Grace Kylie 186 first impressions for 2012-13

Used the Kylie 186's yesterday for the first time and really loved them.  I was a bit shaky at first because I skied them cautiously to try to get the feel for them before really opening them up but quickly realized that they are not a cautious ski at all.  These things are made to be charged and skied aggressively and once I decided to ski them like any other ski in my quiver I was pretty blown away.  I was amazed at how easy it was to lay down a sharp turn on the edge without over-working my legs like I've had to do on similar sized powder skis once I get out of the fresh stuff.  I mounted them at 38 and am very happy with that decision.  These things blasted through crud and bumps without a hint of stiffness yet lay down a tight and hard edge when you decide to dig into the surface.  You can really feel the difference between the tip/tail and the effective edge which is something I've never been able to notice in some other skis I've used.  Day 1 was an early season powder/packed powder day but not a true monster day.  I'm really looking forward to opening these things up on a steep, bottomless day to get the full experience.  Straight A's so far, nice work!

-Nick

PS - Got a lot of questions/comments in the lift lines yesterday, people are curious

Grace Geek'n out

We had our bamboo tested in a lab in good old Cleveland Ohio. Grace 7 year old Bamboo is a composite structure and has MAJOR stiffness.

Youngs modulus is 3,760,000
Density 48 lb/ft3

Aspen (for example)
Youngs modulus is 1,130,000
Density 26 lb/ft3

our bamboo composite is 1.84 heavier than Aspen and 3.32 times stiffer

The mechanical properties of wood are some what vague depending on the grain, moisture and species. The bottom line is a Grace ski core is 3xs stiffer than aspen, but 1.84 2xs heavier. Dont let this make you think the overall composite (ski) is heavier. Our bamboo also absorbs less epoxy then aspen or poplar. So when the ski is cured the actual weight of all things considered is not 1.84xs heavier.  We also use a hollow core technique that drops weight dramatically.

Stiffness is  dependent on this hollow core configuration of the " structure", but a composite of bamboo and aspen/poplar or some other wood will lighten a ski.  We are currently investigating the composite of bamboo and poplar! 

Grace skis are stiff. We never want to make a ski that fails when you need it most.