Thoughts on Curve XSM Skis?

[Matthew457]

How are they? What's the width on them? Weight? What carbides do you run with them? Do they run better on and off trail then the stock 2012 nytro XTX skis?

 

[RIGIDONE]

the width changes, they are hour glass shapped, Im putting a 6" shaper bar on mine this season, I had a woody's 6" round bar last year that pushed a bit in loose snow on the trail.. And YES!!!! it is a vast improvement over the stock ski!!! you wont be disappointed.. IMO this is the best ski you can toss on a nytro..

 

[Matthew457]

the width changes, they are hour glass shapped, Im putting a 6" shaper bar on mine this season, I had a woody's 6" round bar last year that pushed a bit in loose snow on the trail.. And YES!!!! it is a vast improvement over the stock ski!!! you wont be disappointed.. IMO this is the best ski you can toss on a nytro..

How about in the powder?

 

[RIGIDONE]

How about in the powder?

It's great, the wide tip gets right up on plane quick.. IMO its a ski that does everything well..You might find a ski that works better on the trail but sucks in the pow, or vise versa..the curve ski does it all pretty damn good..

 

[birdmayon]

Agree with rigid, the curves are great.

I too was running a 6" round bar last year. Worked really well in most cases but a bit of push and I was also considering a set of shapers, however, due to their bitey nature, I was thinking of 4.5".

 

[herndonp]

They hold the line,but do increase steering effort some on my Mountaintech 43+2 a-arms. Not sure if they add effort to stock a-arms.I run 4" carbides with no push in corners.

Pete

 

[terez]

They are parabolic...which is they are ~7.5 wide at the tip and tail and then hourglass at the spindle area.
They are also a rocker keel design with the rocker putting more weight on the spindle area and relieving weight from the tips and tails.

They Float and work in loose snow and pow very well.
They act and handle as well as any true MTN ski.

On trail they work better than either tuners or conventional oem skis in handling.
They have a slightly higher steering effort than conventional or tuners but not as heavy as most all other aftermarket skis,,,and they handle much better and push way less than the same.
They are very high quality and well made...thick tough plastic and keels, sturdy loops etc.

They use only 1 carbide that is not proprietary so its affordable and easy to keep good carbides on them. Also they typically need a lil less carbide than usual.
Curve recommends only 4in carbides for trail riding...even studded or deep lugged tracks.
I ran their 4in round bar carbides last yr on my studded Nytro and they did handle well and didn't push too much....I will personally go with 6in round bar carbides this yr tho for a lil better bite and handling...I ride hard and need the extra security..
They dramatically improve the Nytro in loose snow and off trail.....the sled will actually float some and not submarine into the loose snow.

As others have said...they shine off trail and in powder...they handle better than oem on trail AND steer fairly easy....this combo is hard to find in one ski.
Tough as nails too and reasonably priced and only need one set of carbides that are easy to find everywhere so you can shop and find them easy.

 

[porkchop]

...And being wider, they don't fit all to well on the trailer when you have another sled-
When new I ran over my buddies skis after he loaded first, LOL. Over time they got scratched and I didn't worry.
Sold 'em on here w/ BN carbides for $250.

I didn't like them on my old Firecat, then Phazer- seemed to darty, mainly on hard pack even with a 6" studboy carbide.
'09 Nytro RTX has tuners (4" in/ out) and I don't have issues, happy trails.

 

[terez]

...And being wider, they don't fit all to well on the trailer when you have another sled-
When new I ran over my buddies skis after he loaded first, LOL. Over time they got scratched and I didn't worry.
Sold 'em on here w/ BN carbides for $250.

I didn't like them on my old Firecat, then Phazer- seemed to darty, mainly on hard pack even with a 6" studboy carbide.
'09 Nytro RTX has tuners (4" in/ out) and I don't have issues, happy trails.

Yep..any skis wider than stock will have U stompin on yer buddies skis on the trailer...iswutitis. They gotta be wider to work in loose snow tho.....especially for the 4strokes.
I also prefer the tuners on hard pack and whenever the trail base is hard and set up...either 4/4 or 6in 2 out. Less steering effort, no darting.
But the tuners blow when the snow is loose/fresh/deep/trails have lil or no base/off trail. The Curves rock in these conditions.
I swap back/forth for these conditions.
Super quick and easy to do on the Nytro.

No different than a dirt bike. The same knobbies don't work in every terrain...some are stellar in some and some try to kill you in others....lol

 

[Matthew457]

Yep..any skis wider than stock will have U stompin on yer buddies skis on the trailer...iswutitis. They gotta be wider to work in loose snow tho.....especially for the 4strokes.
I also prefer the tuners on hard pack and whenever the trail base is hard and set up...either 4/4 or 6in 2 out. Less steering effort, no darting.
But the tuners blow when the snow is loose/fresh/deep/trails have lil or no base/off trail. The Curves rock in these conditions.
I swap back/forth for these conditions.
Super quick and easy to do on the Nytro.

No different than a dirt bike. The same knobbies don't work in every terrain...some are stellar in some and some try to kill you in others....lol

What would it be like to just ride all the time with the skis put in the mountain position? Cause I am 85% on trail and the rest I just jump off trail when I can. Does it even make that much of a difference when you ride on trail in the mountain ski position?

 

[jamieren]

Useful information here. I've been waffling over what to do myself on this same issue. Having only taken the machine out once in about 5" of snow (I have a '12 xtx like Matthew) I'm relying a lot on opinions. I just don't want to run into problems and be in a rush to fix them, waiting for the skis to be freighted to me.