Review: ON3P Caylor

[PowTron]

I had a chance to test out the Caylor at Vail on 12/22/08 in conditions ranging from windblown, heavy pow to absolute, dreamy blower pow. They reported 14" fresh at 5am, and before the lift turned they easily had another 3". If you know Vail, that is at Mid Vail which means that was an easy 18" to 20" in the back. In short, I was lucky enough to test a true powder ski in what it was made for...pure Colorado White Gold!

Ski Specs: 191cm, rocker front and back (35cm x 2.5cm),147-121-144, bamboo core with some nifty carbon strips. Minimal camber underfoot, but not crazy. Mounted at -3cm with 92cm running length.

Rocker profile:




Me: 5'10", 210 lbs, ski fast and prefer big ass turns in almost all types of snow. I can turn it short just fine when needed (trees), but why bother when it is wide open?

Boots / Binders: Nordica Speedmachine 12 and S916's

Other skis ridden/owned to compare: 189 Hellbent, EP Pro, Maven, Kuro, Prophet 130


First Impression: This ski seems to be a sweet shape, and it seems to also have the right flex to really kill it in fresh pow; but maybe just a little too soft for me and my style/size. The rocker looked big, but not crazy extreme clown-shoe action. The wood sidewalls are pretty classic looking.


Results of real world...

Groomers / Packed Powder:

I was a little leary of a ski with a 92cm running length and what appeared to be the typical floppy, rockered tips found on a rockered pow ski (see Hellbent and EP Pro if you don't know what I mean).

Man, was I wrong. The Caylor actually carved rails on packed powder and freshly groomed, butter corduroy. I initially tried to pressure the nose and quickly found out that it washed out. But the cool thing was that even though it washed out, it was more of a sliding to the side due to the rocker profile versus the flexing of the ski and/or folding of the tip (ie Maven).

When I began to start skiing more centered over my arches, I was not only able to get the effective edge under foot to bite in hard, but there was no washout. Even with my "racer-steeze" having my center of gravity out in front a bit (upper body), I was able to ski perfectly centered over my arches and really ride this thing across, down, and sometimes up (switch) the fall-line. I was surprised for sure.

I can see on hardpack how it would become much more difficult, but it is a pow ski, and any kind of performance, especially great performance on anything but pow, was unexpected and much welcomed.

Good carving / riding ability both forward and switch for a ski with such a short running length.

It felt very much like a longer EP Pro, but with more beef throughout. For me, it carved way better then the Maven (duh, more sidecut), but also felt way less "wobbly" then the Hellbent at speed. The ski definitely skis stiffer then it flexes, I am guessing due to the bamboo and carbon layup. Granted, it doesn't handle the groomed as well as a Prophet 130, but it is a completely different design. What you lose on packed powder, etc is more then repaid in the deeper stuff.




Crud / Mank / Windblown:

The Caylor performed very similar in chopped up pow and windblow pow/mank to the 189 Hellbent, albeit it with a much lighter, snappier feel. Both short and long turns were easy to initiate, and the pivot ability of the ski was starting to become apparent to me here.

In the typical, cut-up Vail back bowl arena, this ski was great. It could handle the half-tracked stuff no problem, whether you were skiing centered, front seat, back seat, or even side-seat . For me, I tended to have issues in this kind of stuff (6" to 9" deep, but tracked) on the EP Pro...so much in fact, that I was bogging the EP Pro down and basically turning the ski into mush just to navigate through it. On the Caylor, you can power the ski up front, and it just keeps popping up out of the snow.

It also handled the resort, 1PM tracked stuff way better then the Maven with no folding or getting overpowered the way the Maven does for me sometimes.




Powder / Deep Powder:

Let me just say this to preface what will be spouted out next...HOLY FUCKING SHIT, SO MUCH FUN

The Caylor should impress in these conditions, right? I mean, afterall, it is a pow ski, and is rockered, so it is a no brainer, correct?

