Preorder our taller heel riser for Marker Alpinists

[tuowtraws]

Any plans for a restock on these this season?

[frorider]

I’ll talk to my manufacturing guru. This year became busy for him bringing a new bike brand to market.

[TTTCollin]

Hey everyone, thanks for the interest in this mod. Here's an update from the mfg side. As frorider alluded, it's been a busy year growing my machine AND getting a mtb brand off the ground. Check out Apogee.bike to see our take on a steel FS bike.


Test Update

Two major learnings from testing
1. Spring detenting is sensitive and needs refinement. The spring detent holds the riser in position and a few of our testers found that in the high position, the riser could lift and pack with snow.
2. The spring wears through the hard anodizing very quickly. Not a huge surprise but it happened faster than expected. The issue is the same for the stock riser but we hoped the harder anodizing could slow the wear. In the end, we don't think this is a performance issue but we had hoped to improve here over the stock riser.

Prod Update

I am working this week on refining the spring profile with 3D prints to iterate a few options. This was a bit more of a challenge since my CAD file has been hacked to s**t by all my changes and poor CAD hygenie. I rebuilt it and things are looking much better.
I am planning to open sales for the first run on Jan 2 on my webstore and will also update this thread to let everyone now. Planned shipment is second half of January.

Thanks all!

[meter-man]

Thanks for posting, Collin! Bikes look sweet too.

I have a set of 1.0 riser mods that I wont be using. PM if you want em.

[TTTCollin]

All,

A quick note to start the year that the product sales are live on the site here
https://www.tahoetrailtools.com/prod...=false&q=false

I also sent out an email to everyone who expressed interest via the web form.

Thanks!

Collin

[bennymac]

Thanks - ordered!

[GoSlowGoFar]

That bike is a work of art. Wish I could rationalize the purchase! Will have to settle for some risers.

[frorider]

As you guys know, this project started out when I decided my multiple pairs of Alpinists could benefit from a taller more stable heel riser—which these are—but as I rack up the days on them I’ve really come to appreciate how much easier it is (vs stock riser) to rotate the heel-piece 180 degrees with my pole.

[jdadour]

Just installed the risers on my 1st gen alpinists (has a straight spring instead of the s shaped spring), and in the high mode the rise flops up and down very easily, like its not being held in place by the spring. Has anyone else had this issue?

[Blaster]

Yep, I've had that happen here are a few of the fixes I've liked the most.

Often the straight spring gets bent and retention can be improved by pounding it straight on a flat surface with a hammer. In my case this worked for 20ish days before going floppy again.

Both the straight and S shaped springs sit in a small trough on either side of the center hole in the heel tower. I've had good success with the S spring at putting a small 0.5mm shim underneath the spring in the trough on each side to raise the height of the spring. This can be done with the straight spring but if you over do it the spring will just bend and you will be back in the same boat.

The solution I am currently liking the best is to just replace the whole spring with a $3 stacked wave disc spring (https://www.mcmaster.com/1561T23/). I've only put one tour on this setup so don't have a great sense of durability but so far things look good. This worked best when I put a thin plastic cover between the spring and the heel riser. I cut a 12mm circle of plastic out of a yogurt lid which seemed to work well at preventing any friction between the riser and spring from laterally contorting the spring. Next on my test list is a slightly shorter spring (https://www.mcmaster.com/1561T22) and a 1mm tall plastic piece that doesn't bend at all. I've found that you want at least 13-15lbs of spring strength and a spring no more than 0.24 inches or 6mm tall if you are using a super thin top cap. And a hole diameter of 0.5 inch or 12 mm.

[jdadour]

Yep, I've had that happen here are a few of the fixes I've liked the most.

Often the straight spring gets bent and retention can be improved by pounding it straight on a flat surface with a hammer. In my case this worked for 20ish days before going floppy again.

Both the straight and S shaped springs sit in a small trough on either side of the center hole in the heel tower. I've had good success with the S spring at putting a small 0.5mm shim underneath the spring in the trough on each side to raise the height of the spring. This can be done with the straight spring but if you over do it the spring will just bend and you will be back in the same boat.

The solution I am currently liking the best is to just replace the whole spring with a $3 stacked wave disc spring (https://www.mcmaster.com/1561T23/). I've only put one tour on this setup so don't have a great sense of durability but so far things look good. This worked best when I put a thin plastic cover between the spring and the heel riser. I cut a 12mm circle of plastic out of a yogurt lid which seemed to work well at preventing any friction between the riser and spring from laterally contorting the spring. Next on my test list is a slightly shorter spring (https://www.mcmaster.com/1561T22) and a 1mm tall plastic piece that doesn't bend at all. I've found that you want at least 13-15lbs of spring strength and a spring no more than 0.24 inches or 6mm tall if you are using a super thin top cap. And a hole diameter of 0.5 inch or 12 mm.

Thanks for the great info! I'm going to take these a part and see if I can reinforce or reposition the spring better. I can see now in the high position where the spring is not putting any pressure on the riser which is making it flop around.

Sent from my Pixel 8 using Tapatalk

[TTTCollin]

The floppy high position was a point of feedback for the original risers. I made some changes to the curve that the spring rides on to increase pressure and force a stronger detent feel. The latest parts provide a satisfying click in both positions. The spring can also bend and reduce force. I agree with the suggestions to reshape it to increase force, the S-Spring is pretty easy to re-shape. I have a concept for a 3D printed modification tool that I'll try to include in the shipments. I also recommend adding silicone grease to the spring during service, that helps reduce the wear rate. Finally, a production update:Parts are out for anodizing and look great. On track to ship end of month!

[TTTCollin]

Hey Everyone, Quick update that the majority of orders shipped last week and the remainder are trickling out today! Thank you for your support and hope they get some skiing soon! -Collin

[::: :::]

Colin, just wanted to say I’m loving the strapoff adapter