Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

I got what I think is a great deal on some Madshus Fjelltech M44 skis, resold "as is" after being returned to the retailer because the bindings failed. The skis were originally sold with Rottefella MOVE bindings pre-mounted, but the bindings failed in a way that I will describe below. The skis are otherwise in great shape; it looks like they were only used a handful of times.

The skis have NIS plates installed by the manufacturer. The MOVE bindings slide on the NIS plate, while the knob that controls the binding position is attached to a separate piece, which is (was) glued to the ski at the front of the NIS plate. The salesperson told me that the previous owners were breaking trail in crusty snow, which pealed the glued-on piece right off the skis. I can post some pictures of this if anyone is interested.

The NIS plates are totally intact, so I could get rid of the MOVE bindings and replace them with a different NIS compatible binding. On the other hand, the original bindings are in fine working order, other than the front bit coming off the ski. My understanding is that on skis without NIS and or other plates, bindings are always screwed directly to the ski. I'm guessing that I could drill and screw the front piece to more securely attach it, and make the MOVE bindings work as originally intended.

I just wanted to ask for some opinions about whether the MOVE bindings are worth salvaging. Is the knob adjustable binding position actually useful? Is the mechanism going to hold up? My confidence in the Rottefella engineering team is a little shaken after seeing how their glue-on solution worked out.

*Edited to fix spelling of Rottefella

I'm curious as to how glued factory base plates are even removed. Do you hit them with a heat gun?

I played around with a set of MOVE bindings I got almost for free and mounted them on some xc track skis using the supplied adhesive. It's a special kind of double sided tape. The ski needed to be spotlessly clean and also rubbed with fine sandpaper to secure good adhesion. I suppose this wasn't properly done in your case.
The MOVE system allows your boot to be moved a few cm forwards and back. Move it back to favour glide and forwards to favour grip. You can do it with normal NIS bindings as well, but with less range and you need to take off the skis. Instead of adjusting it on the fly.
I'd say it's not really essential or amazing but it is nice to have and somewhat useful in some situations with integrated skin skis. However it is not worth the very steep retail price IMO.

Roelant described it better than me, it isn't the factory glued plate that came off, but a post-factory secondary plate that was held on by a double sided adhesive sheet. I was able to peel the remains of the adhesive off the skis and the binding plate with my fingers, though doing so required some effort. The bindings were installed by the retailer before being sold to the original owners. The ski surface in front of the NIS plate where the binding was stuck on does look like it was lightly sanded.

I just left my MOVE all the way forwards all the time in the end. Sometime late last year i went from xc ski enthusiast to active training year round and I dropped 15 kg, and my skintec skis became too stiff for grip. The MOVEs we're a somewhat failed attempt to remedy the problem. I ended up getting new track skis.
It's possible that with the presumably less stiff camber of the Fjelltech benefits more from the binding.

If you already have a pair of spare NIS bindings i would just try them on left and right at the extreme front and rear positions so you can get an idea of how much it impacts your grip and glide. I would do this before drilling MOVE front element into place.
There is certainly nothing wrong with the MOVE bindings per se. Perhaps they can be glued better as well.

Thanks for the thoughts Roelant. Sounds like a reasonable suggestion. After thinking about it for a few days, I'm getting less enthusiastic about the idea of drilling and screwing the MOVE front plate into place. If something else went wrong with the MOVE bindings, having screwed them in would be a pain.

I'm going to see if I can get a replacement adhesive sheet from Rottefella, and see if I can get that to work better the second time. I'm not planning to be breaking trail in heavy snow with these skis, which it sounds like the previous owner was doing when the adhesive failed. If I can't get the adhesive, I'll just have to buy some other NIS compatible bindings, since I don't have any sitting around. That won't be too bad given how cheap the skis were.