In this Blister Labs update, Sean Humbert joins us to talk about the movie Real Genius; flies; ski testing and dynamic modeling; math and slarving; and more.
TOPICS & TIMES:
- Growing up in Tahoe (4:46)
- Sean’s engineering background (8:27)
- From flies to robotics (24:55)
- Blister Labs (29:32)
- Ski testing & dynamic modeling (35:38)
- Edge angles, load cases, & stability (50:02)
RELATED LINKS:
So very excited about this. I understand the need to simplify things quite a bit. But I really hope y’all also provide references to some of the more in depth details about skis. I probably won’t understand everything and will probably misunderstand the data but I’ll love it anyways.
I also think that when getting quantitative there’s room for direct comparisons. For example, what geometry geeks and sooth ski are doing is awesome.
I think this makes it easier for the gearheads like me, and easier for casual shoppers too. For example I had a friend say that he always skips over the “flex rating” part of blister reviews because it’s not helpful. But then talking to him he knows he prefers stiffer skis. It’s just that when looking at a flex profile that says “6, 7, 10, 8, 7” it’s hard to know what that means. You have to go through and compare a bunch of skis to get a good sense of things. Same thing with weight and width etc, and it takes a minute to go back and forth between reviews to compare each thing. I personally pull the information into a spreadsheet to make it easy to compare skis. Most people won’t. But my point is that I think some way to compare skis quantitatively on Blister would be sweet. I’d love it at least. And it sounds like you’ll have the data.
I know you’ll hate this comparison but I think there’s a reason outdoor gear lab has the comparison format they do. That format but with legit quantitative data that actually means something could be sweet.
I just want to see you guys smash some carbon wheels.
I wish Sean good luck on this undertaking. My engineering background has some similarities to Sean’s and I found that its always a challenge to sort out all the real world interactions that engineering theory oversimplifies for the sake of obtaining a solution. He seems to be well qualified to take on the task. I do hope he can take it to the next level and relate the data driven eng. results to help guide consumer based buying decisions. That would be a first in the ski industry.