New skis, what should I do? *First pair*

Great skis and bindings. You’ll love them!

Usually skis usually ship with some wax from the factory but by the time the skis get to you they could have dried out a bit. It never hurts to have them waxed and to make sure the edge angles are good(Armada factory is 1 degree base/1 degree side) and that the bases are flat. A good shop that mounts the bindings could check if anything needs to be done on them.
If you’re skiing mostly on piste and starting some park, the -2.5cm back from center mounting line on them will give great performance everywhere.

Centre mount those puppies and get a full detune

^

Do recommended or - 2.5. It's not much different. Don't do center as they're not meant to be and you'll be fighting the shape. Definitely get them waxed. Did I mention not to center mount them?

They're not centre mounted, they're at -2.5cm. but I'll get them waxed and ask the shop if anything else needs doing. I've seen other people say to detune the tips and tails, is that something I should do?

The "all mountain" recommend mount on those skis are -5cm back and the "all mountain/park" mark is -2.5cm back so they are on Armada's recommended mark for the intended use which is good.

Before the days of shaped skis and rocker, skis were always detuned tip and tail to prevent catching and increase the ease of entering/exiting a turn etc. Now skis come from the factory with base edge angles at 1 degree so they don't catch like they used to but on a pure cambered ski with no rocker, some people will still slightly detune tip/tail with a gummy stone for ease of spins and turn initiation. With a ski that has tip and tail rocker like the Armada ARV 96, you could honestly run the ski without detuning the tip and tail at all.

I always recommend getting a gummy stone and just leaving it in your ski jacket as it will be a great tool for burr removal on edges if you go over trees/rocks etc but also is a great tool for very SLIGHTLY detuning the edges if you find they are grabbing still. I'd get the shop to check the edges for 1 degree base and 1 degree side and removing any burrs and then let you try them out. If they are grabby, a couple of passes with the gummy stone on a 45 degree angle to the edge and ski them again to check. This way the skis is kept as sharp as possible without being hard to ski. I have the ARV 86 and found they were fine without any detuning after I tuned and waxed them but I don't ski rails and just hit jump lines in the park.

All this info is for skiing on anything but rails and that's why you will get conflicting comments for tuning and binding mounting on this site. For rail skiing, the binding area which is center mounted(or very close to center) should be dulled with a file(not just gummy stone) so that the ski does not grab on the rail and it also decreases the chance of future edge damage. If the park ski is not rockered much, the tip and tail are also detuned for easier on snow spinning and to eliminate catching. The problem is the dull edges in the ski center are bad on ice and center mounts are not as stable out of the park. You have picked a good compromised mount position for use in all areas and will have to decide how much you get into rails(if at all) you get and then you can always detune the center later if you do.

If it were me, get a pair of used cheap twin tip skis, mount in the center, detune the center and go crazy in the park to learn at first. You will beat up the bases, edges and top sheets learning in the park and best to do this on skis you don't have to worry about. Then you can use the Armada skis all over the mountain and in the park on tricks you have mastered on the cheap skis.

Here's the mounting guides specifics for this year and last year for ARV (think they're the same) for anyone that doesn't trust word of mouth

All these guys against centre mounting, what is this tgr? Arv is a park ski, use it in the park. Don't listen to greg-k , he is probably an old dad

CadeRAll these guys against centre mounting, what is this tgr? Arv is a park ski, use it in the park. Don't listen to greg-k , he is probably an old dad

For a beginner park skier the -2 Mount is fine also he will be much happier around the mountain. I mount almost all of mine -2 with my park skis true center the problem with true center is they just don’t ski very well outside of the park compared to a little furtherback.

CadeRAll these guys against centre mounting, what is this tgr? Arv is a park ski, use it in the park. Don't listen to greg-k , he is probably an old dad

Actually lol when I read this so thanks for the laugh! I'm not a dad, or have dad skis or even mom jeans. I am an old man though with almost 40 years of skiing experience who has tried hundreds of skis over the years, was a young racer and mogul skier back in the day and still enjoys charging at 50-60mph all mountain, zipper line skiing moguls, hitting natural features and doing the occasional jump line in the park. Never got into rails although I do appreciate the skill in mastering them.

I have personally owned 15 paris of all mountain/park twin tip skis in the last few years (and demoed lots more) and have tried all types of mounting positions on them. I agree with every single ski manufacture, designer, engineer who recommends certain mounting points depending ski sidecut, tip/tail taper, rocker etc and on the skiers intended usage. There is definitely advantages and disadvantages to ANY mount position so depending on the ski and it's intended use, there will be a "best comprise" location. A good ski tech will listen to the customer's intended use and then match that up with the manufactures recommendations for those parameters on that ski. Saying "center mount it" for a person using an all mountain twin to ski mostly out of the park is as crazy to me/ski designers/techs/pros as someone saying "mount -6cm back" for someone skiing nothing but rails.

Think new ski buyers looking for advice online should be told of the potential advantages/disadvantages of mount positions so that they can get the best performance out of their gear for their intended use. Twin tip skis have been going with more directional sidecuts the last few years, along the changes to tip/tail taper and addition of rocker that mounting positions can no longer be assumed like they were even a few years ago. What worked on your last ski might not be the same position on the next ski. Even old dogs like myself can learn new tricks when it comes to getting the best performance out of gear.

Cheers,

A wise old man running ARV 86 skis mounted near Armada's All Mountain line as that's where I'm using it.

^this guy fucks

I’m definetly the guy in the house doing all the fucking!

Absolutely perfect reply