NTN in backcountry

Yesterday, I cut the other version 1 binding in half and chain linked the frame halves. I also drilled out the aluminum set screw threads and inserted the steel threaded rivets in both frame halves.

A few things... Joe, I am a big guy with some big stiff skis. So far, I have only bent one Version II binding. I assumed it bent in a fall since the other one was unbent upon inspection. I actually used a pair of clamps and metal shim to bend it back straight. Bent bindings don't slide on and off easily, so I bent it back with no ill effects that I can see.

I explain in my ttips thread that I had 3 frames for my version 1 bindings. They were an ebay purchase and not eligible for warrantee. It made cutting one frame a no risk situation since I had an extra frame to fall back on in the event of failure. It worked well enough that I cut 1 of the other 2 frames to that pair yesterday. If they last, I may cut the other pairs of NTN I own somewhere in the future. With the modifications I made, the version 1 frame isn't going to break, nor are the detent threads going to strip. I consider that pair bombproof unless the chain link set up is somehow flawed. Time will tell. I am skiing only the modified binding for now as a test to see how they hold up to the thrashing I will give them on the springtime bumps.

If any of you see me out on the snow and want to check them out, I would swap skis with you for a run if you like. It only takes a matter of seconds to swap skis with the step in feature, and the all the boots fitting into any binding. (there's no difference in how the binding feels)

Below is a picture of the threaded rivet and the copper washer I added to give the threaded rivet a longer thread length of thread contact with the detent screw

Sorry, Mike.  I somehow missed the recent posts.

I'm still not convinced that the frame under foot is even necessary for anything except supporting the flex plate during step in entry. I may have mentioned this already, but when I broke my NTN at the brake cutout I felt that I could ski it fine. The flex plate alone is plenty for lateral control. Add some kind of plastic rib underneath in place of the open frame.

I basically agree with Mike. One concern when I shortened my frames was possible loss (or less) lateral support for the flex plates.  I went ahead anyway thinking when the plates are lifted, there is no contact with the frames anyway.  I haven't noticed a thing so far, just MUCH lighter (a few 10s of grams)!

Kenji, I've been meaning to ask. Does the shorter frame still allow the step in feature, or is the plastic crampon fitting required to prevent the flex plate from falling too far?

The flex plates have enough stiffness to stay high enough to engage.  The crampon holder actually limit the plate dropping too far as well though they don't touch normally.

The snow hasn't been too sticky recently to cause much snow build up, but the original heel lifters still packs snow between the crampon holder.  I just replaced them with the Hammer heels. I'll see if it's better soon.

Finally got a day on the TTS, with the Scarpa Tx NTN boot.  There is nothing bad I can say about its touring performance, since it's just a Dynafit toe.  The whole setup weighs about the same as a pair of Dynafits, so it's a pleasure to haul around for long days.  I guess the one criticism, especially after the Phantom, is that the locked out Dynafit toe takes a lot of force to release if you were to get caught in a slide while skinning... the NTN released easily in that scenario.

I've only got one tour's worth of down on them, so I'm not dialed in yet.  They have great lateral control, but the flex pattern took a bit of getting used to.  They seem to flex easily and smoothly for the first half of the compression, but then they either hit a much stiffer wall, or they bottom out the spring -- I can't tell.  Need to bench test them in the garage more, to see what I'm running up against.  I wasn't paying too much attention to form/technique and they still skied nicely, just haven't gotten used to them, much like my first couple of rounds with the NTN.

I changed the mounting from the stock setup that Wasatch provides.  I mounted the Dynafit toe in it's usual plastic plate, then put a set of inserts in to mount the Hardwire cable to the ski deck.  Also mounted the heel piece with inserts and will be adding anothe set of inserts to the heels so that I can swap out a Dynafit heel on the same ski.  The original mounting plate provided puts the whole setup very heel-high, which I figured I wouldn't like much.  This setup will give me AT & Tele on the same ski (though if I get the TTS dialed in, I probably won't use the AT much).  The other advantage to using the stock Dynafit toe plate is that my ski crampons still work, albeit with some holes drilled into them to accomodate the hold-down blocks for the Hardwire.

I'll take a better picture later, but this gives the idea:

Couple of pictures of the TTS mount:

Cool.  Going in a right/light direction.  I guess we'd be semi-Dynafiddlers!

I'm working on a similar design using thick carbon plates in place of steel springs.  Hoping to be done before the next season...

Yo Marcus...psyched that you finally got the TTS' out for a spin...Did you have any pre-release issues while skiing? Do you think the problem of 'hitting the wall' of activity could be solved with moving the mounting point of the heal throw in conjunction with precise wire length to fit the boot boot sole length?