Well, it handled shin deep powder with an ease and comfort that the Hellbent could only dream of. The Caylor had a similar feel in deep pow (13" to 20" cold smoke) to the Hellbent, but it seriously feels like it weighs in at half the weight. The swing weight on this ski is amazing, and I seriously, not ONCE, felt any thigh burn no matter where I skied it (front, back, center, etc). With the Hellbent, it was fun and easy, but may as well been super difficult when compared to the Caylor.

I love big heavy skis (195 Motherships, XXL, Squads, etc), but the Caylor could be finessed with no unpleasant side effects, or you could try to murderlize it like I was attempting to do and you will be pleasantly surprised. It holds up and responds to even the hardest of charging and flexing.

And speaking of flex, wow...I love the flex. I would rank it as hand-flexing like a Hellbent in the tip, but stiffer in the tail. It is similar to the Maven under foot. But again, the ski handles and behaves way more stiff then it flexes, without bogging down and diving under like a lot of stiffer skis do. I am not sure what ON3P did here, but I am not going to question it for a second.

For example, I was trying very hard to sink the tips and get this ski to bog down when they dropped the rope on Tea Cup Bowl. I was over on skier's right, where the steeper part is, and I couldn't do it. The tips would bottom out under the snow, then BAM...surface right back up and drench my face in super cold snow. No matter how many times I sunk the tips, they were immediately back up and surfing on the surface.

I have felt this before on the Hellbent, EP Pro, and the Maven...but none of them had the response that the Caylor did for me. The EP Pro is almost too snappy, the Maven folds on me a lot if I lean into it, and the Hellbent had a nice, slow response "pop" that I could see a lot of riders liking. But as I said, the Caylor just felt the best for me.

In trees and on pillows, the Caylor was hands down the best pow ski I have ever been on. Again, maybe due to what I consider to be the perfect pop and rebound for my size and style, but it just destroyed pillows and pivoted in VERY tight trees before I even realized what I was doing. It was like my brain and the Caylor's were getting it on after a long romantic dinner .

The ski also handled 10 to 12 foot hucks with no folding or wheelie effect, even when I did land in the backseat. Although the tail is rockered quite a bit, the flex seems strong back there and held up my 200+ pounds no problem...which made me appear better at hucking them I probably am,



In summary, the Caylor is the most fun I have had on a pow specific ski. It has a weight that feels like EP Pro's on your feet, a beefy feeling of a 189 Hellbent under foot without the floppy tips or folding of a Maven in chopped up pow.

The ONLY thing I would change with the Caylor is to shave two or three mm off of the tail dimension (144). I hooked them up a bit due to how hard you could actually charge on this rockered beast. It would still ride well switch, but would feel a little better charging forward for sure slightly narrower back there.

Other then that, this ski is so damn close to being spot on. With a little more carbon in it, I would never need another powder ski again...seriously.

I really hope ON3P makes more of these, because the most difficult thing about these skis was to give them back to Iggyskier after I tested them

Superb Powder ski, and not too shabby in most other places!

Grade: A

Tree Shot:

[XtrPickels]

It sounds to me like you like them. Good to hear another smaller indie ski company is producing quality skis.

[kidwoo]

You guys reviewing these things need to shut the fuck up since no one else can get them.


iggyskier killing the un-iggy production.

[PowTron]

It sounds to me like you like them. Good to hear another smaller indie ski company is producing quality skis.

NO doubt...

[BigLineSeeker]

The ON3P designs sounds like they are spot on. I hope I can get out on a pair this winter.

[telelebowski]

Very cool to see the evolution of these skis and to see your very hard work rewarded. Congrats to ON3P.

[doughboyshredder]

So Fuckin Rad. Really. So stoked for iggyskier and ON3P. If any small builders deserve success, ON3P does.

[iggyskier]

Well I am finally gonna get to ski these in the conditions they are meant for so I will provide my own review soon. Excited. Meadows telemetry is already showing 8" new at 3 AM.

[skimasterflex]

Wow, I remember when you first started the ON3P cult on Newschoolers years ago..... and now it has all come down to today! You're up at 3am you are so excited! You've earned it brother. Go get some out there today. Congrats it sounds like a wicked fun ski.

