Fischer RC4 RACE SC PRO vs. Fischer RC4 Worldcup SC 08/09

[finnskier]

Hello to the forum!

I prefer to write this in English to better be able to express myself. I read German quite well so feel free to answer in German. I hope this is OK.

Sorry, but this turned into a long story since I want to provide enough background and details:

- Male/178cm/78kg soon 40 years. Not overly fit nor the sporty type but I like the physical challenge and the dynamics of Alpine skiing.

- Red and the easier black slopes when not icy. Using carving technique as much as possible. I enjoy short and medium turns. I tend to select the slopes where I can practise my technique or push my envelope without too much "fear factor". Speed without control & "style" feels meaningless and dangerous.

- My current skis are Head iXRC 700 in 163cm (Intersport version of the older iXRC 800). I chose them because they seemed to fit my needs back then which they also did and still mostly do (initially for learning to initiate a carve properly and to stay on the edges). My present boots are Nordica Beast 10 with lots of modifications work to fit my 109mm wide feed. I like the ramp angle of these boots but sometimes miss a slightly harder flex. I intend to keep these boots as long as they last since the fitting process was a long one (lots of pain and many visits to a ski-coach who works on the boots for the local ski-team).

- I've been skiing modern shaped skis for 3+ seasons now and the last season I spent 10 days on real slopes and maybe 12 days on the local hills. A "local hill" usually offers one short red slope just enough for club-level SL-practise plus some blue ones for family recreation. In my youth I spent some days on straight skis, "Pommeslatten" so I wasn't completely lost when I started out again four years ago. I'm carving clean turns whenever I feel home in a slope and there is not too much traffic ahead of me. There is certainly much room for improvement and I spend some hours each skiing day on learning new/better ways of doing things. On the way back up in the lift I like to analyze my last run and pep myself for the next run. I never took real lessons.

My goal is to improve on the easier black slopes (wide enough and not too long) and to be able to enjoy icy/hard slopes more than today. I pep and remind myself to keep pressure on the skis and not to get in the "back seat" on icy days. Sometimes I feel the skis are not up to the job in these conditions, that is they skid or start chattering even if I do my best to keep forward pressure. I quickly switch to "defence mode" when this happens. It is probably worth to mention here that I check my edges after every skiing day and tune them if needed using fixed angle/file (88deg), then deburr with a diamond stone. I never detune tips/tails nor do I touch the bottom edge except for when gently deburring after filing the sides. On steeper slopes I work on controlling the speed by completing the turns and avoiding to stay in the fall-line too long.


Now to the point:

Last weekend I spent in Ruka/Lapland and had the possibility to test some new Fischer skis there. As I'm leaning mostly towards medium-short turns I left the racecarvers alone and concentrated on the Progressor and SC skis available. As I feel my current skis lack the edge hold on steeper icy slopes and have been looking for a better alternative for some time this was a great thing. Before I've mainly been looking to test a pair of HEAD iSupershape because I like what people have said about it but I never had the opportunity to test or rent it.

I tried out the Progressor 7+ in 165cm, Progressor 9+ in 165 and 170cm and the RC4 RACE SC PRO in 160 and 165cm and these are my impressions (just my personal impressions after a few runs on each one, keeping in mind I have tried very few skis apart from my own ones after learning how to properly initiate a carved turn):

- Progressor 7+ felt much like my current HEAD iXRC 700 skis, perhaps a bit slower edge to edge.

- Progressor 9+ had superb edge hold but clearly felt slow edge to edge and not so agile overall. The 165cm could be pushed into similar turns as my current skis but needed more pressure to do so. For a moment I thought I had a winner here.

