Skins

[b-rock]

Thinking of soon purchasing skins for use on my downhill gear with trackers until I can throw down the cash on a full randonee setup. Ultimately whatever skiis I use for randonee will be shorter and wider than my downhills. So I guess in order for the width to be right on the randonee skiis, I'd have to put up with too-wide skins for the time being. I know I'll sacrifice some stability if they come over my edges, but will I trash them? Thanks y'all.

[specialed]

I'd imagine they wouldn't get trashed if you soft used them in soft snow, and didn't use them too many times. In crusty, or corn-type conditions they might get cut up a bit espescially if you have sharp edges. You might consider buying some BD Snake Skins, which are plastic and cheap but don't work super well. They'd get you through for now until you got your randonne set up going.

[b-rock]

Thanks for the tips. Sounds like having a little extra base showing on the randonee setup won't kill me, so I think I'll go with that...

[Dave_Schuldt]

Skins that are to wide will not work, they will peel off.

[David_Parker]

Most folks buying skins today have to trim them because they have shaped skis. So Buy your skins for your downhill gear and trim them down if you change skis. If the next pair will be wider, just buy as wide as you can for the first pair. They should still work for the second if they are a little wider. To trim, put them on the skis and use a razor blade or one of those razor letter openers. You definitely don't want them wider than your skis!

[ 01-31-2002: Message edited by: David Parker ]

[Beck]

No doubt on the skins need to NOT be wider than your edges-when you switch over to Randonee having a few mm of ski bottom uncovered isn't going to be that much of a performance issue.

you'll be much more secure on traverses on your current DH skis with skins not overlapping your edges.