I decided to post up my thoughts on a revamped ski from Eric Pollard, someone whom I try to emulate on the ski hill, but fail miserably.
I've been riding my 2014 Bacon's for 4 years straight trying the random demo here and there for giggles (resort as my tour setup was Salomon q103's). I've never wanted or felt the need to switch as they have easily been the best ski I have ever owned. In fact, they were the only ski that I have had buddies try and poach.
In comes 2018 and the year of the Salomon Shift touring binding. My wife, a keeper, decides to buy me the binding for Christmas. Bless her soul as I have been pining over them for a while. I make sure I service her very well this time ensuring she understands how well she has done.
Before receiving the binding I had already been posting questions on a replacement for the 2014 bacon as I heard the new iterations pailed in comparison. Suggestions that people had thought were a good replacement ARV 106, ARV Thanos dog, faction Prodigy 3.0, faction Candide 2.0, ON3P Kartel 108... I'm sure I'm missing a couple suggestions.
After testing a some of those I decided to hunt for a pair of Kartel 108's, which I was unable to demo but sounded very close to a 2014 bacon replacement. That hunt failed miserably as shops in Canada did not carry the brand and with the price converted into Canadian my cheap bastard self kicked in. Suddenly the clouds parted and boxing day kicked in, 40% off a pair of 2019 Bacon's.... I think so. Quick as a wink, I pulled out my credit card AKA PayPal and purchased the skis.
GET ON WITH THE REVIEW!!! if you lasted this long to read my thoughts, hopefully this will be worthwhile for you.
Conditions have not been in stellar in B.C. this year so these new skis have not had the powder testing I would have like to put them through. It's been a soft pack/ hard pack kinda year.
Groomers:
2019 line bacon 5.5/10
2014 line bacon 7/10
Groomers: after laying many edges on theses I can confirm that they react well, I mean, who are we kidding at high speeds we knew they would chatter. The 2019's are easily more stiff so in comparison the the 2014's they do hold edge better at high speed and chatter marginally less, but I found them a bit uninspiring. Each carving turn was fairly solid at slow speeds and lacked the playfulness from previous years where it practically flung you out of a turn, many don't enjoy that squirleyness, I do. And I'm sure Expert skiiers may find the 2019's more poppy for their abilities, at an advanced level that was my thought.
Moguls:
2019 Line Bacon 7/10
2014 Line Bacon 5/10
Moguls: this surprised me the most as I found myself flying at speeds I never would have thought on the 2019. I had been used to being bucked off moguls on the 2014's every now and then, usually ending up in launching myself awkwardly loosing rhythm requiring a full stop. The 2019's seemed to offer some forgiveness I never had, encouraging me to go faster. Now, in comparison, my technical mogul skiing pales to a true freestyler. So take this with a grain of salt, these are no mogul skis but they do allow you to make mistakes and get out of rhythm with less consiquences than the 2014's. With the stiffness they plowed right on through. The 2014's did seem to initiate the turn better overall though and would be better for a beginner mogul skiier.
Turning:
2019 line bacon 6/10
2014 line bacon 9/10
Turning:
Just saying turning is vague, this was mainly just a direct comparison between the two on how turning faired in general. At high speeds and wider GS the 2019's were solid . Once you really tried to lay into them they lacked the tight on a dime turns that the 2014's had. Taking a guess as the radius is the same, the flex had more to do the lack in tight turn ability.
Trees:
2019 line bacon 7/10
2014 line bacon 9/10
Trees:
While the 2019's lack the turning ability that the 2014's had, I found that I could still rip through the trees at high speeds and even at the 184 length.When it got extremely tight I was still able to swing through some fairly snug stuff. Keep in mind, super tight trees are my wheelhouse and my go to on a daily basis.
Buttering:
2019 line bacon 4/10
2014 line bacon 9/10
Buttering: I've never been great at buttering bread, nor buttering on my skis. What I can say is that due to the flex on the 2019's it makes it a struggle for me to do and less entertaining in general. Maybe with time this will be a bit more easy. Again, someone with more skill could give a better answer.
Pop:
2019 line bacon 8/10
2018 line bacon 7/10
Pop:
Even at their age, the 2014 Bacon's launch off jumps and bumps adding to the excitement of the ski. It gave them a neat identity having that sexy buttery prowess off a pillow. The 2019's are more stiff and offer more pop. I was able to launch myself higher than ever with minimal effort. When landing it felt stiff and solid for establishing a good ski hold. I'm unsure if having them more stiff and poppy is better, for now let's just say different.
Riding switch:
2019 line bacon 9/10
2014 line bacon 7/10
Riding switch:
Interesting enough, for me quickly throwing the 2019 Backwards was a snap due to the lightness and seemingly faster swing weight. Riding switch was more confident and stable allowing for greater speeds.
Steeps:
2019 line bacon 7/10
2014 line bacon 6/10
Steeps:
As the conditions were not favorable it was hard to get a good read on the 2019's. Again, the stability and stiffness seemed to aid the ski when sending them down. I was able to direct them down and attack the hill with more confidence that the tips were not going to overflex on me, Something the 2014's tended to do. One thing that the 2014's had over them was that when I was doing jump turns and hugging the mountain, the 2014's would almost suction to the hill (don't know if this makes sense to people) . It could be because of the conditions, but I felt less stability in this area.
Powder: TBD - no pow :(
Construction: when I picked up my factory sealed skis and unwrapped them I was saddened to see the build quality was sub par
comparing to the 2014 Bacon's. Comparing to a company like icelantic they were not even close to the quality seen in those skis. The top sheet had wobbly lines as they were not cut straight. The edges are so thin that I worry about sharpening them once. The side wall as it contacted the top sheet made me worry about delamination, time will tell. Under the bindings there seems to be an added strength "plate" that was lifted on some sides under the top sheet, Not evenly placed. I grabbed my measuring tape to make sure they were at least accurate on their measurements for mount point as well as to eachother, which they were. After a couple rides the top sheet looked like it had been chewed on a bit, but maybe this is just my tight legged skiing. For the regular price of these and where they are made, Line should either improve the build quality or lower the price to maybe the Atomic ARV level. These are some of my favorite graphics from Pollard, but There is only so much Pollard's name on a ski will do for a company's sales on a ski. I'm not sure I would buy these at regular price.. who am I kidding, I love Pollard ,I probably would. Haha with time we will see how they hold up. Hopefully as long as my 2014's have.
Overall thoughts: these are no longer the same ski they were back in the day. That being said I feel like adding these to my quiver was a great idea. They are a great ski still, just in different ways. I would not hesitate to use this as my single ski quiver and they may just turn out to be with time and some pow.
Who am I and should you listen to me? Meh, I'm a converted boarder to skiier 9 years ago whom started in the park. People consider me an advanced child like skiier (always popping off stuff), I consider myself to be a bit more cautious advanced skiier who is usually more gentle on skis than the regular jibber. I tend to have different opinions than my buddies on skis, a good example were my thoughts on the ARV 106's. 6 foot 185 lbs.
If the Kartel 108's would have been on sale, I would have bought those skis. Right now I'm happy I got the Bacon's.
Good luck on your search!
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