The SkiBike Shop

Now is a great time of year to be checking over your gear in readiness for the start of the ski season.

You may prefer to have a ski shop do your servicing, but I find that basic servicing and repairs are not difficult and are on par with a lot of the DIY jobs any householder would have to face. There are some very useful guides like this one and excellent videos on YouTube that demonstrate the skills and techniques required.

For my own footskis and skibike skiboards, I carry out the following sequence of tasks:

1. Degrease bases using proprietary cleaner or isopropyl alcohol (pure methylated spirits)
2. Fill damaged bases with P-Tex candle.
3. Level off with a sharp wide blade, then use an electric palm sander to finish off.
4. Final sanding by hand with a block and production paper
5. Sharpen and set edges with a Swiss file and jig tool to the following specifications; Base Angle 0.5-1.0 degree, Edge Angle 1-2 degrees.
6. Hot wax bases using an old skool secret formula!
7. Clean up the top surfaces.
8. Check footski bindings for positive action and release.

This has worked well enough not to be noticeably difference from a professional service and gripped well on ice and there were no issues with glide.
I have gathered together all the necessary tools into a single "service kit" which also covers regular bicycle repairs, such as; spoke replacement, bottom bracket, or cassette replacement.