Thoughts on shorter tt800's

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Thoughts on shorter tt800's

Postby pbuddingh » Thu Apr 19, 2012 8:11 pm

Any experience or comments on shorter lengths of the tt800?

The 170 is well thought of, and sometimes 5 cm can make a big difference.

I'm 150 lbs soaking wet and am considering a 164 over the 170. Currently ski the original SS in a 160 and peak 78 in a 171.

SS's are getting older and looking to replace them a with more bump friendly groomer ski.
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Re: Thoughts on shorter tt800's

Postby HighAngles » Fri Apr 20, 2012 5:34 am

You didn't provide your height.

Ski length selection is all about your height and the type of skiing (or conditions) you'll be using them for. That's right, it's not about your weight. IMO this is one of the biggest fallacies that's perpetrated over and over again by ski sales dudes and Internet ski forum self-anointed advisors (hey - I'm one of those too :lol: ).

Your weight and aggressiveness come into play when considering the stiffness of the ski flex. You want to match the relative stiffness of the ski to your ability to bend it at the speeds you prefer to ski.

Your height and the type of skiing come into play when considering the length of the ski. Your height is important because it determines where your CoM rides in relation to the ski's tips and tails and how efficiently you'll be able to apply ski pressure via your movements.

Consider for a moment two very extreme examples that illustrate my point. Would you put a 5' man who weighs 300 lbs. on a 200cm ski? How about a 7' woman who weighs 120 lbs. on a 160cm? It makes no sense and it's clear that weight should not be the primary factor in ski length selection.

OK, I'll get off my soapbox now... :)
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Re: Thoughts on shorter tt800's

Postby pbuddingh » Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:18 am

5' 8" 25 raptor boots. Dark blue PMTS camper.

but what I'm really getting at is there a significant performance difference between the two skis 164 -170 or is it more or less linear for all the factors you list. expertise speed and agressiveness and size.
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Re: Thoughts on shorter tt800's

Postby Max_501 » Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:46 am

Skill level plays an important role is ski length selection.

Given that you currently ski a 160cm SS I would guess that the 164cm TT800 will work nicely. I ski the 170cm TT80 and I'm 5'11. Jbotti aslo skis the 170cm and he is taller yet.
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Re: Thoughts on shorter tt800's

Postby DVLocal » Tue Apr 24, 2012 6:52 am

I am 5'6" and I weigh 165 and ski a 165 ss and a 164 TT800 in Utah snow.

To get the SS to drift a turn, I have to focus on releasing the edge.

The TT800 wants to drift and I need to focus on edge form to get the ski to have a hard edge turn.

The both appear to have the right binding location. Next year I plan to try moving the TT800 binding ahead a bit to see what happens.

Have a great summer.

Colin
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Re: Thoughts on shorter tt800's

Postby Max_501 » Tue Apr 24, 2012 3:39 pm

DVLocal wrote:The TT800 wants to drift and I need to focus on edge form to get the ski to have a hard edge turn.


This could be a tune issue. My new iPeak 78 felt like that until I gave them a base grind.
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Re: Thoughts on shorter tt800's

Postby HighAngles » Tue Apr 24, 2012 7:01 pm

Max_501 wrote:
DVLocal wrote:The TT800 wants to drift and I need to focus on edge form to get the ski to have a hard edge turn.


This could be a tune issue. My new iPeak 78 felt like that until I gave them a base grind.


Or a binding mount position issue (oh not that stuff again :wink: ).

DVLocal - Given your 5' 6" height I would imagine that your foot size isn't that large either. Head skis' factory mount position is too far back for people with smaller feet (anything less than a 10). You state that they "appear to have the right binding location", but what are you basing that on? If it's just the factory line I guarantee you can do better.
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Re: Thoughts on shorter tt800's

Postby Max_501 » Tue Apr 24, 2012 9:02 pm

HighAngles wrote:Or a binding mount position issue (oh not that stuff again :wink: ).


Maybe. But I have my doubts. The TT80 is a very grippy ski when tuned properly. Even on the factory mark it shouldn't feel overly drifty. Certainly worth a test with the ease of moving the bindings.

BTW - HH, Jbotti, and I ski the TT80 on the factory mark.
Last edited by Max_501 on Wed Apr 25, 2012 8:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Thoughts on shorter tt800's

Postby ToddW » Wed Apr 25, 2012 1:27 am

HighAngles wrote:DVLocal - Given your 5' 6" height I would imagine that your foot size isn't that large either. Head skis' factory mount position is too far back for people with smaller feet (anything less than a 10). You state that they "appear to have the right binding location", but what are you basing that on? If it's just the factory line I guarantee you can do better.


Perhaps. But as a counter example, I am 5' 7" with a size 9 foot. I made a systematic sweep in 4mm increments over binding positions on my 170cm TT80 after reading another post like this by Steve. Three clicks / 1.2cm forward has my tails levered up in the air, and 2 clicks / 0.8 cm has them light. The factory-designated position skis better for me. YMMV.
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Re: Thoughts on shorter tt800's

Postby HighAngles » Thu Apr 26, 2012 5:01 am

Well then maybe I stand corrected. I've never skied the TT80 (or TT800). It could be the exception, but that would really surprise me.
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