Re: mounting point of telebindings

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In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Ulrich Hausmann  <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>before:
>
>i read many of the articles in telemarktips ecc. about the "correct" 
>mounting point of telebinding, but i couldn't clear out my mind 
>definitively. So ...
>
>This winter i'll get a Stormrider XL (a relatively strong ski, but 
>chosen in the factory among a softer serie) where i'll mount to a 
>Telebulldog. And since, i don't want to make superfluous holes, i'd like 
>to get some advise. Unfortunately, i don't know (remember) where the 
>pinline of my old skis is situated.
>
>Many of the swiss telemark guys tell me, to go (with the pinline) 3 cm 
>forward of the balance point (some racers, they say, even go forward up 
>to 7 cm).
>

_ For tele skiing on alpine skis, I think you want to pay a lot
more attention to chord center rather than balance point. The
telemarktips article talks about chord center. If the skis have
a midpoint mark, then you have a tricky compromise to make. The 
problem is that in a telemark turn you have two different force
positions. One one ball of your foot on the back ski and one
further back with the flat foot on the forward ski. No matter
which position you pick it will be slightly wrong for one
foot or the other. 

_ If you're just starting with the tele turn it's a bit better
to choose a compromise that allows you to most easily bend the
back ski. That's the key for most people to mastering the turn,
getting a strong back foot. If you look at where "pins on chord
center" puts the ball of the foot for the "average" size foot,
you'll see it's roughly ball of the foot near the midline mark.
As you get better you'll want to move the bindings forward to
getter better pressure on the front ski. Most rules of thumb
are "close enough" for the typical ski, often balance point
and chord center are the same spot and you need to be pretty 
skilled to tell the difference between 1 or 2 cm forward. 

_ So, I hope that gives you some of the theory. Personally,
on a big stiff skis like the StormRider I'd put them 1cm
forward, since I have relatively short feet ( 25 ).

_ But this is one place IMHO, where the Telebomber[1] binding
rules.  It has the slickest mounting system out there, you can
adjust the binding 1cm either way from the mounting point without
drilling holes. If you decide you really need to change the
mountpoint more drastically, you can easily fill and drill the 4
widely spaced mounting holes. For resort/close-in tele-ing on big
burly alpine skis, I don't think there's a better binding
available. It's a bit on the heavy side, but climbs much more
like an AT binding than most tele bindings. It might not be the
best choice for some one learning the tele turn though as it's
not very active and it'd be easy to end up doing fake-a-marks
with all that edge control.

_ The Tele bulldog looks very interesting. Have fun and good
luck... 

_ Booker C. Bense 

P.S. I would not pay too much attention to what the tele racers
are doing unless you plan to race. Skiing gates on hardpack
doesn't really apply to most telemark skiing. 

[1]- www.telebomber.com



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