Line Blend vs Nordica soul rider

bighomieflock

bighomieflock

Active member
I'm looking for a fatter park ski that can also hold its own all mountain and in some powder and I've narrowed it down to these skis. What are the key differences and how does each ski perform in the park?
 
I think the Soul Riders have more rocker than the Blends.

I wish Nordica didn't make their skis so incredibly ugly.
 
ive owned both. blends for a year (10/11 season) and now soul riders for the past 2 yrs. the soul rider is the most playful ski ive ever owned. also the most versatile ski. the blend was a ton of fun as well, but the soul rider just had more to it. lively turn shape, more snap out of the turn, and easier to throw around. id say float is about the same between the both when it comes to soft snow. ive put about 120 days on my soul riders and have never had any issue with them. hands down the most durable bases of any ski ive owned as well. that being said the blend never gave me problems, but the soul rider is just a lot more fun. ill be buying another soul rider next yr to replace the current ones.

fwiw: im 5'4'' about 165lbs level III skier. blends were 168 with jesters mounted +3 from traditional. soul riders are 177 with dukes mounted +3 from traditional.

 
I know you have already narrowed down to two skis but I would like to give you just one more option. If you are willing to a pay a little bit bigger of a price tag than I would check out the fat-ypus L-Toros. I just got a pair in february and they are the best skis I have ever skied in my life. Incredibly light and nimble, absolute all mountain/park crusher and very playful, but still burly enough to charge through crud.Out of the two you have already picked, you cannot go wrong with either ski. I have heard nothing but good things out of both the Soul Rider and the Line Blend. If I had to chose between the two I would go with the blend though.
 
Thanks to everyone that posted so far.

I completely agree about the ugly thing but it looks like nordica is really stepping it up with the graphics for 2014.
 
Undecided bump. It seems like those that have ridden the soul riders love them. Any other feedback on either ski? Are the blends too soft?
 
so I've skied both this years blends and this years soul riders. I prefer the soul riders, and yes I do ski for nordica but here's a pretty honest comparison.

To me the biggest difference in the skis is in the construction, blends have a cap wall construction and two different materials of wood in the core. Soul Riders have side wall construction and the same type of wood through out the core. In terms of how they ski what this means is the soul riders have a more even flex through out, which I greatly prefer, i think it makes buttering and ollieing and nollieng much better. The blends on the other hand are very very soft in the tip and tail and then are much stiffer after the core changes in the middle of the ski, I didn't like this nearly as much as I didn't feel I was able to butter them or that they had as much pop.

As far a the profile I would say that the soul riders have a little bit more camber as well as a little bit more rocker, with blends having a bit less of both.

Bases the soul riders have a race base which is really good if you're willing to take care of it.

Blends bases are good hold wax way better then afterbangs or any line ski with a similiar base, not quite as fast as a race base but a little bit less low maintenance.

As far as durability I'd say they're about the same both get edge cracks but neither develop into anything more. One pair of soul riders I had delamed on the tip but that was in part due to an impact that bust up the edge on the tip. The blends I had the top sheet separated from the core mid way down the ski. Both of these were after many days of hard riding and no small share of abuse.

Overall both good skis, ski very similiar i prefer the more even flex of the soul riders to the soft tips and tails of the blends. Lemme know if you have any more questions.
 
Man this is such a good post, interesting read even though I'm not even considering buying either of them.

To expand a bit on the bases: there's extruded and sintered. Cheap skis have extruded bases (Afterbang, Domain and many other cheaper park skis) which are slow and don't hold wax at all. Better skis have sintered bases (Line Chronic, Armada AR7, Blend and Soul Rider) which hold wax and are very fast if you take care of them. I'm not 100% sure what a race base is (and I guess not all companies have the same definition of race base) but I think it's just a higher-quality sintered base. I'm guessing 95% of the kids on NS don't wax their skis often enough to notice the difference, but correct me if I'm wrong.
 
Never really tried with them. They were my all mountain touring skis. They are soft enough though that I'm sure 15cm wouldn't make a difference. I just prefer a longer ski. Besides, by the tome you take into account tue sole of the boot and the height of the dukes I was about the same height as the ski.
 
I'm planning on purchasing the soul riders tomorrow. I was gonna go with Al Dente but I feel like they'll be too expensive.
 
I am 6 ft 175 and ride the 179 blends and have had them for 3 seasons now, really like them and use them for the park and just playing around the rest of my home "mountain" I really like how stif they are so you can land big stuff in the park and charge every ware els.
 
I got blends last year and they cracked in multiple places by the fourth day I was on them, and they were snapped by my 15th day. This year I am buying soul riders
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top