NX21 durability?

[pde20]

[QUOTE=couloirman]

and heli skiing in alaska while fun, is not done in the same spirit as earning turns, so that does not fit in in this market.

My point is that the extremely small universe of people who want to rip the shit out of large untracked faces and huck 40+ foot backcountry cliffs are either pros or some subsection of the users of this board. In order to get what we all want, the pros have found it is much more enjoyable to use an A-Star, leaving you in the lurch hoping for the holy grail of burly touring bindings. I'm saying that if all helicopters were banned tomorrow, you might see this product get developed, but the segment of the skiing world who wants this experience finds it more rational to pay for heli time to get it.

I've only used trekkers once for a short time, but are they really that worthless that BCA or an enterprising engineering geek couldn't improve upon them? E.g. better climbing bail, lower profile to avoid that ice skate feeling, different material to make them lighter but torsionally stronger -- titanium?

[davep]

I've only used trekkers once for a short time, but are they really that worthless that BCA or an enterprising engineering geek couldn't improve upon them? E.g. better climbing bail, lower profile to avoid that ice skate feeling, different material to make them lighter but torsionally stronger -- titanium?

The biggest source of slop in my trekkers is that their toe shape is quite different from my alpine boot, so it doesn't fit well in my (sally) bindings. I can eliminate a lot of slop by re-adjusting the toe height and wing width of the binding but it would be a real pain to do that everytime you want to put the trekkers in or out. Wouldn't be such a problem with an auto-adjust toe piece, but trekkers dont work so well with Looks... If you're brave (crazy), you could try a look toe with a sally heel for your alpine binding, wouldn't that be fun?

Beyond re-adjusting the alpine binders, I think one problem for flex and durability is the hollow plastic toe piece, but it'd be hard to replace just that piece. If someone's really desparate, they could try filling all the empty space in the toe piece with epoxy or resin or something - that might make it stiffer and tougher (and heavier!!). Maybe try filling the toe-heel connecting shaft with epoxy or something to make it rigid, so that the alpine binding's heel piece helps hold the thing in ridigly.

[couloirman]

anyone have any experience on the new freeride plus?

[upallnight]

anyone have any experience on the new freeride plus?

I've got 'em mounted up on some skis, but I haven't had them on snow yet. I think there are at least a few folks who have tried them.

To my eye (and feel on the bench), they are a tad stiffer laterally than the Freeride. I think that if I found a deal on the original Freeride (well, the 05/06 model), I'd go with that. If they were the same price, however, I'd go with the FR+.

It seems like the improvements are on the order of a few % -- not *drastic* changes in lateral stiffness.

The new FR+ is supposed to reduce the chance of going 'insta-tele'; in my experience, that is not so much an issue with careful mounting of the heel piece.

[couloirman]

any more metal vs plastic on this one?

[upallnight]

any more metal vs plastic on this one?

No...nothing visible anyway (and the weight is materially the same). The reinforcements appear to be plastic.

If you were on Freerides before and they didn't last for you, I doubt these would be any different.

I do expect them to have a bit more lateral stiffness.

I know that one guy from the PNW, one from the E Sierras, and one from Montana have had 'em on snow...maybe they'll chime in.

[edg]

I'm thinking of going for a NX21 (On sale, woot!) mounted on my Brother's old pair of Movement Thunders now, as a day tripping ski. Hopefully also be able to mount some Dynafits (On sale, woot!) on my dad's old Red Apples, though he doesn't know of this play yet... *innocent look*

All in all I think this will be pretty damned good set up, especially since I'll still have the Freeheels + 7tm for ripping around on piste (well, lift served off piste). Let's hope I don't like AT so much I give up tele :-\ (I've never skied on alpine bindings before)

edg

[couloirman]

I'm thinking of going for a NX21 (On sale, woot!)

edg

where they on sale at and for how much?

[edg]

where they on sale at and for how much?

In the UK - sorry mate. (£180, btw)

edg

[Kya]

I have to agree with Upallnight in this discussion. I have toured with the first generation Freerides for the past 7 years, and have been on way gnarly peaks and terrain. Love them, no problems.

But I guess Naxo's are cool too