New 22-Designs NTN Binding

I wonder if there really is a market for an Alien-esque tele boot. ...

Aside from the stiffness and a pound or so of weight, what features are missing from the NTN combo vs. your 75mm combo?  Realizing that "feel" is totally subjective, the objective advantages of the NTN setup you're using seem pretty strong.  You're saving ~500g on boots and ~180-250g on bindings (per manufacturer's specs), have 99% step in, semi-release, brakes, and a much more mountain-travel-friendly boot toe.  The O1 may have a totally free pivot whereas the Freedom is not quite 100% free but certainly free enough.   

I also really wish the TX-comp had tech fittings.  Scarpa's really blowing it here IMO. 

I'm not much of a marketing guy… But my attitude is, "If you build it they will come." There is a lot of negative energy out there proclaiming the death of telemark and the subsequent loss of investment. I feel if we would get more investment in bindings and boots for the BC minded, we would see more people sticking with or trying out the sport.

For me, what is missing from the NTN set up I currently have is probably power. The freedom binding just doesn't feel as "active" to me as the O1. The Tx Pro is just too soft for my liking. I still use the NTN set up on powder days.

I **love the boots for walking. I love the step in nature of the bindings. But when it comes to how they ski together… which is the point of ski boots and bindings… they just are not as powerful as BD Pushes and O1 bindings. They aren't terrible by any means. It's just that I find myself going with the 75mm options more frequently these days.

One other problem with NTN is you have to take extra care that snow doesn't get into the binding when you are stepping in. Otherwise it can easily switch to tour mode when you are charging hard. That's happened to me twice.

I have a fried who tele's with me and jokes about How awesome and comfortable my boots are and how great they are for walking and how I can step in to the bindings, but when it comes to skiing…. kinda not much to rave about

If the tx pro were stiffer and the freedom felt more active, I would be sold I'm sure.

[...]
He uses F1 boots and has created a cleat… similar to a mtn bike shoe cleat that clips into the touring mechanism [...]
Cool eh?  Tele needs this kind of innovation! 

Very cool. I've had a similar thought clicking into my Shimanos.

Also, I'm looking forward to seeing your prototype in action Kenji.

I'm not much of a marketing guy… But my attitude is, "If you build it they will come."  There is a lot of negative energy out there proclaiming the death of telemark and the subsequent loss of investment.  I feel if we would get more investment in bindings and boots for the BC minded, we would see more people sticking with or trying out the sport.

For me, what is missing from the NTN set up I currently have is probably power.  The freedom binding just doesn't feel as "active" to me as the O1.  The Tx Pro is just too soft for my liking.  I still use the NTN set up on powder days. 

I **love the boots for walking.  I love the step in nature of the bindings.  But when it comes to how they ski together… which is the point of ski boots and bindings… they just are not as powerful as BD Pushes and O1 bindings.  They aren't terrible by any means.  It's just that I find myself going with the 75mm options more frequently these days.

One other problem with NTN is you have to take extra care that snow doesn't get into the binding when you are stepping in.  Otherwise it can easily switch to tour mode when you are charging hard.  That's happened to me twice. 

I have a fried who tele's with me and jokes about How awesome and comfortable my boots are and how great they are for walking and how I can step in to the bindings, but when it comes to skiing…. kinda not much to rave about

If the tx pro were stiffer and the freedom felt more active, I would be sold I'm sure. 

Every tele binding I've ever tried has had some sort of compromise and after all these years I'm pretty convinced there is no perfect solution that will work for everyone. 

I'm assuming you've got blue springs at 5 in your Freedoms.  That's what I'm running in mine and I'm by no means a big guy, but I've found the Freedom to be slightly less active than the Freeride (where I ran blue at 3 or red at 1).  I think a stiffer spring might help those in your situation but who knows if/when Rotte will offer such a thing. 

I will say the Freeride with red springs offers a lot more power than the Freedom w/ blue springs maxed out so that might be an angle worth looking into.  The Freeride does have a couple of advantages over the Freedom (swap-ability between skis and adjustability fore-aft) but the tour mode is crap compared to the Freedom. 

Freedoms going into walk mode is pretty much user error (allowing snow to get in there).  I've had it happen to me a couple of times too and it's always been after transitioning from tour to ski.  I try to remember to really smash on the pink lever w/ my pole grip in pile driver mode to make sure it's all the way down.  At least it's not as finicky as tech toes and snow/ice buildup!  I've seen some catastrophic (as in the ski and skin are still out there somewhere) failures of a "locked" toe due to ice build-up that went unnoticed. 

As for investing - after almost two decades involved w/ tele the main thing I've learned about potential customers is that the majority of them are cheap and stubborn, therefore unwilling to experiment with new ideas.  Seems like people in general are also inherently lazy and AT gear is so light and efficient nowadays so there's no reason to tele anymore unless you want to.  It's not like it's the ticket to the backcountry that it once was.  If you spend $100k on designing and building a run of Alien-esque tele boots I bet you'll have six people buying them at retail and a few dozen more waiting for them to show up on Steep and Cheap for a net loss of about $90k.

...If you spend $100k on designing and building a run of Alien-esque tele boots I bet you'll have six people buying them at retail and a few dozen more waiting for them to show up on Steep and Cheap for a net loss of about $90k. 

I'd be one of those in line at the retail store.  All it would take would be to add back in the bellows.  I just bought my first pair of Aliens (the cheap version) and I'm switching to AT for summer skiing.  I prefer to tele in the backcountry, but the weight penalty of tele is changing my mind. 

why would you tele if you didn't want to ~ why wouldn't you tele if you did?  I don't understand switching out unless you're ski mountaineering near the limits of control without a heel-piece or if predictable release is a critical feature for you.  I don't expect alpine types to get it, but there's no going back once you do (IMO).

As for 'power', we've been here before.  The physics don't support the notion.  What an active or 'powerful'  tele binding does is to force the skier to weight the rear foot, something that can be done without all the spring resistance.  I loved the HH in the mid to high range, and learned to smoke a line that way, but have found that with technique (predominantly a tighter stance), a more 'neutral' binding is just as fine (and tours better).  I chock it up to personal evolution.

Setting 'power' aside for a moment, NTN was revolutionary because it gave essentially a four point contact of the boot to the ski, instead of two with the duckbill, thereby relieving the boot and ankle of the near impossible forces to dominate ski edging under dynamic loads.  I haven't adopted NTN, because I predominantly ski wild and fluffy stuff, but if I skied firm as a rule, I'd be all over NTN, but I'd likely set it up as 'neutral' as I could.

 I haven't adopted NTN, because I predominantly ski wild and fluffy stuff, but if I skied firm as a rule, I'd be all over NTN, but I'd likely set it up as 'neutral' as I could.

(This season aside) I predominantly ski wild and fluffy stuff too, and the difference in control with NTN is very noticeable there too. Not just on harder snow.

YMMV.