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Is it possible to use the hardwire rods/springs on a Voile 3-pin cable front piece. Minor modifications is OK for me, such as grinding the rods. Any experiance?

iBjorn wrote:Is it possible to use the hardwire rods/springs on a Voile 3-pin cable front piece. Minor modifications is OK for me, such as grinding the rods. Any experiance?

No experience, here's a size comparison for you.

Thank you for the picture, how do they look in the slots of the front binding?

It is a tight fit, not a lot clearance. Personally I would not want to grind the Hardwire by hand. I guess it is possible with a file. The Hardwire fits into the toe piece significantly more precisely than the spring cable fits into the toe piece.
I went onto the Voile site. They do not advertise toe pieces in their replacement parts. I believe every other binding part is offered for sale on the Voile website.
You cannot fit a Hardwire into a 3 pin cable toe piece without modification. At least not into any of my 3-pin cable toe pieces.

How about the opposite? Anyone try attaching the 3-pin voile cables to a Hardwire toe-piece? The Hardwire cartridge/heelpiece is overkill on the skis/boots I've been using my Hardwires on. I'm not convinced that the Hardwires were the best choice of binding for my S-Bounds,they're burlier and heavier than needed, and usually the cartridges stay in the car.

Double posting.

The opposite probably works with minor modifications, since the Switchback should be fairly equal with regard to hardwire attachment point:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6C4EL4RdnY

I considering to mount a 3-pin hardwire directly on the ski (without riser), and since I already have hardwire spring set-ups from my TTS bindings - I am considering to buy a 3-pin cable instead for half the price. Also the cable might be powerful enough so perhaps I don't even need to modify the hardwires to fit.

From left to right: altai(voile) 3-pin spring cable, original hardwire(silver), 2nd Gen hardwire red and orange




The cable/rod hooks get thicker from left to right in each model. The spring cables on the left have the thinnest hooks; the original silver hardwires have rods that have flattened hooks; the red hardwire has round rods(same as Switchbacks) and the orange hardwire has the thickest rods.

The spindles on the sides of the toe pieces, that the springs or rods hook on to are also different. The 3-pin cable and original silver have smaller diameter spindles and the 2nd generation hardwires have bigger diameter spindles.
So, the 3-pin springs and original silver rods are more or less interchangeable, but they won’t fit on the bigger 2nd gens and visa-versa.

Also, the distance from the tow-bar/pin line is different between the 3-pin & original silver (longer distance) vs the 2nd gens (shorter distance). This affects the cable fit for boot sizes and likely affects how “active” the binding might be.

Finally, I’ve tried the 3-pin spring cables on the original silver hardwires and I found that, even at minimal tension, provided too much resistance/activeness, too soon, and limited heel lift for kick & glide touring. For my Excursion boots and Kom skis I like any of the non-3-pin hardwires run at minimal tension for reasonable touring and support for turning with no adjustments necessary along the way.

Hope that helps!