The new Rottefella XPLORE OFFTRACK Binding system

[turnfarmer]

@Crister,
As a Pedorthist, the mid foot curve to that sole seems like a lot. I think the boots will fit a lot of people better if the sole is less adducted.

[Åsnes1922]

@Crister,
As a Pedorthist, the mid foot curve to that sole seems like a lot. I think the boots will fit a lot of people better if the sole is less adducted.

The design of the outer sole and the inside of the boot does not necessarily correspond in terms of fitting. You will see that a lot of ski boot soles are shaped like that, but inside the boot, they are usually rather plane and flat.

I have a medium arched foot and neutral pronation, and I have not noticed anything of concern. Both Alfa and Alpina have designed orthopedic soles and boot looong before WW1 and I was ever born, and they are highly skilled and successful at it - so I trust that they do what will be beneficial for most end-users.

[anemic]

Thank you for the thrilling news!!

[riel]

I have a few comments on this design.

Lets start with the positive. Having a wider attachment of the boot to the ski could result in better lateral control of the ski, but only if the boot sole is torsionally stiff enough. The basic binding design looks promising, though.

However, having the pins in the boot move with springs worries me a little. On days with temperature changing between above freezing and below freezing, would it be possible to get ice buildup inside the boot preventing the pins from moving correctly? EDIT: also, what happens if you were to get the bottom of your boot wet in eg. a stream crossing? We have lots of stream crossings on some popular hiking routes here...

Ice buildup seems possible with any kind of binding design, but it would be nice to have the ice buildup in a place where it CAN BE FIXED by the user in the field. Getting some ice buildup in a moving component in the binding seems much preferable to having it happen in the ski, since you can remove ice from the binding in the field, without even having to take off your boots.

Last, for people wanting to ski things just a little more demanding, it would be nice to have a little more power to the ski than the boot soles alone can easily transmit to the front of the boot. It would seem that adding a cable shelf to the back of the boot (like for 75mm) would allow people to add cables to this binding system, at essentially no increase in boot sole manufacturing cost. Allowing people turn this into an "Xplore TTS" might open up a new (if small) market segment essentially for free.

I suppose that is not needed if the boot soles are stiff enough that you get "duck butt stiffness" through just the two pins, but is anybody making the front part of the boot that stiff?

I am definitely interested in this design, though. Right now I am on Riva 2 bindings and Fischer BCX675 boots most of the time, since they seem to be the best compromise for the kind of skiing that I do.

If I could get a boot as powerful as the Scarpa T4 or Scott Excursion, at the weight of the Fischer BCX6 or Alpina Alaska, I would be all over this system...

[zonca]

Pin icing came to mind immediately for me. The pin movement will essentially be a pump so no matter how close the tolerance of pin to housing, environment will enter in the form of humid air at least. Probably quite a strong spring in there to alleviate. Beta testers out there this winter will confirm or deny this concern. Sure looks sweet to me but pricing means I will never own it.

[RabbitEars]

Outside of cost does this system end the 3pin/NNN BC reliability debate?

[riel]

Outside of cost does this system end the 3pin/NNN BC reliability debate?

Only if it actually ends up being more reliable!

I am hoping that when the testers take this binding into spring conditions, we will know what happens when water gets into the pin holes.

Or maybe someone could test this on purpose, by dipping their toes in water, and then going out to ski

I really would like to know how this mechanism behaves "wet" before I put any money into it, as well as have some understanding of how the design avoids (most of?) the problems of the pins icing up inside the boot sole, and how to deal with it if it were to happen out in the field.

[lilcliffy]

So my marbles have been turning over this for a couple of weeks...

so- there are spring-loaded pins in the boot?
Do I have that correct?

[Woodserson]

I really would like to know how this mechanism behaves "wet" before I put any money into it, as well as have some understanding of how the design avoids (most of?) the problems of the pins icing up inside the boot sole, and how to deal with it if it were to happen out in the field.

This +1

Also, it looks like it's a pretty stiff soled boot that is probably miserable to K&G in, hence the kick and glide fender that gets swapped in/out. I guess the stiff sole is necessary without rails on the binding to support the boot laterally.

[fisheater]

Yes Gareth, the pins are in the boots. The assumption is they are spring loaded. There is also a lever in the front of the binding, that is assumed to be the release device.