Soft Snow Gymkhana - The Heritage Lab FR110

[MagnificentUnicorn]

I guess this is the place for BC one ten feedback. These things are super easy in terrible snow. They are predictable in the same way as the Rs but lighter and not bulldozers. Of course they are great in three week old faceted snow but they make shit snow tolerable. We all know that more often than not backcountry snow can be challenging.

I have them mounted with Tectons at minus eight point five.


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[XtrPickels]

Got out on the 186 FR110's for the first time today - just a few runs on wind-blown / uber-cold snow at Eldora.
I'm mounted -1cm from recommended with a 315mm BSL and S-Pro Alpha 130's. Salomon Strive 14.

I've been looking for a maneuverable soft-snow ski that I can ski with my kids, trees, etc. but also has some backbone so as to not feel like a one-trick pony.
Previously in this spot I had Woodsman 108 and Meridians. Sold the Woods because of overlap with the Meridian. Liked and skied the Meridian so much, that I started using it on low-tide days and fell out of love, so moved on. I love my 192 M-Free 108s, so thought the Shorter ones would fill this slow. They were super-loose and maneuverable - incredible for low-speeds with my kids, but I was never comfortable on them skiing fast or in crud.

I grabbed the FR110s as soon as the opportunity came - but to be honest - I was a little anxious amount the amount of camber. After looking deeper, it seems the R110's are closer in rocker profile to the Meridians that I was low-key trying to replace.

These skis are surprisingly good. Freakishly good. I always ski with factory tuning for the first day. These are going to need a good cold-snow waxing and a heavy detune. I tend to like sharp under-foot and not so sharp everywhere else.

Strengths
1. Despite the massive rocker, no balance point issues. Granted there isn't much tail support if you get too far back, I can only think of one turn where I had to pull myself back on top of the ski
2. The suspension is impressive. I love this quality in skis. Quiet, Damp, Trustworthy, unflinching.
3. The can hit some high-edge angles on groomers, then smoothly roll out into a slarve. Another thing I love is varying turns with edge angle. The FR110 is a little slow to engage - You don't get pulled into the turn by the tip, but if your turn initiation matches the skis they progressive pull harder and harder the further you tip them over.
4. They felt very natural despite the high rocker. Somehow they didn't feel like ice-skates like the old ELP Gotamas. I didn't have the balance point issues like I did with Meridians on hard snow. Granted, you can tell that carves initiate from under-foot.
5. Build quality seems to be top notch. I have no question these will stand up to some abuse.
6. They responded very well to a compact, balanced, stance. For me, this reinforces a good athletic position. I could pressure the tongues without issue, but they didn't "need" that like some more traditional skis. They aren't, however, a ski that seems to respond well to a tall, less dynamic, style.


Weaknesses? (Note the question mark)
1. They're f'ing heavy. This makes them great, but it also makes them harder to compare to a ski like the Meridian (~300g lighter per ski). The Meridian was happier to boost side-hits.
2. Rebound is less than a traditionally cambered ski - but you should expect this to be the case.
3. They're too pretty. 50% of lifties pointed out how sweet my skis were.
4. I did notice a bit of tip hookiness on a couple of turns in stiff-windblown snow. I think some colder wax and a little detuning will help this go away.
5. They're comically sketchy running bases flat. Any edge-angle at all and they calm down a lot.

I'm thoroughly impressed and evaluating the quiver for where I can get another HL ski in. I took them out today thinking "If they're skiable today, they're going to be incredible when the conditions are right" and they didn't disappoint.

[Yanos]

Nice reviews gents. I'm stoked to get on these this weekend!

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[skinipenem]

^^I noticed the bit of hookiness, however I think that was due to overturning/over pressuring the ski instead of neutral stance reverse carves.
I did not notice any bases flat sketc; although, i have noticed that on other skis. Interesting though, I'll pay more attention to that next time. I wonder if that is a tune issue?

