Review: Head E-Race Pro 170cm

[jbotti]

I have already posted Harald's comments on this ski. I finally got on mine for two days in Utah. Conditions were mostly light, dry and grabby Utah snow, bordering on Montana hero snow. Mine were tuned with a .5 base and a 2 degree side. I was concerned that the .5 base would be too grabby, but they were not bad in that respect. I think the perfect tune is likely a progressive one with .5 under foot and .7 at the tips (for super grippy Montana or Utah snow).
The ski is stiff. I found out from Heluva that not only does the Pro have the WCR14 plate (their full on WC racing plate) but the E-Race Pro comes with the "long" version which is the burlier of their 2 WC plates. I found the tip area (from toepiece of the binding to the tip) to be stiffer than my Stockli SX skis (which have been skied a good bit so maybe have softened some). If you are going to bend this ski, you need some speed and you also need to get forward, stay forward and nail your progressive CA and tipping through the arc. If you do everything right with some speed, they bend really nicely and the rebound is some serious lift off the snow in each arc (very dangerous if you are even slightly back at the end of the arc). I definitely skied them in a way to reduce rebound, as it its safer, but I definitely had a bunch of arcs where I was getting popped off the snow by a foot. Its fun, but also alarming!
Edge hold is outstanding. I did not ski it on ice, but I'm sure with a 3 degree side and .5 base these skis will rock east coast ice.
It's not a forgiving ski. It will run away from you if you get even remotely lazy with pullback at the end of each arc. On our hero snow in Montana, I know this is a ski I would happily ski all the time (on groomers). I did take it off piste for 10 turns at a time yesterday. They ski fine until you hit small bumps or undulations. The skis are stiff and they will bounce you going over terrain off piste. Probably my last choice as an off piste ski.
But on groomers, they truly rock. As high a performance band as I have skied and again, forgiveness is low. On hero snow, pretty easy and enjoyable for me to ski. Obviously on harder snow they will require a greater level of proficiency.
For those that want a ski that requires one to bring their A game and that will not respond well to less than high level (close to perfect) movements, which comes with amazing performance when skied this way, this is the ticket. Its not for everyone.

[go_large_or_go_home]

You do a great job of reviewing skis - long may it continue….

You are correct that HEAD score an F in how they name their skis…

I know that this may take a little time to collate - but would it be possible to catalog each years good/ recommended skis with a photo of the top sheet? This would be particularly useful when searching eBay etc for 2nd hand skis or what skis to try in the rental shop….i don’t entirely trust ‘other’ people’s description about the ski details..

For example, It would help trying to recognise when the Titan became a good ski…

Is this your e-speed?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/395150786015?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=0Oro3-SuQZe&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=5lNa09eLRwy&var=663731891365&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Hope the link stays valid as not sure how to upload a photo from my device….

[jbotti]

The skis you posted a link to is the Head Supershape e.Speed which is the ski that replaced the Head SS i.Speed. Its a very nice slalom carver with a wide performance band, suitable for intermediates as well as expert PMTS skiers. I own 2 pairs of the older i.speed version, (which I like a little better) but they are all wonderful skis and easy to ski.

As must be said with Head skis, its not to be confused with the Worldcup Rebels e.Speed and WC Rebels e.Speed Pro which are not slalom carvers but cheater GS skis. They are very good cheater GS skis, but not what most PMTS skiers are looking for.

As far as creating a catalogue of skis with the years and versions that are preferable, it would be a massive undertaking and the old data would be hard to come by (easy to get data on this years skis but not to easy on last years, and it gets harder each year we go back).

We could make some stickys of skis each year that meet the PMTS standard and post pics and dimensions and assuming we do it every year we would have a nice catalogue going forward. I would need to coordinate with HH, Diana and HSS. But its probably not a herculean effort to do this.

On the titan. its about 3-4 years ago that they softened the ski considerably and made it more bendable allowing a variety of turn shapes.

