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The Never-Ending Faction Discussion

Tony Storaro

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One thing I notice is the CT 1.0 is more tiring than my i-Magnum. Not sure why yet,

Because the CT don't turn by themselves and especially if you do lots of short turns at slow speed it requires more effort than on the Heads.
Magnums are what? 13m at 170cm? The CTs in 178 are 17m and are not exactly quick edge to edge.
 

Prosper

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Skied my CT 1.0 172cm yesterday at Copper for 2/3 of the day. Factory tune. Firm packed powder conditions. They felt really good on the groomers. However, in the bumps I couldn’t stay on top of them. It felt like they wanted to shoot out under my feet every turn and the tips didn’t want to engage. I moved the bindings forward and back a few times from minus 1cm to minus 2.5cm which didn’t help. Swapped after lunch to my Liberty V76 which skied much better in the bumps. Dropped the CTs off at my tuner yesterday after skiing to grind the bases flat and set the edges at 1 and 3 degrees. Hopefully that’ll help.
 
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anders_nor

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packed 1.0 and 2.0 2021 in bag today, been in wax forever

2.0 on fresh grind, then with wax over summer. should be fast. 88/1 setup now, but probably going 87/1, just wanted to do another grind & verify
 

cantunamunch

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Because the CT don't turn by themselves and especially if you do lots of short turns at slow speed it requires more effort than on the Heads.
Magnums are what? 13m at 170cm? The CTs in 178 are 17m and are not exactly quick edge to edge.

Which brings up a valid point - this thread is very fussy about getting Factions tuned right and getting binding position correct on the ski.

Is anyone willing to be fussy about their binding platform height?
 
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GregK

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Skied my CT 1.0 172cm yesterday at Copper for 2/3 of the day. Factory tune. Firm packed powder conditions. They felt really good on the groomers. However, in the bumps I couldn’t stay on top of them. It felt like they wanted to shoot out under my feet every turn and the tips didn’t want to engage. I moved the bindings forward and back a few times from minus 1cm to minus 2.5cm which didn’t help. Swapped after lunch to my Liberty V76 which skied much better in the bumps. Dropped the CTs off at my tuner yesterday after skiing to grind the bases flat and set the edges at 1 and 3 degrees. Hopefully that’ll help.
Twin tips will be more loose if you get a bit backseat on them but if they didn’t change that much even with moving the mount back, there might be some base high issues there.

Most of my skis from Faction and other manufacturers have almost all been edge high except for my Volkl Deacons, Rustler 9s and 184cm CT 3.0 which base high. With all of them I was constantly trying to “get centered” and struggle with balance on them. Transformed and much more planted after the grind.
 
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GregK

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Which brings up a valid point - this thread is very fussy about getting Factions tuned right and getting binding position correct on the ski.

Is anyone willing to be fussy about their binding platform height?
That’s why I have attacks on all of my skis and then shimmed(2mm) my new Blizzard Firebird so all my quiver is 2mm-2.5mm positive delta with only the blizzard having a higher platform height.
 

Tony Storaro

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Which brings up a valid point - this thread is very fussy about getting Factions tuned right and getting binding position correct on the ski.

Is anyone willing to be fussy about their binding platform height?

Reading what the others have to go through with imperfect tuning, base/edge high skis I am beginning to think I am some special sort of lucky. All my skis including the Faction and I mean ALL came from the factory absolutely perfect and flat. Base grind-not even once!

As for the bindings, on the CTs I am with STH2 and like them so much that am getting the 3.0 mounted with the same red STH2s.
But I guess I am less sensitive to that as I like all of my bindings-just prefer the looks of some compared to others-SPX 15 and STH2 in my eyes are muuuuuch better looking than the Attacks which I have on my Wildcats.
 

GB_Ski

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Because the CT don't turn by themselves and especially if you do lots of short turns at slow speed it requires more effort than on the Heads.
Magnums are what? 13m at 170cm? The CTs in 178 are 17m and are not exactly quick edge to edge.
Could be. I'm waiting for my skis to get done so I can do a full review.
 

Prosper

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Twin tips will be more loose if you get a bit backseat on them but if they didn’t change that much even with moving the mount back, there might be some base high issues there.

Most of my skis from Faction and other manufacturers have almost all been edge high except for my Volkl Deacons, Rustler 9s and 184cm CT 3.0 which base high. With all of them I was constantly trying to “get centered” and struggle with balance on them. Transformed and much more planted after the grind.
Since they felt great on the groomers I was a bit surprised when I struggled in the moguls with them esp considering the twins. I also noticed that occasionally in the bumps and when skating on flats I'd catch the back tip with my other ski which doesn't happen w/ my other skis. Not a big deal but will have to make an adjustment or just get used to it.
 

anders_nor

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long tail is a learning curve.

