Simmons Gen III skis: Cutting out the sides for better side hilling

christopher · May 23, 2011

Anyone remember a thread about a guy who took his new Simmons Gen 3 skis and did the side cutting on them to make them better at side hilling??

Been searching for that thread and haven't been able to find it yet.

I wanted to perform the same surgery on mine this summer.

←snow∞motion→ · May 23, 2011

Was that conversation for the 3's? I thought it was on 2's.

christopher · May 23, 2011

FOUND IT

Posted from RMK2112
http://www.snowestonline.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2689354#post2689354

Skis performed great!
Trail performance showed no difference at all, they still tracked true with no darting whatsoever.

Off trail is where the Simmons Gen III's shine and with the cut out....even better.

Sled pulls over on its side a lot easier, especially on downhill turns.
I didn't notice any lack of flotation with the cut out...in 2 ft of powder they floated the front end effortlessly
Carving thru meadows of 2 ft powder was great.
Carving across a side hill is where the cut out really made itself noticeable.
It holds onto the hill a lot better...the cut out allows the outside edge to bite into the hill better. This was a very BIG noticeable difference with and then without the cut out. Before the cut out, it seemed to want to kick me out of the line I was on too easily whenever I crossed a trench or encountered bumps/humps in terrain. Change in direction while pulling a cross side hill was noticeably easier as well, a little more or less counter steer and the sled went right where I wanted it to go without any "washout" feeling.

Above testing was done in 2 ft of dry powder, over the course of the morning/afternoon, it warmed up and the snow got heavy. Other than snow conditions being different, the skis performed flawlessly in all conditions.
I think Val needs to sell them like this. With the cut, it's a perfect all around, any condition ski.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to PM me.
I am 100% glad I cut these skis. Performance has definitely been enhanced.

I used a jigsaw with a 18TPI blade, being careful to not dig into the edge of the outside skag rib (see pics in first post), then used a combo wood rasp to clean the edges (rounded rough/fine on on side of rasp, flat rough/fine on the other).

After I got straight, smooth, clean edges I used my torch along the edges to give it a smooth, finished look.

I also rode them in some extremely heavy "Cascade Concrete" snow (1.5 - 2 ft deep) ........same performance as above.

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christopher · May 23, 2011

This is on my list for this summer.
Looks like Nytrocity will go up on the stand this week and begin the long list of summer mods.

blackhillsnytro · May 24, 2011

Thinking of doing this to my new sly dogs as well. I would assume that it would have the same benefit, as these are 8 inchers as well. If it makes the slightest difference in handling on an Apex I'm all about it!

Anyone have any experience with this little mod on skis other than the Simmons?

christopher · Oct 29, 2011

I think this will be today's project.

roughrider99 · Oct 29, 2011

blackhillsnytro said:
Anyone have any experience with this little mod on skis other than the Simmons?

They been doing this cut to all powder pros for years, I think carls cycle started it.

christopher · Oct 29, 2011

Bout time i had an easy project.
First ski is DONE.
This is going quite easy!

christopher · Oct 29, 2011

After only a 5 month delay I finally got this little project done and off my list!!

This is our patient.
The tail end of the Simon Flexi Ski, Gen III

I started off by measuring back 1 inch from the mounting plate and marking the side wall of the ski

Then coming IN 1.5 inches from the side wall and marking a 2nd line.
This is APX. the location of the keel on the underside.

And I marked the line all the way to the tail end to follow with the Jig Saw.

christopher · Oct 29, 2011

Flipped the ski over the made the same mark on the bottom.

And traced out the appx. radius curve I wanted to follow.

christopher · Oct 29, 2011

Picked up a new jigsaw for today's project.
NOTE.
Having a SCROLLING JIGSAW came in REALLY handy when I discovered that I could NOT get the foot in close enough to the Keel to make the final radius cut...

Totally LOVED the little laser it came with.!

First cut come straight in to the Keel edge.

2nd cut was down the length of the ski

You will notice a 2nd white line in the above photo.
I traced TWO lines on the ski.
The 2nd line was where I "Thought" the cut would "Look" better, and I had considered going back and making a 2nd cut after the first measured trim was done. But in the end, I did NOT use this as the location of the Keel on the bottom of the ski completely controls where the cut has to be made.

christopher · Oct 29, 2011

The only hard part about this project is making this radius cut.
I blew threw a few blades on this trying to figure it out.
In the end the SCROLL feature solved the problem!

File, File, File and then go back and FILE some more!
I used several different files to round the corner out and then to smooth all the sharp edges on the entire length of the ski cut.

christopher · Oct 29, 2011

One you finish filing all this plastic down, then its time to heat it up a little and really smooth it out.

1 Propane torch.

Ran the torch back and forth many many times.
Getting it just hot enough to get soft, but NOT to melt of run.
Reminded me of my days working in a ski shop doing tuneup on downhill skis. Gotta just love that smell!:face-icon-small-hap

Nice and SMOOTH!

christopher · Oct 29, 2011

The finished product.
Total time, about 1 hour for me.
Probably less for someone that knew what they were doing in advance

Mister907 · Oct 29, 2011

hey man, if youve got a dremel, you might save a lot of filing time. and it might make it smooth enough you wouldnt have to torch um.

Mister907 · Oct 29, 2011

maybe the next gen IV might be made this way?

MotoPsycho · Oct 29, 2011

I highly recommend against that operation, but I guess it is too late to stop you.

It's kinda like buying a Bechstein grand piano, cutting all of the strings out, smashing the keys with a sledge hammer, pulling the pedals out with a chain hooked to a Dodge Cummins, and then trying to play "Fur Elise" by Beethoven.

Chances are, you just ruined the instrument. Best of luck to ya.

Even though stuff is published on the internets, doesn't mean it's right, true, or even makes sense in the real world...

MRFUSION · Oct 29, 2011

Cool thread, I am torn on going with the Gen 3 or the Slydog 8inch skis on my Nypex this year. Thats a neat mod, wonder if anyone has done this on the Slydogs or if its needed?

christopher · Oct 29, 2011

Mister907 said:
hey man, if youve got a dremel, you might save a lot of filing time. and it might make it smooth enough you wouldnt have to torch um.

he he he
Ya, I am still filling my tool box!

christopher · Oct 29, 2011

MotoPsycho said:
I highly recommend against that operation, but I guess it is too late to stop you.

It's kinda like buying a Bechstein grand piano, cutting all of the strings out, smashing the keys with a sledge hammer, pulling the pedals out with a chain hooked to a Dodge Cummins, and then trying to play "Fur Elise" by Beethoven.

Chances are, you just ruined the instrument. Best of luck to ya.

Even though stuff is published on the internets, doesn't mean it's right, true, or even makes sense in the real world...

Well.
Here is what I know for sure.
Last year when I installed these skis, my Nytro went from HARD to get over on her side, to VERY HARD to get over on her side.

While I liked these skis for other reasons, the added width did absolutely nothing for helping in getting her to lean over.

RMK2112 performed this identical operation and loved it.

I thought I would take the chance and follow suit.

If no one is willing to experiment and take some risks trying things like this then none of us will ever know if it really works or not.

Worst possible case, I can always throw the stock OEM skis back on!:face-icon-small-hap

Simmons Gen III skis: Cutting out the sides for better side hilling

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