Rode Moment Melees mounted center for the first half of season. Here's my review:
Me-6'1" 155lbs, Expert, likes trees, and steeps.
Ski - Moment Melees w/ solly z12s mounted true center
Conditions - two feet of fresh, heavy powder, more or less tree skiing
Skis I like -- Ruby 188, JJ's 188(?), ARV's 185, K2 AK enemies
Dislike - Big troubles, Gotamas, THA 187
Construction - Yes, bomber, bases especially. This was opening day at
our mountain and we definitely didn't have full coverage, yet there
wasn't even a scratch on the bases. Topsheets didn't take too hard of
a beating and there wasn't much damage there. With having one of the
lightest bindings on them, it felt like there was hardly anything on my
feet.
Fairly easy to ski. The rocker took some getting used to; just
staying away from back seat in the pow (who woulda thunk it?). They
are suuper soft and plus the rocker makes them feel even softer, but
they still handled considerably better than expected.
Groomed - There wasn't much corduroy to ski yesterday but on hardpack i
wasn't so impressed. Once I got to about 30 (roughly) they started
gettin pretty squirrelly. I didn't take them much past that mainly
because my din was set way too low and they already felt like they were
about to fly off. heh but they were still able to hold an edge when
needed, though a little extra effort was also a factor.
Bumps - well every damn runout was bumpy yesterday. If there wasn't
some fresh snow on top you really had to work to control the skis. my
thighs were killin me by the end of the day.
Trees - Epic. That's all I really need to say. I was skiing the
rubies in the morning and they were actually quit comparable. Great
float, easy control and landing switch was not one bit of a problem.
The main difference was that I had to stay away from backseat or I'd
just slide out on my ass, I assume due to the rocker. They opened the
second half of our mountain around noon and that gave us that whole
side with two feet totally untracked. The rest of the guys were
complaining about the heavy snow but the Melees tackled it
wonderfully.
For a pow ski I'd say 10/10
For overall I'd say 8/10 due to the instability through the hardpack.
I will note though that the instability was not from the tips flopping
around. it was from the skis moving side to side over the snow from
lack of edge grip. All I might need to do is keep on an edge,
snowboard style or something like that.
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Right now I'm skiing the bibby's which are also mounted center but not totally symmetrical. A lot more stable than the Melees. You can actually carve on hardpack. Though our mountain does not have a park yet, i see them as being a park ski/back country jib-stick.
