Made in America Products by Curve Industies
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The Curve story starts with Nicholas Pryputniewicz, a frustrated snowcross racer. Tired of archaic ski technology, he spent hours after each race brainstorming and sketching a new ski that would solve many common problems such as darting, tracking, and pushing. In 2002 at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Nick met Sean Stumvoll, an avid motocross racer. Together, they cultivated ideas for a snowmobile ski that would combine very specific handling characteristics from each sport.
Both 3rd year Mechanical Engineering students at the time, they understood the importance of applying creative thinking and proven engineering principles to a design. Five years later, patents in pending, three distinct versions and thousands of trail and snow cross testing miles, has yielded a ski that is beyond anything they could have imagined.
The team's first attempt wasn't so uplifting. However, a vision of how a snowmobile should handle kept things alive. We made our first prototype in the CNC lab at RIT - Carved it out of a flat UHMW billet. We had to bend the tip up after. Sean recalls. The first ski had no variable geometry. It's no wonder we didn't get the results we expected. Nick recalls. Then one day the idea of actually taking the snow and changing its form hit. From that point forward, things would never be the same. The breakthrough in our technology is not that it works, it's how it works. Traditional skis pass the snow through a constant profile. In doing this, work is only done to the snow when a change of direction is induced by turning the bars. With constantly variable geometry, work is always being done even when going straight. Curve Industries uses the term rail to describe what shape their skis form. You can get away with constantly working the snow because of the extremely low friction coefficient. Drag is unnoticeable. It's like an ice skate. By compacting incoming snow and forming rails under the ski, energy transfer from the sled to the snow is greatly increased. When initiating and carrying through a turn, you want that energy to fall across an arc. If you sweep outside the arc because of pushing or tracking, you just lost a bunch of energy. To maintain speed, you have to get back on the gas, or worse, straighten out with the brake.
Through the process of bringing the skis to market, funding was slim and banks weren't an option. In college, everyone is broke. laughs Sean. Lets just say, steak wasn't on the grill. Nick adds, You know people believe in you when they throw down the cash. This wouldn't be possible without some people who truly believe.
Skis aren't the only thing on the minds behind Curve. We look at how things are currently, and then we ask ourselves, what can we do to improve? Sean adds, The motorcycle industry and particularly the off-road motorcycle industry has a highly developed product line. Bikes today are really awe inspiring pieces of equipment. Snowmobiles on the other hand, have a lot of room for improvement. Curve Industries is working behind the scenes to bring our favorite sport to a new level. Identifying a problem or need is only the beginning. The real challenge lies in forming a tractable solution. Says Nick and adds, We think people are really going to appreciate the products and ideas we bring to the table.
Our Mission
Develop an idea never before conceived, engineer the principles into a deeply refined system of components, then, provide the completed innovation to our customers with unmatched interaction and support.
Our Way of Thought
By rights of an engineering mind, we attempt peak resource utilization through all aspects of testing, manufacturing and distribution.
We are not an aftermarket snowmobile products company with a couple of engineers. Curve Industries is an engineering company that designs products for snowmobile enthusiasts.