Ski Bindings New & Old

AllyG wrote:Alistair,
Edge to Edge are selling off their old ski hire gear. Maybe they've got something that would do, for your mysterious and amusing project?

http://edge2edgeshop.co.uk/category/41/Skis

Ally

Ally! This is a very expensive offer! I buy new skis cheaper than their ex-rentals! My son buys ex-rentals imported from France for £80!

Alistair, your best bet would be to get something from Germany this shop http://www.sportprofi.de/Ski-Alpin/Skibindungen/Ski-Alpin-Bindungen-Z10 has the SL 110 Carve ABS in silver for 99.95 euro and this one http://www.besttrade-deutschland.de/index.php?cat=c1383_Head-Bindings.html has a large selection of Head / Tyrolia bindings all with 25% off. They are introducing all new line of bindings next year so there may be further discounts. You could also try ebay.de, I bought a brand new pair of Fisher X14s during the summer for 50 euro.

This article on balance and alignment might be worth reading before you decide which binding to buy http://hvst.org/files/Balance_-_Proper_Boot_Alignment_web_.pdf

Bandit, there are some i.e. the Mojo / Peak 7, 11 and 12 that have a delta of 9mm, scary! For some reason in 2008/09, when they updated the range they decided to increase the delta on the most of the mid range models in the Freeflex and Mojo ranges from 3.5mm to 7mm and 9mm respectively.

Trencher, interesting that you also had to reduce the delta in your case I'm guessing it was to 2mm. I mounted my P02s with a 2007/08 Freeflex Plus 14 / 3.5mm delta after a bit of testing I found that a 3mm lift worked best(I'm a lot smaller than you are) I also found that the range in which I was optimally balanced was incredibly small, less than 1mm. It would be interesting to talk to Kessler about this as all the Phantoms I've seen have either been mounted with either SP rental bindings (5mm delta) or Power 11s with 3mm and the P02s now seem to be sold with Freeflex Pros most of which have 7mm.

Dave Mac wrote:

AllyG wrote:Alistair,
Edge to Edge are selling off their old ski hire gear. Maybe they've got something that would do, for your mysterious and amusing project?

http://edge2edgeshop.co.uk/category/41/Skis

Ally

Ally! This is a very expensive offer! I buy new skis cheaper than their ex-rentals! My son buys ex-rentals imported from France for £80!

Dave,
I meant maybe Alistair could ask them if they have any suitable bindings in their skip (or wherever they put their out of date stuff).

Ally

Thanks Ally and Swingbeep, Those German sites, Swingbeep, are just what I was hopeful of finding in the UK. They have a good stock of Head/Tyrolia bindings. I also found your post very useful and I have taken on board that I may have to part with a bit more cash to obtain the right binding. I have noticed that the SL range 2010/2011 have a diagonal release but I will still have to check the Delta angles. How are you finding the Freeflex Pro 14's in general?

Information much appreciated :D

SwingBeep wrote:

Trencher, interesting that you also had to reduce the delta in your case I'm guessing it was to 2mm. I mounted my P02s with a 2007/08 Freeflex Plus 14 / 3.5mm delta after a bit of testing I found that a 3mm lift worked best(I'm a lot smaller than you are) I also found that the range in which I was optimally balanced was incredibly small, less than 1mm. It would be interesting to talk to Kessler about this as all the Phantoms I've seen have either been mounted with either SP rental bindings (5mm delta) or Power 11s with 3mm and the P02s now seem to be sold with Freeflex Pros most of which have 7mm.

Maybe the answer can be seen with these 155 skis. The Head and Fischer skis are mounted to the manufacturers mark. The binding position on the P02s is far forward. In part, that may be because the effective edge extends closer to the tip. (actually I had forgotten that the head ski demo bindings are actually set forward a bit on the adjustments)


The result of mounting bindings further forward should reduce the need for forward pressure, and the high delta would facilitate that ????



I found that amount of lift that i liked under the toe piece varied with the type of turn I typically make with a particular ski.. So I needed less lift on the 163s, on which I typically use cross under transitions, and more on the 171s where I would use a more relaxed crossover transition. I had a few trips to our friendly ski shop to rummage through their box of odd mounting screws, while figuring this out.

SwingBeep wrote:

Bandit, there are some i.e. the Mojo / Peak 7, 11 and 12 that have a delta of 9mm, scary! For some reason in 2008/09, when they updated the range they decided to increase the delta on the most of the mid range models in the Freeflex and Mojo ranges from 3.5mm to 7mm and 9mm respectively.

After having Skier Alignment undertaken, I now have to aim for a zero Delta angle on my bindings, which invariably means using a toe lifter to cancel out the ramp angle built into the heel on an alpine binding. Feedback from the 1st pair I had mounted with a toe lifter, I've found that my legs are a lot less tired and I'm more "skeleton stacked" over my bindings. It's made quite a difference.

Does anyone know for certain why binding manufacturers build these big angles into bindings?

Just read the Alignment Article. Very good read. The web link is not working for me (404 error), so I pasted the site address into my browser and found the page from their menu.

I've fixed the link in my previous post.

I have the Freeflex Plus 14 from 07/08 (this is their 4th season) I've had no problems with them as yet. Nearer to home Ski Bartlett have some Fisher FR11 &17s they are the same as the Freeflex Pluses http://www.skibartlett.com/ski-bindings-312-c.asp

If you want to assess your balance before deciding you could try this method http://custom-bootfitting.southernski.com/out-of-balance.html using shims to simulate the delta, you could also make a balance board as shown on page 214 of this book http://tinyurl.com/6xsdgsy
If you need any screws, lifter plates etc. there's a spares catalogue here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/51907745/08-09-Tyrolia-Head-Spare-Parts-EN-DE

Thanks Swingbeep for another excellent post, its set me up for some bedtime reading :wink: I am also liking the look of the FR 11's. I feel much better informed and now armed with the right questions before buying the bindings.

Thanks :D

I will keep you posted