For 2017, Head has incorporated the miracle material Graphene™ – carbon reduced to the irreducible one atom – into the i.SL RD’s make-up. One might be forgiven for thinking that adding Graphene would ipso facto reduce the ski’s weight, but racers aren’t looking for lighter skis, but ones with perfect flex distribution. Because of its absurd 300-to-1 strength advantage over steel, Graphene strengthens the ski as well as stiffens it, an important feature among fragile slalom race skis.
The elusive elixir Rossi’s quest hopes to capture is in essence the peppiness of fiberglass, so turns practically finish themselves, married to the calming qualities only metal seems able to provide. Yet marriages of metal and glass often flounder when metal tries to stifle fiberglass’s free spirit. What alchemy will allow metal to maintain its firm hand while giving glass the latitude to frolic down the fall line?
The answer is the Carbon Alloy Matrix Rossi has concocted to boost the Super 7’s power quotient while maintaining its effervescent nature. The stiffer structure can sustain high velocity impacts with calcified crud, yet the Super 7 HD still feels light and maneuverable.
The Supershape i.Speed takes all of the considerable talents of its predecessor up a notch or two. The new sidecut is even more shapely that the already Betty Boop silhouette of the i.Supershape Speed it replaces in the line, so tight corners are even more of a kick. It bows more easily because it has a thinner core profile, particularly underfoot where its Graphene™ reinforcement is concentrated. Once tipped and pressured into its very tidy 14m arc, its grip is World Cup quality, intensified by two end-to-end slabs of Titanal.
There’s a misconception about short-radius skis like the i.Magnum (13.1m @ 170cm) that they won’t do a long turn without getting wobbly and lose all composure off-piste. Poppycock. Of course it’s not a Powder ski, but the i.Magnum is no more perturbed by common off-trail conditions than it is by blue-tinted boilerplate. It will eat whatever you feed it. If you want a little more stability at speed and a slightly longer radius arc, don’t be shy about stepping up to the 177cm.
