Most Innovative Brands?

[Chris Walker]

What about Hexcel? Didn't they come up with that honeycomb material that makes skis lighter? I remember the split tail too, which didn't seem to take off as much.

 

[Muleski]

My buddy's dad was a rep at Mt. Cranmore.

Makes perfect sense. Curious, do they still have any of that crazy rebound left, or I presume they are kind of fatigued.

As I recall some of the guys in the factory were boat builders....fiberglass guys, as fiberglass had taken over the boat business. And they were build on the coast in Newburyport, MA.

I think I'm right on this {wish Dad were still alive for this one}, but they skis were billed as unbreakable, really indescructible, and I think they has some ad that showed the ski being folded in half.....tip touching the tail! I know that they had a lifetime guarantee, but of course the company was out of business before too long.

I recall skiing a couple of pairs and thinking that they felt like a trampoline. My dad tried to get my mom to ski them.....no chance after a day. So here my dad had helped two friends get this off the ground, and his entire family {my brother chief among them} was not going near them. The biggest convert was a dear friend of dad's, close enough to be referred to as an uncle, who was a pretty big guy with the NSP.

The man who brought may dad in was Joe Hurka, who I think was one of 2-3 guys running it. Great guy and quite a character. Czech WWII hero; a freedom fighter and spy for the Americans. He had worked for my dad, then struck out on his own with a number of ventures. As I recall he built rowing shells and maybe kayaks? Like best in class. I recall running into him many, many years ago when he was teaching skiing during his retirement at Killington.

The sold a lot of skis.....for a while. I'm pretty sure that they may have been the first skis built with a foam core. Certainly one of the first.

Lots of patrollers throughout NE were on the skis for a while. Pretty sure no instructors! HaHa.

Fun memories.

 

[Doug Briggs]

I'll go flex'em. They felt 'normal' to me as I recall.

 

[Uncle-A]

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View attachment 29945

And then I thought of the Nordica Astral's , which I think were the first plastic boot that was comfortable. ( Compared to Lange-Flo, anything was comfortable)

View attachment 29947 [/QUOTE]
I owned both LANGE FLO boots and Nordica Astral's boots, My vote is the Lange Flo because they just fit me better. Maybe the Nordica Banana Boot fit more people and was a BIG Seller but it is all about what fits your foot better. I guess I just had a Lange Foot.

 

[Uncle-A]

When it comes to bindings the Tyrolia Step In heel (Clix 90) was easer than what was available at the time. The proof of that is when ever they miss matched toe and heel they predominately used the Tyrolia heel with the ski pole push down to release.

 

[Uncle-A]

What about Hexcel? Didn't they come up with that honeycomb material that makes skis lighter? I remember the split tail too, which didn't seem to take off as much.

Hexcel also gets my vote.

 

[T-Square]

Hans Martin: inventor of the buckle ski boot. It took years for the world to catch up.

https://www.skiinghistory.org/history/buckle-boot-invention-1955

I grew up with double lace up ski boots, inner and outer sets of laces. If you ever used them you realize the disadvantages. They loosen up, take time to lace, and are hard to get tight. Buckles allow you to get a boot fastened quickly and hold fast. I looked at the kids with buckle boots and knew that sometime I would get a pair, took me 25 years, but I finely did; rear entry, single buckle. I've gotten better since then.

 

[graham418]

Elan has been a very innovative company - first shape skis , first integrated bindings, asymmetric skis.

 

[Philpug]

Elan has been a very innovative company - first shape skis , first integrated bindings, asymmetric skis.

I don't think Elan had the first integrated bindings (Tyrolia skis, are the first I recall) or the first asymmetric skis. Where Elan was extremely innovative is with that SCX, not only did they design the ski but also instituted a teaching system to help people learn how to ski them.

 

[Doug Briggs]

...
I recall skiing a couple of pairs and thinking that they felt like a trampoline. My dad tried to get my mom to ski them.....no chance after a day. So here my dad had helped two friends get this off the ground, and his entire family {my brother chief among them} was not going near them. The biggest convert was a dear friend of dad's, close enough to be referred to as an uncle, who was a pretty big guy with the NSP.
...

I'll go flex'em. They felt 'normal' to me as I recall.

The were pretty stiff, but not like 2x4s. I don't recall them be springy, if that's what you mean by trampoline.

