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Bent 90 Review

GeoGirl

Certified Ski Diva
Hi Divas! I recently bought a pair of Atomic Bent 90s. I realized that, although they're super hyped up, all the reviews for them that I could find online were written by dudes, so I thought I would do a write-up of my first impressions :smile:

Info about me: early 30s, 5'4, 110 lbs, ski about a dozen times a year, has been skiing for 5 years and is confident on blue runs in variable conditions, trying to get more confident in bumps and trees. My wonderful girlfriend has been skiing since age 3 and my goal is to be able to frolic with her in the areas where she prefers to ski, and eventually progress to blacks. My primary ski is a Black Pearl 88 (159) which serves me well on groomers and crud, but has been holding me back where I need to make tight turns. Plus I get tired by the end of the day when and was looking for a lighter ski.

I demo'd a bunch of skis and the Atomic rep put me on the Bent 90 in a 157 length, which put a HUGE smile on my face. It was a glorious demo day at Stevens Pass with ~5 inches of fresh snow. The Bent 90s gave me so much confidence in the glades and trees to make any kind of maneuver I needed, and had a fun pop when I set them to carving in the groomers. Unlike with my BPs, I could make very short-radius turn on the edges of blacks to follow my GF down blacks without feeling like the speed was getting out of control. They are so much lighter and more forgiving than my Black Pearls, but the 90 mm waist gave them a good amount of float and they were stiff enough that I could pressure the tips in turns to get a nice even flex out of them. Their flexible tips and tails gave me a good sense of control in the moguls, without the tails getting stuck. I could engage the edge and pop around the turn, which some other skis I demo'd didn't do nearly so well. My BPs have a definite preference to be tipped over on their turns and can get squirrelly if I try evasive maneuvers when I follow my GF into challenging areas (K-turns, re-orienting myself after getting spun around backwards, etc). I found a great deal on a pair of Bent 90s and bindings and made the splurge.

I went back to Stevens yesterday with my shiny new skis and freshly mounted bindings, and the snow was icy in the morning/sno-cone in the afternoon spring skiing. I had never seen so much corduroy at this mountain before! The Bent 90s ate the corduroys for breakfast in a variety of nice even turn shapes. However I quickly learned their limits when I took them into the refrozen ungroomed stuff that would usually be no problem for my Black Pearls. The Bent 90s were nigh on uncontrollable in the hard crud and frozen moguls (it had me completely doubting my ability to ski). However, once the crud softened up in the afternoon, I was able to smear and hop around with the Bent 90s off the groomers, no problem.
I think the Bent 90 in the 157 length is a great ski for me in soft snow. I disagree with the hype that this ski is a "swiss army knife for all skiiers' because I think a heavier or stronger skier could easily overpower them for all-mountain skiing, and these skis are far too light to perform in hard crud. These would serve that heavier/stronger skier better as a park ski. I will definitely be keeping my Black Pearls for hard snow days.
For lightweight ladies or maybe a progressing teen girl, these are a lot of fun! Has anyone else tried them?
 

TiffAlt

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Hi Divas! I recently bought a pair of Atomic Bent 90s. I realized that, although they're super hyped up, all the reviews for them that I could find online were written by dudes, so I thought I would do a write-up of my first impressions :smile:

Info about me: early 30s, 5'4, 110 lbs, ski about a dozen times a year, has been skiing for 5 years and is confident on blue runs in variable conditions, trying to get more confident in bumps and trees. My wonderful girlfriend has been skiing since age 3 and my goal is to be able to frolic with her in the areas where she prefers to ski, and eventually progress to blacks. My primary ski is a Black Pearl 88 (159) which serves me well on groomers and crud, but has been holding me back where I need to make tight turns. Plus I get tired by the end of the day when and was looking for a lighter ski.

I demo'd a bunch of skis and the Atomic rep put me on the Bent 90 in a 157 length, which put a HUGE smile on my face. It was a glorious demo day at Stevens Pass with ~5 inches of fresh snow. The Bent 90s gave me so much confidence in the glades and trees to make any kind of maneuver I needed, and had a fun pop when I set them to carving in the groomers. Unlike with my BPs, I could make very short-radius turn on the edges of blacks to follow my GF down blacks without feeling like the speed was getting out of control. They are so much lighter and more forgiving than my Black Pearls, but the 90 mm waist gave them a good amount of float and they were stiff enough that I could pressure the tips in turns to get a nice even flex out of them. Their flexible tips and tails gave me a good sense of control in the moguls, without the tails getting stuck. I could engage the edge and pop around the turn, which some other skis I demo'd didn't do nearly so well. My BPs have a definite preference to be tipped over on their turns and can get squirrelly if I try evasive maneuvers when I follow my GF into challenging areas (K-turns, re-orienting myself after getting spun around backwards, etc). I found a great deal on a pair of Bent 90s and bindings and made the splurge.

