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For those of you lucky enough to live in or have an extended stay in Japan - How do Japanese skis compare to popular European & American brands?

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Skis are skis....

The most important factor is to choose the one that suits your weight.

And your ski style for some people...

So I weigh 125 lbs, and when I used to compete I found some European skis are just too stiff because they weigh a lot compared to me.

What you need to know is how you can read the ski you pick up and at least you can get a guess of how it's likely to be out there. Side curve. Flex. Materials.

Depends how many skis you had (or skied) you can compare

 

Kazama skis are great IMO.

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Kazama ....do they still make them?...if so must be entry models.

 

I demo'd some OGASAKA skis last season. I was very impressed with them. They were GS skis very stable. Looking around at Happo Ski school about half of the instructors use OGASAKA and most on GS.

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You are right stemik. The Kazama brand name was sold to Alpen company and the skis have no relation to the original products. NIshizawa is the same. In the old days , Kazama , Ogasaka, Nishizawa, Swallow were well known Japanese brand names. Out of all that the Ogasaka survives. Ogasaka has a strong following from ski school instructors and the "demonstrator" crowd. I always liked Kazama and they were ahead of time and made the Air-flow comp, 197 cm GSL skis when the norm for GLS was 200~203 cm. They put 3 holes in the tip to introduce air flow and better vibration absorption, They were heavy but so light and fast on the snow with a stiff tail and a side curve that worked like magic. It propelled you out of the curve. Swallow was a rental ski brand...

The engineers who brought out Kazama started out their own company, and is called

KEI- SKI. I would like to have a go on them next time I'm there. Considering my Kazama ski's were Y100,000 rrp and I bought it for Y70,000 in '81 and the current KEI-SKI's are sold for about the same I think that's pretty good.

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Japanese snow. Hmm..

Well... Small mountain carving skis would seem to suit Japanese resorts and style. Even the big mountains tend to have a huge fleet of short little lifts.

 

But actually I know nothing about Japanese skis. Plus I live on Shikoku.

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Vector Glide are fantastic skis and I think are produced by the same guy who started Gentem Snowboards (or maybe it was his mate). I havent skied them, but have friends who do, and have heard nothing but good reviews about them - other than their price. I looked at getting a pair, but got a better deal on pmgear's lhasas smile

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I saw some Ogasaka skis in Tokyo. I held out my hand to touch them, then saw the price tag and withdrew my hand quickly. It was like touching a hot surface.

 

I like the all black design with nothing on it, 'cept Ogasaka on the sole.

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The lhasas are mounted with dukes which make them a bit heavier but still a lighter ski compared with my atomics and pontoons. If we meet up some time, you can try em HS...quite a few people here in Japan have them. I also have pmgear's soft bros with diamirs and theyre suuuuuuuuper light and poppy.

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^^^ Thanks CB worship As a mere meadow-skipping tele-er, I'm not sure if I'm worthy, but I'd definately take you up on the offer if we meet up some time next season. My only other concern is that I'd fall in love with them and switch to the "dark side" (AT).

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Originally Posted By: snowjunky
For the unitiated, what are Ihasas? - should I be jealous also?


Hey guys - Am I invisible?

Maybe I am but i'm also inquisitive.
I have googled lhasa & as I imagine you are not riding Tibetan mountain dogs I am still in the dark.
Can you enlighten me?
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Sorry snowjunky, PMGear's Lhasas are a revolutionary ski...there are some really good reviews if you do a quick search. I was also looking at some Vector Glides or some Rossi C7's as well (which are a similar shape to the Lhasas - and made after the Lhasas...)

 

I dont know if its worth being jealous about (I dont think so), but they are a sweet ski - its my fav of my quiver and the one I enjoy powder'gasms with the most after getting it last season smile

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Thanks CB, I did find those reviews after your advice

 

WOW! I can't believe a ski wih that width underfoot can carve like they say. Though being a surfer I can relate to rocker being used to good effect in the pow.

 

I hadn't heard of PM Gear before, where are they situated?

Love to demo some of their stuff

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Took a while to put a rocker into snow gear for sure.

Lib tech is doing it for their snowboards but I bet it takes a bit of getting used to on hard surface... I think the k2 snowboards have it too.

I was in a shop looking at skis and I can relate to the Rossi C7. But some of the skis are just too wide for my brain. I really think my technique has to adjust to the equipment. That I accept. Now I snowboard my mind is in a cleaner slate and maybe it's easier !

But I wonder which skis are designed for light weight people. Fiberglass has always made skis stiff for flex, IMO so I want to try the carbon.

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I went from a 77 waist to an 88 and I thought that was fat!! back in 2003, then I got a 105 waist in 2004(5?). In 2007 I got some Pontoons which are 130 in the waist, and then last year changed to the Lhasas which are 112 in the waist. It sounds fat, and it is, but its very skiable. Even the Pontoons werent too bad on the groomers - except for the chatter at high speeds.

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Vector glide are at times too stiff. A stiff ski requires weight or speed to get desired flex. Too be honest really have you seen many Japanese skis winning anything? Its not that they aren't good but are they really pushing progression?

 

pmgear is a quiver killer ski. a pair of soft bros with a touring binding pretty much kills everything but the bumps.

 

At the moment though I really like the direction of moment skis. seriously pushing things in the freeride world. the comi kazi 160 136 145 massive skis for humming down biglines.

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Originally Posted By: Fattwins
Vector glide are at times too stiff. A stiff ski requires weight or speed to get desired flex. Too be honest really have you seen many Japanese skis winning anything? Its not that they aren't good but are they really pushing progression?

pmgear is a quiver killer ski. a pair of soft bros with a touring binding pretty much kills everything but the bumps.

At the moment though I really like the direction of moment skis. seriously pushing things in the freeride world. the comi kazi 160 136 145 massive skis for humming down biglines.


spam hijack

we dont care what you think razz wink
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NOt that it's relevant... but I will be dusting them off in 6 days and reintroducing them to deep powder (good falls forecast for my NZ arrival)...:p

 

will let you know if they still hold up...;)

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