[kid-kapow]

These arrived last night. I told myself I would mount them on Friday, but alas - could not wait. Mounted on the line / -7 for a 290 BSL. The heels will be swapped for Tectons, and I plan to remount them before next season with ATK HYs. They will have a lot to live up to - replacing my pair of ON3P BG108tours and BMT109s - both 186 and both freaking magical skis. I must also admit to not being blown away by the graphic at first. Sure, it is a vast improvement on the former iteration, yet it felt a bit meh. It is starting to grow on me though, and the reception from the fairer sex has been very approving. So, I am sure some ladies would want to buy both these and the BC100s if they were made avaliable in shorter lengths

[MagnificentUnicorn]

If you didn’t pay extra for tuning I would check the bevels, polish the edges and shape the tip and tail edges. I reset the factory grind to minus one point five base and polished the edges with a diamond stone and took a mill file to the tip and tail edges. They are very forgiving in crusty, wind fucked and generally shitty snow.


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[kid-kapow]

i did not pay for extra tuning. I will be less than impressed / severely displeased if the tune is so bad that it requires a full retune wrt base bevel.

[kc_7777]

Hey kid….I didn’t get along with my FR One Tens until I had Profile (at Whistler) blank the ski, set the bevels to one point five base and two side edge with a detune in the taper section.

Now the FR One Ten is my favorite ski that can ski anything from ice to crust to pow. Like all time favorite. I just took in my R One Twenty’s in the same treatment.

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[Mustonen]

Don’t worry, tune will be at least as good and consistent as the factory tune from any other manufacturer. Some (most?) just really like a good detune.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

^^^ Factory is one base two side in the R one ten. It’s not bad but it’s a little coarse like all factory tunes. Tip and tail edge shaping is normal for performance skis as well as setting desired edge bevels and polishing the edges. I do this with every ski. I wanted one point five base angles on these skis so I reset them and polished both edges with diamond stone. The skis weren’t unskiable with the factory tune but there’s a reason HL offers ski specific hand tuning. I don’t see this as de tuning just normal new ski prep and tune.


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[skinipenem]

Kc and M, what changes did you notice with the new tune? I'm always interested in this nerdy stuff.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

They’re looser and don’t feel like they’re plowing as much after I did my tune. They retain pretty amazing edge grip with the underfoot edge still really sharp. I didn’t ski my pair of BC one tens before I did the same tuning but I love their snow feel now.

The base grind from the factory is nice and flat, good texture but the edges have a coarse finish. At the very least I would run a gummy along the edge to de burr.


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[XtrPickels]

I set bases to -1 and edges to -2 last night. Looks like they were a bit shallower than that based on material first coming off the outer edges.
Not sure what they were, I'm just a guy with some files and swix guides in his garage.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Another day touring on the BC One ten. If you’re looking for a touring ski that handle typical gnarly bc snow these are the ones you’re looking for. So easy and predictable in shit fuck conditions. Of course fun in good snow.


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[Claymore23]

BC One ten ordered. So stoked.

[kc_7777]

Kc and M, what changes did you notice with the new tune? I'm always interested in this nerdy stuff.

You can read my posts way up last spring…. I was stoked to get on the FR OneTen but first few days they felt wrong. Tails wouldnt release and tips were catchy.

After getting the bases and edges down they became the ski I thought they would be. Kinda like a better, damper, faster Hoji. They went from WTF to awesome.

I recently took the R OneTwenty cat skiing and then Revy. All good pow days. They were really good in pow, but I’ve got them in for the same treatment. They were drifty, but I know they are driftier. I’ll report back on those when it snows again.

I really love HL skis….I’ve skied Renegades twice this year and not touched my Hojis or Ravens. My advice is don’t judge them until you’ve done the base and edge tune IMO.


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[lrn2swim]

With this being the case here with HL, makes me wondering why people aren't taking the same approach to the tune issues with ON3P.

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[Muggydude]

Praxis has had the tune issue, J skis, and others. It’s not uncommon.

