Radar Theory - INT Wide Ride

[Horton]

Exchanged emails with Sully and he thinks the Theory is the way to go for Wide Ride. I have tried to not get sucked into this but I just can not help myself. My Theory is in the mail. I want me some 30 MPH 39 off action!

[Edmund]

Does the 65" Theory qualify for Wide Ride?  I think I read somewhere that the 67" Theory is OK.  Is that correct?

[Horton]

I believe the 67 is needed.

[countymountie]

The width of my 67" Theory is 7.281" approximately 1" up from the uppermost inserts.  I believe the INT w/r regs require 7.25 at that measurement point.

 What happened with the 69" Senate C that you were going to use for INT wide ride?

 

[Horton]

I think (but am not sure) that the shorter ski will work better.

[Ed_Obermeier]

My Theory was here when I got back from Florida Friday.  Haven't had a chance to ride it yet but hope to today (Sunday) if the freaking wind ever quits blowing 40 mph.  Gotta love living in Kansas...

One thing that is a bit of a dissapointment is that it has a fixed fin rather than adjustable.  Gonna dig around and see if I can find an adjustable fin block that will fit it.  I'll post some impressions as soon as I get a few sets in on it.

Ed

[Horton]

HO block will fit

[Ed_Obermeier]

OK, for all you INT wide riders out here, here finally are my own personal first impressions of the Radar Theory as a serious wide ride slalom course ski.  For whatever that may be worth to anyone.  Finally got a couple of sets on it on a course on it this week after a couple of earlier open water sessions just trying to get some sense of how the ski rides and feels. 

Out of the box the ski felt immediately stable and balanced to me.  Initial binding placement (D3 hiwraps set all the way back, 29 1/4" on a 67" ski) felt right on.  A very easy ski to ride IMO.  This ski feels very much like the other Radar's I've been on.  Especially in the turns, it turns like a detuned MPD or probably closer to the feel of the Senate.  Get it on edge and it locks in and carves a nice tight, round turn and carries its speed through the turn much as the MPD does.  The feel in the turns is very familiar and quite confidence inspiring.

Cross course it's not a rocket (we're talking 30 mph here folks...) but it does get across course easily with very good angle.  Again, once on edge it locks in and holds the angle it finishes the turn with no problem.  I was easily able to run into deep 35 off on it after taking a few passes to get the feel of it, and should easily run 35's on it once I get used to it and learn a little more patience.  My PB in wide ride is 2 @ 38 and I can see that going down pretty fast on this ski.  I had no problems getting to the next ball early at 35, just need to remember that at 30 mph it takes longer to finish the turn and to be more patient and let it finish.

Initially I was disappointed that it has a fixed fin rather than an adjustable.  I'll put an adjustab le on it eventually but even with the fixed fin I didn't feel anything that made me want to make immediate fin changes.  The fin is set a bit short (6.805 tips) but pretty deep (2.555), at 30 mph I think deeper is a good thing.  There are only 3 positions to set DFT.  I left it in the center position (around 0.775 as near as I can measure it) and it's fine.  Fin settings at 30 mph probably aren't as critical as at higher speeds.  Still, to be taken seriously as a short line wide ride (go ahead and laugh, a lot of INT'ers take this wide ride stuff seriously) it should have an adjustable fin.  It came with a stock Radar wing set a 7 degrees USD.  After a few open water passes I took the wing off and I didn't miss it in the course.  At short line though a mini wing might be worth trying...

My initial impression is that this is a really good wide ride ski, right there with the HO Triumph, Obrien Syncro, and the old Iconn PowerCarv which I think was one of the best wide rides ever made (ahead of it's time IMO).   It didn't require me to change my skiing style to ride it either, which to me is a huge thing and was the thing I was most concerned with.  A lot of wide rides I've been on you have to ski differently than you would a 34 mph ski, even if your high end ski is of the same brand.  This one I don't have to, huge deal IMO.  This thing feels very familiar ala my MPD, in the turns especially. 

Once I get more water time with it and get used to it I'll know more but that's my initial impression anyway. 

Ed