Help with ski bindings

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gav wa
Posts: 381
Joined: Tue Feb 18, 2014 8:58 pm
Location: Perth

Help with ski bindings

Post by gav wa »

Hey guys. I bought my girlfriend's daughter a pair of Head Souphead skis for an upcoming trip to Japan. She has been skiing before and loved it so it works out cheaper than hiring for 3 weeks anyway.

I found them for a fair price on ebay but unfortunately the seller stuffed up the add and although it looked pretty obvious the skis came with adjustable bindings already mounted they actually came with no bindings at all. After a few emails and then a paypal claim they agreed with my side of the claim and refunded me $80 to cover buying bindings.

So I've been looking at some decent looking bindings at levelnine sports but the Head souphead skis don't have a boot centre marking on them anywhere.

I know very little about skis (sorry but I'm a board guy) and even though I'm quite confident of being able to screw bindings on square and secure I have no idea how to work out the spot along the skis to mount them or even how to work it out.

I've been reading about core center and true center even though each article seems to have a different explanation of these. I've been on the Head website heaps and can't find anything or even an email address to send a question to.

You guys all make some pretty sweet skis so I figured if anyone can help me with this it's you guys.

Remember now that I don't know much about skis, I could probably make a pair but binding positions, how it lines up with boot center or ball of foot (I read the term ball of foot a lot when trying to work it out myself) or how to work out the distance from front to rear binding etc is not my forte.

If you can help me out it will make a little girl very happy.

Thanks.
skidesmond
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Post by skidesmond »

Boot center is usually at the narrowest part of the ski so you can measure for that.

Another approach would be to set the ski on a flat surface. Slide a piece of paper under the tip until the paper stops. Make a pencil mark on the side of the ski where the paper stopped. Do the same for the tail. Now measure the distance between the 2 marks. Now divide that distance by 2. The final number s/b the boot center. Compare that number to the narrowest part of the ski. Should be pretty close.
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MontuckyMadman
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Post by MontuckyMadman »

OR you could call the local shop where they sell head skis and ask them to look up the mount line measured normally from the tail listed in manuals provided to shops who rep the stuff.
sammer wrote: I'm still a tang on top guy.
MadRussian
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Post by MadRussian »

skidesmond wrote: final number s/b the boot center. Compare that number to the narrowest part of the ski. Should be pretty close.
not the boot center but the BOF
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skidesmond
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Post by skidesmond »

MadRussian wrote:
skidesmond wrote: final number s/b the boot center. Compare that number to the narrowest part of the ski. Should be pretty close.
not the boot center but the BOF
ARGH! Yes your are right, that gives the Ball Of Foot placement. Check out this article to find the boot center based on the BOF position.

http://www.gnolls.org/756/howto-mount-a ... ce-method/

The more you read the more you'll see there are general rules for finding the boot center, it can be different depending on the style of ski.

(update) just for kicks if you measure the width difference at the boot center and the BOF point the difference in width should be very very small.
gav wa
Posts: 381
Joined: Tue Feb 18, 2014 8:58 pm
Location: Perth

Post by gav wa »

Thanks heaps guys. I knew you would all set me on the right path.

I measured them up and the center of the running length is about 40mm in front of the narrowest part of the ski. The difference in width of these two points is tiny though. It looks a long way back if I go with the furthest back of these two points.

Montucky, unfortunately I live about 2500miles from the nearest snow fields so we don't have any ski shops around here. I might find the Australian dealer and give them a call though. I did think about waiting until we got to Japan but I prefer having my kit all sorted before leaving home.
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