telerat wrote: The Alfa Free APS boot had a very stiff sole that bends in just one spot and was uncomfortable when walking. It also wore the front part of the sole (which engages the flex) was quite a bit, perhaps due to the stiffness. Not all testers liked the Free's BOA closures, and the boot's upper fabric bent in one spot and could be irritating, so test before buying. They felt 75mm was better for walking without skis and was skeptical to durability of XP boots when navigating scree. This is disappointing, but I hope the production sole/boots are better for walking this year, but first years buyers sounds like we might be beta testers. There is also some technical updates coming in the production of the binding
Thank you SO MUCH @telerat for posting and translating this!
Kind of weird that they are publishing reviews of boots and bindings that will be different than the production models though... Kind of... Not-so-relevant?
They should try real 2-pin tech bindings... They would see that they are all WAY harder to align than the XP! They all require a bit a practice to step in, but my experience is that the XPLORE is really the easiest of it all...They stepped into the binding easily in 8-9 out of 10 times, but struggled the last 1-2 times and had to have several tries then, especially if the boot was dirty after hiking. Some times they though they where in the binding, but only one of the sides was engaged which you don't see, so they adapted to double checking that the boot was properly engaged.
A totally different story here with the Alaska XP. There is no way 75mm could come even close to the XPLORE! Absolutely now way! So far I think the XP is just the best cross-country binding ever. And the best touring/nordic binding too. With just a few simple tweaks, it could also be the best XCD binding too... (Freaking expensive for what it is, I agree).Xplore is neither a rando, telemark nor cross-country binding, but a binding for mountain skiing that invites you to explore all the snowy terrain around you. They write that classic 75mm equipment with toe binding would enable much of the same
More about it in my upcoming Alaska XP update...
Mounting is super easy. They come with TORX screws. 5 holes in each ski. And the coolest thing is that you can use 2 holes from your previous NNN-BC mount and still be around pin line...TeleMarcin wrote: ↑Wed Nov 24, 2021 11:08 amHi does anybody know if the mounting of the Xplore bindings is more complicated than standard NNNBC bindings ? ANy comments on this issue? Greetings from Poland, Marcin
Oh, also... FWIW, I don't even bother with 2 of the screws... I just don't use them. I feel like 3 screws is more than enough even for downhill stuff... But don't listen to what I say... (In fact, I only use a total of 2 screws on my XPLORE skis. More than enough for everything nordic, no need to redrill, and super easy/fast to swap! )
Thanks for the pictures and good luck. Your experience with releasing the flexor is the same as mine; it's important that they won't come loose accidentally, but I think it should be a bit easier to release them than currently. The button is very small and have to be pushed into a recess, which is hard even with bare fingers. You can help release by pushing forward on the tower/soft part of the flexor, but that tactic will not work on the free pivot plate.
