Outlaw X Modification: Custom stand plates
Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2024 8:32 am
Dear all,
I am new to the forum, and would like to quickly introduce myself. My name is Peter, and I am based in Innsbruck, Austria. We are surrounded by beautiful mountains and lots of ski resorts like Axamer Lizum and Schlick 2000, where I keep practicing the perfect turns. I began telemarking 2021, where I spent lots of time on groomers because we didn't had lots of snowfalls. So I wanted to try something new, and thats were I fell in love with telemarking. The beginning was on an oldschool duckbill setup, that I found second hand: Garmont Ener-G paired with 22Designs Hammerhead and Völkl Mantra 2010 (186). The boots where a bit too big, but anyways the gear worked like a charm.
After the first season I decided to get an NTN setup. I did some research and I bought an all new NTN setup, consisting of the (now old) Scarpa TX Pro paired with an Outlaw X and a Nordica Enforcer 94 (186). I really liked the direct and progressive feel of the NTN system, but I found some things that I don't like so much about that binding.
First of all, the binding kept falling apart because of the general design, and I had to constantly replace binding pieces: Broken flex plates, lost a couple of slicpins, broken claws, weared off slide blocks.. the list continues. But that could all be rebuyed and exchanged rather quickly. What I really did not like, is how the binding kept chewing up the front tips of my boots: There are two rivets placed on the flex plates making contact with the underside of boot sole tips. The boot soles were practically consumed after one season, may due to my low riding style. The boots where not anymore integrated rock solid into the binding, but began wobbling around laterally and even slipping out of the bindings.. Thats where I decided to change something, and redesign the flex plates to a new "platform", where the boots are standing on the binding. Lets call the new custom piece "stand plate" for the sake of definition.
I am lucky to have some Prusa MK4s at work, that I can use in my free time, so I designed the new "stand plate" and printed them out in PLA, then ASA and finally in PETG. After a couple of design iterations, I tried the prototype in action, and I can say that with some little proudness that they worked really well. Sidenote: I swapped out the standard springs to stiffy springs, in order to use less preload (resulting in more travel, and allowing me to get to my favorite low riding style without breaking springs). For the first tests, I completely left away the flex plate, which surprisingly brought me back nearer to the beloved duckbill feeling.
I can also post some pictures of the stand plates integrated into the setup, if you are interested.
Some thoughts:
Cheers and drop knees not bombs. Happy christmas holidays everybody!
Peter
I am new to the forum, and would like to quickly introduce myself. My name is Peter, and I am based in Innsbruck, Austria. We are surrounded by beautiful mountains and lots of ski resorts like Axamer Lizum and Schlick 2000, where I keep practicing the perfect turns. I began telemarking 2021, where I spent lots of time on groomers because we didn't had lots of snowfalls. So I wanted to try something new, and thats were I fell in love with telemarking. The beginning was on an oldschool duckbill setup, that I found second hand: Garmont Ener-G paired with 22Designs Hammerhead and Völkl Mantra 2010 (186). The boots where a bit too big, but anyways the gear worked like a charm.
After the first season I decided to get an NTN setup. I did some research and I bought an all new NTN setup, consisting of the (now old) Scarpa TX Pro paired with an Outlaw X and a Nordica Enforcer 94 (186). I really liked the direct and progressive feel of the NTN system, but I found some things that I don't like so much about that binding.
First of all, the binding kept falling apart because of the general design, and I had to constantly replace binding pieces: Broken flex plates, lost a couple of slicpins, broken claws, weared off slide blocks.. the list continues. But that could all be rebuyed and exchanged rather quickly. What I really did not like, is how the binding kept chewing up the front tips of my boots: There are two rivets placed on the flex plates making contact with the underside of boot sole tips. The boot soles were practically consumed after one season, may due to my low riding style. The boots where not anymore integrated rock solid into the binding, but began wobbling around laterally and even slipping out of the bindings.. Thats where I decided to change something, and redesign the flex plates to a new "platform", where the boots are standing on the binding. Lets call the new custom piece "stand plate" for the sake of definition.
I am lucky to have some Prusa MK4s at work, that I can use in my free time, so I designed the new "stand plate" and printed them out in PLA, then ASA and finally in PETG. After a couple of design iterations, I tried the prototype in action, and I can say that with some little proudness that they worked really well. Sidenote: I swapped out the standard springs to stiffy springs, in order to use less preload (resulting in more travel, and allowing me to get to my favorite low riding style without breaking springs). For the first tests, I completely left away the flex plate, which surprisingly brought me back nearer to the beloved duckbill feeling.
I can also post some pictures of the stand plates integrated into the setup, if you are interested.
Some thoughts:
- First results: The boots are integrated super solid into the binding, and the "chewing effect" decreased significantly. I rode the modified "stand plate" parts for over a season, without experiencing any malfunctions ore broken pieces.
- What I don't know? Is it a real problem, that everyone has? Are your boots also chewed up by the Ox? Are you also feeling subjectively a too progressive binding setup with the standard flex plates? Do you all share similar problems with material failures on stock Ox's?
- What I want to do now? I am not sure, if this would be the final and best solution. But I wanted to share my experience with you, and share the modification of the custom "stand plates" with you all. If there are any interested people, I would love to share STEP files of my redesigned "stand plates" for the Ox, so that you can test it out.
Cheers and drop knees not bombs. Happy christmas holidays everybody!
Peter