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#1
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Pilot Boots in Profil Bindings?
I knew the answer to this once, but have since forgotten, so I need a
refresher, and perhaps the conventional wisdom has changed since then anyway based in additional experience: A pilot boot will work in a profil binding, but what are the implications for skiing performance and for wear&tear/durability? (I recall that the answer has something to do with how the front of the pilot boot bumps up against the profil bumper, yet can't recall the specifics.) Detailed background in case it matters: I've been skiing in the Salomon 9.1 RS (i.e., pre-pilot top-of-the-line model). They're still in very good condition, but I just found a pair of the bumble-bee pilot boots for a price that looked like a misprint, and I have a friend who could use my old profil boots. I will buy a new pair of skate skis with pilot bindings, and relegate my old skate skis with profil bindings for dirty conditions. But since we often have such dirty conditions here in Boston (yes, we actually have a ski area in the city complete with snowmaking, grooming, lights, and Tuesday night time trials series) because of our air pollution, and since my old skate skis are still in pretty good shape after three seasons, I hope to use them fairly often .. . . if that doesn't cause significant problems. Hence the inquiry. thanks in advance for any feedback! |
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#2
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Jonathan,
You won't have any problem wearing your Pilot boots on your "backup" skis. The feel is not quite as nice as the dedicated Pilot system or the dedicated Profil system, but after 10 minutes you won't even notice it. This is due to the fact that the bumper gets squeezed a little bit more with the Pilot boot since there is not a toe piece made to accept it. When the Pilot first came out, they wanted all of us on the Subaru Factory Team wearing them, even though they could not ship any bindings to us. So we spent the bulk of a season on Pilot boots with Profil bindings. No issues. -Nathan www.nsavage.com "Jonathan Shefftz" wrote in message om... I knew the answer to this once, but have since forgotten, so I need a refresher, and perhaps the conventional wisdom has changed since then anyway based in additional experience: A pilot boot will work in a profil binding, but what are the implications for skiing performance and for wear&tear/durability? (I recall that the answer has something to do with how the front of the pilot boot bumps up against the profil bumper, yet can't recall the specifics.) Detailed background in case it matters: I've been skiing in the Salomon 9.1 RS (i.e., pre-pilot top-of-the-line model). They're still in very good condition, but I just found a pair of the bumble-bee pilot boots for a price that looked like a misprint, and I have a friend who could use my old profil boots. I will buy a new pair of skate skis with pilot bindings, and relegate my old skate skis with profil bindings for dirty conditions. But since we often have such dirty conditions here in Boston (yes, we actually have a ski area in the city complete with snowmaking, grooming, lights, and Tuesday night time trials series) because of our air pollution, and since my old skate skis are still in pretty good shape after three seasons, I hope to use them fairly often . . . if that doesn't cause significant problems. Hence the inquiry. thanks in advance for any feedback! |
#3
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"Jonathan Shefftz" wrote: A pilot boot will work in a profil binding, but what are the implications for skiing performance and for wear&tear/durability? (I recall that the answer has something to do with how the front of the pilot boot bumps up against the profil bumper, yet can't recall the specifics.) The bar in the pilot boot is set a bit farther back from the toe so the part of the boot that contacts the bumper sticks out more. Compare the boots. It looks like about a 4 mm difference. If you won't be switching boots around, take a knife and shave back the bumper about 4 mm or so. A point of comparison would be to click a profil boot into a profil skate binding (or pilot boot into a pilot binding), hold onto the boot dangling the ski, and see how it hangs. Then slowly shave back the bumper so you get it to hang the same way with the pilot boot in the profil binding. You could also shave it back more or less depending on your personal preferences I guess, or try the softer yellow classic bumper without shaving it back. I don't like the pilot binding, so I put profils on my last new pair of skate skis. I don't see how they can perform that much differently... the spring hook on the pilot can't provide any extra lateral stability. You can test that off the ski easily. What provides the lateral stability is the stiffness of the toe bar and the clamp mechanism, as well as the ridge when the boot is down. The ridge on the pilot binding is wider just behind the main bar clamp, so that's why profil boots don't physically fit on the pilot binding. The wider hollow in the front part of the pilot boots (to accomodate the fatter ridge) does leaves a bit of a gap in that location when using pilot boots with profil bindings. But, I don't think it matters since it is so close to the clamp and the lateral deflection is minimal there . I don't feel any difference when skiing, but others feel something. The spring is less damped than the bumper (though you can adjust the preload by shaving back the bumpers using the pilot boot), so that probably provides the feel difference. |
#4
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Thanks everyone for the highly informative responses!
The boot box says copyright 2000, so that means they're definitely not the original bumble bees (which I think came out in '97?). I put the pilot boot in one profil binding and the profil boot in the other. The profil boot goes up about 10 degrees before engaging the bumper, where as the pilot boot engages the bumper immediately. The profil boot goes up about 40 degrees before the bumper is compressed to its max, whereas the pilot boot makes it up only to about 30 degrees. I have a skate/classic combi/active bumper I can use (105 flex) so I think I'll use that instead of a skate bumper (115 flex). thanks again for all the feedback! |
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