Composite Runners

CB Sled wood core composite runners are made to order from select White Ash cores reinforced with advanced carbon fiber and Kevlar^® materials, all held together by aircraft quality epoxy resins. These materials are processed using state of the art manufacturing techniques which consistently produce high quality, high strength, high performance, light weight parts.

The materials and processes were chosen partly for their inherent flexibility which allows us to precisely tailor many properties of the runner to the particular application. Overall length, overall strength, overall stiffness, flex pattern including progressive flex in the trailing runner, and camber or rocker can all be adjusted as required. No monolithic material will ever match the design and performance flexibility of composites. Laminated wood can be tailored to a degree, but the high strength carbon and Kevlar^® reinforcements used in CB Sled composite runners produce stronger, lighter parts with better flex characteristics. This is why ski manufacturers have made use of composites for many years. But even with all the advanced materials available today, wood cores are still common in skis, because they outperform and outlast synthetic core materials.

Sled runners and skis perform similar functions under similar loads and similar conditions. It is only logical that materials and construction techniques that work well for skis would work well for runners. Conversely, materials which are unsuitable for skis also make sled runners which perform poorly.

One crucial performance parameter of skis is torsional stiffness, the ability to resist twisting. Good torsional stiffness produces good edge hold and clean, carved turns. Poor torsional stiffness produces inefficient skidded turns and a general lack of control. This is also true of sled runners.

CB Sled composite runners are wrapped in a seamless sleeve of carbon-Kevlar^® hybrid material. This construction detail is known in the ski industry as a torsion box. The exceptional torsional stiffness of the torsion box gives CB Sled composite runners powerful edging and precise control unmatched by any other material available today. In addition to the torsion box, CB Sled composite runners also incorporate additional internal carbon and kevlar reinforcements. This multilayered structure is a key part of the design flexibility. There are several variables which can be easily adjusted to accomodate different requirements. An additional benefit of this construction, although it is one that no one wants to use, is in the way it fails. It does not fail suddenly. It fails progressively, one layer at a time, and stays in one piece, even with only one reinforcement layer and a fraction of the core left intact. However, failures are unlikely because CB Sled composite runners are very strong and resistant to abuse.