydude]

I've skied 12's and 15's, wasn't sure about the first gen. Didn't like the later ones

[ichibaneye]

I've skied 12's and 15's, wasn't sure about the first gen. Didn't like the later ones

Yeah, I liked the first gens myself. The newr not so much.

[CascadeLuke]

To add on the enduro Praxis #5 flex comparison to DPS light and stiff convo. Have standard 194 Q's and map-C 194 Ullr #5 -- been on many 'Pure' deep snow skis from DPS. Its true that the weight will dramatically improve your inbounds snow performance as I've really taken to the Praxis. For touring the DPS skis would get the nod though. As mainly a resort pow skier I moved on from PW Lotus 124 to Foundation 124 in 191. Haven't skied this larger heavier bamboo based version but like the shape change from 185 to 191. Weight goes from 1860g in 185 to 2300g in 191 (including core change).

After a few days I'd say the 194 Q skis brilliantly, as issued. The Ullr at #5 is a trucker, wants speed and eats soft chop and heavy mank with abandon. Very planted ski with rebound. Its appreciated coming in at my heaviest ski. Has a low camber and long flatish tail. Need to get deeper conditions on this one to get a full picture. Weight on these two praxi vary greatly on what I assume amounts to near same core; minus the carbon and #5 glass amount- plus Q has veneer.

Stock 194 Q #4 ash veneer 2250g each
194 Ullr carbon #5 2500g maybe its a heavy core + C? Thought map c

The flex on this #5 is about stiffest I've skied & hand flexed. Noticeably more stiff than '13 Wren 191, makes my #4 Q feel like 3.5 in comparison.
Don't recall a DPS I've skied be this stiff. F124 flexes softest of the 3 but feeling it will ski well at its weight & flex at drier snow resorts.

The Ullr is probably best suited for a heavier badass skier than myself. Probably release it soon...

[auvgeek]

^^Always great to have another perspective. Totally agree that lighter is better for touring, even if quite stiff. I bought a pair of pure carbon PM Gear Lhasa Fats from a run that were among the stiffer skis Pat made -- IIRC, Patches wanted straight "2x4 flex," and Pat made them a hair under that. They rule for touring but get kicked around inbounds. Lot of deflection. Re DPS, I'm mainly thinking of the Pure 3 RPC, which I found too stiff for the layup and didn't get along well with it. The old bamboo-sidewall 202 Lotus 138 R2 is about the stiffest thing I've flexed, but I only bring it out in fresh snow (obviously) and it has enough mass that it doesn't get kicked around much in soft chop.

Very interesting that the Ullr is so much heavier, even with carbon. I skied a #4 flex GPO in enduro + carbon (i.e., map-C) and thought it was super playful but not much of a charger. I remember thinking a heavier layup and stiffer flex would have made it closer to my stiff Billy Goats but I would not have wanted that ski in that weight any stiffer. It's possible that the step between #4 and #5 adds enough mass that one doesn't necessarily need to go with a heavier core. I still think heavy + carbon would be my core of choice for inbounds.

[Banh Mi]

CascadeLuke, those Ullrs seem badass!

Are the heavy+carbon cores heavier than the regular heavy core?

Jeez that wording is confusing

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[auvgeek]

Are the heavy+carbon cores heavier than the regular heavy core?

I'm pretty sure the carbon option means carbon replaces (some of) the fiberglass, so heavy+carbon is lighter than heavy, assuming the exact same stiffness. IIRC, the heavy core is maple and ash only, with no paulownia. enduro = MAP = maple, ash, paulownia. Similarly, the UL core has less maple and ash and more paulownia.

I'm sure Keith has played around a bunch with the layups, but now I'm curious how different the heavy + carbon is from the enduro in the same flex, in terms of feel (dampness, pop, etc) and overall weight. Keith took the weight calculator off the site; probably too hard to compute with all the custom options and too much of a liability if the algorithm was off a bit.

Don't fret, your #5 flex, heavy RXs are still the burliest layup offered by Praxis.

[waxoff]

Don't fret, your #5 flex, heavy RXs are still the burliest layup offered by Praxis.

Aka Praxaevergreen

[Banh Mi]

AeveRx


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[NW_SKIER]

Trustfund'rx

[Self Jupiter]

AeveRx


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Haha- You need to re-adopt your prior SN now that you’re so mildly obscurely internet famous

[Banh Mi]

Trustfund'rx

I wish. Did you see any italian leather in that closet? In fact, did you see anything else in that closet? Story of my life. Gear and nothing else..


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[jmars]

I’d like to see Kieth’s reaction to some of the analyising...while I love it, read daily and add where I can.....Kieth must get a good laugh.

I’m now taking my Piste Jibs for their virgin spin....heavy core, 3+, carbon/nylon.

[Banh Mi]

Haha- You need to re-adopt your prior SN now that you’re so mildly obscurely internet famous

I wanted to change this one to Aever4ever.. maybe next year


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[NW_SKIER]

I wish. Did you see any italian leather in that closet? In fact, did you see anything else in that closet? Story of my life. Gear and nothing else..


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It's just entertaining to give you a hard time about it.

