How we tune skis & snowboards in our garage

With the expansion of the bike shop this fall to include ski & snowboard tuning, we’ve had a lot of questions about our equipment and setup. Here’s a rundown of what machines and tools we have and how we’re using them.

For base sanding and grinding, we use a Grindrite 2100 belt/stone combo. The belt sander is great for removing minor base imperfections or post-core shot/p-tex leveling. The stone grinding feature is used to flatten and structure bases (see photo above). As you ski, a thin film of water is created under your skis from the friction of your bases gliding over the snow. Having a base structure helps control the moisture under your skis which improves glide and makes for a more predictable feeling ski. For cold, dry snow, a finer structure is used and a coarser structure for wetter snow. We have a variety of base structure profiles programmed into the machine and can easily change structures to favor any snow conditions.

For belt edging, we use a Grindrite ST500. This wet belt edger is capable of doing both side and base edges, however, we only use it for side edging. This machine quickly does the prep work on worn edges before heading to our edge polisher.

The Montana HTT Dual System is a wet stone base and side edge polisher. We use this after belt or file edge work to give edges an evenly-polished finish from tip to tail. This machine allows us to easily provide an extra step in edge finishing without having to spend a lot of time doing this by hand.

For accurate base edge bevels, we use file guides and file the edge by hand. We have an assortment of guides for different degrees of bevels. Our coarse brushing is done by hand with steel and brass brushes and the nylon and horsehair roto brushes take care of the finish work. All tip and tail “detuning” is done with light gummi stone work unless requested otherwise.

I hope that answers any questions on our shop setup. If there’s anything I missed, feel free to reach out to us! We have a variety of tune options and can handle almost any repair. Check out our wide range of tune offerings on our ski services page.