Robust Touring Rig in the Spirit of the Cast System

[1000-oaks]

What if instead of hard-mounting the tech toe, it's mounted to an aluminum quick-release adapter that slides onto the Attack toe plate?

[Lindahl]

What if instead of hard-mounting the tech toe, it's mounted to an aluminum quick-release adapter that slides onto the Attack toe plate?

Sure. One more thing to futz with though.

Cut down the plates and mounted them today. Mounting the tech toes and building the risers tomorrow. Test fit shows it'll work well.




An extra benefit will be being able to use the risers with a tech race binding. Just mount them in front of the heel and you have cheap lightweight high risers that won't fucking autorotate. Allows you to go with a 115g race binding + 40g risers = lighter than a speed superlite 2.0. Best part is you can tune your riser height. I find the SSL ones too low for steep tracks, especially when breaking trail. But I have really tight achilles and calves.

[1000-oaks]

Pretty cool, think the AT version of that demo binding will be commercially available winter 2018?

[Lindahl]

Pretty cool, think the AT version of that demo binding will be commercially available winter 2018?

Yeah. Might be hard to get a pair without knowing a shop that uses them though? Head/Tyrolia bread and butter is mass demo sales, not retail.

[Lindahl]

Oh, for anyone doing this, mount the toes -2cm from the template, good to ~320 BSL.

[Lindahl]

Used the bails from my CAST system and a black cutting board from Target to make this. Cut to size with a hack saw, used a drill to mark important corners and then a dremel did the rest. Gonna mount it and a tech toe tomorrow with the system above to have a fully functional DIY CAST system.

The weight also gives it a dual purpose.

Weighs 34g. Lighter and narrower bails (Voile?) should cut the weight to 25-30g. The bail is 23g.

Pair with a race tech binding = 140g with an awesome high riser. Kicks the snout out of anything commercial. Use a race tech binding that has a flat mode and the high riser is functional in all modes.

[Norseman]

Dig.

[auvgeek]

Hmm. That's a lot lighter than I imagined. Color me interested.

[smooth operator]

Rad

[galibier_numero_un]

Hmm. That's a lot lighter than I imagined. Color me interested.

What if instead of hard-mounting the tech toe, it's mounted to an aluminum quick-release adapter that slides onto the Attack toe plate

When I first read Lindahl's idea, my initial thought was like 1000-oaks' - to look into fabricating an adapter plate for a tech toepiece so that it could engage into the demo track.

I suspect that my machinist in Longmont wouldn't have a difficult time replicating the profile. He has some cool parts scanning tools (for lack of a better word), and I'm guessing that a quantity of 7-10 pairs of adapter plates could make it financially feasible.

I'm personally curious about this parts scanning technology, so I'm going to ask him about it. I know adrenalated has some experience in this area as well.

A plate would obviously add some weight.

... Thom

[retirwntm]

Interested. But only if it's red.

[Lindahl]

Whats the idea behind the plate. I don't get it? Just seems like more shit to deal with.

[galibier_numero_un]

Whats the idea behind the plate. I don't get it? Just seems like more shit to deal with.

Address the forward mount/long ski tail (kick turns), at the expense of a bit more shit to deal with. I've never played with these demos, so locking the plate in place the way the demo toe does might involve too much engineering.

... Thom

[1000-oaks]

Only advantage to an adapter would be to have shorter tails while touring. Would probably be a pretty simple piece, and caliper measurements would be plenty accurate enough. But knock yourself out, who am I to discourage overdoing something, lol.

[galibier_numero_un]

Only advantage to an adapter would be to have shorter tails while touring. Would probably be a pretty simple piece, and caliper measurements would be plenty accurate enough. But knock yourself out, who am I to discourage overdoing something, lol.

Indeed, precision level wouldn't be as stringent as for the down, but getting it "right" is always nice when you're OCD ;-)

Speaking of OCD, there's just something weird about skiing on the "down" with a spare toe piece mounted.

I've never seen the latching mechanism. This could add some complexity.

I'm still trying to figure out if this year's demo is 9523 and WTR compatible. From their current website, it appears as if the only multi-norm binding (using Salomon's terminology) is the AAAtack 14 AT. My current inbounds boots (XT 130 Freetours) are WTR.

... Thom

[Lindahl]

Yeah it is, it even has a 'WTR' lettering printed on the adjustable AFD at the adjustment point so you know where to stop it.

The main problem I see with the touring plate is the same problem with CAST 1.0. Its not a high precision lock so I can see it being sloppy. The lock mechanism would be tricky to create too. Previous year demo toes work the same way so you can check out how the lock works if you want.

[galibier_numero_un]

Thanks!

That's good news (demo being 9523/WTR indemnified). It almost calls for a pair, just "because" (testing mount locations). Like many over here, I'm not a Marker fan (other than Kingpins). If pressed on this, I'd probably still gamble on 1st year Tectons.

Yeah, that lock could indeed be a show stopper - even if only intended for a tech toe on the up.

... Thom

[1000-oaks]

For the toe adapter Thom, mimic an Arca-Swiss clamp. Don't know if it would be burly enough, but maybe.

[galibier_numero_un]

For the toe adapter Thom, mimic an Arca-Swiss clamp. Don't know if it would be burly enough, but maybe.

Interesting. I have an inexpensive tripod, but I'll look at Arca. I was thinking of some sort of cam-lock device.

... Thom

[1000-oaks]

Really Right Stuff (and Chinese clones) offer cam-lock clamps. As long as you get a good ballhead like RRS or AS, the tripod leg brand isn't as critical.

[galibier_numero_un]

Really Right Stuff (and Chinese clones) offer cam-lock clamps. As long as you get a good ballhead like RRS or AS, the tripod leg brand isn't as critical.

Thanks.

The challenge involved in looking there is in keeping from lusting after top-notch tripods (eats into my ski budget)

... Thom

[Lindahl]

Pulled for now

[auvgeek]

How easy and quick is it to get the demo binder in and the fwd pressure set correctly?

[galibier_numero_un]

How easy and quick is it to get the demo binder in and the fwd pressure set correctly?

I was wondering that as well.

I recall Powtron setting up ON3P demos two years ago, and that the Tyrolias had some sort of quick release to slide the heel and toe back and forth. The tracks are marked, so I'd expect that you'd have to remember what mark (number) you set the toe and heel to.

I think that the mounting jig sets the track locations so that you'd read the same number for both toe and heel (i.e. you'd set toe and heel to 297 for a 297 BSL).

Without a jig (and due to possible mount point experiments), the two numbers would likely be different, so a label maker might come in handy (that, and recording it in a note on your smart phone for backup).

I wonder if gloves have to come off to actuate the lock (thinkin' real nasty conditions).

... Thom

[retirwntm]

Already answered above but this is from the website. Pretty definitive.




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