First Test of Transit Binding Plate

[JohnSKepler]

Got six inches of heavy snow last night. Thought I'd take the Objectives with the Transit bindings out and try them on a local mountain bike trail that [occasionally] gets groomed for the fat bikes. I usually do that trail on my FT62 and I think the Objectives will be slower, but it'll be a good test and not too far from home if they decide to pull out of the plywood. I wonder how much kick and glide I can expect with the F1s?

[phoenix]

I'm staying tuned in for the results!

[fisheater]

X2

[JohnSKepler]

Tele turns are not the easiest thing to master and I've gotten a lot better. But with the Transit and the F1 on the Objectives I felt like I was cheating. It just stopped being hard, or more accurately, I didn't have to think about them so hard and they just kind of happened. I could look down a slope, plan a route, and then execute with adjustments along the way.

As @fisheater said the other day, I'd notice how active the Transit was. Active? The things was like a young Jim Carey. The tiniest heel lift and you could feel the bindings engaging. I know what that's doing now - pressing the tip of the rear ski into the snow. I could get edge engagement on the rear ski with the most modest of curtsies, a very poor but useful approximation of Telehiro's compact stance. And somehow the turns just happened! I still turn left better than I turn right but I'm now turning right as good as I used to turn left. And my left turns are so confident I found myself taking on much steeper stuff than I'd ever gone after comfortably. I just love that Transit/F1/Objective combination.

Touring in the F1 was just a dream. They're only a little heavier than the Alfa Free and the walk mode is the best I've ever used, or course, most walk modes pretty much do nothing. With the springs off the binding and on the backpack the weight was not a factor, but I could definitely tell a difference in weight when I had them attached but held down under the low riser. They ski pretty well without the cables. It takes more concentration, but it skis at least as well as am Xplore with the flat plate or weak bumper. Makes me want to revisit fitting cables to Xplore...

Kick and glide was surprisingly good with the Objective. It wasn't a Gamme or anything like that, but I generally see AT skiers trudging along when you can actually get quite a lot of flat performance from a scaled ski! I will admit I put some high fluro-wax on them this morning and I felt it made a difference. I guess that makes me equivalent with Darth Vader or something. The bellows was stiff but having skied a lot of Xplore, I'm used to really working the ball of my foot and the bellows seemed to be doing what it was supposed to be doing. The activity was just crazy even in the most neutral position with the weaker of the two springs Voile offers. I did most of the skiing in walk mode. Only when things got steeper did I engage the ski mode lever and it did help.

I wound up going with Intuition Tour Dual Density liners in size 24/24.5, with the 12mm thickness. They were crazy small at first but I had them thermoformed and a new footbed built up. I was able to tour in them for about three hours in comfort and warmth. I could have gone longer, no problem. Wearing them really fine tunes the initial fitting.

My binding plates seemed to perform exactly as I'd hoped. I never noticed them and they came through with no apparent problems. They give me three different binding options on that one ski. I don't know why I'd go back to 3-pin but I can definitely see me using an Xplore from time to time. But now that I've skied the Transit/F1 I'm going to move forward with another set of binding plates for my V6. I already made the blanks, it's just a matter of locating the holes and mounting the binding. My intent was to make an 'official' set out of some thick plastic or even aluminum but I'm not sure why I need to do that. I made them out of plywood - the same thing skis are made of. I may source some 'better' plywood, I'm thinking some marine-grade plywood would have better water resistance and likely higher screw pullout specs.

If anyone wants details on the binding plates I'm happy to share. There were some tricks that made locating and drilling the holes largely error free. It was an easy job if a bit tedious. Incidentally, I have thought of a way to use the binding plate as an anchor for a leash. I don't want to run a leash through the TechToe release lever. I don't think it's made for that and it could damage the binding or prevent it from working as designed. I have a friend who says I enjoy tinkering on gear more than using it. I don't know about more...

[fisheater]

What a positive report, I am so surprised
I was nice to hear the kick and glide worked so well, as I don’t have any BC snow, and when I did have BC snow I was on lighter skis.
I am glad to hear you are enjoying yourself.