Complete skiing. Near perfect continuity between flats, uphills and downhills.

[jyw5]

.

I guess I was not done buying stuff. I got a pair of Nylon X-Skins for my MR skis. I think I will use these when the snow is warm and grip wax is difficult or impossible to use.

I know nylon absorbs water. I imagine getting the skins wet and then having them freeze would probably cause a number of problems.

Should I wax these new skins now, or wait until after I have used them some? I am also not sure if I should use glide wax, polar or maybe even the waterproofing wax I used on my boots.

Any suggestions?

I use this wax on all of my skins. from kickers to full skins. mohair, mixed, nylon. I use a warm iron. works awesome. mohair has excellent glide and works best in cold/dry weather. nylon has great grip and works well on wet snow ad icy conditions. I havent had much problems. xskins don't stick well sometimes especially in sugar wet snow or very deep light dry/cold snow... other skin brands have better adhesion (if using tip loop full length straight skins like Contour or Colltex; I have adhesion problems with Pomoca but like their glide properties the best)




https://www.nextadventure.net/pomoca-bi ... 76202.html

[FourthCoast]

Get some mohairs while you're at it. Seriously

Mohair, OK. Right or wrong I ordered 320cm of this stuff in the 60mm width:

https://skimo.co/ski-trab-race-roll

I figure something narrower than the ski will be easier to take on and off, but still grip enough. I am planning on cutting this in half and sewing on my own tip loop attachment with stuff I have around the house already.

Edit: I like how this person thinks: http://mountainlessons.com/gear/d-y-ski ... ttachments

[Nick BC]

Get some mohairs while you're at it. Seriously

Mohair, OK. Right or wrong I ordered 320cm of this stuff in the 60mm width:

https://skimo.co/ski-trab-race-roll

I figure something narrower than the ski will be easier to take on and off, but still grip enough. I am planning on cutting this in half and sewing on my own tip loop attachment with stuff I have around the house already.

Edit: I like how this person thinks: http://mountainlessons.com/gear/d-y-ski ... ttachments

I’ve done the same thing. I purchased enough Trab race roll in the 95mm width from SkiUphill in Canmore, cut it in half to provide a mini skin. The cut skins extend to the back of the boot utilizing a tip loop I already had in my parts bin. They’ll be used on a pair of Trab Altavia and Hagan Ride 75. I’m looking forward to skiing them once we have enough snow. I’m assuming they’ll be faster than my BD kickers.

[FourthCoast]

I got my mohair skin roll this week. I have been surprised how many little fibers come off the skins, both nylon and mohair, handling them inside the house.

This seems like good reason to use mohair instead of nylon. I expect leaving behind microscopic bits of goat hair is less damaging to the environment than strands of nylon.

[Woodserson]

@FourthCoast What length screws did you end up ordering to make the NNN-BC inserts work? I am thinking of inserting a couple of XC skis I don't use often so I don't burn up bindings. You championed and led the way, what are your thoughts?

I guess I am looking at the three different positions-- nose, 2 primary, and the heels.

[FourthCoast]

@FourthCoast What length screws did you end up ordering to make the NNN-BC inserts work? I am thinking of inserting a couple of XC skis I don't use often so I don't burn up bindings. You championed and led the way, what are your thoughts?

I guess I am looking at the three different positions-- nose, 2 primary, and the heels.

Hi Woods,

For each binding I used:

Nose:
1x 10mm low head screw

Primary:
2x 20mm flat head screws

Heels:
2x 10mm flat head screws

I actually ended up keeping the 'generic' heel piece mounted on the ski and removing the sliding heel piece from the NNN BC binding. This is how Stephen had the older NNN BC binding setup when I bought the skis and it allows me to change between the Voile 'HD Mountaineer 3-Pin Telemark Binding' and the NNN BCs with one less screw swap. But I did try bolting the NNN BC heel piece to an insert using the 10mm flat head just to see if it would work. I think it should be fine.

There are a few things I would like to mention.

1. The mechanical connection on the two 'primary' screws is definitely different with the binding freedom screws compared to the stock NNN BC screws. The body of the Binding Freedom screw is much narrower. I have not been able to form a clear idea of what this means, but it is definitely different. I think, maybe, the binding/ski assembly might be weaker when resisting a twisting motion. I am OK with this. If I end up in a situation where the ski is putting that much torque on my boot then I would rather have the binding screws shear off before my ligaments start to tear.

2. The heads of the two primary Binding Freedom screws bite into the dog bone, but I don't see how that could cause an issue. In fact I think this bite may make Vibra-Tite unnecessary so I am going to try them without any locking compound on the thread.

3. For the two heel screws I had to run one of the stock screws through the plastic to enlarge the hole. I could not get the binding freedom screws to 'start' threading without making the hole in the plastic a little bigger.

[FourthCoast]

I think this is a new addition to the 22 Designs binding lineup:

https://www.twentytwodesigns.com/Kids-V ... p_151.html

I am not sure I want to lock my kid into a non-release binding with a sturdy plastic boot. But, maybe ...

Does anyone know if there are 75mm, plastic, kids-sized boots in production and consistently available?

[fisheater]

The Vice is a powerful binding. If I was judging whether to put one on my son’s skis I would need to strongly consider how he falls. If he doesn’t pull into a cannonball position and roll until he slows momentum enough to slick an edge, pop back up, and continue skiing down the hill. He wouldn’t be ready for a Vice.
However that’s my standard for my son, your mileage may vary.

[Woodserson]

The Vice is a powerful binding. If I was judging whether to put one on my son’s skis I would need to strongly consider how he falls. If he doesn’t pull into a cannonball position and roll until he slows momentum enough to slick an edge, pop back up, and continue skiing down the hill. He wouldn’t be ready for a Vice.
However that’s my standard for my son, your mileage may vary.

It's a "vice" but for kids. The springs are probably very soft. The description says:

The Kids Vice telemark binding has all the control and adjustability of it's parent binding, but with softer springs and fun colors in a design that fits the smallest tele boots made (down to Mondo 19.0). Adjustable stiffness in 3 positions plus position 0 for the tiniest skiers!

I trust 22 Design to know what they are doing, here. We need more of this!

[FourthCoast]

Mohair is usually the issue with getting soaked through, nylons are for use in super wet. Def wax them up the nylon skins are very grippy. They make "skin waxes" but you can use a soft glide wax too. Not polar, not waterproofing wax.

Get some mohairs while you're at it. Seriously

Now I am wondering if these nylon skins have any use. Today there was finally like 3 inches of snow in the back yard. It came down as cold and fluffy lake effect snow, but the sun and air warmed it up and made it wet and sticky. It would have been great for building a snowman.

I thought wet warmish snow like this would be the right conditions to use the nylon X-Skins. It did not go well. Lots and lots of sticking and clumping. I finally gave up and scraped the skin with my wax scraper several times. It took several passes with a good amount of pressure before all the packed snow came out of the skin. The snow came out in little rolls like when I scrape off kick wax. It seems like it got packed up 'under' the fibers of the skin.

When I had the skins on I was walking around on snowballs packed on the bottom of the ski. Can anyone explain what I am doing wrong? I rubbed on 'all temperature' glide wax and melted it in with a warm iron a few days ago.