I've spent all season on skinnysish, the 2 pow days I spent on M102 191cm... I skied the CT 2.0 2021 188 today, shees tails batman.
 

Prosper

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Bindings back -2.5cm didn't make a difference? Even with the back tip catching?
I moved the bindings a few times so am not completely sure at what setting it happened most often. I want to saw that I spent the least amount of time at -2.5cm since I assumed that would be worst in the bumps. It didn't happen at all when skiing groomers but my feet are further apart when doing higher speed carving. If I catch my back tip while skiing groomers something is really wrong...with me and my technique.
 

EG-NJ

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I moved the bindings a few times so am not completely sure at what setting it happened most often. I want to saw that I spent the least amount of time at -2.5cm since I assumed that would be worst in the bumps. It didn't happen at all when skiing groomers but my feet are further apart when doing higher speed carving. If I catch my back tip while skiing groomers something is really wrong...with me and my technique.
Everyone has their own bump style so I'm curious about the details. Were you skiing them flat in the zipperline and they were sluggish, or pivoting the tails outside the zipper and they were catching, or carving in the troughs and they wouldn't release, or was it something else? Also, if the tune doesn't help much and you can nudge them to Candide's line, there's no harm in giving that a shot.
 

Philpug

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I skied the Dancer 2 today, fun ski.
IMG_1149.jpeg
 

Prosper

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Everyone has their own bump style so I'm curious about the details. Were you skiing them flat in the zipperline and they were sluggish, or pivoting the tails outside the zipper and they were catching, or carving in the troughs and they wouldn't release, or was it something else? Also, if the tune doesn't help much and you can nudge them to Candide's line, there's no harm in giving that a shot.
I've more of a of a carving in the troughs type of mogul skier. It didn't feel like the tails didn't release. It more felt like I couldn't stay forward enough to get the tips to engage. It felt like I couldn't get out of the back seat which is not how I feel with my other skis. The catching of the tails seems like it occurred when trying to get the tips engaged at the beginning of the turn. Perhaps the CT is not at all forgiving and just needs to be driven from a more forward position all the time in the bumps. We'll see this weekend if the grind and tune makes a difference.
 

EG-NJ

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I've more of a of a carving in the troughs type of mogul skier. It didn't feel like the tails didn't release. It more felt like I couldn't stay forward enough to get the tips to engage. It felt like I couldn't get out of the back seat which is not how I feel with my other skis. The catching of the tails seems like it occurred when trying to get the tips engaged at the beginning of the turn. Perhaps the CT is not at all forgiving and just needs to be driven from a more forward position all the time in the bumps. We'll see this weekend if the grind and tune makes a difference.
Yeah, stiff tips/tails might not snake well through tight trough carves. Nudging them up to Candide's line should put you in the sweet spot of the hourglass with maximum maneuverability and leverage to engage the (very slightly) shorter tips. That might help, as could centering a bit forward (stance weight a bit more towards the balls of your feet) to drive them.

I typically stay out of the troughs. Perhaps that's PTSD from surviving the bad old days when my skinny sticks were 20cm over head height and Killington's Outer Limits ice-hard troughs snaked through bumps the size and shape of VW Beetles (I'm exaggerating, but not by much).

But when I do venture in the troughs on twins, I tend to feather just the underfoot edges and let the tips and tails slide along for the ride. Don't know if that's possible with the 1.0 since I've yet to try mine but my other twins (108 underfoot) aren't wet noodles and the technique works well. Slapping them against the bottom third of the bump also helps slow me down, then the slight bounce off of it starts redirecting me into the next turn. Overall it's fairly effortless and gentle on the body.

Conversely, locking into a dedicated carve can be a lot of work unless the troughs are fairly elongated, wide, shallow and soft. Perhaps that's why Candide just straightlines them (cheater). Then again, what do I know, since I'm just a hack and alumni of the Ski School of Hard Knocks.
 
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GregK

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Had the Blackops 118(CT 3.75) out today with about 6” of heavy new snow that got tracked out quickly. Skis felt instantly comfortable and find they are like a wide 21 CT 2.0 as it has a bit softer tip/tails than the CT 3.0 and similar rubber damping to the BO 118. Awesome in tracked powder and then then crud that followed by noon.

Like the 184cm CT 3.0, they didn’t need that much speed to come alive and carved and gripped great with the sharp 1/3 tune I have on them. Think I might take the BO 118 and the CT 2.0 out west this year.

One interesting thing that made me think of @Tony Storaro. I got lots of comments on the graphics during the day on the BO skis and one group asked “why there isn’t any snow sticking on them?”
Didn’t even notice till they mentioned it that I have the only ski top sheet in all the lift lines today that didn’t have any sticking snow on them. Guess the ceramic coating seem to help much more on these than any other ski I’ve ever had. Were clean all day without brushing them.

19FE199A-C50B-4CEE-92D0-C9642A4D0D47.jpeg
 

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