A ton of shops even offer “new skis tunes” which usually invokes a very light base grind to get them flat, Many brands small and large send out slightly railed skis. I imagine it can be difficult to completely eliminate as ski cores/materials/wood/plastic can all expand and contract at varying rates when moving to new climates and whatnot and the materials curing and settling over time


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[MagnificentUnicorn]

You do hear about people that don’t care for Onthreep until they get them tuned.


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[Marshal Olson]

Hey @lrn2swm - I can't really comment on the on3p stuff, but as it pertains to HL, here is my quick response.

Ultimate, I believe that ALL SKIS from ALL BRANDS benefit from some amount of refinement out of the wrapper. In production environments, the goal is to have a nicely flat bases, and consistent edge bevel through the effective edge and a smooth sharp edge. One limiting factor is the reality that ski tuning machinery is ill-equipped to handle bevelling complex rocker/taper profiles - so the more subtle the shaping is, the more hand work becomes REQUIRED. This applies to all skis with progressive shaping going on from all brands. One can walk the ski wall at a shop and visually see where the ceramic disc stops and the edge is no longer bevelled, where the edge is just square ground at the ends, and identify hanging burrs off the ends of skis from the stone grinder.

For this reason, I personally view skis straight out of the wrapper as "prepared" not really tuned per-se like they would be, for example, at a premium ski shop. This makes a big difference to some people, and less of a difference to others -- and where you live and how you ski really affects what "the right" tune might look like too.

Going forward, the factory finish on HL skis is equivalent to most premium freeride brands, but it has taken a lot of work to get it to that point. I hand been tuning every ski out the door through this fall, and when spending 45min per ski, across 100's of skis as a single fellow, despite my best effort, I can make an error. In KC7777's case, He posted about having some troubles, I reached out to him right away, we talked it through, and we ensured he got the skis riding the way he expected. I am always here to ensure that if the ski isn't quite right, we can find the right path forward and make them sing.

I now offer skiers the choice of going with the factory prep or upgrading the tune to a model-specific setup that is hand finished. I try to make clear how the skis come from the factory and where skiers can make them ride even better and have posted the steps that I take in the upgrade tunes for folks to re-create as needed. If any of that feels unclear, PLEASE let me know, I am more than happy to tighten up the language on the site or how I talk about it. And of course, always down to talk through tunes and wax and all that nerdy stuff too.

[Marshal Olson]

Also, sorry for the typos. Sigh. Edit powers would be nice. Not timing out when writing a reply would be too.

[gaijin]

Given the dope-show of a tune that MO put on my ROneTens, I’ll be ordering his shaping of my RCEightyFive.

I even had to privately inquire as to which wax he laid in as they’re so damn fast and I wanna stay on theme.


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[kid-kapow]

i did not mean to start another Tunegate discussion (TM) - I am just a bit (and with a bit I mean beyond annoyed) tired of tuning skis aka resetting edges as of late. It is a minor thing to throw a hissy fit for, as it takes very little effort to retune provided the bases are flat, but still. HL skis ends up being very expensive in my neck of the woods due to shipping and taxes and exchange rates - in fact, the BC110s are the most expensive skis I've ever bought (custom ON3Ps and DPSs being the comparison). As such I might be a bit less understanding of things that have to do with qc/qa meassures. I will give the BC110s their first outing tomorrow, the weather permitting.

[Marshal Olson]

Hey Kid, all good, happy to talk it thru via email if easier. But please correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t we discuss all of this at length via email? Where we discussed the various bevels and such, and you indicated that as long as the bases were flat, it was no trouble and you were happy to bevel to your personal preference? My sincere apologies if I am confusing conversations.

[Shredeagle]

Dude. Asking Marshall to change his website. Freaking out about the tune. I got a rough tune on my FR110s so I hacked away at it for a few minutes and was up and running. The tune on my R110s was so tits it belonged in the best of playboy gallery.

I’m grateful this guy is making these sick skis for us to obsess over and enjoy.

Shredded the FR110s today. Soft snow. They are so fast easy and fun. Damn. Stoked. Pretty soon I’m gonna start calling myself old man Hoji.


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