Wading into Tele Tech...

[Matt J]

What say ye?

Own a pretty pristine set of old F1's with the bellows. They fit me nicely (always liked that gen of Scarpa lasts). It shames me to say that I actually had a whole binding system cobbled together with the blocks for the heel cables and some borrowed tech toes from a set of AT skis that have Quiver Killer inserts. But, alas, several moves later and I have no idea where they are and am humbly reassessing the situation.

So, F1's and probably a reasonably light alpine ski with camber and not a lot of sidecut, what binding? Value goes to inexpensive, low fiddle, adjustable activity level, doesn't really need to adjust to different boot sole length, as it will just be me skiing them.

Hope all is well here in the BC talk world. Hi Craig! Haven't logged in for a few moon cycles

[dschane]

To do it on the cheap:

1. If you already have some Dynafit toes in another AT set up - put in some inserts and use them.
2. Get the long travel tour conversion kit from Wasatch (I think they're still selling these, but f'ck if I actually know) and confirm that those springs are the Voile Tour LT springs.
3. Or, get the heels and Tour LT cartridges and throws from Voile and build your own mounting block. Someone here probably has a 3D printing file they could share.
4. Voile is supposedly coming out with an improved toe (and maybe it's just a Dynafit one) for its Tele Tech binding, but I'm not seeing it on the website and can't remember if it's happening this or next season. Someone here should know.

If you don't have the toes, hit me up. I probably have some spare Speed Radical toes I could sell.

[Matt J]

To do it on the cheap:

1. If you already have some Dynafit toes in another AT set up - put in some inserts and use them.
2. Get the long travel tour conversion kit from Wasatch (I think they're still selling these, but f'ck if I actually know) and confirm that those springs are the Voile Tour LT springs.
3. Or, get the heels and Tour LT cartridges and throws from Voile and build your own mounting block. Someone here probably has a 3D printing file they could share.
4. Voile is supposedly coming out with an improved toe (and maybe it's just a Dynafit one) for its Tele Tech binding, but I'm not seeing it on the website and can't remember if it's happening this or next season. Someone here should know.

If you don't have the toes, hit me up. I probably have some spare Speed Radical toes I could sell.

These are the blocks I lost. Bummer.

Thanks for posting the link and the offer on the toes. I think I have enough toes, but when I get it together I might reach out if I'm using both pairs of skis a lot it might be better than switching back and forth.

[Dostie]

Matt J,

I can't say for sure, but I've probably got some old TTS mounting blocks, cable rods, and springs you're welcome to. Agree with dschane, you probably want the long throw cartridges from Voile.

However, if you can be patient, I'd just wait for Voile's next gen TTS. Probably available next fall. Maybe. If you feel lucky. More likely than a new boot from Scarpa before the 22nd century.

Less recommended solution, potentially superior. Get a pair of Michael Bolt-On duckbutts and convert those F1s to TTN and pair with Meidjo or Lynx. YMMV.

[jtb]

I don't think you'd go wrong with either the Wasatch/OMG or Voile TTS currently for sale. Voile will be more plug and play, Wasatch more customizable (but higher fiddle factor). I agree with dschane that long travel springs are essential -- either the gray (stiff) ones or the red (soft) ones, depending on your preference. The red ones are only available from Wasatch, which may influence your purchasing decision.

[Matt J]

Matt J,

I can't say for sure, but I've probably got some old TTS mounting blocks, cable rods, and springs you're welcome to. Agree with dschane, you probably want the long throw cartridges from Voile.

However, if you can be patient, I'd just wait for Voile's next gen TTS. Probably available next fall. Maybe. If you feel lucky. More likely than a new boot from Scarpa before the 22nd century.

Less recommended solution, potentially superior. Get a pair of Michael Bolt-On duckbutts and convert those F1s to TTN and pair with Meidjo or Lynx. YMMV.

Dostie, if you stumble across the blocks, cable rods, and / or springs I'd be happy to pay you for them.

Thanks for the tip on the long throw Voile cartridges, makes sense that you could bottom out a shorter cartridge.

Has anyone tried the 22 Designs Lynx?

jtb, thanks for the insight.

[dschane]

Has anyone tried the 22 Designs Lynx?

Yes, I'm a huge fan. They are stiff but smooth.

There have, however, been some growing pains, and this season will tell if they've all been worked out. For me, the issues have been on the minor side of the scale, but others here have had issues on the significant side, notably having the binding lock into ski mode while skinning on the up track. This year, 22D is offering softer flex plates and supposedly added some features to minimize snow build up (which is what causes the binding to enter ski mode).

[WoW]

I've been on the new proto Voile tts binding since last spring. It works fine but has some bugs. Supposed to get a refresh version shortly.
I doubt it will be available till spring. It does use a dynafit style toepiece.
I'd call Voile and ask if you could mount a dynafit toe on the current block, you'd have to drill new holes.

