Intelligrip Transition skins - a warning!

[WildlifeBio]

I just received a pair of the 19/20 Madshus Panorama M55 Intelligrip Transitions in 205cm. My hope was to put a few km on them this weekend. The skis themselves look promising.

But what appears to be a serious design flaw in the Intelligrip Transition skins has rendered the ski/skin combination unusable for me even before I could put them on snow.

The leading end of the Intelligrip Transition skins relies on a vertical plastic peg that slides into a through-hole in the ski. That fitting is extremely tight and snaps into place. During skin removal, pushing the pin as directed (requiring great force) only partially releases the peg. Complete removal requires either a) continued narrowly-applied pressure to push it through the hole, using perhaps a pole tip or b) an additional pulling force from the base-side of the ski. Unfortunately, the latter approach was enough to completely rip the peg from the tab into which it is affixed. That peg/tab junction simply lacks sufficient reinforcement for the forces necessary to fully remove the pin. My first attempt significantly weakened that junction. My second attempt, despite great care and on the other ski, caused it to fail completely.

The ski itself may function well as a waxable ski, but this area of the skin, and perhaps the recessed fitting on the ski as well, needs additional thought and refinement (or a complete redesign) by Madshus before I would trust this system.

One workaround may be to simply drill out the fitting to relieve the fit of the peg. It looks like reaming it out just slightly (to 1/4") may do the trick without compromising the overall fit of those parts. Considering how difficult it appears to be to purchase Fischer's E99 Easy Skin Xtralite in the US (the alternative I've been considering), I may just have to proceed with making this M55 work. I'll post back soon.


Damage to the peg/tab junction following my first attempt at removing the skin.


Complete failure (tearout) of the peg/tab junction following my second attempt at removing the skin.

[WildlifeBio]

I ended up simply reattaching the peg using cyanoacrylate glue, which held up just fine during my first day tour. The tightness of the fitting seems likely to decline through repeated use, so I've postponed drilling out the hole. Some attention by the product designers is still needed, but I elected to not scrap the whole purchase. Caveat emptor, particularly those hoping to use these skins for multi-day tours.

I'm impressed with the skis overall thus far, however. I've posted some of my initial impressions over at http://www.telemarktalk.com/viewtopic.p ... 936#p29936.

[wabene]

I've now had a chance to try out these skins. The package says to push in the peg and then place the skin. Then to remove it says to push out the peg, then pull off the skin. I think this is only half right. The installation is correct but they have the removal backwards. I just reversed the installation procedure. Pull the skin then push the peg straight out. You can pop the peg first but you must pull the skin from the rear because the peg must come straight out to avoid stressing the connection. The peg cannot come straight out with the skin attached. I just used the grip on my pole to push the pin.

I like these skins with the fully recessed front to reduce drag and I think they can be durable of handled properly.

[lilcliffy]

@wabene Thank you for your post- this is makes sense and is very helpful-
It appears- unfortunately- that Madshus has temporarily abandoned the integrated kicker skin on the 62/68/78 (i.e. Eon/Epoch/Annum).
Hopefully with more testing and feedback like this they will bring them back- I would love to have the 78/Annum with an integrated kicker skin!

[wabene]

@lilcliffy yes I saw someone here posted the new line from Madshus with new graphics, fishscales and no skin attachment on a European retailer's website. The fishscales are fine but why eliminate the skin attachment? I just got the Panorama 62's. Did I buy an Edsel? I've looked around and it appears Madshus has just one skin in the Transition line, the 45mm mohair/nylon mix. I posted a question on their site asking for a mohair 35mm version, we'll see. I want to come up with a way to make a peg and attach it so I can buy bulk Pomoca mohairs and make my own for about half the price.

[wabene]

Madshus still only makes the 45mm nylon/mohair mix skins if you can find them. My local shop has a set at $90 and I've seen them online in the past for $75. May as well make some.
Picked up a 85mm x 130cm roll of Pomoca Race Pro 2.0 mohair skins for $62. For a couple of bucks I got nylon pan head screws ¼" diameter by ¾" long and some acorn nuts.

Belt sanded the heads as thin as I dared.

Squared up and cut two 65cm pieces, then cut one of those into two 42.5mm wide strips.

Trimmed those and cut little pieces of some 4oz fiberglass cloth I had laying around.

Prepped for epoxy.

Applied the epoxy to the skin, screw and fiberglass.

Viola!

Fast mohair transition skins for $32 a pair. I still have to do a little fairing on the front attachment when the epoxy cures. Can't wait to try em out!

[Smitty]

Nice work, let us know how they ski and how they hold up!

60% off ain't too shabby.

[wabene]

Went out with my new skins in a pouch, blue glide, blue extra kick wax, 18-20f on the M62's. What I call the playground is some public land with hills on logging roads and ATV/snowmobile single track by my place. I've never seen any other ski tracks but mine, but the main way in was packed with more snowmobile traffic than usual. I was disappointed at first but man it was perfect. Enough stick to walk up all the hills, but fast fast wax, man, no way was I trying out the skins! It was almost like a groomed run, up and down with some narrower side trails and the M62's we're fast and handled it all with ease. In the past on other skis the single track had me in survival mode. Not today. Now I know why I got the Svartsens and M62'S. On the packed flats the ski has no center groove and is a little squirrelly. I found with the great k&g it was easy to cruise straight and fast. Wax is my master

[fisheater]

@wabene I know what you mean. The only difference was I was on Gamme’s and today’s wax for me was Rex Universal. I’m still smiling!