FYI, we added the running length to our table of measurements... seems to be pretty important to figure out how easy it is to pivot a ski while it is in contact with the snow (e.g., base flat on snow). We think it is a big part of what makes a ski "playful" with torsional stiffness.
Sooth ski: measured data from 3000+ skis!
- Thread starter alude
- Start date
Eightsails
Member
Small idea, I have no idea if this would be way too difficult to code, but maybe the option to move the ski forward or backward from its rec mount point? Would like to see how skis match up with profiles within some adjustment range, since a lot of folk like to play around with mounting. Maybe since you have the data you can throw up what the width of the ski would be depending on where you put the mount line.
14378523:Eightsails said:
Just to be sure that I understand correctly, you would like to be able to shift the skis horizontally on the graphs representing the shape of the ski to better align them?
And then, you would like to have an updated value of the waist at the new mount point? I would need to check the code, but I think now the waist width value is the minimum width measured, not the one at the mount point.
I think all that might be relatively easy to implement. It just get messy a bit if you have to recalculate a bunch of other value (e.g., the 5-point stiffness measurements are centered at the mount point), but we don't have many of them right now. I could see in the future that we could have a bunch of front/back ratios, but we don't have that yet.
Eightsails
Member
14380667:alude said:
Yeah, even without updating too many numbers, just the ability to move the ski horizontally to view the ski profile when beside other similar skis would be cool.
14380966:Eightsails said:
We are working on it. It is easy to shift a ski on a graph, but a little bit more tricky to do the user interface right.
In the meantime, we also added the ski overall taper as a measured parameter (e.g., pintail vs symmetric tip/tail width). Some people seem to find that useful.
Small update. We changed how we calculate the camber of reverse camber skis. All reverse camber skis will now be at zero camber. That makes things more stable with flat camber skis (which were often classified as reverse camber ski due to the local curvature underfoot). Some flat cambered skis were listed with -6 mm of camber, which was not the case at all.
butteredpretzel
Active member
In love with this tool - thank you and team so much for investing in this!
I work in data science / insights and have a few skiers on my team - we love this shit!!!!!!!
I work in data science / insights and have a few skiers on my team - we love this shit!!!!!!!
14401651:alude said:
I think he means if the flex stays consistent throughout the whole range or if it flexes a lot at first then less further into it or some shit. like for spring rates in car suspension linear the rate is flat the whole way and a progressive spring has one rate then a different rate
14401783:drifts said:
That is why I asked. I understand the analogy, but for a ski the spring rate will remain linear for fairly large deformations, specially if you calculate the deformation to simulate a 3 points bending test. On-snow it might get a bit different due to the snow deformation and the fact that different stiffness profiles will create different load distribution under the ski that compress the snow differently. We might be able to see that by looking at the pressure distribution under a deformed ski.
Maybe a better way to ask about linear/progressive is how do they feel different on-snow?
Hey everyone. Winter is coming and we are starting to add 2022-23 skis into the SoothSki database: https://soothski.com/compare. So far, we added 300 skis and should add 350 more within one week.
We will do a few more measuring sessions, so let us know of any special requests and we will see what we can do.
We will do a few more measuring sessions, so let us know of any special requests and we will see what we can do.
14468779:BingPow said:
Thanks! We touched every single ski in the database to measure them.
We developed a super fast machine to measure the skis and some automated software to extract the data. We are lucky that most retailers are happy to host us so that we can access the ski to measure them. They seem to dig the data too!
We would love to have more Direct-to-Customer brands in our database, but we can't get them at retailers. Same for brands that are not represented at our local shops. If a company wants to ship us some skis, we would happily measure them free of charge and return them unharmed.
partyandBS
Active member
What happens to the skis after you test them? Are they all in a dumpster out back??
nmwninjart
Active member
3882 skis measured! ?
WoFIowz
Active member
Are you contracted with any manufacturers? It would be cool to see a complete list each year of new models to compare. The best we have right now is the subjective and highly condition dependent Blister Guide. Your list is big but seems to be piecemealed in what is being tested.
Imagine early year before models are released, all manufacturers send you a sample of their entire lineup. You run the tests and release it in a detailed report. This information could be used on their websites, merchant sites, and review blogs/magazines. Could even expand to boots to test stiffness across a universal standard. You'd be like the Consumer Reports of skiing.
Imagine early year before models are released, all manufacturers send you a sample of their entire lineup. You run the tests and release it in a detailed report. This information could be used on their websites, merchant sites, and review blogs/magazines. Could even expand to boots to test stiffness across a universal standard. You'd be like the Consumer Reports of skiing.
14546277:runforlove2024 said:
We are not quite there yet. A few direct-to-customer brands have started shipping us skis, like RMU, but most of our measurements are from retailers that let us in their shops in the fall. What we measure is what they have. Some skis are hard to find, like, for example, all the slalom racing skis out there. It is a very common request, but they are expensive, specialized, and most shops only carry one or two brands so it is hard to get them all. Same with any other kind of very specialized ski or skis that are not in shops, or not in our local shops (e.g., many small European brands).
We hope more manufacturers will send us their skis at some point. We measure everything for free. The biggest hurdle (I think) seems to be the shipping cost/complexity. Shipping a pair to a few review websites is less expensive than shipping us a good sample of their lineup, even if we return all the skis unharmed. The other thing is that most companies have been sold out quite early in the season in the last few years with COVID, so there was no real need to provide more info to customers. They just wanted a bit of exposure from blog/magazines. Anyways, skiers seem to enjoy comparing skis using validated measurements and our traffic is growing quite fast. We are getting harder to ignore. If you like that info and want more, the best thing you can do to help us is ask companies for their specs and refer them to us. That really has a big impact!
A side note is that for the comparator to be really useful in helping you choose the perfect ski, it is important that we measure most lengths available. Of course, we can measure the most common lengths and call it good, but it is important to know that skis change when they are scaled up/down. Scaling skis up/down is not performed uniformly across the industry. Different lengths from different manufacturers will feel different on snow. What really differentiates us from most is that we can easily measure 10x more skis than anyone can review. We measured about 1000 skis/year for the last 3 years (about 300 models in 3-4 lengths) and could easily do more with better access to skis. As a comparison, Blister has one of the best selections out there and they add only about 100 new skis per year to their guide (I say "only", but I love what they do... I just don't see how they could do more or do it faster). Blister also typically likes long skis so that doesn't fit everyone. However, they have a particularly cool selection of smaller brands. Definitely jealous of that!
PartyBullshiit
Active member
14569919:alude said:
Great work. Thanks for sharing it all with us. Hopefully you’ll be able to get your hands on some more recent moment skis. Not sure who the dealers are up by you that stock them.