[waxoff]

I wanted to change this one to Aever4ever.. maybe next year


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Do it!

[Self Jupiter]

I wanted to change this one to Aever4ever.. maybe next year


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FullAever4ever

[Banh Mi]

Aever.Untouched


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[waxoff]

When it turns out that heavy#5, SG-Aever, 191Monster et al, ain't really that burly...

>>>Aevergate

[ichibaneye]

So no custom built GPO owners in here then?

[Banh Mi]

Praxis Rx 4 now, let’s not get carried away.

Aeverflow


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[galibier_numero_un]

Aever.Untouched


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The skier formerly known as ...

(initial Q report to follow later this evening - don't expect anything conclusive).

... Thom

[Banh Mi]

The skier formerly known as ...

(initial Q report to follow later this evening - don't expect anything conclusive).

... Thom

Did you ski your Q’s? If so, how did they do for you on firm?


Has anyone on here ever gone heavy layup with a protest?

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[Shu Shu]

I’m now taking my Piste Jibs for their virgin spin....heavy core, 3+, carbon/nylon.

you will love. it's such a great ski

[galibier_numero_un]

Did you ski your Q’s? If so, how did they do for you on firm?


Has anyone on here ever gone heavy layup with a protest?

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First day out - an aborted one on the WROD (emphasis on the "D" - got clipped by an out of control knuckledragger which aggravated a quad tendon). This might be a blessing (inspiring me to action), 'coz it's been nagging me for a while and the typical PT exercises haven't been cutting it.

Enough Gimp Central stuff ...

182, #4, Eduro/Carbon, Maple Veneer Mounted @ -1cm (similar to my GPOs' mount point - see above). 5'9", 165 lbs.

I gave them a cursory detune to the sidecut contact points. This feels about right, but there weren't any spots where I had to release tips/tails to navigate tight terrain. They might benefit from a bit more detuning ... or not.

A-ever-geuse, I think you're right about these being soft snow biased. Time will tell. If this ends up being the case, then skinny-Q's would make less sense.

As you read this, it might sound as if I'm damning the Q's with faint praise, but much as I'm puzzled by them, I remember how weird my GPOs felt until I dialed in the tuning, and currently, they're the ski in my quiver I grab the most frequently. The Q's are going to take some time to determine whether they work for me or not.

Conditions were generally hard with a bit of chalk here and there from yesterday's dusting. Nothing remotely steep was open - maybe one short pitch you'd call an easy single black (Falcon at A-basin).

I wouldn't change the mount point. Still, I'm struggling to find a fore aft balance point. Sometimes, they feel like they want a centered stance and sometimes a more trad stance. I wish I could remember the circumstances, but I just started to think about this when that boarder clocked me and I was having trouble driving forward with my left leg after that.

On hard snow, they seem to like a very wide stance (the assym?). I need more time to get the grok on this. It's not making sense yet.

Was it Muggy who said that they like the fall line? I agree. You can throw to them across it (stay forward), but the temptation is to stay in the fall line a bit longer than with the GPOs. The tails seem to hang up a bit more in tight bumps than the GPOs, but this might be my early season legs.

The fall line thing is a microcosm of a demo I did of Wrens two years ago (gotta spend more time on Wrens). The Wrens want to point down a bit longer yet (testing my memory, here).

The difference between the construction of my GPOs and these Q's lies in the Q's veneer. Obviously, they're different designs, but I sense a more damp ride with the Q's.

These are going to take some time, and likely more suitable (3D?) conditions. I'm going to spend the holidays skinning and bringing my knee back, but this brings up the question as to whether my GPOs should revert to an inbounds mount and the Q's should get Vipecs/Tectons for back/sidecountry. I've already installed inserts on them for Fritchis to encourage experimentation.

The big question for me is how much overlap there is with my Billy Goats (15/16 model year). I sense that the Q's are better on hard snow, but why would I drag 118 waisted skis out for low tide (other to than to try them out and get hit by a boarder)? That's the big question at this point.

... Thom

[Shu Shu]

So we got a suprise 4-5 inches over night, and the local hill has a bunch of terrain closed for snow making which makes for the fkn best early season, rope duckn' east coast pow days. Probably about 6 inches on top of a real base, so you don’t need to sweat destroying yourself on rocks and dirt.

Betelgeuse great advise on not judging the Qs by their hard pack performance.

Damnnnnn the Qs are fun when the snow gets 3d. It still prefers to stay in the fall line, but smears and slarves effortlessly, it just wants you to point it and go, leave the x cross fall line “carving” for the folks with more time on their hands.

What impressed me most was how well it transitioned between legit untracked light pow, to styrofoam wind affect, to cut up pow, there were many places were one big turn would take you through all of these types of snow, but it just didn’t care..go, go go. These same conditions were sending people over the bars, or relegating them to survival like skiing. Of the three 115'ish praxis skis that i own, (GPO, Concept, Q) its definitely the hardest to figure out on hard snow. I would say both the GPO and Concept are straight up fun on 2d hardpack (of course not ideal but still fun), with the Q i'm still trying dial it in. Maybe I'll figure it out or maybe not, but I care a lot less now that I know how they'll ski on a decent pow day.