 Poster: A snowHead
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Just wondering if anyone has experience/advice on these bindings. I'm looking to mount one or the other on Salomon Lords in order to have the capability for some side country and in the future (hopefully) longer tours. Most of my skiing will however realistically be in resort, I'm not a heavy (70kg) or aggresive skier.
The Tours are lighter which I can see will be an advantage for proper touring and am wondering if being lighter underfoot will also help in powder? On the other hand I guess they may be rather less durable? Would the Barons also possibly be more stable as they are a bit beefier.
Any advice/comments would be appreciated.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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From what I've seen (haven't skied the tours, only fondled in a shop) the tours lose out significantly on the durability of the baron, for the weight loss. Others on here disagree (Parlor, who tbh knows much more about bindings and taking them to their limits than me!), but I wouldn't trust the tours to take the everyday abuse my barons lap up - theiy're very plasticky. TGR seems a bit divided on the matter. FWIW I see the dukes/barons as an eveyday binding with a walk mode, whereas the tours are a 'non-dynafit touring binding' - and I wonder if Fritschis don't fill that niche better...
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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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According to Lou Dawson on Wildsnow, the F12/10 Tours have ever so slightly less slop (rolling deflection) in them than both the bukes and baron (in downhill mode) and a lot less slop in them than any Fritschi offering. They still suffer form a bendy under shoe bar in tour mode which means the support could miss the ski but in downhill mode they're apparently the mutts.
How much skking are you doing? If you're just using them for a couple of weeks holiday a year, I doubt the durability will be an issue.
(I haven't skied them, I'm on dynafits)
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3 weeks a year at the moment but (hopefully) more in the future when work/family allows! I saw that on Wildsnow as well and was pretty set on the Tours until speaking to a guy at the shop who having mounted a few felt the Barons were more sturdy. Theyr'e fairly pricey so want to get it right. I doubt the weight will be an issue for me at the moment in terms of uphill as I can't see the opportunity for doing a huge amount of touring in the next couple of years but am hoping to build up to something like a 4-5 day trip in a couple of years.
I'm also interested in any thoughts on effect of extra weight underfoot when skiing, tell me if I'm being stupid but I'm a racing cyclist so I'm usually looking to keep weight down!
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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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I'm also interested in any thoughts on effect of extra weight underfoot when skiing
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I'm sure I've been told that 1kg underfoot = 3kg on your back...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I'm 75kg and have some S3s mounted with Barons and love them Obviously no where near as light as full AT set up but for 1-2hr side country business they fit the bill for me, and a couple of three days tours last Winter hiking all day with 20kg on my back weren't impossible by any means. I'm a cyclist too so if your legs are relatively strong then can't see them being a problem to tour that long.
As clarky999, says, great everyday binding if you do more down than up. I usually ski a higher DIN, but have never had any prerelease issues with Barons for what it's worth.
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Wed 8-12-10 18:27; edited 1 time in total
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I have the Dukes - bought them with the main use of downhill, but giving touring capability. I did a week last year touring and they were great, used my normal ski boots with no problem. OK, we did only day tours not hut to hut but climbed for 3 hours most days. Some say the are hard to adjust the step for the different gradients, using the ski pole basket, it was easy. Some say hard to put halfisen (wrong spelling) but not tried that. Sure you have to take them off to put them inot walk mode, but that always co-incided with putting skins on.
Downhill they are great, no chance of going into walk mode...
Hope this helps, personally I was not worried about weight, mine are fitted to Scott Mission's, so as you can see, weight was not a concern 
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Thanks for this feedback. I just put the Barons on a brand new pair of 185 Armada JJ's. The Baron sounds perfect for more down than up. Since I ski at DIN 8.5 I didn'
t see a need for the Duke.
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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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I have just bought a pair of Volkl Kendo's fitted with Marker Tours and a pair of Volkl Gotama's fitted with Marker Barons but will not be able to try them until the week after next.
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Fogliettaz, would be interested to hear back. First impressions?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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scotia,
I'll try and post over Christmas/New Year
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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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Many thanks for all the avice. Sounds like the Barons will be the way to go, better safe than sorry - the extra weight will be good training for summer riding! I'm just super excited about the idea of getting away from the lifts and some uphill trekking. Now, any advice on skins!!
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Search around before you decide, as I said, others who ar eprobably better qualified than me disagree with my view. Probably best to go play with a pair in a shop and decide for yourself though.
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You know it makes sense.
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Fogliettaz, did you get a chance to try out the Tours and Barons , would be interested to hear your feedback.
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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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philipb, I have just spent the best part of 2 weeks on them (Marker Tour 10) and they performed superbly both in down hill mode and uphill mode, I did have a slight problem when putting them in uphill mode, in that I did not fully pull the lever over on one binding and the wire step did not work properly, but that was only down to operator error. I did not try the Barons out as my son was busy hurtling around on them they do seem over engineered.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Fogliettaz, thanks, that's good to hear. I've just had the Tours fitted (no choice in the end, shop had sold out of Barons) and can't wait to get on them on sunday week. They look pretty well built to me and the complete skis are wonderfully light.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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wonder what Hurtle would make of Joe Strummer's first post 
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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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parlor, Arno, that is indeed an excellent TGR thread - contains pretty much everything that makes TGR great. And I'm sure Hurtle would be pleased 
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Just got a new pair of Barons in the post today.
Opened the box and had a quick look at the info leaflet and read that "Duke and Baron bindings should only be used ISO 5355 - Alpine Ski Boots".
That's a real pain in the a**e considering my boots are AT boots. Was thinking of sending them back and swapping for the F12 but not after reading the TGR thread.
Is there a problem using the Marker/Barons with AT boots?
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imorris, not an issue at all. I suspect it's a liability issue as there is no standard or norm for AT boots.
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I've mounted 7/8 few pairs of F10's & 12's over the last few weeks & every heel piece made a gawd awful click when the boot was released which was not confidence inspiring.
imorris, as parlor says, no problem with Duke/Barons & AT boots. However, with AT boots especially, they are particulary sensitive to correct toe height & forward pressure adjustment to avoid pre-releases so find someone who's familiar with setting the toe height off the top of the boot lug.
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