[mikesee]

The red ones are only available from Wasatch, which may influence your purchasing decision.

As of last winter/spring Wasatch didn't have any of the red springs left, and didn't think any more would be coming from Voile.

[jtb]

This is definitely a minority opinion but I think even touring NTN/TTN bindings like Lynx and Meidjo are fundamentally flawed for a 100% backcountry rig due to the underfoot claw. Sure, you can spend months trying to tune out the problems with anti-ice tape, spacers, medium density foam, teflon spray, and other hacks. I went through this with Meidjo. At the end of the day I think it's a good binding for mixed use or doing traverses at the resort, but for 100% backcountry use it is apples and oranges to TTS. Maybe I have a lower tolerance for chipping ice out of my binding during transitions than others. With TTS you just flip the heel throw and go every time.

[bobbytooslow]

This is definitely a minority opinion but I think even touring NTN/TTN bindings like Lynx and Meidjo are fundamentally flawed for a 100% backcountry rig due to the underfoot claw. Sure, you can spend months trying to tune out the problems with anti-ice tape, spacers, medium density foam, teflon spray, and other hacks. I went through this with Meidjo. At the end of the day I think it's a good binding for mixed use or doing traverses at the resort, but for 100% backcountry use it is apples and oranges to TTS. Maybe I have a lower tolerance for chipping ice out of my binding during transitions than others. With TTS you just flip the heel throw and go every time.

I wholeheartedly endorse this opinion.

[Pherick]

This is definitely a minority opinion but I think even touring NTN/TTN bindings like Lynx and Meidjo are fundamentally flawed for a 100% backcountry rig due to the underfoot claw. Sure, you can spend months trying to tune out the problems with anti-ice tape, spacers, medium density foam, teflon spray, and other hacks. I went through this with Meidjo. At the end of the day I think it's a good binding for mixed use or doing traverses at the resort, but for 100% backcountry use it is apples and oranges to TTS. Maybe I have a lower tolerance for chipping ice out of my binding during transitions than others. With TTS you just flip the heel throw and go every time.

After a few years and a lot of money into Lynx, I can't deny that I agree with this somewhat. Not sure to what degree, exactly, mostly because I haven't had a long enough period of reliability to decide. In terrain of any consequence, which is a lot of it when you're deep in the BC, it really sucks to have these past issues whispering in your ear.

[xmatt]

I've been on the new proto Voile tts binding since last spring. It works fine but has some bugs. Supposed to get a refresh version shortly.
I doubt it will be available till spring. It does use a dynafit style toepiece.
I'd call Voile and ask if you could mount a dynafit toe on the current block, you'd have to drill new holes.

This sounds great. You say not available till spring, but that means it's definitely coming by next fall? Awesome. Can you remove the springs for uphill? (I know this is controversial and some do it all the time and some say it's useless. I think it depends what you're doing, and while initially I only pulled springs off for 3000'+ uphills, by the end of last season I was pulling my springs off for 1000' laps. Takes a little time, but conserves a little energy and I found it worth it for days with lots of vert where I was happy to spend an extra 30 seconds to use as little energy as possible.)

[xmatt]

This is definitely a minority opinion but I think even touring NTN/TTN bindings like Lynx and Meidjo are fundamentally flawed for a 100% backcountry rig due to the underfoot claw. Sure, you can spend months trying to tune out the problems with anti-ice tape, spacers, medium density foam, teflon spray, and other hacks. I went through this with Meidjo. At the end of the day I think it's a good binding for mixed use or doing traverses at the resort, but for 100% backcountry use it is apples and oranges to TTS. Maybe I have a lower tolerance for chipping ice out of my binding during transitions than others. With TTS you just flip the heel throw and go every time.

Some days I endorse it and some days I do not. Depends on the snow. When you're huddled on a narrow ridge on a cold windy day, picking ice out of the claw with your keys, I feel that way. When everything goes smoothly, I just think about what an awesome-skiing great-touring binding it is. I only feel like it is a problem for uphill though, and only on some days; I have it so that it really is not a problem for downhill.

[dschane]

Well, the OP opened the door to the tangent discussion about Lynx/Meidjo, so I'll express my wholehearted disagreement that Lynx and Meidjo "are fundamentally flawed for a 100% backcountry rig due to the underfoot claw." I've been on Lynx full time in the backcountry for 3 or 4 years (or whenever they were birthed). Juneau may be unique in that there are few, if any, places off the road system where you have long approaches, so my heel risers are typically engaged pretty quickly. But they're certainly not always engaged and out of 1,000 strides, maybe my heels locked on 5. I have bent/broken cables, albeit with less frequency than the claw engagement. Nothing is perfect, but if you love the way a binding skis, then you workaround small inconveniences and those exist with every binding ever made. If they rise to a major inconvenience, I would move on (and bending the hardwires in the early years of TTS is why I moved on -- though that problem is now solved with the Tour LT springs).