Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

Hey All,

Anyone have experience with the new Xplores for downhill oriented skiing? I've got some 3pins with cables on FTXs. They've been great, with a ton of downhill control with my Fischer BCX Transnordics.

Do you think that Xplores have any chance of having similar downhill control?

Adam, I have remounted my Rotte ST with Voile 10 mm risers to allow me to clip the cables to the riser for k&g and my heels for downhill.
I believe @lilcliffy is mounting a Rabb with Xplore and an Alfa Free. He knows what a cable can do to improve 75 mm performance. It will be interesting to hear his review. I’m sure the review will be thorough, but thorough usually doesn’t happen quick!

fisheater wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 30, 2022 9:23 pm

Adam, I have remounted my Rotte ST with Voile 10 mm risers to allow me to clip the cables to the riser for k&g and my heels for downhill.
I believe @lilcliffy is mounting a Rabb with Xplore and an Alfa Free. He knows what a cable can do to improve 75 mm performance. It will be interesting to hear his review. I’m sure the review will be thorough, but thorough usually doesn’t happen quick!

Excellent. To be clear, the setup as is is a dream (inspired in part by your reviews). I'm just interested to know about the capabilities of those XPlores.

fisheater wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 30, 2022 9:23 pm

I believe @lilcliffy is mounting a Rabb with Xplore and an Alfa Free. He knows what a cable can do to improve 75 mm performance. It will be interesting to hear his review. I’m sure the review will be thorough, but thorough usually doesn’t happen quick!

I haven't made a decision yet on the Rabb 68-
And I may well end up testing Xplore on the Ingstad first...

I'm not usually an early adapter (still waiting on the verdict on nnn-bc) but if I were buying a new light boot I think I'd go with the Explore system.

While I think that a heel "cable" can improve the lateral stability of a boot sole- my limited experience is that this is very limited. A soft flexible, unstable boot sole stays unstable wrapped in a heel cable- I have had soft unstable soles twist- and even pop out- of a heel cable.

My personal limited experience is that the primary downhill advantage of clipping on the heel cable to a soft Nordic touring boot are:
1) power transfer→ the resistance of the heel cable transfers force from the rasied-heel down into the ski- making it easier to pressure the trailing ski into a turn.

2) fore-aft stability→ if you haven't had the "over-the-handle-bars" experience of downhill skiing in the backcountry with a completely free heel- don't know what to say...the heel cable stops me from "going over the handle bars" when I hit uneven/irregular conditions when downhill skiing on backcountry snow/microtopography.

And finally- within certain limits- increasing resistance in a toe flexor can and does produce the same results as 1&2 above. This true with NNNBC- I am certain it is true with Xplore- hence the stiffer downhill flexor.
............
My current two cents on this-
The Alfa Free boot is in the "Extreme" class (e.g. Asolo Extreme/Crispi Svartisen/Fischer Transnordic) of boots- not the "Excursion" class (e.g. Garmont Excursion/Scarpa T4).
The Xplore binding takes the "Extreme" class to the next level, due to the rigidity of the boot-binding interface- this will make the power transfer of the Free/Transnordic/Svaristen XP more effective than on NNNBC or 3pin.

Will the stiffer downhill flexor in the Xpore binding give one the same performance that I speak of in #1&2 above? Don't know yet...

In the end I may still mount the Rotte ST+cable on my Rabb 68. Why?
Because:
1) I already have the binding- and I- AMAZINGLY- can buy this binding for 50% of the $$$ as an Xplore binding + downhill flexor.
2) I have a number of 3pin boots that I love- including the Scarpa T4.
3) I think I would rather clip on a heel cable than frig with that ridiculous flexor plate system on Xplore that I DAMN well know will FREEZE in my local environmental context...

Not in a rush to put Xplore on my touring for turns skis...

lilcliffy wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 31, 2022 6:13 pm

3) I think I would rather clip on a heel cable than frig with that ridiculous flexor plate system on Xplore that I DAMN well know will FREEZE in my local environmental context...

This right here kills every interest I had in it. That expensive a system and they couldn't come up with a better solution? At more than 150% the expense of a 3-pin or NNN BC boot-binding system you shouldn't have to do more than reach down and turn a lever; you shouldn't have to worry about losing small parts you had to faff with!

Sure, if you have a consistent long climb followed by a consistent long descent, that'd be similar to dealing with skins, I guess. However, for my Toronto/Tokyo life, that suits nowhere east of the Rockies in North America, nowhere with snow in Japan.

Does the stiff flexor on the xplore binding effectively replace a cable? I started on plastic tele boots and active bindings. Skiing without my cables attached feels to loose and its hard to push down with the ball of my foot rather than push down with toes. But im very new to this and i have bad technique.

The flexor doesn’t replace the NN cable.

The NN/3 pin binding does not allow any change in flex. The only way to change that is with a different pair of boots.

The flexor changes the ease with which the boot rotates along the lateral axis of the ski. In other words, it affects kick or drive.

lilcliffy wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 31, 2022 6:13 pm

1) power transfer→ the resistance of the heel cable transfers force from the rasied-heel down into the ski- making it easier to pressure the trailing ski into a turn.

Nope. This would violate the laws of physics.

The cables do not impart any force themselves. The push on the back of the boot is exactly the same as the push on where they attach at the binding. Those forces are equal and opposite, exactly as Isaac Newton specified in his Third Law of Physics. They balance out. The net force is ZERO.

The cable controls heel movement, helping the foot rotate in one plane. It is that rotation that shifts body weight forwards or backwards over the length of the ski. This affects the force directly applied to the ski through the sole of the boot by the body (specifically, whichever points are in contact with the ski).