- Then came RC4 RACE SC PRO and I was completely in love from the first run. The 160cm even carved back uphill on my first run when I used the pressure I'm used to for a normal turn. It somehow felt a bit short so I was eager to try the 165cm. The 165cm was a tad more stable at speed while still carving turns I could not do with my iXRC 700. The edge hold on these skis felt very good too while still being very agile and quick edge-to-edge. The radius for the 165cm ski is 14m while my current skis have 12m radius. Still they turned like crazy compared to my current skis when pushed. Go figure... I was at home on this ski right from the first turn and never felt the urge to go easy at first. I did some tests to skid these skis although conditions did not demand it and to my surprise this was easier than on my current skis where the tails tend to "catch" every now and then. In the prevailing testconditions I liked the 165cm better overall although the 160cm had more "funfactor". Not sure which one I'd prefer on an icy day or on steeper slopes where completing the turns is key to keep my speed comfortable but I suppose 165cm is the better one in the afternoon when slopes are worn out by many skiers.

The slopes on the test area were not too demanding, two very familiar and well prepared red ones with different difficulty. Due to this fact I could not expose the skis to black or icy conditions but regardless of this I clearly felt differences in edge hold between the skis.

Needless to say I was very sad to hand in the RC4's after the last run. The RC4 Worldcup SC was not available for testing and now it keeps me from making up my mind. How much edge hold do I miss out on and would the Worldcup SC be too much to handle for me and wear me out before the end of the day? I was surprised how light the RC4 RACE SC PRO was and the handling was easier than I expected from a "race" SL ski. Does light and easy come at a too high price here when it gets steeper or icy? I'm looking for a fun, agile but not too demanding ski that I can trust and improve further on.

So, anyone out there that tried both the RC4 RACE RC PRO and the RC4 Worldcup SC on steeper and/or icy slopes that could help me out here? Comparing the marketing hype the only differences between the two are 0.5 vs. 0.8mm titanal, RailflexII vs. Flowflex bindings and 1m more radius.


Best regards and very grateful for any input.

Paul from Finland

[Der Müller]

Hello Paul,

I'm sorry that I can't help you out, 'cause I haven't already tested the Worldcup SL. But in fact my skiers are the RC4 Race SC and I'm very happy and satisfied with 'em. So we both have nearly the same body height and weight (I'm just a bit younger) - male / 180cm / 83kg / 32yo - and I have made the same experiences as you did with this ski.
It suited me emediately as I first tried it and I felt something like "home" when I started my first trip with the Race SC. All the feartures you mentioned fit to my experiences.

I didn't have any problems in steeper terrain and black pistes, the edge grips fantastically and the ski is following every impulse of the driver.

In fact, the Race SC is not really a SL Racer, it's more a middle-of-the-road SL ski, near to a Racing ski but smoother in flexing.

So after testing the Race SC I decided to buy it (without testing any other ski) because I felt very familiar with the ski.

[finnskier]

Hallo Jochen und vielen Dank fuer dein Antwort!

Very good to hear about your views on the ski in the kind of terrain and conditions I had no way to test it on that day.

I was asking for a comparision to the Worldcup SC just because I really don't want to buy a pair of skis that I can't improve on in the next coming years. If the RACE SC is up to the job when I am, then fine.

In which length you have your skis?

Gruess

Paul

[Der Müller]

The lenght od the skis is 170cm because it's more stable when beeing fast and non-carving, and I think in this lenght it's possible to ski more allround conditions.

In my case, I can improve a lot with this ski in the next years. But I don't know if this applies to you, too.

[finnskier]

Thanks again Jochen.

Ok on the 170cm. That will probably be a tad too long for my taste. There was a clear difference between 160 and 165cm in my case. I immidately felt what I had to give away when I switched from the 160's to the 165's. On the other hand the 165 felt more "allround" and I think this is the length I will go for in case I buy them. Let's see if others join in on this thread with their views.

Best regards and have a nice weekend.

Paul

[Der Müller]

Maybe you can ask the user "oneologe78". I know he has the RC4 WC SC and if I remember right he uses this ski for icy and hard slopes. Otherwise he uses his Edelwiser Swing. But Ithink he can tell you something about the ski.
Just try it and write him a PM (personal message - PN) if doesn't join this thread.