Day dreaming of tele binding designs in class. Help me out and take my survey!

[nieveparasiempre]

So, I've had a bad case of make-my-own-binding-itus for a couple years. 2 years ago, I turned out this monstrosity of a gem for my Senior Design Project:



Link HERE.

I've been daydreaming in class again, and have a new concept for a telemark binding I'd like to pursue. Yes I know all the jokes about tele skiers, blah blah, we've heard them before, 1/2 the binding, 1/2 the speed, whatever. I don't dispute them. Don't really care.

What I DO care about is input. So if you tele, even 1 day/yr, tell me what you think of current bindings. Give me your input in my Tele Binding Survey.

If you do, Ullr will bless you with many face shots for the rest of this horrendous El Nino season.

Gracias!

[bio-smear]

Have you read through the Kaj Gyr thread(s) on TTips?

[nieveparasiempre]

yep. just trying to get some more info.

[hop]

Q 4-6: the 76-99% category isn't there, so some of my numbers don't add up.
Q7: I have more than 5 so I put 5. Usually only 3 are in active rotation though.
Q8: Do you mean pairs of bindings or types of bindings? Doesn't really matter to me; I put 5 because both are greater than that.
Q9: Voile, not Viole.

[ikkin]

bud, your survey needs some work. but because you have a cool name, i filled it out anyway.

[nieveparasiempre]

yeah. i'm an engineer. i'm definitely no marketing genius...thanks for the input regardless.

[RootSkier]

I took your survey, I'll condense my thoughts here:

make it with a solid release function or I don't care.

[LightRanger]

I took your survey, I'll condense my thoughts here:

make it with a solid release function or I don't care.

Ditto.

I noted that in my comment as I lie on the couch with my left leg in another temporary cast almost a year after I broke my tib-fib due to Hammerhead non-release.

[nieveparasiempre]

Ditto.

I noted that in my comment as I lie on the couch with my left leg in another temporary cast almost a year after I broke my tib-fib due to Hammerhead non-release.

sorry to hear that. it's great to get all this feed back. I ditched my releasable 7tms after a significant number of pre-releases. personally, i've gotten injured a lot more from pre-releases than from a non-release. but i'm also scared on a non-releasable in the event of being caught in an avi.....

anyways, thanks for all your input.

[rabbit]

crap! I didnt have enough coffe this morning...

[AlpiNord]

The ultimate telebinding I daydream about includes:
1) Active
2) Tour mode and a couple climbing angles
3) Reliable release
4) Heel lock down option
5) Quick ski swapping system
6) Reasonable weight

[charlesj]

what alpinord said, although it is hard to picture such a binding being light...but wouldn't that be sweet.

[nieveparasiempre]

i was wondering when someone would pick up on the ambiguity of the rankings as I failed to mention if 1 or 7 was most desirable. I didn't want to change the wording once i caught it because a lot had already replied. Someone on ttips finally caught it too.

the general concensous is 1 = most important, 7 - least.

Interestingly enough, every category was within less than 1 std dev than the median, so it doesn't seem to matter which way you swing, no pun intended.

[cliffhucker]

active, ?releasable? a plate binding is definitely the way to go, use a toe bail like bomber bishops, free pivot. etc

[ncwskier.]

wow, looks like you nailed everything that you could want. i agree with some of the other post tho, they dont look like they would be very light. but for shorter tours im sure they are fine

[hitmanbob]

super easy survey to fill out. let us know what you come up with! that touring binding looks like an ingenious design for a solid climbing function with very literal lateral twist. how much do they weigh?

[Jethro]

Two questions. Does your binding flex under the ball of the foot? This distance will be different for every boot size. How do you maintain a constant forward pressure if the binding flexes? From your prototype, it looks like an AT binding

[nieveparasiempre]

that touring binding looks like an ingenious design for a solid climbing function with very literal lateral twist. how much do they weigh?

Two questions. Does your binding flex under the ball of the foot? This distance will be different for every boot size. How do you maintain a constant forward pressure if the binding flexes? From your prototype, it looks like an AT binding

The photos of the binding you're seeing were from a Capstone project I did 2 years ago for an AT binding. We had minimal man power to machine them so to finish 1 2 semesters, we threw our weight goal out the window and just went for function. They weighed in at a wopping 15 lbs/pair! To put that into perspective, Dukes weigh ~ 5 lbs/pair.

To obtain permission from the school do develop the binding, we had to convince them that our idea was different than what was out on the market. They required us to come up with a new kind of pivot, rather than just a simple pivot at the toe. That was such a pain in the ass....not to mention completely unrealistic. In "tour" mode, you were about 4" above your ski. Pretty sketch.

But just to clarify, nothing you see in that photo or that link is being incorporated into this design.

[rabbit]

i was wondering when someone would pick up on the ambiguity of the rankings as I failed to mention if 1 or 7 was most desirable. I didn't want to change the wording once i caught it because a lot had already replied. Someone on ttips finally caught it too.

the general concensous is 1 = most important, 7 - least.

Interestingly enough, every category was within less than 1 std dev than the median, so it doesn't seem to matter which way you swing, no pun intended.

I interpreted the scale the other way, eg; 7=most important -> 1=least important.
Youre welcome... :P

[hop]

^^^^I'm pretty sure I did too

[adrenalated]

Yep, I did 7 as most important. I ranked them as:
torsion rigidity
stiffness (spring)
Modularity
Tour mode
Variable spring stiffness
Minimal weight
DIN releasable

[AlpiNord]

what alpinord said, although it is hard to picture such a binding being light...but wouldn't that be sweet.

I've often thought that a hinge, sleeve, a tele plate and a BOF lock on my Silvretta 500 would be pretty close and somewhat 'lightweight'.

[nieveparasiempre]

So far, this is how the ranking are falling...about 230 people have filled it out.

Average Score
Minimal Weight 3.91 / 7
Tour Mode 3.60 / 7
Stiffness (Spring) 4.02 / 7
Variable Spring Stiffnesses 4.20 / 7
Torsional Rigidity and Response 3.47 / 7
Modularity 4.59 / 7
DIN releasable 4.16 / 7

[GeezerSteve]

Without a doubt, activity is the #1 priority for me in a tele binding, but you did not include activity vs. passivity as a factor. I imagine that some of those polled marked "Torsional Rigidity and Response" with a high priority mark because that's the closest thing in your poll to activity.

FTR, "a more active binding is one that helps the boot break at the bellows and one that aids in keeping the skiers forefoot closer to the rear ski deck," thus resulting in increased forefoot pressure on the rear ski. See http://www.telemarktips.com/BindBench.html

[LightRanger]

I did it one as most important.

Clearly, I rule.