Johnny, Pierre, and the beast. Or the new Telemark Tech Norm (TTN) vs the future of XCD (NTN-BC)

[Krummholz]

That boot looks like a Frankenstein with all that stitching and plastic parts. Bet it will be coming undone after a year then it will be off to terrorize the villagers. Yes it has bolts sticking out. They should have a special sickly green color option.

[lilcliffy]

I do think this is cool. I like new ideas and innovation.

From a skiing perspective, I do find myself struggling to see how this is better than NNNBC (or basic 3-pin NN) for Nordic ski touring...

Wasn't there supposed to be something on this new platform that created more binding resistance and/or reduced heel lift for downhill skiing?

What saves the skier from "going-over-the-handlebars" and the "rear-foot-tippy-toes" with this platform?

Am I missing something?

[fisheater]

Gareth, it looks to me like the bumper is a pyramid centered under the toes. I still have the same questions Mr. Woodserson posed.
I guess if they would send boots and bindings to a couple of the guys here with terrain, snow, and a big quiver (for the ability to make comparisons), we would know soon enough. Heck if they really the shiznet, I would imagine there would be large demand for the initial release.
I’m not that guy, but I would be happy to offer Rottefella and Alfa good advice, for free, on the condition of complete anonymity.

[bgregoire]

What saves the skier from "going-over-the-handlebars" and the "rear-foot-tippy-toes" with this platform?

Technique.

[Tom M]

Does anyone here know how the lever at the front of the binding works? Is it just a simple lock in / release for the pins on the boot? Does it shift or move the bumper to allow for a type of free pivot / downhill mode? Are the pins on the boot "fixed" or are they spring loaded, so that the pins go into the boot when inserting and out to lock the boot to the binding? Are those who have seen / skied the binding still under an NDA? Anyone here that has actually seen the prototype?

[Nick BC]

I’m intrigued to know how well this concept will work. When I first looked at the rendering I thought it was a bumper to sit in front of the boot like NNN BC. However, thanks to Fish’s eagle eye, I looked again at the boot sole and realized it was under the front of the boot. I would love to try it. I learned on my Facebook feed that our good friend Christer from Asnes is testing it this season. The comment was that if it stands up to his skiing it’s good to go.

[Nick BC]

Tom, I suspect it is just like a tech binding in reverse, once you’re in you’re in with no adjustment. Maybe there is an uphill/lock in setting like tech bindings, but I suspect not, given the proposed usage. My thought is, after skiing TTS bindings, is that it could be a much more solid base for downhill. However, the $64k question, as others have mentioned, is the stiffness of the boot sole whilst allowing for stride and glide.

Anyway, kudos to Rottefella for coming up with something new.

[Johnny]

I saw the thing. The details, the specs, the pictures, the official promotional stuff from Rottefella, videos, the 4 (!!!) upcoming new boots from Alfa... There will even be a limited edition Asnes XPLORE ski! But sadly I can't show you anything yet... It's still a secret...

Whether we like the XPLORE or not, this is pretty freaking exciting considering the potential impact on the XCD scene... Be patient... ISPO is only a few weeks from now...

265g Rottefella NNN-BC
265g Rottefella XPLORE
405g Voile 3-Pin Cable (No holy grail characteristics)
460g M Equipment Meidjo (ALL the holy grail characteristics + second heel)
500g Voile 3-Pin Cable Traverse
530g Rottefella Super Telemark with Cable
645g Voile 3-Pin Hardwire
726g Voile Switchback X2

[Redmountain]

Whether we like the XPLORE or not, this is pretty freaking exciting considering the potential impact on the XCD scene... Be patient... ISPO is only a few weeks from now...

405g Voile 3-Pin Cable (No holy grail characteristics)
444g Rottefella NNN-BC
460g M Equipment Meidjo (ALL the holy grail characteristics + second heel)
500g Voile 3-Pin Cable Traverse
530g Rottefella Super Telemark with Cable
530g Rottefella XPLORE
645g Voile 3-Pin Hardwire
726g Voile Switchback X2

Exciting times, very exciting

Johnny, I think some of your binding weights are for a pair of bindings and some for one binding. Rottefella XPLORE is 530g/pair and 265g pr binding. Same with NNN BC, I'm quite sure NNN BC Magnum is 260 g pr binding.

[TeleMarcin]

[quote=Johnny post_id=36063 time=1610213868 . There will even be a limited edition Asnes XPLORE ski! But sadly I can't show you anything yet... It's still a secret...
[/quote]

I thought about it and I am glad that Åsnes is bringing a new skis to complete Xplore bindings and boots. The type of skis (Ingstadt, Falketind 62, Rabb 68 or Nosi) will tell us a lot, what was in the mind of Rottefella, when constructing the whole system.

I always thought about our sport as a niche sport, and apparently Rottefella believes that it is big enough to develop the new system. Good for us!