If you get j skis, immediately de tune the edges. I rode my whipits on the first day of the season and one hour in, I fell and had i pretty minor crash, but my right knee landed on my left ski's inner edge and the edge cut through my snowpants, my sweatpants underneath, and a muscle in my knee. The muscle was just barely dangling out of my leg along with some loose fat. I got surgery soon after and was unable to ski for a month.
I am still missing a big deal of muscle there and it will take a few years to grow it all back. In addition, my right leg is still swollen like hell and is a lot bigger than my left leg even though this was about 2-3 months ago. My nerves are pretty scrambled up in there somehow, so when i touch the inner side of the knee, i feel the sensation on the outside.
SO FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, detune your edges as soon as you get some jskis if you do.
Now lets talk performance.
Durability: to put this into perspective, i got brand new armada thalls last year and rode them almost every weekend of the season. After one year, my thalls had
1 a couple normal core shots, and a couple deep core shots
2 a completely demolished top sheet where inner fiberglass and carbon fiber could be seen in a few spots
3 a whole bunch of edge cracks throughout the ski and one big ass edge split that is deep into the wood. one of the edges right underneath the boot is about a fifth of the original width and is completely out of shape
thalls are considered pretty durable so you could say that i am prone to wrecking skis easily. please note that i did not do any sort of urban skiing with these skis at any time.
after riding my j skis most weekends of this season, i have
a few, very minor core shots
a couple cuts into the topsheet/sidewall edge due to hitting my edges together on landing. none are serious or deep
2 edge cracks, neither are of my concern right now as they are practically nothing
so i guess you could say js are really durable. I feel confident in being able to make them last for a while
Flex: they are designed to be not too flexy and not too stiff and as far as i remember, the reviews agreed with this; however, i have found them to be pretty flexy and i little bit wobbly at higher speeds. I feel that this is due to me being 190lbs, 6', and riding a 171cm. if you plan on getting all plays and you are of a similar body type, you should be fine though as all plays are more of an all mtn ski and are a bit more stable. the wobbliness isnt bad but it just threw me off the first time i was speeding down the hill as the tips of my armadas didnt jiggle about.
Im running out of time to continue but everyone who rides js say they are extraordinary and i cant argue. they hold up well, they are durable, and they are sooo damn playful and energetic. Theyve helped me progress a lot and their graphics kick-ass!!!
Now go get some J's on yo feet ho!