[jbotti]

So I finally got my eRace Pros out on snow in Montana today. Conditions were perfection with super grippy Montana hero snow. And we had gotten about 2 feet over the past week with limited skiers so you never hit any man made boiler plate underneath. I think these are the best and funnest skis I have ever been on! And on this kind of snow they don't feel all the stiff or unforgiving (and they are both on less perfect snow). On this kind of snow the skis arc beautifully and bend easily and the 14.6 (maybe it's 14. TR bends down to a tight slalom turn. But the skis are so stable they inspire immense confidence and I was arcing some very tight slalom turns down some very steep pitches that I will normally brush carve on. I think this has to do with the plate, stiffness and immense torsional stability. I also think it has something to do with the tune. I have a .5 degree base bevel on the skis and damn it was perfect for today (and in the past I have found .5 to be handful on grippy snow when brushing). With .5 the skis hook up in a carve a fraction of a second sooner than a 1 degree base and that was enabling me to arc nicely on some steeps. I should probably put a .5 base bevel on some more of my slalom carvers, but I still don't think I would be able to do what I was doing today on the steeps on other skis. It's the combo of an uber stable ski and the .5 bevel (and the super grippy snow) that was allowing me to do what I normally feel uncomfortable doing. The only other skis I have been able to confidently arc on steep pitches like today is a pair of Rossignol Race Room GS skis and they are so amazingly stable at speed that it just feels fun and totally in control to be going 45mph in tight GS turns down a 40% grade. The eRace Pro feel as stable as those skis, but obviously has a much tighter TR.

I think this pretty much defines a great ski, one which enables you to take your technique combined with the skis and takes your skiing up a notch.

Again, I think its a ski for those that regularly bend their skis in every arc. It means all the essentials are in place pretty much all the time. But there are quite a few of those skiers on this forum, and they should all be looking at this ski. Heluva sent me an email and he absolutely loves his eRace Pro and non Pro. These are both great skis!
But the blue ones (Pros) absolutely rock!!

[Jjmdane]

How would you compare it to the previous model, the yellow one?

[jbotti]

I have never skied it. Harald says its a burlier ski and harder to bend.

[go_large_or_go_home]

https://youtu.be/0dtBzr6_mVY?si=kncvtLmllMO273KY

HH review, hot off the press..

[jbotti]

So I will sum up or add to my eRace Pro thoughts. Yes these skis do require more of the pilot. That is absolutely true. But they also enable a way of skiing that is not possible (at least for me (and HH can rock on almost any ski)) on other skis. I was skiing with someone today who wanted to try my eRace Pros and we are the same BSL. I gave him mine and I skied his which were some Elan recreational carving skis with a 13.5m TR in a 172cm length (its the Elan Primetime 33 in case anyone cares). We proceeded to ski a modestly steep pitch which was quite a bit less steep than some of the pitches I was arcing on yesterday. After 4 turns I had to back away. The tips would just not handle the load and the whole ski felt modestly unstable. I could have probably finished the run while arcing but I found the whole experience somewhat disconcerting.

So yes the skis require more but they also enable a lot more as well.

These are clearly my favorite skis ever!!

Once you go blue, you're in for something entirely new!!

[go_large_or_go_home]

Have you tried moving the bindings fwd 1/4 inch as HH suggests?

[jbotti]

Yes, that's where I have been skiing them.

[njdiver85]

For the 1/4 inch forward adjustment, are you simply mounting the toe and heel one set of holes higher than what is called for based on the BSL range?

[jbotti]

You probably only have to move the toe piece. My heel piece had enough adjustment that I didn't have to move it to different holes.

[jbotti]

Skied these every day on the last 5 days of my trip to Montana about 10 days ago. In doing super short, super tight BPSRTs, which put a lot of load on the ski, the Pros are vastly superior than the non Pros. The more I ski these, the more I prefer them to lesser skis/less stiff skis. And the more I ski them and get used to them the more used to their performance I become, the harder it is to ski the non Pros or even less stiff skis like the Head SS line (for any high performance arcs). Let's be clear, those are all great skis, and the eRace non Pro is a really dynamic ski. But it just won't do what the Pros will do under high load.

Having said all this, the Pros are a handful in bumps, there just isn't much give and when you take a hit on a bump, and it will throw you. But I did ski it in 6-8" of fresh and while it will never be my go to fresh snow ski, it was fun and relatively easy to ski (for something that is 66mm underfoot). Max 501 would say, the pros are uber stiff until you ski them in bumps for a few weeks and then all the hits will soften them some. This may be the case, but not sure my back will hold up waiting for them to soften!

While I do not ski on the east coast (mainly due to geography (I live on the west coast) and also by choice) I think for those with the skills, the Pros are an awesome every day ski for hard snow conditions and east coast ice. I think with a tune of 3 degrees side combined with a base bevel at .5 or .7 (my guess is that the best might be a progressive base bevel of .5 underfoot with .7 on the tips and tails) and these would be absolutely fantastic for Vermont and NH skiing.