[PowTron]

Just wanted to say it one more time...this ski is the BIZZZOMB.

I think I am suffering from depression or withdrawal or something

[Professor Chaos]

I think I am suffering from depression or withdrawal or something

YOU!?! Suffering from withdrawl!?!

I havent skied yet this year due to school/work/traveling and my Wrenagades have been sitting idly by the whole time.
Not to mention that everything around here is getting at least 15cm fresh nearly every day, or so it seems, and with like nearly 2 meteres of snow having fallen within the last month Im about to go AWOL on everyone and everything to regain sanity.

The closest Ive gotten to skiing and trying out the ON3Ps has been by living vicariously through others' TRs and the ON3P reviews.

Im suffering from depression.

/rant

[iggyskier]

Well I am finally gonna get to ski these in the conditions they are meant for.......

Ended up helping the GF with GRE studying in the morning, so ended up at skibowl tonight and it basically consisted of 7" of new snow in the last 24 hours that was then rained on and turned into the shittest snow I have skied in since a buddy and I went to make some turns at snoqualmie back in that awful 04-05 season in the pouring rain....

So yeah, a real review is gonna have to wait. They did fine in the awful conditions and were fun on the rained out "groomers" but I want to get them in some pow before I say more.

[adrenalated]

Ended up helping the GF with GRE studying in the morning,

Pow day and you helped the GF study? Is that the sound of a whip cracking that I hear?

[iggyskier]

Pow day and you helped the GF study? Is that the sound of a whip cracking that I hear?

Naw, that'd be the sound of a ball'n chain

I figured it would be ok. Help in the morning, ski pow in the evening, plus I had yet to ski at skibowl and everyone basically said the terrain kicks ass, so figure I would get there when they open at 3PM for a bit more snow accumulation. Unfortunately all the precipitation by that point was basically rain.

Haven't heard any reports from meadows today, so maybe it sucked everywhere, but hopefully the people there early at least got some good turns in.

[Horu]

carveable windblown at meadows today, nothing special, but kind of fun. super windy in the afternoon. thread jack over.

[iggyskier]

carveable windblown at meadows today, nothing special, but kind of fun. super windy in the afternoon. thread jack over.

Sounds a lot better than it was at skibowl.

[PowTron]

Sounds a lot better than it was at skibowl.

Conditions are good in the Vail sidecountry right now...you could always just send the Caylor's back out here so they can play

[PowTron]

BUMP for presale questions...my PM box is not your personal whore center, folks

[Damian Sanders]

BUMP for presale questions...my PM box is not your personal whore center, folks

Not to call you out, but is this an independant, unbiased review?

I'm interested in a pair of caylors or billygoats, but its tough to get an unbiased review considerig very few people have skied them. I'm weary of the TGR hype machine....

[PowTron]

Not to call you out, but is this an independant, unbiased review?

I'm interested in a pair of caylors or billygoats, but its tough to get an unbiased review considerig very few people have skied them. I'm weary of the TGR hype machine....

No hype machine here.

Completely unbiased. I have no affiliation with ON3P other then trying them out and telling them what I thought.

I just ordered mine through the presale and paid the exact price as everyone else, $499.

Honestly, I would have paid twice that for these: that is how much I loved them.

[Daywalker]

BUMP for presale questions...my PM box is not your personal whore center, folks

Want to PM Rontele about it?

So stoked for these things... PowTron has been talking these up for AGES.

[pow27]

thanks very helpful. I may get a pair next year. But i don't want to deal with waiting for them to get made.

[PowTron]

thanks very helpful. I may get a pair next year. But i don't want to deal with waiting for them to get made.

Yeah, I mean waiting a whole three weeks or so is just going to KILL you...

[XavierD]

thanks very helpful. I may get a pair next year. But i don't want to deal with waiting for them to get made.

So let me get this right...

You would rather wait a year, so you don't have to wait 2 weeks?

I am not tracking.

[Daywalker]

Don't bump this, it hurts me to wait on mine. Not that Scott is making them slow or anything, I just want them in my greedy hands.