Here is my latest aquisition next to the Graves. A special thanks to @RickyG for the XR1s. We traded my XRPs from his XR1s. These were innovative as they were basically hollow fiberglass. They were stiff and had segmented edges. Pretty cool in the day and I did some ripping SL on the skis I had back in the day. These are 213 GS skis. I had shorter SL skis which complemented my Dynamic VR17s in GS.

https://books.google.com/books?id=Y...DAJ#v=onepage&q=head xr1 construction&f=false

Scroll down on the page show by the link above to read about the XR1

This is also a pretty good shot of the Lange boots I got from Tyler Palmer. These were totally custom and had integrated spoilers and rad flo liners with a really nice high and stiff tongue.

 

[markojp]

What about Hexcel? Didn't they come up with that honeycomb material that makes skis lighter? I remember the split tail too, which didn't seem to take off as much.

No. They used it under license to the best of my knowledge. It was a development from aerospace used first to make helicopter blades ... light, torsionally ridged, and survived small arms fire well. I remember seeing the blades come back for testing at my dad's work full of bullet holes in the mid-late '60's.

 

[Chris Walker]

No. They used it under license to the best of my knowledge. It was a development from aerospace used first to make helicopter blades ... light, torsionally ridged, and survived small arms fire well. I remember seeing the blades come back for testing at my dad's work full of bullet holes in the mid-late '60's.

Oh, but I thought that was the same company. Hexcel still makes composite helicopter blades for the defense aerospace industry. They had a ski division for a while, starting in 1971 according to this. Diversification was big.

 

[Chris Walker]

Oh, yeah it's all coming back to me. Then Hexcel sold their ski division to Hanson and that's when this came out:

I had a pair of boots just like that. I never looked so good in a bikini though.

 

[Chris Walker]

Speaking of which, how about Alden Hanson for innovation for the rear-entry boot? Does it count as revolutionizing the industry if the industry says "wait this is dumb" and revolutionizes itself back ten years later?

 

[KingGrump]

I never looked so good in a bikini though.

Thanks for sharing.
It's OK. We don't judge.

 

[Philpug]

Speaking of which, how about Alden Hanson for innovation for the rear-entry boot? Does it count as revolutionizing the industry if the industry says "wait this is dumb" and revolutionizes itself back ten years later?

When will it come back again.

 

[4ster]

Where Elan was extremely innovative is with that SCX, not only did they design the ski but also instituted a teaching system to help people learn how to ski them.

The SCX was the first thing that popped into my head when I saw the thread title. Whether they were the first shaped ski or not, they were the first to get me on them.

I will add that Dave Goode was pretty innovative with carbon fiber ski poles & then skis. Still waiting on a carbon fiber AT boot?

 

[Muleski]

Re Hexcel, I'm pretty sure that it was the same company.

When I was in college, in the mid 70's, the brand was flying high. The East Coast distributor was "Bunny" Bass, of the GH Bass Shoe Company. They were based in Wilton, Maine. Right near Farmington. Bunny had a serious ski background.

He provided a couple of my college teammates with skis, and I drove over there once or twice with one or the other. He also distributed Raichle boots, which were nothing great at the time. Years before the Flexon! Luckily he did not try to get these guys into that boot.....or into a Rosemont. I think he may have even owned Rosemont. And even he would joke with us about them. "The releasable boot." I think he also had a pole company.

One of those two guys was really hard on skis, but he had grown up in Farmington, was a great kid, and he kept on getting more skis. I do recall that mounting them was a tedious process. The US distributor for K2 was in the same area, and I think he was related to Bass somehow. In those early days the K2 fours blew up faster than the Hexcels! But when the Five was built, many of us were begging for the ski. I'm pretty sure that Bucky Kashiwa might have been involved in the design of the five, right out of college. I think his real design for them was the 710 and 810. Obviously before the early Volant days. One. Smart. Dude.

Have to weigh in on the Head XR-1. Lucky to have had a couple of pairs. Loved that ski. Great trade @Doug Briggs ! And I love the picture, with TP's Lange's. What a character! One of my older ski buddies knew him pretty well. He told a great story of Tyler arriving at a late spring race, maybe the Sugar SL at Stowe, just because it was a great day. This is when he was a WC skier, before his pro days. So maybe 1970? He was riding his motorcycle, with his skis strapped on it. After the race, and I assume a beer or two, he looks at my friend and says "You want these? Riding the bike with them is a pain in the ass!"

I hope that he's dealing as well as possible with his health challenges. He's four years older than I am, and to me, a key player in US skiing. Great coach in his later years. And I think the first American to win a WC SL. Tyler had one speed. Overdrive. Rueben T Palmer the Fifth. What a hoot. He made Bode seem like a conformist!

Fun thread.

 

[squill]

When will it come back again.

$$$ on the DPS Boot.

 

[Philpug]

$$$ on the DPS Boot.

What are you thinking $$$ wise.?