Movement skis / bindings

A snowHead

Like at least one other snowhead, I have made an impulse purchase of a pair of movement skis & bindings. The bindings do not come mounted.

Reading the pages at Spyderjon's site ( http://www.skituning.co.uk/ ) it seems that I can get the mountings (412 LT Titanal standards) mounted either directly onto the skis ("free") or onto a plate that allows for subsequent adjustments and even swapping onto otherskis. (the skis are Movement demon flame @: 169cm btw Smile

)

Anyway, is it worth going for the plate? Does it cost a lot? It's unlikely that I'll be changing a lot or buying a second set of skis - although it would mean I could remove bindings for travel and thus easily get two sets of skis into one ski bag. I suppose Jon's the best person to answer and I could have PMed him, but this way the answer is up here for everyone to see Smile

A snowHead

nbt, The benefits of binding plates on piste skis are well known, ie greater leverage allows for faster edge changes, more pressure directed over the edge & removes the chance of boot-out etc. Pretty much everyone agrees with this although very few people actually have a choice as most piste skis come with the manufacturer's ‘hostage' bindings on some sort of rail/plate etc.

For powder (only) skis it's always been usual to flat mount directly to the ski, the theory being that a plate will give better feel/connectivity in soft snow & avoid the increased leverage associated with a plated binding.

Depending on the material the plate also adds weight which may be desirable on piste or in variable conditions but isn't usually desirable in a powder ski.

For UK based skiers other factors can affect your decision like being able have only one set of bindings for multiple skis - ie, two pairs of skis with Speedlock plates attached easily comes in under Easyjets 12kg ski bag limit. There would also be a bit of a cost saving but not that much as you have to buy two sets of plates. Virtually all of my Speedlock customers are racers who have 3/4/5 pairs of skis with one set of expensive high DIN bindings & this is were the cost & weight saving is really noticeable.

With a Speedlock plate you can also play around with the fore/aft balance point which is a useful feature, especially for use of piste or in the park, judging by the number of binding 're-positioning' jobs I've had to do were people have found the factory position to be unsuitable for them.

I think in your situation were you'll only plan on having one pair of skis there's no reason to buy a Speedlock set-up (can't believe I've just said that). With a 78mm underfoot 'all mountain' ski like yours you're in between two schools of thought re binding lift or flat so it would probably be best to choose a solution based upon how you plan to use the ski the majority of the time.

Probably the best solution/compromise would be a pair of Free bindings & before mounting we check the position on my balancer. I can also just add a bit of lift using the inexpensive VIST shims (3/4/5/6mm etc) to give the benefit of some lift without going to the minimum 14mm lift of the lowest Speedlock plate.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I love movement.

Far too much.

Did you buy the joysticks that have been popping up on ebay many times recently?

Or demon flames.. rolling eyes

You should enjoy them, I've just bought some 08 gladiators and am getting vist free 412's fitted to them. I should be more than happy with that setup!

Help!!

Movement skis / bindings

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