Voile 3 Pin Cable Setup

[yoyoing]

Hi everyone,

Currently skiing Altai Koms with Voile Cable bindings and Alpina Alaska boots (the trifecta of awesome!).
The Alpina's are new to me this year so I have to recalibrate the cables on the Voile's.

I set them up last year and honestly didn't really know what I was doing so just ball-parked it...
The resulting setup wasn't too great to say the least lol!
One cable kept wanting to pop open and I never got the tension feeling quite right.

So given this, what's your go-to method for getting these bindings dialed in?
Voile's user guide says to go with the 'audible pop' method but I find this leaves a huge margin in feel/performance.

I do yo-yo laps (hence the name!) and like to ski with the cables loose while on the flats, usually with the latch open but mounted around my heels regardless.

So is there a happy medium that gives me comfy touring strides while still having some oomph on the downhills?

Thanks again! Always get the best tips and tricks here

[stigits]

I’m interested in this also. I just mounted some 3 pin cables on a pair of madshus annums. These bindings were given to me 14 years ago and have been sitting in a bag waiting for skis. All I know are regular 3pins on 10th mtns which I have been using for those 14 years...

[lowangle al]

I only tighten mine enough to keep them from popping open. Plenty of tension for downhill control and unfortunately too much for resistance free touring. When I'm doing laps I just leave the cables on and I seem to get used the extra resistance.

[BCgee]

I have a 3 pin hardwire on a set of Annums and an OG gold hardwire, non 3p binding on voile vector BCs. Both are used for yo-yo laps though I tend to be open to longer approaches on the Annum. I use a garmont excursion or crispi antarctic boot.

With the 3p Annum I tighten the springs sufficient to keep low/med tension for turns and tend to take the throws off completely during approaches and in powder (attaching spring hooks upside to bindings for quick removal & install). In variable conditions I always use the springs for more controlled turns. On the OG gold hardwires there's no 3p attachment so I keep tension low/med and do more of a shuffle than K&G.

On both skis the spring tension depends on boot choice and is very personal: I tend to use a strip of colored duct tape to mark desired tension/spring setting. YMMV.

[yoyoing]

I only tighten mine enough to keep them from popping open. Plenty of tension for downhill control and unfortunately too much for resistance free touring. When I'm doing laps I just leave the cables on and I seem to get used the extra resistance.

So is the general process then to just gradually tighten each spring cable 1 turn at a time until the latch has just enough resistance to close?

I know that Voile also suggests to generally have the heel plate centered on the ski when the latch is closed too... But I'm curious, do you find that the latch position affects the cable tension and how likely the latch is to stay closed?? Basically I'm never quit sure whether which cable (left or right) I should tighten/loosen.

Maybe I'm over thinking this though...!

Cheers

[Tom M]

I'm not a big fan of the spring cables on the Voile 3 pin bindings. I have the 3 pin cable binding mounted on a set of Fischer Sbound 98's and the 3 pin cable traverse binding on a set of Voile Objective BC's. They help a bit on the downhill, but for all other aspects of XCD skiing, they frustrate me to no end. When I use them, I prefer to use the least amount of spring tension that I can get away with. When I first stated using them, I experimented with the tension until it felt right, but then I had problems with the clamp popping open. I finally solved that issue by setting the length of the spring from the hook to bracket about 1/4 inch less on the clamp side as on the opposite side. I don't know if this is what they recommend, but it works for me. After a few ski sessions to make sure I was happy with the settings, I used a caliper to measure the length on each side, then adjusted both springs to match. I applied a little bit glue to lock the springs into the bracket so that they wouldn't screw or unscrew in the pack. The glue holds well enough and you can free up the springs at a later date by using a heat gun on the metal.

[fisheater]

I will leave the how much tension do you need question alone. The more important thing is that when the boot is not in the ski, and the cable has been adjusted to the proper tension. At that point when closing the latch, the heel piece of the cable assembly should be centered. That way spring tension is equal on both sides of the boot.
I do quite a bit of kicking between downhills. I keep my cables in my pack. Consequently, I have gotten better at skiing 3-pin only. However I have not arrived at the point where I don’t need cables ever. I usually don’t mind just stopping and clicking them on. I generally kick at a brisk pace, well at least brisk for me. I don’t mind stopping to put the cables on. I definitely stop to take them off. I just don’t enjoy kicking with cables on.
That is just what I do. I mostly ski alone, so nobody is waiting on me except my dog, and there is usually some interesting smell around. It’s all about what works for you.

