Dissertation research help!

Knee Binding.If you could mount this on a non flat ski and get a touring version would be perfect.

SwingBeep - you're quite right about how sometimes the bindings are poorly maintained. I hired a pair of skis once, and when I dropped them down on the snow to put them on, the brake bit of one of them just flew off!

Luckily I was in a lesson, and we'd just gone up a gondola, and my instructor got a screwdriver from the gondola station and did it back up for me :)

AllyG wrote:SwingBeep - you're quite right about how sometimes the bindings are poorly maintained. I hired a pair of skis once, and when I dropped them down on the snow to put them on, the brake bit of one of them just flew off!

Luckily I was in a lesson, and we'd just gone up a gondola, and my instructor got a screwdriver from the gondola station and did it back up for me :)

I hope you took it back to the rental shop that night and gave them hell for it,
That could have caused you a serious injury.

Vreni Schneider was the only really successful racer to use Raichle boots. Strangely she is not mentioned on the Full Tilt website, perhaps because her boots were very heavily modified so that they functioned like a 4 clip overlap boot. They were popular amongst freestyle skiers mogul skiers because they didn't 'bang' their shins like the overlap designs from that era did.

The 3 piece design does have a few short comings when compared to a 2 piece boot. Some of them have too much flex (ski boots shouldn't flex more than 7 degrees), don't ski as precisely, don't fit as closely, don't accommodate as many foot shapes and aren't available in as many widths as 2 piece boots, but they are much easier to put on.

I don't think there's much point in going to Saas Fee to look for a pair of rear entry boots, the shop from which I think you bought your wife's Nordicas has changed hands. At some point you will have to replace the boots you have at the moment, the soles must be worn well below what the boot / binding manufacturers consider to be the minimum thickness for the safe operation of the bindings.



These might be just what you need http://www.dahusports.com/

Vreni Schneider http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL-9qjcuo9M was the only really successful racer to use Raichle boots.

Swingbeep, there is the small matter of Olympic gold medalist Bill Johnson, who won the Sarajevo Downhill, a few weeks after winning the Lauberhorn, wearing Raichle Boots.
Engineer, Eric Giese purposely designed the boot to give a limited forward flex, without having any ankle bulge, a common problem at the time. They retain the rear support stiffness, but allow a limited amount of forward flex.
Twice world freestyle champion, Nelson Carmichael used Raichle. So did Billy Shaw and Peter Ouellette. I quote ~ "The boots quickly caught on and became one of the top boots of choice by Olympic racers and freestylers"
The reason was nothing to do with "banging up shins". It was because a couple of degrees of forward flex, when really needed, is of great value.
My Saas Fee comment, although true, was a bit tongue in cheek. I'm not sure the current Nordica models would be as strong as my Raichle. At a rough calculation I have worn them for somewhere between 120 and 140 weeks skiing.
I cannot argue with the boot sole wear. By the book, you are correct. For a slow, twisting fall, this will have relevance. I may have one or two falls a season, sometimes none. My bindings never fail to release, always with good reason. :evil:
I guess that we will have to agree to differ on the subject of Raichle boots. That's OK, I have disagreed with Pavel on the same, and other subjects!

Done

thank you and thanks again everyone for the help!

When hiring from any ski shop I always spend time on checking the bindings just takes a couple minutes, if you see how people treat hire skis
it is not surprising that they get damaged, and ski shops donot always pick the damage up ..... so check.