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Post by LoveRonnyRavenSC! on Jan 27, 2022 16:54:56 GMT
Wow, just REread Johnny's Xplore review. Stupidest thing EVER! He thinks the distance across the 3 pin holes on NN has something to do with leveraging the skis as opposed to the full distance from wing-to-wing or the approximate width of the duckbill. He is just completely clueless when it comes to basic physics. But that serves his narrative in claiming supriority of leverage for NNN/BC and Xplore. Wrong..wrong..wrong. NN comes in 1, Xplore2 and NNN/BC.. 75mm, vs 70mm vs 42mm. That boy failed basic math! All three are equally neutral, but as we all know, there's the 3PC. Slap a cable on the pins and send the rest of it to hell. Yea, i know we already sussed this out one page back, BUT what amazes me is LJ has never edited that shit claim out! He rants against advertising BS and then joins right in. W T F?
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Post by LoveRonnyRavenSC! on Jan 27, 2022 18:32:51 GMT
Oh, another thing: virtually every duckbill has an integrated metal plate. Also it appears that the boots for Xplore do not insert any distance at all into the binding which makes for even more torsional weakness.
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Post by LoveRonnyRavenSC! on Jan 27, 2022 22:24:44 GMT
I tend to keep my heel lower with no cable. It just works better. For me the whole thing the cable does is make it so I don't have to focus so hard on how I weight the rear ski, and even with best performance on neutral bindings, I don't feel as connected to the ski as I do with the cable. It's also easier to ski more aggressive with a cable (or any heel attachment) and not lose the rear ski (more forward on the lead ski). Conversely, it's hard to find center on neutral bindings and tele sometimes seems to force you in the back seat a bit to get good BOF pressure. It's not completely backseat as you'll go on your ass with leathers if you get there, but you do feel the front ski walking away from you and it's easy to let it extend and get yourself in a much worse situation. You can get feedback from the simplest of cabled systems and that's VERY valuable; you have a far better sense of how/where you are on the skis. The only way to really Telemark well on neutral bindings is to keep your damned heels down and STAY COMPACT. However, if you are compact on an active binding, the exact heel height on the trailing ski matters not all that much. The other thinger is sure you can be compact on a neutral binding, but it takes a LOT less to make you lurch forward than on active bindings. The reason you don't have to stress so much over where your heel is on, say HW3pins, is provided that you are fairly compact and not lurching in the lead changes, it just does not matter that much. Also the front foot should be flat on the deck and, again, an active binding helps control that in a way no neutral binding can. In the end, the heroes of light gear and neutral bindings are only such on very easy conditions.
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Post by Telebabble on Jan 27, 2022 22:40:40 GMT
If it is overpriced meadowskipping, people won't buy it. I mean all XCD is meadowskipping, but cost of bindings + boots is going to have to comparable, at some point, to other systems, or it's going to have to be a lot better. Seen as how Rottefella controls most of that market, they'll be able to do whatever-the-fuck-they-want. It's easy to compete with 3 pin, just eradicate the boots, as we see is being done. You make a good point..stop the 75MM production and then what choice? But Rott also came out with their 3pinhardwire version. and NNN is still fine. Makes you wonder if anyone is really thinking about anything
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Post by cunningstunts on Jan 27, 2022 23:08:41 GMT
I'll tell you what, I'm not losing any sleep over any of this.
There's great skis on the market, there's plenty of bindings out there - the boot market is bit pinched, but it's not as bad as one might think. It's really lacking in any kind of "cross-over" boot - you know that unicorn that flexes like a leather but has the turning power of a race boot and weighs less than air. But seriously, there is a gap there that could be filled, but I'm guessing that market is so small and obscure that no one is going to invest in it.
If I was in a position some out west are in, I'd probably just go light AT next time around. That stuff is going to become cheaper and more readily available to the recreational, as opposed to race crowd and the benefits will be many. I personally won't do it because there's too much "skiing" in between my climbing and descending that I don't want to have to lock and unlock my heel 100X an outing. For me that's where "XCD" bindings are great - pins, NNN-BC, X-plore. It's also a reason I'm not using switchbacks. Still for the versatility, I can't compete with pins and cables/wires. And perhaps for that reason, we won't see it go.
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Post by cunningstunts on Jan 27, 2022 23:22:39 GMT
Just off-the cuff here (pun intended) - I wonder how hard it might be to make a carbon upper cuff and tongue for a T2? Doesn't seem like it'd be that hard.
You could probably increase upper stiffness two fold and get the weight around that of a stock T4.
It'd be nice if it were easier to mod the lowers, because you could do some work to improve the flex of those boots. Problem is, I think that market would be prohibitively small. Most people who want that boot wouldn't want to give up any dh performance in lieu of a smoother, softer flex. Mainly because they'd probably be using it with some kind of free pivot and that kind of modification would only really be applicable to pins.
