Ski keel width... part of the problem?

[bjowett]

Skis have to be one of the most discussed items on here... heavy steering, darting ect. A couple years back someone mentioned using the skis from a VK Pro. They are wide like the mountain skis, but don't have the curved edges down the sides. The other large difference I noticed with the VK ski is a substantially wider keel bottom. It would seem obvious(?) that with the VK being so heavy, that the regular width keel would penetrate too deep on packed and groomed trails, thus adding to the heavy steering. So why are we all running around on narrow keeled skis when when some of our sleds have allot more ski pressure due to the 4 stroke engine weight up front? Thoughts?

 

[RSVECTORFREAK]

I don't know either. All of my UP friends run Yammie MTN skis even on 121" 4 strokers and love them...

 

[apltx08]

Its kind of a double edge sword! when you ride with a widder ski it'll tend to HYDROPLANE or ride on surface of snow in groomed trails in corners when snow is loose or soft and not get enough BITE to turn properly and push like crazy! then when using a NORROWER ski with a deep keel you get the BITE, heavy steering and darting effect with no FLOATATION...thats wear you need to find that PERFECT balance and proper set-up...I actually run STOCK ski's shimmed w/deuce bars and find them very acceptable!

 

[ahicks]

I'm glad this has come up! Safe bet ski designs are compromises at best. Playing with a couple different ones can be a real education that everyone should be able to experience.

I think most, or certainly a lot of riders, don't have the foggiest notion of what the bottom of their ski looks like. They read that the stock Yammi skis suck and brand X worked friggen great on so and so's sled, so they run out and buy brand X. Then they run them thinking they're the cat's meow compared to anything else on the market, and are 100% prepared to share that info with anyone that asks.

The relevant questions, like how does so on so ride their sled, ones wondering about keel shape and width, ski width and shape, and how those differences affect how the ski handles under different situations/conditions, seems to be totally lost.

I ran the stockers for many miles too. Switched from them recently to a wider ski with a deeper keel for more flotation while in the soft stuff -withought affecting trail manners too much. That was the plan anyway. Ended up with some pretty heavy steering that I'm still trying to get dialed out using suspension settings. No more snow squirting out from the insides of the skis and coming up over the windshield though!