I went back to Stevens yesterday with my shiny new skis and freshly mounted bindings, and the snow was icy in the morning/sno-cone in the afternoon spring skiing. I had never seen so much corduroy at this mountain before! The Bent 90s ate the corduroys for breakfast in a variety of nice even turn shapes. However I quickly learned their limits when I took them into the refrozen ungroomed stuff that would usually be no problem for my Black Pearls. The Bent 90s were nigh on uncontrollable in the hard crud and frozen moguls (it had me completely doubting my ability to ski). However, once the crud softened up in the afternoon, I was able to smear and hop around with the Bent 90s off the groomers, no problem.
I think the Bent 90 in the 157 length is a great ski for me in soft snow. I disagree with the hype that this ski is a "swiss army knife for all skiiers' because I think a heavier or stronger skier could easily overpower them for all-mountain skiing, and these skis are far too light to perform in hard crud. These would serve that heavier/stronger skier better as a park ski. I will definitely be keeping my Black Pearls for hard snow days.
For lightweight ladies or maybe a progressing teen girl, these are a lot of fun! Has anyone else tried them?
Love the detail in your review and you are so right, most of reviews of this ski seem to be by dudes, so thank you!! This looks like a ski I'd want to try on a powder day.
 

DebbieSue

Angel Diva
Hi Divas! I recently bought a pair of Atomic Bent 90s. I realized that, although they're super hyped up, all the reviews for them that I could find online were written by dudes, so I thought I would do a write-up of my first impressions :smile:

Info about me: early 30s, 5'4, 110 lbs, ski about a dozen times a year, has been skiing for 5 years and is confident on blue runs in variable conditions, trying to get more confident in bumps and trees. My wonderful girlfriend has been skiing since age 3 and my goal is to be able to frolic with her in the areas where she prefers to ski, and eventually progress to blacks. My primary ski is a Black Pearl 88 (159) which serves me well on groomers and crud, but has been holding me back where I need to make tight turns. Plus I get tired by the end of the day when and was looking for a lighter ski.

I demo'd a bunch of skis and the Atomic rep put me on the Bent 90 in a 157 length, which put a HUGE smile on my face. It was a glorious demo day at Stevens Pass with ~5 inches of fresh snow. The Bent 90s gave me so much confidence in the glades and trees to make any kind of maneuver I needed, and had a fun pop when I set them to carving in the groomers. Unlike with my BPs, I could make very short-radius turn on the edges of blacks to follow my GF down blacks without feeling like the speed was getting out of control. They are so much lighter and more forgiving than my Black Pearls, but the 90 mm waist gave them a good amount of float and they were stiff enough that I could pressure the tips in turns to get a nice even flex out of them. Their flexible tips and tails gave me a good sense of control in the moguls, without the tails getting stuck. I could engage the edge and pop around the turn, which some other skis I demo'd didn't do nearly so well. My BPs have a definite preference to be tipped over on their turns and can get squirrelly if I try evasive maneuvers when I follow my GF into challenging areas (K-turns, re-orienting myself after getting spun around backwards, etc). I found a great deal on a pair of Bent 90s and bindings and made the splurge.

I went back to Stevens yesterday with my shiny new skis and freshly mounted bindings, and the snow was icy in the morning/sno-cone in the afternoon spring skiing. I had never seen so much corduroy at this mountain before! The Bent 90s ate the corduroys for breakfast in a variety of nice even turn shapes. However I quickly learned their limits when I took them into the refrozen ungroomed stuff that would usually be no problem for my Black Pearls. The Bent 90s were nigh on uncontrollable in the hard crud and frozen moguls (it had me completely doubting my ability to ski). However, once the crud softened up in the afternoon, I was able to smear and hop around with the Bent 90s off the groomers, no problem.
I think the Bent 90 in the 157 length is a great ski for me in soft snow. I disagree with the hype that this ski is a "swiss army knife for all skiiers' because I think a heavier or stronger skier could easily overpower them for all-mountain skiing, and these skis are far too light to perform in hard crud. These would serve that heavier/stronger skier better as a park ski. I will definitely be keeping my Black Pearls for hard snow days.
For lightweight ladies or maybe a progressing teen girl, these are a lot of fun! Has anyone else tried them?
Very useful review. I've wondered about Bent skis in general and true they are typically only reviewed by guys. I'm also on BP88 159 (20/21), a little taller, alot older and heavier. 5'5" 63 140, advanced but not expert. I don't have trouble with tight turns, and don't want to sacrifice at all when it gets firm. So your report confirms this will be a fun ski to demo out west if it's soft, but not otherwise. Thanks for detailed report.
 

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