i really think these skis were not designed for a rider forward sled. and with that, the front to rear pressure bias is off. plus the keel may be too aggressive for a rider forward sled. with rider forward, in theory you dont need as an aggressive keel due to the amount of weight bias on the front end of the sled. in the powder they may be great, cause you have more turning bite from the keel. on the trail and in set up, crusted or wet snow pack, they are a handfull to say the least.
i went to the powder hounds from slydog with a 1/2 keel protector (skisaver) from bergstrom skegs.
http://www.bergstromskegs.com/ without the ski saver they were great on the trail, with a very little push, and limited darting. out in the powder, they didnt want to turn as crisp as the stockers. so i add the keel extender/skisaver, and dialed a bit more ski pressure via front springs and limiter straps. i truely like the way the sled handles now.
before the above i played with every setting on the sled with the stock skis inc toe. and it felt like riding a bull, you never knew where the front was going, and when it got there it didnt want to be there. i also tried the doo pilot 6.9 skis as they are design for rider forward, and the guys on TY were saying they helped their sleds. well, they did help on the trail but, for side hilling and carving the outer keel limited how far you could go up on one ski without having to reef it over, and when you did that it put you into a snap roll turn. no easy way to keep the sled on one ski for very long.
so off those went, and we went with the slydogs. i believe set up and skis are the big answers here. just my .02 ski
I think it is the skis with there huge keel on the bottom, makes it very difficult to turn while going slow. Anyone else get the same feeling?
