Help choosing tele bindings

[coldfeet]

7TM aren't perfect but they do release pretty well but I don't think they make em anymore

They are still listed at telemark-pyrenees, I think maybe the north american distribution went away when Garmont moved and/or was bought out.

[hop]

All my Small NTN freerides are gone. BTW, the 26.0 Garmont Prophet needs a L NTN binding. Scarpa 26.0 uses S NTN.

[dschane]

edited: Daught, I misread your post and just deleted my post. I see those crap skis are for you. I still think you can do better, at least find something that has a smaller chance of exploding on you. Those beaters are a bit poseur-ish, whether they're on your feet or tacked up in your living room.

[crash55]

All my Small NTN freerides are gone. BTW, the 26.0 Garmont Prophet needs a L NTN binding. Scarpa 26.0 uses S NTN.

Turns out I can return the T4s so I'm pretty well decided to go for the NTN setup. My local shop ordered NTN bindings by mistake (I know more than they do about tele at this point) but they ordered the Freedom instead of the Freeride. The latter seems to have alot more options. Do you get a full set of springs with a new binding? Are they hard to switch, and would you switch springs if climbing vs descending?
Which binding would you recommend for me? BTW it turns out the T4 is a mondo 27 but my alpine boots are 26. I guess I'm right in between, which makes the sizing of the binding tricky.

[Flyoverland Captive]

No need to switch springs for climbing; you just flick a lever to go to climb mode. Springs are easy to change, but I wouldn't want to do it anywhere other than a shop.

Freerides come with springs; freedoms too. You can buy springs with varying firmness separately.

[Meadow Skipper]

The Freedoms tour much better, and ski just as well.

You have to buy different spring sets if you want different ones from what they came with.

NTN has (more or less) free-pivot touring, so no changing springs mid-tour. The springs would be a major PITA to change in the field.

If you're not planning on touring and can get the Freerides cheaper, go for those. But I'm eventually changing to Freedoms for everything.

[dark_star]

The freedoms seem like a great choice overall, but the freerides have the nice plate-based swap system that makes it easy and cheaper to swap one pair of bindings between multiple skis. Very convenient for trips or days when you don't know which skis to bring, as the swap takes as little as two minutes. I'm currently sharing one pair of freerides between three sets of planks. But if quiver building isn't a concern and the cost is comparable, I'd say go for the freedoms.

[Flyoverland Captive]

The plates on the Freerides have the added advantage of being able to move the whole binding a few cm each direction so you can fine tune mounting position.

[crash55]

Once again, you guys have been incredibly helpful. T4s returned and just hit "buy" on new Garmont prophets for $350, now just have to agonize over the binding. I'd like to understand why the Freedoms tour better than the Freerides...sounds like there are some nice advantages to the Freerides otherwise.

[Meadow Skipper]

I'd like to understand why the Freedoms tour better than the Freerides...sounds like there are some nice advantages to the Freerides otherwise.

Greater range of motion in the pivot and less resistance to lift, and they're much lighter.

[Flyoverland Captive]

Freerides tried to be all things to all people; the attempt at tourability compromised other aspects of the binding, mainly weight. The plate system is a nice feature, and I for one would have bought a non-touring NTN binding to save some weight and complexity. Freedoms managed to focus more on tourability, but the elimination of the plate system is a negative for non-touring folks.

[crash55]

Ok, that makes sense. Ironic that my local guy thought the freedom would be more suitable...although I have to say, I rarely take more than one ski even when going out west. Partially rockered 115cm skis have made the need for a quiver almost obsolete for me. Guess I better be careful what I say, or this thread may spark back to life!

[axebiker]

I hope you mean 115mm...

The fact that the Freedoms can't be swapped is a dead end for me. That's one of the great things about he Freeride - one binding for three sets of skis. The ability to shift the binding +/- 1.5cm has been great as well. In one case it was a game saver.

[BeardedClam]

In a similar vein to what boots/bindings/skis to ride, how does the mount position effect the skiing?

I have a pair of short, stiff, mellow tip and tail rockered skis (179 EHP's) that I cruise inbounds mounted at the line. Thinking about a tele setup using them and have no idea what the merits of different mount positions have in regards to tele.

[Flyoverland Captive]

Same as alpine, basically. To be more precise, ball-of-foot on running-length-center. Which is voodoo when it comes to rockered skis; so just go with boot-center marks, if available.

Some will say you should go back a cm or two to avoid tip-dive in powder, but I say bs: tip dive is due to poor form, not mount position.

[XXX-er]

Some will say you should go back a cm or two to avoid tip-dive in powder, but I say bs: tip dive is due to poor form, not mount position.

I agree with you and IME moving the boot center around on demo bindings is that a ski mounted behind the line acts like a ski boat that doesn't wana get up and plane

[hop]

Once again, you guys have been incredibly helpful. T4s returned and just hit "buy" on new Garmont prophets for $350, now just have to agonize over the binding. I'd like to understand why the Freedoms tour better than the Freerides...sounds like there are some nice advantages to the Freerides otherwise.

Please tell me you didn't just buy a pair of 26.0 Garmont Prophets....

BeardedClam - just put tele boot center where your alpine boot center is/was and call it good.