Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

Hi Folks -

I have been skiing outlaws this year - 100% lift serve.
I had the opportunity to try a friend's Freerides the other day and was shocked by how different they felt.

The experience made me realize how 'over my toes' I feel on my Outlaws.
With the Freerides, I could engage the hell out of the ski edges without having to lean forward much at all.
With the Outlaws, I feel like my toes aren't even part of the program.

I am looking to shim some, maybe 1/2 of the 3 degrees out of the Outlaw (the Freeride is 0 degrees).

I am curious as to whether anyone else has experience this?

Before you go too far with shimming things, have you tried a different forward lean setting on your boots, or even walk mode to see if the feeling gets worse or better? Might answer some of your questions.

That being said, I didn't personally notice much difference in how the two bindings ski, aside from the Outlaw seemed to engage fractionally quicker, and had more spring travel on the way down. I attributed most of the differences I felt to two fairly different skis, and a forward mounting on one pair that I wouldn't personally do. It's possible too that my running Evos for boots may blur/mask the differences between the bindings.

For now, I'm pretty happy with my Freerides, and they've held up to my repeated abuse for over 5 years now with no breakage that many others have reported.

After posting this I compared the boot in both bindings. It appears that the 3 degree ramp of the Outlaw is actually rearward, putting the toes high. The differentiation I believe is in the fact that the Freeride holds your foot flat, where the outlaw seems to have you 'toe and heel high'. I really felt that I could use my toes more with the freeride. I also felt that the freeride was way more progressive.

Oh - an to answer your question, yes I have changed the cuff angle, but that's not my issue.

One would have to ski both back to back to understand what I am describing, I'd bet.