Comments on: Volkl Kiku Ski

By: Geargals

Geargals — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 02:25:00 +0000

I so agree with you about the topsheets! I just saw them yesterday and love them.

I used to ride the stiffest boards I could manage, but now I like a little more “forgiving” board, like you mentioned. The Kiku is stiff but transfers a lot of confidence despite it being a formidable ski. I am anxiously awaiting this year’s snow so I can take them out in the pow!

I haven’t tried the Pandora yet, but I can say that I think you’ll be happy with the Kikus if you go that way. Get ready for a little faster ride and bigger turns, but if you can hang on and go with it, the Kiku is a lot of fun. I don’t think I’d want to go too much wider unless I was sure to be skiing only pow; but hopefully I’ll have the chance to put that theory to the test this year on some new big boards!

By: Jenny

Jenny — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 06:31:17 +0000

Hey There… first time here. Thanks for the great review of the ‘09 Kiku. I’m starting my ski shopping for this year and I really can’t get enough information since I am totally split between the Kiku and the Pandora. Summer was a nice break to think about things OTHER than what ski to get. Alas, the question is back.

I skied for 1.5 days on last season’s Pandora at Snowbird. I’m a Volkl Girl, been on the Karma for a couple years now and another pair of Volkls before then. When I threw the Pandoras on I felt like I was cheating on my skis. BUT, this was overcome with sheer happiness and love for the Pandora. It was bouncy, fun, forgiving, easy to turn, it did phenomenal and floated so well in the 15″ of fresh we had, and plowed through the cut up stuff on the trail, and was very comfortable for wide turns on the groomers down at the base of the lifts. It skied trees quite well, we were in the trees all day.

I thank you for such detail on your Kiku experience, I wish you would have gotten some serious pow so you could tell me how they handled for you! My biggest concern with the ‘10 Kiku is that, while it’s considerably wider underfoot than my Karma, I’ll regret not going even bigger. But then I’m also a little concerned because, while I’ve been on a stiff ski forever, I wonder if the Pandora was so much fun because it was so forgiving, and if maybe I’m ready to be a little lazy and go with a softer ski.

Anyway, it’s a new season, we have new versions of both, love to see if you have any comments on the new lines. Still trying to decide. Yesterday it was the Pandora, today it’s the Kiku. Tomorrow it’ll probably be the Pandora again.

At least the Kiku top sheet is a little better this year!

By: geargals

geargals — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 09:16:40 +0000

The other girls all yelled “AURA!” when I read your post to them, so that’s probably a good fit. However, I did really love the Kikus, and I’ll qualify my advice by saying there’s not a whole lot of tree skiing up here, so you’ll have to reconcile your idea of tree skiing with my idea of tree skiing, but I think the Kikus would do well. I usually ski on Volkls that are very similar in dimensions to the Aura, and I tend to make tighter, speed-shedding turns. Because of that tendency, I really noticed that the Kikus were definitely skewed to the big-radius, high-speed type of turn. Once I got comfortable on them, I LOVED them, mostly because they are so good in questionable conditions (mank, crud, heavy snow, etc). I had to work hard to crank short-radius turns out of them, and it wasn’t that fun, so I got used to the big, wide, sweeping fast turns that the Kikus are so good at. It’s possible to make tight turns with them, definitely, but it takes some very active skiing and a fair bit of skill. On the other hand, on every heavy powder day or day that I was skiing day-old chopped-up re-frozen powder, I was wishing I was on the Kikus. So I think it will depend more on the type of snow and conditions you encounter than the terrain on which you like to ski.

So after that kind of useless re-summary of the original review, I’ll say that the Kikus are GREAT but if you have doubts about whether they’re what you want, you can’t go wrong with the Auras. They are amazing and you won’t possibly regret that choice. I’ve never skied the Pandora; if you’ve demo’ed it, let me know what you thought.

By: Chiquita Ardilla

Chiquita Ardilla — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:43:26 +0000

Lol I don’t need a prize, but maybe some advice would be helpful. I’m looking for a new powder ski to add to my quiver. I’ve been riding the k2 burnin luvs which have been a good all around ski but I want something that can handle some deeper powder. I’m looking for something with underfoot dimensions between 90-105. The Kikus sounded good, but from what I can gather, they’re really only good for deep powder in bowls, not so much trees. Is this right? Also, are there any other skis you might recommend? I was thinking either Line Pandora or Volkl Aura. Salomon Scarlet might be interesting too. Any other ideas? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

By: geargals

geargals — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:37:28 +0000

Hey, you might be right! You deserve a prize.

By: Chiquita Ardilla

Chiquita Ardilla — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:04:28 +0000

lol as far as top sheet goes, to me it kinda looks like it forms a tree with some long grass next to a pond. The bushy part of the tree is near the tips. But that’s just me.