Interesting! I also was one of the very few that could not bond w/ the Enforcers. Not sure why. I tried different widths and none of them felt right. It's a great ski, just not my cup of tea.
I also ski the Mantra @177. I'm 200+ lbs/ 6'. I've owned the 184's and 177's in several versions (used East and West coast) but always preferred the shorter length. The M6 is the first Mantra I think I might bond w/ in a 184.
For me, I compliment the Mantras w/ my Bones (5 sets used in diff yrs all in 180). I like the feel of both. They have a different feel and I like changing my technique to adapt to their strengths. The Mantras have always seemed to require a bit more precision as compared to the Bones. The M6's seem to know and more precisely, expect what I want them to do, before I execute the input. Volkl is on to "Something" here. I've never felt this before in the hundreds of skis I've had the pleasure of riding. Their design has changed the game of "Ski Feel". It's almost eerie how intuitive the M6 is. I'm waiting for the newness factor to wear off and get a few nicks, scratches and gouges in them so I can re-evaluate w/o the "shiny new toy" perspective.
So far, whatever IT is about the construction of this ski... that intuitive connection links back up every time like a "wearable accessory" that you somehow plug into your neural network.
Lean fwd, back, center... do the same switch...pop, hop, drive or charge in low gear or high gear and the ski responds like it's part of your body.... weird but in an exciting way.
One more thing...... nothing I've been on below race stock even comes close to touching the older Bones as far as stability at speed. The Older Bones nailed the speed thing hands down. As I've said before when I think I'm nearing top speed, the older Bones look up at me and say, "Poser! Is that all you got!?!? LAME! Let's GO!" I'm curious about the Bonafide 97's but I'm much to old to be going that fast anymore!
Yo Momma,
that's a fun name to write..
I skied the new m6 today at the mammoth demo, it wasn't on my list, but I had to try it anyway as the new kendo and Mantra 102 were so dang good!
All 3 had the best tunes of the day, and I'm wondering if that is part of the magic you are bonding with on the M6?
Volkl spend 6million bucks on new factory tuning machines, and it shows!
Great ski, I owned the M5 and last Kendo, and the new ones are much better skis and have much better tunes as well.
3 d sidecut mixed with lighter tip and perfect tune is money.
Ratbastrd, that's interesting to write as well,
Mammoth snow is just like Tahoe right now, and my same comments hold true. m6 was great today on the glazed areas, I only went into the wipeout chutes off chair 23 once today, and I chose to on the m6 as it was solid and predicable, even after only having 1 run on it.
Cheers!
W