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Post by LoveRonnyRavenSC! on Feb 11, 2022 16:29:35 GMT
Here, Tom M's Xplore demo. He throwing his upperbody around using the rotation to initiate the turns. If he cannot ski these bunnyhills on that good snow and NOT resort to upperbody rotation to turn, then the Xplore boots and bindings are REALLY inadequate for any real skiing much at all.
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Post by cunningstunts on Feb 11, 2022 19:44:32 GMT
I think his skiing looks the same, maybe even a bit better than I've seen him do on 3 pin stuff.
He turns way too much, forces the end of his turn and almost stops. That'd be better on a steeper slope, but he's leaning on his inside pole, so that part wouldn't. I'd say he needs to either let them run more, or try to get them to come around more mid-turn and release earlier. That's what I would try to work on - and not using his inside pole. He'll either fall, or get more balanced. It can be a hard crutch to give up, but it helps a lot.
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Post by albertatele on Feb 11, 2022 21:19:29 GMT
There's barely any reason to be turning at all on those meadows and that snow provides great braking on a 35 degree slope. Someone should take his poles. He forces every single turn where he hardly needs to turn. He would absolutely flail and flop on anything over about 15 degrees throwing his upperbody around like that. He really does not release at all; there's almost no extension. He just freezes in place and then forces each turn with arms and shoulders. His pole timing and placement is so totally late and that's because he so often is leaning on the inside pole.
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Post by cunningstunts on Feb 11, 2022 23:13:54 GMT
He has about the best XCD terrain I've ever seen in my life - I don't think I could control myself out there.
I think what he needs to do is go back the basics, and just straight run on some mellow slows, pop back and forth in his telemarks, and get his pole timing down. Then just start feeding in some edge, not much at a time, until he can get the skis to do as tight an arc as they will and he can transition back and forth smoothly. Then maybe play around with different timing and different turn shapes, but right now I think it's messing him up.
That's what I found works best for me, and it's still easy to get effed up if I'm putting in different radius turns left to right.
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Post by LoveRonnyRavenSC! on Feb 12, 2022 0:16:41 GMT
I think a lot of what you are saying is right, Mike. But he needs to not just run straight but to also make sure he moves his upperbody laterally a bit over that lead ski as he changes leads continuously. That will give him some counter and angulation and get him off that damned inside/trailing ski and stop that leaning on the inside pole. That lateral movement over the lead ski is with a minimum of upperbody rotation, ideally none. After that he needs to work on extending as he makes the lead changes and that needs to be timed to happen right after the pole plant. Then he will be rolling from edge-to-edge with a bit of a pivot but the pivot is only powered by the lower body. the upperbody assists in that it releases the tension it has in facing downhill. What upperbody rotary there is happens before initiation; it's subtle and controlled.
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Post by cunningstunts on Feb 12, 2022 14:39:41 GMT
Yeah - he's a prime candidate to work on some knee touches and basic Alpine turns. I think he wasn't an Alpine skier previously... NTTAWWT, but it certainly makes Telemark even harder to not have some of those downhill basics. Don't get me wrong, I still fuck them up on leathers, but the better your technique is with upper body balance, the better you'll do with floppy boots.
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Post by LoveRonnyRavenSC! on Feb 12, 2022 14:49:42 GMT
I should have said that the pivot takes place at initiation. I dont think you can separate them. Planting the pole and facing down winds the upperbody a bit to help with a very controlled pivot. People used to talk a lot about the whole process by using the term "anticipation"..
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Post by practicalturnguy on Feb 18, 2022 1:39:33 GMT
Got to handle the Alaska XP at a shop today. Sole is pretty rigid both ways, but the upper/cuff area is pretty soft, not very impressed. The LJ review of it made it sound like Jesus' return. I do like the simplicity of the binding.
I still dont know what the aim is with this stuff. Is it more efficient for K&G? Just another XC system? The only real gain is that it grabs a wider portion of the boot sole. I think I'd get more out of a Transnordic BC or 75 personally. I guess if I was just starting out or needed an entirely new kit out I might give it a go, but then its more expensive than nnnbc/75.
I wouldn't mind trying it just to feel it, but unless some more powerful boots emerge I wont be buying it.
I'd hate to think its just to have something to compare to AT pins in terms of marketability.
Still weird to me, maybe I'm just a weirdo in a very small market of those wanting a lightweight T4/Excursion for xcD. Xplore seems to directly overlap with current XC/BC offerings, which come up short for my needs.
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Post by LoveRonnyRavenSC! on Feb 18, 2022 13:16:04 GMT
PTG, that binding grabs 70mm of the sole, 75mm grabs? Yea. LJ did a review and totally fucked up the truth in that regard comparing NNN, 75mm and Xplore. The order is 75, Xplore, NNN -in terms of leverage due to width of boot contact- to-binding. And then when you compare the likes of a simple cabled 75mm binding, like the 3PC, to the other two, and add to that the stiffer boot choices for 75mm, there's no real comparison of Xplore or NNN to 75mm for downhill control.
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