Thread: Thoughts on the Grey / Yellow Freerides...

My father-in-law is getting ready to put together a backcountry rig. He doesn't want to spend a ton of money right out of the gate. I got a line on a pair of the older Freerides with virtually no days on them at a very reasonable price. My question is this: Should he avoid this older model due to the much publicised toepiece and insta-tele issues, or are those problems typically experienced only be really agressive skiers? He is not the cliff hucking type, nor is he the charging a 55 degree chute type. These will mostly be for fairly mellow touring and backcountry skiing. His vitals are 6'1" 210lbs type 3 skier, but as indicated before not the "extreme" end of the spectrum. They will probably be mounted, at least at first, to a pair of older 180cm 70ish waisted carving skis. Thanks in advance for the imput.

probaby be fine. i've done the insta-tele on mine, but im heavier, pretty agressive and only done it landing small cliffs.

the main thing i dont like about my freerides is the binding slop on big skis and it sounds like that won't be an issue either.

I understand that if he is not going to huck every single bump in the mountain, he'll be fine.

Insta-tele is mainly a result of improper mounting of the heelpiece. The Fritschi jig positions it so that when the ski flexes hard, there's no way the boom can move far enough backward in relation to the heel to clear the stops. It's easy to see if you check it out. I'd go for it.

You shouldn't have any problems. I skied my orange/grey FR for 4 years in both back and front country. Didn't take big air, but otherwise skied aggresively, and had no problems with them. On long tours you might want an extra toe piece.

Still skiing mine 4 years and counting. Also never seen a corectly mounted pair go insta tele. Seen home mount/bad tech go insta tele.

Probably the most seen binding on the slopes in Cham, alpines included.

Had mine since 02 without any problems.