FrankenTele???

[marc]

What is the status of frankentele? Are any people still experimenting with this setup? Would really love to try myself, but haven't got around to it. Just recently got into NTN bindings and am already really happy with them. Prior to trying NTN I was really interested in FrankenTele, now after being on NTN for a while, it is already giving me the control that I was missing before. Maybe locking down the heel is not so important anymore?

/Marc

[bogon]

I've two pairs of skis drilled for NTN Freeride (6-hole metal plate, 30mm hole spacing, same spacing as Dynafit toe) and Dynafit Vertical Rental ST. Thus I can cut 9.5mm heel shim and use Dynafit heel with NTN Freeride, but...

... there's just no need for that.

NTN Freeride gives You so much control, [pedal] hop turns and parallels are not a problem at all.
Why lock the heel, then?

I think I'll cut the shim anyway and will test it on my partner Will let You know of her feedback.

p.s. btw, Dynafit trick works - I can do it with gloved hand only, no pole wedging required. Naturally, Onyx or Vipec heel would be better, but $...

[NorseTeleGimp]

I too find that the freeride has so much control that I rarely feel the need for a locked heel. The setup is just awesome for parallell turns, and I do p-turns all the time with all the confidence in the world.

However, if you should feel the need to lock down the heel, I wonder if a dynafit or onyx type heelpiece is a bit overkill? wouldn't a small latch with some crude release mechanism suffice? The rest of the binding provides all the stability you'd want anyway. I think this is something Rottefella could offer built in to the NTN heel risers.

[marc]

Ja, simple heel lock would be nice built into the freeride.

However, I agree, after I got the freeride myself, my interest in Frankentele is almost gone.

/Marc

[bogon]

Okay, I'll now admit that to ski cut up double black diamonds in horrible conditions (ice between irregular bumps of various toughness) carelessly I'd probably like to lock the heel. Especially at the end of the day.

So maybe for next season I'll cut some 10mm risers and will install some more BF inserts into my TST if skiing that sh!t with heel locked will prove beneficial on Mosquitoes early next season.

[HannuV.]

Frankentele is more relevant today than ever before. New Dynafit insert style tele bindings make it work better and keep weight down.
http://www.moonlightmountaingear.com/bindings.html
http://www.the-m-equipment.com/en/

And why to lock heel? First of all alpine skiing is fun. I´ve been telemarking over 20 years but never gave up alpine. With Franketele I can do both with only one pair of skis. Of course it doesn´t work as well as with proper alpine bindigs but is compareable to other low tech bindings.

Secondly sometimes alpine technique is a must. When you are tired, you can´t see anything, you are carrying heavy load, slope is really icy and full of weekend warriors from Munchen or your old artrosis damaged knees don´t want to bend anymore after a few days of mogul skiing, I do prefer to lock the heel.

Do you need a heel piece fof that? Skiing alpine with or without fixed heel is not a same thing. If heel is not locked you tend to keep you weight too back, on you heels. When locked you can lean forward, press tibia against the tongue of the boot and keep a weigth in a right place – skis are designed to work better that way. And especially if you ski moguls, heavy spring snow or powder, you do ski better, are more relaxed and save strength when heel is locked.

What kind of heel binding is good? I appreciate a full functioning low tech bindig where you can adjust release values. Me and about half a dozen of friends are using Plum Guide.
http://www.fixation-plum.com/en/product ... res-guide/ with heel pad http://www.fixation-plum.com/en/product ... lon-guide/

[Johnny]

While it's without a doubt easier, I don't think it's mandatory to lock the heel...

I hurt my ankle very badly a couple years ago and I had to finish the last month of the season on alpine. I couldn't tele, I couldn't walk. But I could ski those spring bumps alpine style on NTN like if I was 20 again...

I had a friend who once forgot his alpine ski boots, so I gave him a pair of NTN boots for the day. He had never tried tele gear before. He skied alpine all day and couldn't see the difference...

Unless your racing or spend most of your time on alpine, it shouldn't make a big difference...

[jarlybart]

What is this Franken-tele of which you speak of?

[Ant01ne]

youtube : keyword "frankentele telemark binding"

shouldnt be called "franken" but "next gen tele bindings"

[jarlybart]

youtube : keyword "frankentele telemark binding"

shouldnt be called "franken" but "next gen tele bindings"

At the time, FrankenTele made the most sense to my little brain. I had a bunch of fun playing with the idea and I can almost blame Mitch for it(Mitch's Bitch for life). I never took it too seriously but no question put some energy into it because I want to ensure it was safe and skied correctly. The G3 Onyx was the game-changer in that whole thing. I will post two of the videos below to show the progression but there are more on Youtube. I just wish the Frenchies would have given the FrankenTele a nod when they took the idea and made it their own...but what could you expect from Frenchies?

First ever video...if you have been around long enough, you have likely already seen this:


Year 3 with the new binding set-up: