The new Rottefella XPLORE OFFTRACK Binding System Review

[astory]

Just finished the season on the Xplore binding mounted to the Madshus Panorama 68 and using the Fischer Traverse BCX....

So... Awesome....

Absolute world changing from the 75mm rig I've been using for years. I used in rolling backcountry terrain in the Colorado Rockies and was really impressed with the experience. Can't wait to get tons more miles on them next year. Changing the toe inserts takes about 30 seconds so... Yeah... That's not really a thing for me as I figured people spend orders of magnitude more time dealing with skins so it's a net gain for me to switch toe pieces and use waxless skis.

I recommend. Highly, now that the price is going down on the bindings.

[Peter P]

I agree that the time to swap out the flexors is not significant, especially if you happen to be stopping to swap out skins at the same time.

Interestingly, I accidentally did an experiment this winter while uphilling inbounds at Steamboat. Forgot to swap out the free flexors at the top. Had a great downhill run, on great snow. Best of the year. I didn't realize until I stepped out of my skis at the bottom that I still had the free plates in. Doing parallel alpine turns, not tele turns, but still. Goes to show you a lot of the rigidity of the system comes from the wide contact base between boot and binding.

[telerat]

Changing the flexor is as you say relatively quick, but I am not changing it for shorter descents and only for prolonged continuous ones. When attaching or removing the skins I have no issues changing the flexor at the same time, but this is for tours and not racing. Loose parts that can be lost are also not a great solution.

The standard flexors are soft, but work very well for kick and glide skiing as well as for Nordic/touring skating, and decently for downhill skiing. The hard flexor works very well for descents, but does not work for any uphill or flat skiing. I thus long for a medium flexor for more rolling terrain. The free pivot plates works very well for uphill skiing with skins, and when on top I remove the skins, change to the hard flexor, tighten the boots and shorten the poles before skiing down again.

It would be great to have a quick mode switch without removing the skis for more rolling terrain and shorter descents, but it will add weight, just like with any other binding system. I do believe a version with switch from free pivot to hard flex would not be too hard to make though. Xplore is also very lightweight, so I would likely only use such a binding version on the wider skis (~62-75mm waist) and possibly including scales.

I am not that surprised that the free pivot plates worked with parallel turns, as the binding and Xplore sole feels quite torsional rigid and without any play. The absence of play (and noise) in the binding interface is very nice and a great improvement from 75mm 3-pin bindings.

[Theme]

I have a positive update about the binding system from a long-distance ski tour. Mounted Xplore on my MR48 in 210 and skied Norway end-to-end, about 2600 kilometers and 83 days. I left the heel bars out which cut off significant weight, would and did not want to use them a single time throughout such a tour.

Binding worked like a champ, even allowed some somewhat sweet turns with the narrow sticks in ok conditions. Paired with Pi Tech boots (for which if you check out the thread I was not so thrilled about, which is a shame, it is a great boot for control and lightness but breaks apart).

I even got used to the small white release cup, and stepping into the binding. Only a few times I did not fully lock the mechanism.

Definitely less issues with snow buildup compared to others that skied with NNNBC. Not as loud either. Buildup does slightly impact skiing but nowhere near as much, and can most times kick the buildup away. Most annoying was trying to push the snow off underneath the release cup to get out of the binding. A few times in spring wet snow I was also stuck to the binding by icing I believe.

I did have them mounted with the longer screws. I did have one big crash that may have done it, but one of the back screws of the front piece came slightly loose. Will re-do it for next season.

Managed to trip the skis over on asphalt on my last day and got some dents in the aluminum and ski tip. Hope it will not affect use next time!

Changed standard flexors once, could have done it two times.




A small sneak peek to the scenery. Might do a full trip report later




In short, the binding is: light, easy, powerful. Has its quirks, but definitely my new preference for BCXC.

The binding did also save me two times when I took the skis off, and kicked steps on some steeper slopes. Had ice underneath but when I fell over, the bindings on the skis on my hands, stuck to the snow

[Stephen]

I have a positive update about the binding system from a long-distance ski tour. Mounted Xplore on my MR48 in 210 and skied Norway end-to-end, about 2600 kilometers and 83 days.

We need a “Thumbs up” feature on this forum!

[telerat]

We need a “Thumbs up” feature on this forum!

We sure do.

Nice hearing of your positive experiences with the Xplore bindings/system Theme. I have a few questions and comments.

Step in on Xplore is not as seamless as I think it could have been. I have taken to twisting the heel from side to side to verify and if not to secure engagement, and I have never come out of them since. This is unfortunately something that all Xplore users need to know, as it is not intuitive, but easy when learned.

The flexes seems a wear item, and it looks like we need to consider buying spares both from your experience and others that I have read about. I don't have any experience with NNN-BC and flex durability there and know you can buy spares there too, but have the impression it is much less of a problem. Can you comment on your experience on this tour and possibly others on flex durability of Xplore vs. NNN-BC?

I hope you skis hold up well, as I am always afraid of ski delamination, but they should handle falling over. We have the same skis in my family, but mounted with regular NNN and used with Combi boots and like them very much so far.

The binding is made of plastic molded on a steel skeleton I believe, not aluminum, and I thought they should handle falling over without problems. The thread where Lars_Danner has broken the towers on his Xplore binding (on skate roller skis) has me a bit more worried than before though and I might check them regularly now.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6730

I wonder if one (or both) of your boots has a bad pin on the left side though, as you have unusual wear in the left step-in slot on the front binding in you picture. This may be similar to the previous problems with stuck pins, but then the pins failed to come out. It could also be the reason for the times you had problems exiting the bindings. Rottefella also has grease for maintenance now: https://rottefella.com/en/backcountry#r ... ore-grease

I would remove the loose screw and add new glue, as well as check the other screws at the same time.

[Theme]

Step in on Xplore is not as seamless as I think it could have been. I have taken to twisting the heel from side to side to verify and if not to secure engagement, and I have never come out of them since. This is unfortunately something that all Xplore users need to know, as it is not intuitive, but easy when learned.

Yes been doing this exact thing

The flexes seems a wear item, and it looks like we need to consider buying spares both from your experience and others that I have read about. I don't have any experience with NNN-BC and flex durability there and know you can buy spares there too, but have the impression it is much less of a problem. Can you comment on your experience on this tour and possibly others on flex durability of Xplore vs. NNN-BC?

I think both NNNBC and Xplore standard flexors wear about the same, maybe faster noticed in NNNBC because the bumpers tend to rip apart on one side. The XP flexor stays more in tact but does end up with a lot of slack, which loses the first half of resistance.

I wonder if one (or both) of your boots has a bad pin on the left side though, as you have unusual wear in the left step-in slot on the front binding in you picture.

I am not sure what you mean by this? Could you clarify - I will check them more thoroughly when I get home. This trip I did not have any bad pins all worked well, but have had slight issues in the past with a loose pin.

I would remove the loose screw and add new glue, as well as check the other screws at the same time.

Thanks for the tip, will do. There was a bit of an issue with the glue earlier that some excess glue just dissolved into water. The shop said they used PU-glue but it did look like some other type of adhesive. Never had this happen before.

[telerat]

I wonder if one (or both) of your boots has a bad pin on the left side though, as you have unusual wear in the left step-in slot on the front binding in you picture.

I am not sure what you mean by this? Could you clarify - I will check them more thoroughly when I get home. This trip I did not have any bad pins all worked well, but have had slight issues in the past with a loose pin.

I see that both the plastic in the slot guiding the pins for step in, as well as the metal on top of the pin hole, is worn. I have not seen this on my bindings yet, but they have less use than yours. I don't see the other holes/slot, so they might have similar wear for all I know. It could also be sand or similar that have caused the wear, and then the wear should be similar on all 4 holes/slots.

I would remove the loose screw and add new glue, as well as check the other screws at the same time.

Thanks for the tip, will do. There was a bit of an issue with the glue earlier that some excess glue just dissolved into water. The shop said they used PU-glue but it did look like some other type of adhesive. Never had this happen before.

I would then consider removing all screws and remounting with PU glue.

[Theme]

Thanks for pointing this out @telerat

There definitely seems to be wear on the bindings. Outside edge of the "arm" (if that's what you'd call it) are deformed from purely contact with boot rubber

And then there is wear near the pin holes. Both on the black, and the metal part. It is most noticeable on the left side, but on the right side the wear is more evenly around the metal insert, on the lower edge








I did contact Rottefella and they said that there should not be anything to worry about. But could replace bindings if under warranty period.

Question arises, is this a design overlook (lack of stress testing) or normal wear. What do you think? I have almost zero wear in the parts of similarly worn NNN BC bindings with same mileage, which I just recently took apart and inspected.

Just trying to set a case for future improvement/to set expectations of longevity.

[telerat]

I would take up Rottefella's offer of replacement before the warranty expires, although I do think they will hold up for a long time.

The wear varies a bit between the different slots, but seems highest on the left side of your bindings, so I would check the pins on your boots, and especially on the left sides, and compare them to new/other boots. I forgot to check my most used pair of skis this weekend, but I can see no such wear on the bindings on my other skis. Stiction on the pins could increase wear significantly and be much of the reason for the wear on your bindings.

Wear will be accelerated by sand/dust, and around the pin holes it would have to be present as I don't think rubber on plastic will cause much wear. I would recommend cleaning any boots and possibly bindings before skiing if there is sand or dust on them. When hiking on gravel/dirt in 75mm boots I used to kick them and especially the toe into snow to clean them out before entering the binding. I started that after I observed noise and wear on my 75 mm bindings, and have I continued that with my Xplore boots and bindings.

Any binding will have wear, but depending on the construction it will be more or less visible and/or affect function.