Kick waxes
application
(cross-country skiing – classic technique)
Determine and prepare your kick wax zone.
Lay your skis down on a completely flat surface (like some concrete soil or on the floor in a gymnasium…), then put your boots on, step on your skis and fasten them.
Hold yourself upright and bend your knees a bit forward, keeping your toes on the same level.
Distribute your weight evenly.
Ask somebody else to take a sheet of paper, bend at your feet and put it through under the ski base (between the base and the floor), in the zone under your feet.
He should be able to move this sheet freely up to the toe’s limit, which will be the top of the kick zone.
The same goes for the heel, where you determine the bottom of the kick zone (basically it is always on the heel level).
If you want to verify ski camber, just transfer your weight on one ski. The sheet of paper should be pressed down and won’t move.
As a general rule, the kick zone is about 60-65 cm long.
Step 1: Measure and mark the kick zone.
Step
2: Prepare the kick zone with 120 grit
sandpaper.
For a certain type of fresh
snow, simply sanding the zone in small round movements is enough to prepare “naked” waxing without any further application of hard
waxes. The grit of sandpaper remains a valuable secret!
APPLICATION
OF KLISTER
Advice:
Always apply a thin layer of Plus Blue Klister. This base gripping wax extends longevity of “warm” klisters and prevents them from trickling down along the ski sides, the phenomenon which leads to considerable slowing down in glide.
Step
3: Apply klister in short diagonal strips in a fishbone pattern along the kick zone (spaced out by 1,5 cm). By all means avoid spreading klister in the
groove.
Step 4: Warm this base grip layer using an iron at less than 95°C/200°F/thermostate
1, as temperatures above 60°C damage gluing and sticking properties of klister
resins. We advise you to
cut your iron off, let it
cool down for a minute or
two and only then iron the
kick wax.
Step 5: Choose the correct kick wax of the day with a view to weather and especially to snow conditions on the
track.
Apply the klister of the day and smooth it using a heat gun or a torch
(keep the flame at least at a 30 cm distance).
Step 6: Clean the groove using a pencil or a groove scraper.
When evaluating the choice of
a hard wax and a klister,
you should consider the following four points:
- grip (no feeling of slippery or “draggy” skis)
- grip/resistance longevity
- glide speed
- feelings under ski waist.
Application of hard wax
Step 1 and 2 are
the same.
Step 3: is practically the
same: rub a layer of base binder or directly the selected wax of the
day on the kick zone.
Step 4: is almost the same as well: iron
the grip layer into the base, use a heat gun or a torch with an even application head.
Step 5: choose and apply the correct hard wax, use a cork to smooth it.
Step 6: take the excess of the wax with a pencil groove scraper.
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