 Poster: A snowHead
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Before last season I wanted to buy new boots and skis with touring bindings. I am not a tourer but like to have skins as an option to get to a special slope or special snow.
I bought Kingpin 13 bindings on Head Kore skis, and Lange XT 120 FREE boots.
From the start I had huge problems getting the front of the boots into the pin bindings which made me feel stupid, and on a non-flat surface it was almost impossible. This was highly dangerous because what if they came off on a steep slope! Luckily I don't fall over much.
On the second week a guide diagnosed that the pins were too high for the holes in my boots and suggested I should have Vibram soles. I ordered them and a year later I am about to pick them up. I am not sure it will solve it. When you try to put the boot in the binding the holes are 3 or 4mm too low and if the boot is against the (tiny) end-stops they are about 4mm too far forward.
I have just discovered on the internet that some boots which have a slight rocker have been found not to fit Kingpin bindings, and the front inch of my boots do indeed tip upward.
I like the skis and boots, but are there bindings I could change to which would be compatible? I don't want super-light ones.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| snowball wrote: |
I am not a tourer but like to have skins as an option to get to a special slope or special snow.
...
I like the skis and boots, but are there bindings I could change to which would be compatible? I don't want super-light ones. |
For your purpose the Shifts are FAR better than the Kingpin. The Kingpin skis like a touring binding binding; the Shift skis - and functions, when in descent mode - like an alpine binding.
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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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@snowball, what @clarky999, said. Can’t see any reason to ski a Kingpin now the Shift has been released. Marker Duke PT 12 is the other option
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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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I had step in problems with the Langes and my Plum Pikas due to the alpine (quasi ISO5355) sole of the Lange not triggering the jaws of the pin binding to close. This is because the sole is flat and the Pikas, like other pin bindings, are designed for use with a rockered sole.
I have since swapped to the gripwalk sole and, while I haven't actually managed to ski the set up for obvious reasons, they work fine on the carpet. Or at least no worse than any other pin binding and boot combination that I have used. Others on TGR have observed the same with the Lange and other bindings.
I'd try the GW sole and see if it resolves the problem, which I suspect it will. That said, don't let me get in the way of you buying more equipment.
Conversely, I did not have problems using the Lange with the ISO5355 shaped sole with the Shift. I suspect this is because you manually hold the jaws of the Shift open with the pole rather than there being a trigger present that the sole cannot engage. On this basis, I suspect they will work fine with either sole block.
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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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Thanks to you all for the prompt replies!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@snowball, the Kingpin doesn't like alpine soles but will be fine with the different profile of GW soles.
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Thank you @spyderjon,
@BobinCH, Marker Dukes were what I had on my last skis.
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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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| snowball wrote: |
| ............@BobinCH, Marker Dukes were what I had on my last skis. |
The Duke PT is Markers latest offering, not the original Duke frame binding. The PT is an alpine binding on the down and tech toe on the up - so a competitor to the Shift.
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@spyderjon, Oh OK, I assumed it was still the frame. Strange they kept the name for something quite different.
However I got muddled as I was writing: my last bindings were Marker Tour F12. The Barons (not Dukes) were the ones before that.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Im pretty sure you can get grip walk soles for the Lange XT 120 FREE boots. I have the Lange XT Free Pro Model Low Volume 140 and have both grip walk and alpine. Might be cheaper and easier to swap out soles and use your Kingpins. ??? Colin sells the soles..
I actually went the other way in that I swapped my XT's to alpine soles so that they would be compatible with my alpine race binders as well as the Shifts... If I was only going to tour with them I would go grip walk.
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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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Ping Jon? Is he North Korean? 
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@skimottaret, yes, I ordered vibram soles which I am about to pick up. But I am not sure if they also have a rockered tip?
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You know it makes sense.
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| snowball wrote: |
| ......... have just discovered on the internet that some boots which have a slight rocker have been found not to fit Kingpin bindings, and the front inch of my boots do indeed tip upward....... |
@snowball, the issue has nothing to do with the rockered sole, it is to do with the lack of depth/thickness on the sole in the area that triggers the closure of the binding.
The GW soles do have an upward bevel at the front but that isn't were the binding contacts when stepping in.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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OK, thanks, it sounds like I'll be sorted.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Having done the conversion to different soles the problem is improved. However it is still hard to get the pins to go in. The holes most of the time seem to be just fractionally in the wrong position. Since the closing trigger sits up under the middle of the boot toe, it is also hard to get the boot flat relative to the pins (this especially putting them on on a non-flat ski slope). Perhaps it would help if the minimal "stops" for the boot were actually in the right place? Perhaps if I glued on a 3mm bit of plastic (but there is almost nothing there to glue them too).
I am wondering if I should just give up and buy Shifts. Would there be any problem re-drilling the ski from one to the other? (ie hole positions nearly but not exactly the same)
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