Moving up to current gen race skis from vintage Rossignol 9X Course

[dcoral]

Agreed 100% on a more gentle base bevel. .7 is a nice blend of recreation and raceable. For pure recreation or on less steep courses, a 1/3 is still a very viable tune and far more forgiving.

Also, the OP. I'd love to see what your technique looks like. If you have a bit of old school driving left in you, modern carvers aren't going to be optimal or as fun. With good technique, they will do amazing things at less speed than a full on masters GS ski.

The Head GS FIS 193 feels fun and forgiving for recreation, so if 0.4 is aggressive - I am wondering whether my edge is truly set to the factory 0.4 (I’ll get a gauge, I am curious). But that being said, I always use my edge to carve. Even 20 years ago I loved tilting my skis on edge to bite into the ice, body straight down the fall line, arc to arc, everything I see about “modern” carving techniques.. it looks familiar. When I see videos about the old school method, I think about green bunny slope method. I was not skidding back then. Or maybe there’s some nuance I’m not aware of. I need to go to the race clinic again to see if I’m missing something. I guess the reason I love GS FIS radius skis is because the natural arc matches the turns I like to make, and when I make tighter turns I feel like I am scrubbing speed (because GS courses are not set like SL courses) - which is not as fun when I want to “pretend” I’m going down a GS run for 10 seconds on a wide open run.

 

[SkiHood]

I would love to hear what you thought of the Head skis you bought compared to the 9x. I have a similar background, I skied a 200cm Rossignol Kevlar 4s in HS for GS and SL. I have a teammate in the beer league that wants to sell me the 9x's for me to race with. I'm thinking i could find something newer that might work better. I bought some 2019 193cm Blizzard Firebird R30 WC FIS skis. I love them but the beer leagues courses are a bit tight for the R30's. I need something between 17R-21R.

 

[Tony S]

I have a teammate in the beer league that wants to sell me the 9x's for me to race with.

I'm thinking i could find something newer that might work better.

You can.

Have you read the whole thread from the beginning? Lots of good posts in there. Start with this one. You are going to get more helpful responses if you just let go of the whole 9X thing immediately. Put them in the attic with your wooden tennis racquets and don't mention them again. Otherwise people are just going to roll their eyes because we've seen this thing so often.

 

[trailtrimmer]

I would love to hear what you thought of the Head skis you bought compared to the 9x. I have a similar background, I skied a 200cm Rossignol Kevlar 4s in HS for GS and SL. I have a teammate in the beer league that wants to sell me the 9x's for me to race with. I'm thinking i could find something newer that might work better. I bought some 2019 193cm Blizzard Firebird R30 WC FIS skis. I love them but the beer leagues courses are a bit tight for the R30's. I need something between 17R-21R.

Volkl racetigers, atomic g9, Dynastar or rossi masters would be a nice way to go in a modern improvement. What is your weight and height?

The 9x is a relic and should be used as fence slats or furniture at this point.

 

[dcoral]

I would love to hear what you thought of the Head skis you bought compared to the 9x. I have a similar background, I skied a 200cm Rossignol Kevlar 4s in HS for GS and SL. I have a teammate in the beer league that wants to sell me the 9x's for me to race with. I'm thinking i could find something newer that might work better. I bought some 2019 193cm Blizzard Firebird R30 WC FIS skis. I love them but the beer leagues courses are a bit tight for the R30's. I need something between 17R-21R.

I love the head GS FIS skis. They actually feel very similar to the 9X, just a little more maneuverable because I went down a few cm in length, but overall wonderful and exactly what I was looking for. I've been bringing several skis on trips and still trying out different ones out of curiosity, but I always go back to the Head GS FIS for the most enjoyable experience. My testing reinforced that I hate short highly shaped skis, they feel like kids skis. My second favorite is the Volkl Mantra M6 when I want to mess around in the crud by the trees.

I actually saw someone at Mammoth last weekend with the same Rossignol 9X GS skis! I spotted him in line and told him I love those skis. He just bought them from someone in new condition. He's also an expert skier.

I'm still not on the same wavelength as most the posters on this forum. You have to experience skiing a lot on GS skis to appreciate them and the stability they offer, before you form the bad habits and get lazy on short kids skis.

 

[François Pugh]

I'm still not on the same wavelength as most the posters on this forum. You have to experience skiing a lot on GS skis to appreciate them and the stability they offer, before you form the bad habits and get lazy on short kids skis.

I hear you. I'm getting these tuned (hoping to restore some speed to the base). The tune costs way more than the skis are worth, but I know what I like in a high-speed ski, and it's still less than a new ski.

The SL skis are fun to ski at high edge angles on smaller (<300 ft vertical) hills in Ontario Canada. You do have to keep them on edge and turning, though. If you don't, they will randomly hunt for their own turns, and at a higher frequency the faster you ski.
The old SG and GS skis are fun to carve clean looooong turns with at higher speeds (>50 mph).