2012 BD Megawatt mount location

[idahospud]

I came across a deal on brand "new" 12/13 Megawatts and now am faced with where the hell to put the binders.

I know that mounting positions for older versions of this ski have been discussed thoroughly, but I haven't been able to find anything reflecting people's thoughts BD's changes to the recommended mount position and stiffening it up for 2011 (or '12, maybe?) onward.

BD doesn't recommend any forward mounting of this ski, but I've never been great with recommendations from authority.

My main hang-up is the almost comical visual of the amount of tip ahead of the toe, even if the front 44cm of the ski aren't really contributing any edge. My preference is generally to go some amount forward of recommended, but these seem to be a pretty special case and maybe going forward isn't a great idea on these.

Maggots, what do you think?

[butterscotch]

these are the orange/white/black ones with the geometrical pattern right?

i mounted mine +2.5 cm with no issues. i researched it quite a bit. my understanding is that they actually moved the mount a few cm's forward on this version, which is insane because it's still ridiculously far back. for that ski, there was a few folks saying that had mounted forward and a few saying on the line as well.

anyway, i tried to measure to make sure that with a +2.5 cm mount, there wasn't more sidecut behind the midsole than in front of it, and there doesn't seem to be. so i went for it.

under the radar ski, imo. they stiffened it up substantially from earlier versions and just nailed the shape and rocker profile. it's like skiing on a cruise missile.

[idahospud]

Them's the ones.

You're right that they moved the factory line +2.5cm from the previous year because enough people did that anyway. I've mostly seen comments from people saying they mounted on the line and they're happy with it, but I'm still unconvinced.

Your point about checking the amount of sidecut on either side of the midsole is pretty much my entire concern. Too far forward == likely very strange results. I need to check this myself, which will take some careful measurement because visually there's not much sidecut and there's also not a boatload of camber, so it'll require a close look.

Do you find that at +2.5 it accentuates the surfy feel without compromising stability at all?

[butterscotch]

Exactly, it seems like really weird things would happen if you were had more sidecut behind midsole.

I guess I wasn't super concerned about stability vs. surfiness. I was more thinking about turn initiation (lots of tight spots at Bridger), but I don't feel like I gave up any stability. Or float for that matter. I was also thinking that at Black Diamond's recommended mount point, the 188's had more ski in front of the midsole line than my 195 Praxis Powderboards. I know that they're totally different skis designs, but still....

Hope that helps.

[tanorama]

hey butterscotch, at + 2.5cm, what's the distance from your ski tail to your boot center? i ask because of some inconsistencies in recommendations coming from BD between the 2011 and 2012 mount specs posted online.

Now while they claim in the text down low that the center line was moved forward 2.5cm, the recommended from tail distances as listed in the tables have moved from 208mm to 223mm. Thats 1.5cm not 2.5!!

My 2012/2013 megas have a line at both 208 (more like 206) and 223. I'm looking to move forward of the 223 line by 1.5 to 2 cm to avoid conflicts with an existing mount. This would be +3 (to +3.5) of the 2011 mount point. So i'd love if you could give me a from tail length as a reference.

Like yourself, i ski lots of tight trees and think a forward mount would be nice. Already talked to someone at BD and they couldn't explain the discrepancy and simply recommended the 823 line as boot center. Hmmmmm....

[tanorama]

new poster so the overlords won't let me post full links.
2011 mount specs:
Blackdiamondequipment dot com / on/demandware.static/Sites-BlackDiamond-Site/Sites-bdel/default/v1380175606942/files/F11_BD_Mounting_Specs.pdf
2012 mount specs:
demandware.edgesuite.net/ aakn_prd/on/demandware.static/Sites-BlackDiamond-Site/Sites-bdel/default/v1421687124679/files/F12_BD_MountingSpecs.pdf

[idahospud]

Hey tanorama, do you mean 823 mm, etc instead of 2__?

I ended up mounting mine at +1.75cm to split the difference. +2.5 seemed too far forward to me once I saw some numbers and set bindings on the skis. Also, I don't have to deal with many tight trees and will be skiing these mostly on more open terrain.

With regard to distances from the tail, mine have the factory line at 806mm, so boot center is at about 823. Interestingly, this is where BD recommends for the 2012s.

Did the graphic not change for 11/12 and 12/13? If so, there's a good possibility that mine are '11s and I inadvertently put them at the factory line for the following year.

It's interesting that the recommended boot center for this ski originally started so far back, i.e. the blue MWs that, in pictures, always appear to be mounted ludicrously far back. A buddy of mine will be here tomorrow with his blue MWs, so I'll take a measurement from the tail to get us another data point. His boot center won't matter, though, he's on NTNs so that's its own brand of special.

[tanorama]

Spuds, you can see the damage that all this agonizing has done to my brain!

yes those numbers should be 808 and 823mm, thanks for catching that. And yes to make it as confusing as possible, BD did not change the topsheet between 11/12 and 12/13. I'm pretty sure mine are the 12/13's, and has both of those lines scribed.

The current mount on mine is for NTN actually, and is boot centered right about the 823 line. I'm in the process of double inserting so i can ride my marker Barons on there too. I will have to move the barons boot center + 8mm (831 from tail) to give the inserts some breathing room, which is much better than i had initially estimated, so i'm not too too concerned about how it will ski.

Interested to hear what the old blues are at. Also occurred to me that a change in the tail from 11/12 to 12/13 could account for the discrepancy i brought up earlier...

[idahospud]

Ha! I feel your pain. I spent an inordinate amount of time measuring, writing down numbers, and thinking about this. I regret nothing!

I shouldn't rag on tele too badly since it's what I use for touring. I actually considered putting Axls on mine instead of Pivots but ultimately decided that it'd be more fun with alpine binders for resort skiing and a tiny bit of hiking sidecountry.

Since they didn't change the topsheet, it's seems unnecessarily difficult to find information for 11/12 and 12/13 models separately. I know they changed the sidecut a bit between the blue ones and the orange/white ones, but was unaware they changed it again in the tail while keeping the topsheet the same. Way to keep us on our toes, BD.

I think going to 831mm will still keep things behaving well and will probably result in a very playful ski owing to the amount of tip rocker it has. Even at 823mm, the amount of sidecut behind the boot center is not a hell of a lot more than in front of it, maybe 2-3cm I think.

[Danny Noonan]

Hey there,

I have been skiing this same ski in the 188 for the past couple seasons and did extensive research on mounting points. I spoke with BD employees, as well as got reference to some of the pro teams mounts for reference. I ended up mounting up at 835 from the tail and absolutely love them there. They float me (6'0, 185lbs) perfectly and still maintain great pivot and maneuverability in the trees despite the 35m radius. I would not hesitate to recommend that spot but realistically anywhere from 830-835 would be money I think. Have skied them with both my Dobie's and my Mobe's and both drive the ski great.
Mount them up and enjoy, cause as Butterscotch said, they are missiles of fun.