Solda Wax Recommendations

What’s New from SOLDA

Just like ski companies, wax companies find themselves in a very competitive business. It is not enough to simply produce a product that enables skis to glide well when other producers are working to improve products and help skis go even faster. Since 1934 SOLDA has been a leader and innovator in the production of superior ski wax. This year is no different especially with the Olympic Winter Games in 2010 in Vancouver, BC.

Our customers also want to know what is new at SOLDA, so this summer the owner of WebSkis went to Italy to find out. Here is some of what we learned from the good people in Monte Belluna who make the wax we use and sell.

The highest level of fluorination is found in F40 Special. This wax comes in F40 Special Green, F40 Special Violet and F40 Special Red. When will we see F40 yellow? The chemists have been able to successfully bond the same fluorocarbon compound from HP05 and HP06 with the Green, Violet and Red F40 waxes. The combination of F40 Red and Fluor 100 has proven to be more difficult to make a hybrid hard wax that will give the same superior gliding properties as the technician application of F40 Red and then using the Fluor 100 powder or spray. Luciano has set this as a goal for the near future. For now in warm temps (snow -2/-6, air +2/-2) and plenty of available moisture, use F40 Red and finish with Fluor 100.

SOLDA has a new wax that has tested very well against other waxes in conditions found at the Olympic venues. In testing in Europe and Canada with conditions of 50%-100% humidity and snow temps 0/-9C this wax has proven superior to any other wax tested. The staff at SOLDA continues to test this in different snow conditions. It should be available next year. SOLDA will not release the wax until they are absolutely sure it is what they want to carry the SOLDA name. Watch for some very fast skis for the Italians and other national teams that get a chance to use this wax. We should have it next year.

A fluor Gel is being tested and used with success in some conditions. Look for this in the next year. I have a little sample I will be trying this year.



In the training wax line SOLDA has added a Performance Green to the highly successful Performance Red and Performance Yellow. These are economically priced low-fluor training waxes. The Green is a hard wax for cold training conditions. In prepping skis for a cold snow race, this would be a good choice as a first layer followed by F15 Blue and the appropriate finish of F30, or F32 or HP06.

Some have asked about the plastic in the Marathon Water Belts and if it is BPA free. Luciano says, yes. This plastic should pose no health issues.

If you are headed to the West Yellowstone Ski Festival I will be there with my SOLDA Wax table and hopefully answers to your questions.

Hope to see you, and have a good one.

Bert

Welcome to the SOLDA wax blog and the first entry of the 09/10 ski waxing season. Apologies for the long silence. We have had some issues with the server and passwords, but all is working now.

Over the summer the owner of Webskis and the official boss here in the shop, Kevin Groman, took a trip to Italy for bike touring and he got a chance to stop off at the SOLDA plant in Monte Belluna. After touring the facility he asked some questions that SOLDA users might find interesting. What follows is my recreation (not made up) of the interview.

Kevin: Salve, Luciano. It is good of you to take some time and answer a few questions for Bert and me. We were wondering how skis are used in the testing of SOLDA waxs when you are refining current products or developing new products.

Luciano: For each on snow test we use six pairs of skis and six skiers. The skis are matched as well as possible for flex and grind and for each test we use only one brand of skis. We have a fleet of many brands, but we do not test Fischer skis against Madshus skis. We first establish the speed of each ski by waxing all the skis the same and running tests in a speed trap. That way we develop a handicap number for each pair of skis because some skis are just always fast.

Kevin: When you have a new wax to test, who is doing the on-snow testing?

Luciano: We use skiers and wax techs from the Italian National ski team. We also have skiers from two clubs that feed skiers to the National team.

Kevin: Once you have decided to test a product, what is the procedure you use for on-snow testing?

Luciano: We start by waxing with SOLDA and two other brands of wax. Our techs try to prepare the skis in the best possible manner for the conditions of testing. If other brands of wax are faster, we need to know that. We then use electronic speed trap data, glide out tests and subjective tests as the skiers take the skis out for a few kilometers of skiing. The testers do not know which skis have SOLDA and which have the other waxes. We know each ski well and use the handicap numbers already established to see how the waxes run against each other.

Kevin: It sounds like a lot of work.

Luciano: It is great work. Some times we are waxing skis for 3 or 4 sessions a day. We really learn what is fast and that makes us always faster.

Kevin: I know that the chemistry of ski waxes is getting more complex. Do you have chemists here in the factory who work on laboratory testing?

Luciano: We have the cooperation of chemists and mathematicians from the University of Venice and University of Padua. They do some work here and some work at the university labs. There are times when they make a discovery in the lab that prompts us to begin development of a new wax, or to make an improvement on an established wax.

Kevin: I was wondering about new product development. Is that initiated by the company, the university or by racers?

Luciano: It is a little of all of the above. Sometimes the coaches come and ask for waxes for certain kinds of snow. New wax formulations are being developed for Vancouver, but they are not yet ready for public release. We want to be sure we have a superior product before we release it. That takes time. Sometimes it is the chemists who come to me and show me the results of observations in the lab. Then we start to see how best to apply that data. Sometimes we observe something ourselves about the wax and begin here in the plant. Gino Solda's son, Manlio, works here and is often mixing up something the has been thinking about. It is great to have members of the Solda family still involved. We are now working on liquid waxes and trying to find ways to have them bond better to the ski bases. Look for better liquid flouro waxes in the future.

Kevin: Thanks for the insights. We are pleased and proud to be the SOLDA distributor in the USA. It is terrific to get a chance to see the wax production and find out what makes SOLDA wax the fast wax that it is.

We at SOLDA hope you have a good season. Call us with waxing questions.

Bert