 Poster: A snowHead
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Was flitting my step-daughter today which involved driving past the shop where the OH bought her skis. She wanted to drop them off to get the brakes checked, so I had a look at their ski stock.
My skis (Atomic DR11) are about 6yo and haven't really looked at new skis since I bought them. I was intrigued by the Atomic Nomad Radon Ti Arc skis. Has anyone tried them? I did a forum search but nothing came up.
The binding is centre fixed with the toe and heel sections connected to the ski on a sliding mechanism. So if you stand the ski on its tail with a boot locked in the binding, and push the tip downwards to the floor, the toe and heel binding sections slide along the ski. The ski makes an arc from tip to tail with no 'dead' area below the boot.
It seemed a great idea to me with only the potential drawbacks of maybe lack of longevity (something else to break) or the mechanism getting clogged up with snow/ice.
So has anyone tried them and if so what did you make of them? The guy in the shop said he really liked them and seemed honest enough, but he is trying to sell them at the end of the day.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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The Atomic bindings are the old "ess var" technology ( they were for a while called Atomic Var after they took over). I have quite a few pairs of the old bindings and the sliding/adjustment mechanism is still solid. I have tested the bindings and they are still solid and release is pretty close if not spot on to the din setting when compared with my newer bindings, but I did look after them and service them myself.
Many company's have copied the system since. So the bindings will be fine. I have no knowledge of that ski though so maybe best to wait for spyderjohn or CEM to pop along.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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speed098, cheers. Puts the longevity fear at ease anyway
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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DB, it is the binding in the bottom video that I was asking about.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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dode,
I have the Atomic blackeyes but an older version with touring bindings. Have looked at ski test reports for this ski with the new ARC binding in Austria/Germany but there was nothing to suggest that the new ARC binding was a total game changer.
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That looks a lot like a Salmon Smartrak mount to me ... nowt new about it at all
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ski, the smartrak just slides to allow different boot lengths to fit, does it not?
This system allows the toe and heel of the binding to slide along the ski whilst you are skiing. Allowing the ski to arc from tip to tail.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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DB, got any links to those reviews? Had a quick search but found very little on them. One write up had two reviewers: one said works best on short slower turns, the other said works best on long faster turns 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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DB, thanks for the links.
It follows what limited info I have gleaned, in that it hasn't made great strides fwd in the reviewers' eyes because of the new binding.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Lots of racing skis have the binding plate fastened to the ski with a "floating" connection. For exanple some of the recessed fixing holes in the plate are not round, but allow the screw heads to slide forward and backwards. In adition some racing plates are hinged. These features achieve the same function that you are describing. I.e that the ski is free to bend without interference from the plate. The other key advantage is the distance between the front and rear bindings doesn't change as much as the ski flexes, which reduces the chance of a pre-release.
Whether a recreational ski will benefit much from the extra complexity and cost is up fot discussion....
M
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