Which kind of wax do you think is the best kind to use? I have always used Swix so I know nothing else, but is Toko or another brand better? I have only ever used the CH line of Swix because I simply don't want to spend money on expensive higher end waxes. And input would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
There are a lot of good wax companies out their. Most people would tell you to stick to one brand and learn which ones work for which conditions. Toko and Holmenkol have less choice so you would have to buy less wax. In the Swix line I would use CH4,6,7 and 8. I would highly recommend LF 7, when the snow is wet the more expensive waxes really shine.One time I was in a race and passing this guy who was snowplowing down a downhill, he said "you most have good wax". It is not always the wax but proper technique that you should work on first then go for the faster wax when it really counts.
Thanks. Since Toko and Holmenkol have less choices does this mean that they are inferior to those brands that have more choices meaning they can really dial in on the conditions? Or does this not make a difference?
Toko and Holmenkol simply rely more on combinations of different waxes to fit different snow conditions, rather than Swix which has a lot of different options for different conditions. Quality wise, all are excellent and its really more a question of preference, experience, and availability.
Personally, I prefer Toko for glide wax. This is partly to do with the fact that I got a discount on Toko was through my club team, but I have really come to know it and like it more than the swix I used to use.
Ski speed is determined by ski camber profile, ski base structure, and wax choice, in that order. For kick wax, a really good camber profile makes getting good grip AND glide much easier.
I don't have recent experience with Holmenkol, but I can say that Toko, Swix, Start, and Rode are all fast in the right conditions. There are definitely days where one brand is faster than the others, but it isn't the same brand every day.
If you ski in cold, dry conditions, add Start green glider to your box. It is cheap and very fast for very dry, fresh snow at -8C and colder.
My personal feeling is that for the LF waxes, Toko is faster than Swix for high humidity and Toko is slower for low humidity.
If you have the money, the time, and lots of skis, you can buy all the brands and test ten gliders and ten grip waxes each race day. If you can hire a personal technician, even better.
I glide wax two pairs of skis the night before, and race on the pair that tests faster. For classic, I test grip wax on the slow pair and put the final choice on the fast pair.
I train on Toko LF gliders, as they seem to give the best price/wax wear performance on my local snow.
I agree with Glenn G: pick a brand and get to know it.
Instead of picking one brand and buying all of their waxes I would buy the waxes that work best in certain conditions. I would talk to your local ski shop, if they are good, about what waxes to stock in your wax box. Some companies have very good cold waxes but not very good warm waxes. Why bother getting to know that they have bad warm waxes?
The waxes you will want to stock will vary depending on where you live in North America.
There are some classics out there. The canmore skigo blue, the vauhti carrot, Rode klister,Start green glid, etc... I am a big fan of the list from Ian who is a technician in Canmore, you should get your hands on the asterix waxes when you travel and see them available. I always like to bring one home a rare non swix one when I can after a race.
http://www.skiingwithian.ca/page15/page15.html
juniorbiathelete:
I agree completely with sailguy when he says: "If you have the time, and money, and lots of skis, you can buy all the brands and test ten gliders and ten grip waxes each race day. If you can hire a personal tech, even better."
This here ain't a sport for poor people, if you can't afford HFs maybe you should get a basketball.
But when I was a broke student, I had three pairs of used skis and a stop watch. When I tested skis and discovered that a particular pair was slow, I replaced it with another used pair, eventually, by eliminating the dogs, all my skis were really fast. I did the same with wax; just glideout and a stop watch. And I chose wax based mostly on price (free was good). Good luck, and don't let all the pendantic rich guys discourage you.
Another great discussion on this forum. Thanks all.
I've seen Ian's list & used some of his recommendations. I've also used Eagle River's wax book & followed their testing many years ago - anyone remember Fallline glide wax? Just got a Gear West catalog & their list of Signature klister/hard/glide waxes is the most eclectic I've seen. I've tried a few of these & had great results. But these recommendations are clearly geared to the colder/dryer conditions common in the Midwest. Here in humid Oregon a Signiture collection would be very different - mostly Swix & Rode kick waxes & Toko glide wax & maybe a few Start items.
A big message from all these recommendations not yet mentioned is regional differences in snow characteristics on most days. Even in Central Oregon, it is rare that you can't make a snow ball. Go to the Blue mountains of Easter Oregon & it is a different ball game. It would be helpful if folks ID their typical conditions or region when making recommendations.
My very simplest system uses Swix Blue Extra V40 & Special Red V55 & Rode Green Special along w/ Swix K22n universal for kick wax (the old Eagle River 2.5 wax+klister system). For glide Toko Yellow + Nordlite (Cold Powder now) can be mixed to get everything. It is a small step to go to the fluor versions of some of these for race day.
But "32 & what do you do" is still a BIG problem. I've had reasonable results surprisingly w/ Start MFW Blue on many of these days even though this is supposed to be for colder transformed snow. I've added Ian's Start fluor Purple kick wax & high humidity Black Magic but have yet to do many tests. But Its lots colder up there in CA.
Swix & Rode are the most common kick/klister waxes used by racers & Swix-Toko- recently Solda most commonly used glide wax brands. Toko gray moly is almost a religion for a base layer glider.
Here's another regional answer to your question about wax selection.
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