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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    206

    Praxis BC 11/12 Mount Point?

    When I ordered these I asked Keith his advice on a tele mount. Here is his reply:

    "I’m not real knowledgeable on the best mount position for tele. All in all this skis mount point is set back a little more when compared to our other models. It seems that most Tele mounts end up going back a little more compared to a downhill mount. I would consider your personal preferences as well as balance point of the ski and boot size to find the sweet spot for you."

    Reading up on the past threads, most folks thought it best to mount back of Keith's suggested range. This years rumors had the mounting point moved back. I decided to go with the normal tele mount. Here is what I discovered:

    I ordered a 180 after talking with Keith. Boot center is marked a hair over 100cm from tip (direct pull). I am skiing a 26.5 Garmont boot that measures 30.5 cm. I went with "Pinline" at 87cm from front tip. That worked out to mid boot 1.75cm back of marked boot center. I mounted the new Voile 2x Switchback.

    I never had a rocker ski, or a semi stiff binding. My last three skis were, Tua Sumo, K2 Work Stinx (181), and Voile Insane (172). 7tm on the Sumo, and Voile switchback on the K2 and Insane. over 200 backcountry days on each ski. Old white guy 165 lb, 30+ years on freeheel. Ski tele, parallel, but mostly some basterdized combination of both.

    My first run sucked, but by the second run I was able to hit the sweet spot occasionally. Over the next 25 days I was able to ski them pretty well, but I couldn't hit the sweet spot whenever I wanted. Steep and deep was no problem, but on runouts, I was searching for a stable ski. Most of my falls were caused by the tail washing out.

    I decided to move the binding forward 2cm. "PinLine" at 85cm from front tip / boot center just ahead of the BC mark.

    This made a HUGE difference. The ski is much more predictable. I only have one day backcountry and one day resort on the new position, but the change was so dramatic, I thought I should post my experience. Now I wonder what another cm or two forward would do.

    Where did you mount yours, and how is it working out? Den

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Posts
    181
    So, thread revival, but I just mounted a pair of these that I bought used over a year ago and curiosity got the better of me...

    Quote Originally Posted by dewam View Post
    I ordered a 180 after talking with Keith. Boot center is marked a hair over 100cm from tip (direct pull). I am skiing a 26.5 Garmont boot that measures 30.5 cm. I went with "Pinline" at 87cm from front tip. That worked out to mid boot 1.75cm back of marked boot center. I mounted the new Voile 2x Switchback.

    ...snip...

    I decided to move the binding forward 2cm. "PinLine" at 85cm from front tip / boot center just ahead of the BC mark.

    This made a HUGE difference. The ski is much more predictable. I only have one day backcountry and one day resort on the new position, but the change was so dramatic, I thought I should post my experience. Now I wonder what another cm or two forward would do.

    Where did you mount yours, and how is it working out? Den
    First of all, I'm still trying to figure out how you got your effective pinline at 87cm from your numbers. I'm pretty sure that the alpine boot center from Praxis is 100.5cm from the ski tip.

    If your 30.5cm measurement is from boot pinline to heel, which seems to make sense to me, then 100.5-(30.5/2)=85.25cm. This is very close to boot center on the ski's recommended alpine boot center mark, and might explain why your second mount point worked out so well. It also would explain why your boot center was 1.75cm behind the mark on your first go.

    How did you come up with the original 87cm pinline?

    I'm also pretty interested in your feedback on your second mount location. I actually sent Keith an email confessing that I'd scored my 180 BCs over a year ago on TGR gear swap. He was really nice, and replied that, while the recommendation on the webpage and the mark on the ski this year are at 100.5 from the tip to boot center, he'd had discussions that made him change that to 99cm.

    That mount location would be very close to what you'd have if you moved yours forward again. Have you done that? If so, what has been you experience vs your second mount point, 2cm in front of your first?

    I have mounted these, on Keith's latest recommended location of boot center at 99cm. I've only skied them one day, but they seemed squirrelly to me, over-turny with a tendency to wander on straight lines on a cat track. From your observation, it seems to me that this ski is pretty sensitive to the mount location.

    thanks,
    john

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    206
    Quote Originally Posted by jrredho View Post
    If your 30.5cm measurement is from boot pinline to heel, which seems to make sense to me, then 100.5-(30.5/2)=85.25cm. This is very close to boot center on the ski's recommended alpine boot center mark, and might explain why your second mount point worked out so well.

    How did you come up with the original 87cm pinline?
    John, All your math is correct. The extra 1.75cm back, bringing the pinline from 85.25 to 87, was to account for a Tele mount versus an alpine boot center mount. Although a Tele mount has involved more than its share of voodoo over the years, the consensus is 1.5 to 2cm behind normal alpine boot center. Supposedly this is to account for the weighting of the trailing ski moving a couple cm forward when the boot is flexed and weighted.

    Quote Originally Posted by jrredho View Post
    I'm also pretty interested in your feedback on your second mount location. I actually sent Keith an email confessing that I'd scored my 180 BCs over a year ago on TGR gear swap. He was really nice, and replied that, while the recommendation on the webpage and the mark on the ski this year are at 100.5 from the tip to boot center, he'd had discussions that made him change that to 99cm.
    I let Keith know my experience with the 100.5 boot center mark, and I suspect others did also. I think the change to 99cm is a good move, Time will tell. I gave them 25 days on the first mount position, and have another 25 days with the second mount position. I am pretty happy with the ski where it is, I don't intend to move the binding. If I was doing it again I would move forward another cm, but that isn't worth a remount to me. That is why I asked what others had found with their mounts.

    I don't know about yours, but mine came with a VERY sharp tune. I used the gummy on about 20cm of the initial rocker. A little de-tune in that area helped me. This ski likes to be skied, it likes to be told what to do. The runouts are where I have the most trouble. I have started skiing the runouts like I am on a low angle race course, getting the turn, but not letting the ski sideslip. I never go strait, only forward, the turn radius becomes large. Almost like skate skiing. Den

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Posts
    181
    Hey Den,

    Thanks for getting back to me with your experiences.

    I've actually only skied these things a couple of days, one in-area, and one in the bc, and I am thinking of doing a quickie experiment of moving my boot center back to the originally-spec'd one at 100.5.

    It's odd really, because over the years I've tended to like my mounts just a bit forward. I've only skied a couple of skis with front and back rocker, and don't do that very often as it is, so maybe that has something to do with things, but I just cannot get comfortable even standing on them let alone doing teles through trees in muck. They're too darn heavy to hike with not to be able to ski them downhill with a raging hardon.

    I'll let you know what (I think) I learn from my little experiment.

    Thanks again!

    cheers,
    john

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