"race" tech heels for everyday touring?

[sfotex]

x2 for Jason & skimo.co . The amount of testing and tweaking that guy does + supporting the local ski community makes it a no brainer to spend my money there.

[mall walker]

x3. They're extremely knowledgeable, friendly, insanely good selection, etc.

[Jonathan S.]

Site-wide Skimo Co discounts have been rare (although not unprecedented), but in addition to all the other praise for Jason, he's also been very supportive in schwag and gift certificates for regionals SAWs and skimo races.
(If you're a newbie racer in the Northeast, show up for one of our races and you have a good chance of winning a race pack or Skimo Co gift certificate -- I'm setting those aside for the top finishers among those new to the sport and still needing to gear up on race-specific accessories.)

[Climber Joe]

Yeah if I ever get around to making my frankenbinding parts will definitely come from skimo. Ended up finding a whole setup I liked though, so speed rads it is.

[mall walker]

Bump for an update on the Gara Titans. They're awesome. Ramp angle is really nice even w/a hagan/atk adjustment plate on the heels. Don't have to worry about ice under the toe springs since there are no toe springs. Toe mechanism is easy to use (depress lever w/pole to enter), no more difficult/fiddly than a regular dynafit toe really. They ski as well as any other tech binding I've used (Radical 1.0, Speed Radical, Speed Superlite). Tour like a dream obviously. I'm stoked on em. I no longer see a need to buy anything heavier for a dedicated touring ski.

[Climber Joe]

Ended up getting a deal on plum race 150s. I think they'll be just fine. Got a kruespitze adjustment plate off skimo.co and basically made them into race 170s.

[Climber Joe]

Here is some gear porn:

[Toddball]

Here is some gear porn:

What is this, a BSL for ants????

Oh they aren't mounted

[Cosmic Suncloud]

What is this, a BSL for ants????

Oh they aren't mounted

they're lighter without the screws

[Climber Joe]

What is this, a BSL for ants????

Oh they aren't mounted

Waiting on boots. The ones I ordered were out of stock in my size...

[doebedoe]

they're lighter without the screws

I've always just mounted with epoxy. Saves weight and putting holes in your skis.

[Climber Joe]

I've always just mounted with epoxy. Saves weight and putting holes in your skis.

Skip the epoxy. I usually just spot weld to the binding mount plate after grinding the topsheet off.

[XXX-er]

all you need is a dab of titebond eh?

actualy Guido did sucessfully ski a tech binding secured to the ski with 2 sided tape for most of a season, havent heard from buddy online in awhile

[mall walker]

they're lighter without the screws

[trogdortheburninator]

Here is some gear porn:

Rocking a similar setup and really psyched so far. Plum 170 w/ zerog 85 178. Used the ski a few tired days in soft snow and surprised how fun it is. I think it'll rail on steep and firm.

[buildakicker]

they're lighter without the screws

Lol

[Dee Hubbs]

I can see the post now:
"F.S. skis are like new, only skied 30 days, all touring, no holes drilled" WTF?

[I've seen black diamonds!]

How useable is the flat-on-ski touring mode for Plum 150's? Are there any other similar heels that are better at this? Kreuzspitze?

[Climber Joe]

How useable is the flat-on-ski touring mode for Plum 150's? Are there any other similar heels that are better at this? Kreuzspitze?

They are about as easy as anything else from what I've experienced.

[Climber Joe]

Check this out y'all. Solid post with a rotating pin. Pretty sure it's a prototype by Pierre Gignoux. Like a dynafit expedition with side release.

[XXX-er]

wouldn't you want more release function and the ability to fit more than one boot in an everyday setup ...i don't get it

[Climber Joe]

wouldn't you want more release function and the ability to fit more than one boot in an everyday setup ...i don't get it

My current setup is a plum race 150 on a kruespitze heel adjustment plate for bsl adjustment. I am adding a toe riser/adjustment plate, to fit more bsl range and level angles.

So I can fit about 50mm of boot sizes, and I get a simple, reliable binding. They release horizontally and vertically, just without adjustability. Since I almost never get gnarly when I'm using this binding, it works out great. Basically it will come off if I get caught in a slide, but probably not until then.

For getting sendy in the side country I have a burly tech binding.

[I've seen black diamonds!]

I've been thinking of replacing Plum Guide heels (and keeping the toes) with 150 heels on the Kreuzspitze adjustment plates that can drop into the standard Dynafit heel pattern holes, thereby saving about 150 grams/ski. This would be almost a 10% weight loss on my Hannibal 94's, which I'm very happy with.

I occasionally used lifters when I was living on the East coast because some of the trails we use for accessing higher peaks have stupidly steep sections where kick turns aren't an option. In CO this doesn't seem to be an issue.

I do, however, like a flat on ski mode for approaches. My concern with race bindings is that when skinning flat on the ski the heel piece might bind against the boot when a ski flexes. Is a real problem or am I imagining things? Thanks.

[Climber Joe]

I believe the heel piece might be a tiny bit thinner width than length, but even if it's not, you would have to flex the ski farther than would be required to bind while skiing, (as it would bottom out the pins). If you are flexing the ski that much, you need a stiffer ski.

[Climber Joe]

To further clarify: the risk of binding boot to heel on the plums while flat on ski would be the same or harder to accomplish than vs any other rotate to tour tech binding. They function almost identically to the plum guide/radical/etc. rotate 90 for flat on ski, lower flap for heel lift, rotate 180 if you have the add on lift.