[freeheelfreemind]

I installed the Voile riser on my BC-90s last week. Today I used them for the first time. And they make the work of my Voile bindings much easier.

I used to take the cables off while touring and put them on when doing downhill. It was frustrating when the cable would move when I took it in/out of my pack. I could never get the tension I setup in my shop.

With the Voile riser (installed correctly) that problem has been solved for me. I simply leave the cables on all the time. When I am touring I lock the end around the heel riser. When I want to descend a hill, I unlock it, lift it, and lock it around my boot.

I did some fun XCD touring today with them for a few hours. It worked perfectly. Now I have no need to remove the cable and it is set up perfectly for my boot.

Note:

I have had these bindings for a few years. I purchased the Voile riser kit a couple of weeks ago on Amazon for $36. I installed them with a "quiver-killer" kit, so I can easily move them to other skis.

I like the 3-pin with cables for XCD touring. I have had cables from pin-less bindings (old Chili bindings) break on me. If I ever have an issues 25 miles from my car with the cables, at least I have the 3-pin holding the boot in place.

I do long multi-night XCD tours and I like the peace of mind of both cables and 3-pin holding my boot on the binding. That being said, I also bring a "Mark Watney" kludge-it tool kit along. Cable ties, duct tape, and misc. have saved my butt a couple of times.

Cables On:


Locking around heel-lift:






Now the cable is locked around the heel-lift. The cable will not interfere with the boot when the heel strikes the heel-lift.





When you want to do some downhill, just unlock from the heel-lift and lock in place around the boot.





You can see a "lip" on the heel-riser. This is by design in order to lock the cable:





Finally, it's also nice to lock the cable around the lift when carrying the skis. The cables wont flop around and stay secured in place.

[BCgee]

I only tighten mine enough to keep them from popping open. Plenty of tension for downhill control and unfortunately too much for resistance free touring. When I'm doing laps I just leave the cables on and I seem to get used the extra resistance.

So is the general process then to just gradually tighten each spring cable 1 turn at a time until the latch has just enough resistance to close?

I know that Voile also suggests to generally have the heel plate centered on the ski when the latch is closed too... But I'm curious, do you find that the latch position affects the cable tension and how likely the latch is to stay closed?? Basically I'm never quit sure whether which cable (left or right) I should tighten/loosen.

Maybe I'm over thinking this though...!

Cheers

Yes: place the heel throw in the rough center rear of the heel. Then, adjust the barrels of both cartridges to approximately the same length with your boot in the binding. Turn cartridges in roughly equal rotations until you've identified your desired "active" level. This process is somewhat finicky but pretty straightforward, particularly if you use pieces of tape to mark your desired tension/level of activeness. I do this process for the Vectors, the Annums, and on my TTS rig every so often. In addition to Voile kits, once upon a time everyone who skied the OG Black Diamond O2 etc had the same process, one of the many reasons I largely converted to Rainey Hammerheads, then 22 Designs Axl, then TTS, and down evolved (or de-volved?) back to xcD gear. Enjoy the fiddling, take time to ID your desired tension, and don't overthink it. Cheers.

[yoyoing]

I'm not a big fan of the spring cables on the Voile 3 pin bindings. I have the 3 pin cable binding mounted on a set of Fischer Sbound 98's and the 3 pin cable traverse binding on a set of Voile Objective BC's. They help a bit on the downhill, but for all other aspects of XCD skiing, they frustrate me to no end. When I use them, I prefer to use the least amount of spring tension that I can get away with. When I first stated using them, I experimented with the tension until it felt right, but then I had problems with the clamp popping open. I finally solved that issue by setting the length of the spring from the hook to bracket about 1/4 inch less on the clamp side as on the opposite side. I don't know if this is what they recommend, but it works for me. After a few ski sessions to make sure I was happy with the settings, I used a caliper to measure the length on each side, then adjusted both springs to match. I applied a little bit glue to lock the springs into the bracket so that they wouldn't screw or unscrew in the pack. The glue holds well enough and you can free up the springs at a later date by using a heat gun on the metal.

I'm guessing this is why my one latch kept popping open too. I'll try adjusting by 1/4".
Thanks for the tip!