Bindings installed by ski shop not centered?

[Lubega6]

Hey there Telemark Talk: it's been a while For those who know, last season ended up abruptly because of inner knee pain. Turns out it was quadriceps tendonitis from telemark overuse and poor knee dropping form. In the meantime, physiotherapy helped a lot. I'll try to be more careful this winter.

Last spring, I ordered a pair of Asnes Ingstads from Varuste.Net, a well know ski shop in Finland. I chose the option to attach NNN BC Magnum bindings for 10$. Today, I noticed something odd with the bindings: they're both a couple millimeters offset to the left, which can be clearly observed when looking at the text at the center of the skis (below the bindings):



Both skis however show the exact same binding offset. Is it normal? Is there any advantage to attach bindings this way? If you ask me, it would only make left turns easier... to the detriment of right turns.

Thanks a lot.

EDIT: I just took a look at my Rossignol BC80 Positrack rock skis and they seem to show a similar offset too (they were also installed at a ski shop but in Québec, Canada). There must be some reason.

[riel]

I just checked my skis. I mounted them myself, using an NNN/NNN-BC binding jig, which clamps to the ski to center the binding.

On my Gamme skis, the letters are in the middle of the opening in the bindings.

On my Ingstad skis, the letters are not centered, and the bottom of the letters is close to the edge of the opening in the bindings. I am guessing maybe the Ingstad top sheet design has the letters a little off to the side for some reason?

If you measure from the (metal) edges of your ski, is the binding centered?

[Lubega6]

If you measure from the (metal) edges of your ski, is the binding centered?

I thought about that too.

The offset was easiest seen with the letters alignment, but there is a several millimeters offset even when measuring from the metal edges. Both pictures I uploaded above were taken straight in front of the skis, with no angle; and you can clearly see that the edges of the bindings leave much more free space on the ski to the right side compared to the left side.

[Stephen]

@Lubega6, it sounds Ike you have already confirmed that the bindings are off-center, but to be sure, you can measure like in photos below.
Depending on how off-center they are, you may want to try and get that corrected.
It’s not super-easy, but is possible if you are used to that sort of thing.
Alternately, a good shop could do it, but may be more expensive due to difficulty of extra work.
I you want to try re-mounting yourself, you can get advice here.
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On these Ingstads I will be using a square and ruler to measure from the metal ski edge, to the shiny metal toe clip
(Note that the top-sheet letters are not centered in the black binding window)
(Also, it looks like my camera lens was centered over the ski on just the middle picture, and off-center on the first and last picture)

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On this side, it is 1/2”

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On this side it is 1/2”

[Woodserson]

Are they straight/parallel with the ski? If so, ignore and enjoy. It's not worth pulling them and remounting in a different area away from the optimal mount point. You won't be able to slide them over and get nice new holes since they'll be too close to the old holes. (without doing some epoxy work)

IF they are ANGLED and NOT parallel to the ski, then think about moving them if it is greatly affecting your kick and glide and the skis are pointing in weird directions. Again, same risk as you will lose the optimal mounting point.

If this is just an offset laterally with no angle, again, don't do anything. This can happen if the edges, where the jig clamps on, are not equal to each other. So if one edge is a little more proud of the ski and than the other side, the binding will be laterally offset. Or, sometimes a tech will place the jig on the ski and one side will rest on top of the edge on one side but not the other, again, offsetting the mount to one side.

I actually have a few skis like this that I mounted, and so it goes.

[Lubega6]

They're actually straight, and your jig/edges clamping hypothesis is probably right. I think I'm gonna leave it there and maybe even use it at my advantage when going down heavily packed snow, knowing left turns should be easier to carve.

Thanks guys.