Looks cool!

Just looking at the 2-d image and not holding it, I would imagine that the forces would be a little weird at first dependent on where you gripped the handle... not to mention the tendency to grip 'over the edge' and miss the handle completely w/o the rope there to give you something to hold in b/t. I think the rope connected directly to the handle bar (old style) equalizes the forces a little better, but I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Thanks for posting!

That's pretty wild looking. It just looks like the design is trying too hard to out-think the room. When you're looking for strength and stability, it's hard to outdo the triangle. That is, in part, why it's 2010 and everyone is still using an aluminum bar with a rope tied to each end.

Without reading any documentation, it's impossible to know what he is trying to achieve. If it's meant to be a safer handle, I think it introduces more problems than it solves. At a glance, it looks more like a grappling hook than a ski handle. By no means discouragement, but I'm not sure that particular design is on the right track for slalom.



Hey, Thomas. What's going on with the 2.0 version of the Armguard?

Just curious.
The two I bought are going strong moving into their 3rd season. Mine stays on all the time, getting manhandled twice a round for 3 rounds about 7 times a year, and it seems to be non the worse for wear. In year 1, I got a lot of, "What the hell is that? I don't think I'd want that on my handle." In year 2 I got more, "That makes sense. At the very least it probably wont hurt anything." In year 3, I might actually get someone that wants to write down your email addy.

looks like it'd make a good anchor.. after reading this form I'm really interested in if this thing is going to work out! my take is it's going to be more hydrofoil specific rather than slalom. considering how when flying a foil you need stability and small n' quick handle moves make the biggest difference when flying. looks like it might be good for that purpose.... hmmm interesting handle

I skied with John Oneill a few times my self. Pretty amazing that he could ski with just one arm the way he did. Although I can't say that I was surprised that he died in an accident involving the handle:



I don't think he would have been able to ski with this new handle... I think he knew what he was doing was inherently dangerous, and he died doing something he loved...

Solution to this problem is a slalom rope release....

Superior solutions tend to dominate the market. Triangle handles. Carbon Fiber skis. I'm thinking the up and coming is the liner out of shell release boot. I'm sure there are a handful of slalom skiers out there that use a release. It's not like they are sitting on a secret, you don't see more because the current options don't fit the bill on a large scale.

Herein lies the difficulty: you need something that can hold onto somewhere between 200 and 1200 pounds, but release at a fraction of that. Any load based, automatic release will be inadequate to hold on during a pass, or the threshold would be far to high to release when needed.

Last edited by HO410 (Thu, Mar 4, 2010 6:42 PM)

HO410 wrote:

Superior solutions tend to dominate the market. Triangle handles. Carbon Fiber skis. I'm thinking the up and coming is the liner out of shell release boot. I'm sure there are a handful of slalom skiers out there that use a release. It's not like they are sitting on a secret, you don't see more because the current options don't fit the bill on a large scale.

Herein lies the difficulty: you need something that can hold onto somewhere between 200 and 1200 pounds, but release at a fraction of that. Any load based, automatic release will be inadequate to hold on during a pass, or the threshold would be far to high to release when needed.

This product works well with slalom http://www.boarditup.com/shop/item.asp?itemid=346 The only problem is, your observer MUST pay attention, and pull the cord in a crash.  I find that most observers don't like the idea of "working" when watching, but again, it DOES work well.

Although, I'm not against the idea of a release for slalom, I doubt anyone would've pulled the emergency release on the fall that caused my arm to go through the handle and dislocate my elbow - unless they pulled the release on every single fall. It seemed like such a safe way to go down at the time - a too-narrow-into-the-ball sideslide - but it turned into a arm through the handle scenario in an instant and the damage was done before anyone could've reacted. The observer/releaser would've been going "uh, what the hell just happened?" and I would've been all "dude, you should've pulled the release." and they would've gone "seriously? No way!" and I would've been like "way" and they've would've been all bummed and like "dude, sorry, man" and I would've gone "it's cool". Or something like that.

But then what would be the harm in pinning every fall? You've got to go back to get the skier anyway. Might as well grab the rope on the way and hook back up like with trick. Would take a few seconds longer to get the rope then get it back to the skier, but not too long. Might need a small float on the boat end of the rope if you're skiing over deep water so your handle doesn't sink your entire rope out of reach.

I'm sticking with the Arm Guard for now.

Dan,
When you say "strange" are you talking about me? JK!

Nice skiing in those vids Dude! That -32 looked nice and smooth! Looks like that Goode is agreeing with you. Are you skiing this weekend?

Last edited by StevenHaines (Thu, Mar 4, 2010 10:16 PM)