Bim tts

[Charley White]

In conclusion, I'm tired of endless dikking with my DIY TTS and am ready to buy one--Buy It Myself--or several, I fear, for all desired options. If only one, looks like it would be Kreuzspitze. I'm attracted to BTS's heel throw I could get from Shapeways, unless K'spits is just as good. I'm also attracted to being able to have an AT heel available, as I've seen some have. Can't remember other that the MayJoe that I've seen, and it's intended as addition to the duckbill hold, per CD. Would your heel plate allow this, @jtb?

The blah blah: I've had some successes but taken too long to only have a Sub-O "prototype" at the moment. All setups too active for my liking. Pivot pin now way forward. Springs now Voile LT. Still too stiff. Will be using TX boots now and forever. With my failed F1 experience, I molded a cable groove insert where the tech heel metal piece went. Worked fine and getting heel throw down off the ledge lightened things up. Wouldn't mind that option again but would willingly crawl back on the ledge if springs soft enough and that was only way to incorporate an AT heel option (which I'd love to use for its "climbing wires" though that would require the magnetic hold-down for the tele-heel, though K'spitz wires look easily removable. I suppose I could learn to do that much avoided task.

Options seem:
Kreuzspitz assembled from Skimo.co (likey). Not afraid of price.
Voile Tour--seems young yet and blizzards of improvements ahead. Light. Cheap.
Moonlight--can't find online for sale. Won't buy something no longer made (won't scour used bins).
Meidjo--hesitant to move to plate binding. Though ticks all in the buy-it-all-in-one-place.
OMG--already demeaned them too much.

FWIW, my Voile Objectives are going to shed my DIYTTS and get light all AT, driven by Fischer Travers. This new binding will go on light high eighties (Wayback) to mid 90s (Backland), driven by Scarpa TX.
TIA

[xmatt]

Have you tried directly contacting moonlight directly? I contacted them once, and they still had some TTS bindings even though they didn't list them. In forwardmost position, it is not very active at all. And their skis are awesome for touring.

Regarding Meidjo, I wouldn't call it TTS, but I love the way it skis. Meidjo with a single spring and low preload is the closest I've seen to a neutral 75mm binding but with way better edge control. Seriously, the more I read the comments about Lynx on here, the more happy I am about getting Meidjo. Sounds like Lynx is super active in comparison. But for touring, I think TTS is better due to quicker changeovers and less icing issues on the uphill.

I am in a similar boat though: I want to get a pair of slightly fatter touring skis (I have some skinny ones with TTS and some heavy ones with Meidjo) but I am waiting to see what the new Voile TTS looks like first.

[jtb]

You should decide how much the alpine heel matters. If it's important, Kreuzspitze is a good option with no fiddle factor. Just buy their telemark + GTS kit and go: https://www.kreuzspitze-shop.com/en-...t-+-k40-+-btk/. You don't even need my heel plate; their kit comes with everything. The GTS heel spins around to double as a climbing riser.

If the alpine heel is not important, the Voile binding might be a better option. Personally, I find the Kreuzspitze too active and could only ski it with a very soft spring in the front pivot. I haven't skied Voile but would guess it's a bit more neutral. But that's the drawback of bindings with no fiddle -- you can't fiddle, you only have the options they give you.

Meidjo is a fantastic binding for the downhill, but the main benefit of TTS over NTN/TTN is when touring. If you're touring a lot, I'd go for TTS over Meidjo. I've adapted the Meidjo alpine heel to a TTS binding, but ultimately I used it so rarely that I removed it.

[Grant]

I'm a total Meidjo fanboy and don't understand why it's not a great touring binding? I use the red stub and can flick from tour to ski mode without removing my skis. I have to take the skis off at the bottom, but I can't put on skins while in a binding anyway. I will admit that it's not great for rolling tours where you want to go back and forth from ski to walk and back to ski.

Another 'build it yourself' TTS option is the B&D - https://bndskigear.com/adapters.html#dyna (scroll to bottom of page for their tech toe with cable adapter)

[jtb]

I guess I should clarify. If you're skinning up an established track, not touring in deep or sticky snow, and time or extra motions aren't a concern (your group takes breaks at the top and bottom), then yes, the Meidjo could work fine for you. For me, there are enough scenarios where the Meidjo has compromises vs. TTS that it adds up to be not a viable alternative. Breaking trail, fresh snow, the wire touring clip being difficult to access, and all the underfoot hardware mean I'm removing skis during the downhill transition more often than not. So the Meidjo is not a good touring binding for me, but I definitely recognize there are environments and use cases where it could work for someone else. I just couldn't recommend it in case someone encounters those scenarios, and ends up frustrated by their "touring" binding that costs them time, effort, and annoyance compared to TTS.

[muffin]

The toe pins of Voile TTS are 42mm above the topsheet and the forward pivot slot it 48mm behind the pins. What are the measurements of your current setup that is too stiff?

[xmatt]

I'm somewhere in between Grant and jtb here. I think the Meidjo is the best skiing tele binding I've ever been on, plus it really can have a traditional feel. For the uphill, I think it does work very well, and this in the PNW in deep and sticky snow. But I just sometimes think my TTS works even better.

[bobbytooslow]

Everything I've heard about next year's Voile TTS makes it sounds like the off-the-shelf option that people have been waiting for. Dynafit-style toe, 3 pivot locations, removable cables. If you can get by with your DIY setup for one more year, I think the wait will be worth it.

Bookkeeping: the heel throws are all jtb's handiwork.

Re: Meidjo, I think it skis great. And the Lynx does too. But both require too much fiddling for my tastes when touring, especially with the sticky snow that we often get.

[Charley White]

Another 'BUY [FIFY] it yourself' TTS option is the B&D - https://bndskigear.com/adapters.html#dyna (scroll to bottom of page for their tech toe with cable adapter)

Forgot about that; thanks! Pivot max forward, and angled like "hardwire" class takeoffs. And the website is still up!

More when I can work out photos again

[Dostie]

Charley White,

As BTS said....wait for it. Voile's TTS. It will rock your socks.

[Turnfarmer]

Any idea when new Voile will be available/announced?

[xmatt]

As BTS said....wait for it. Voile's TTS. It will rock your socks.

They are probably testing it in too much nice dry light Utah powder. It needs to be tested in the Cascades. Tell them I'll volunteer.

[Telepherique]

Any spy photos of new voile tts binding yet?

[telemarkmark]

I guess I should clarify. If you're skinning up an established track, not touring in deep or sticky snow, and time or extra motions aren't a concern (your group takes breaks at the top and bottom), then yes, the Meidjo could work fine for you. For me, there are enough scenarios where the Meidjo has compromises vs. TTS that it adds up to be not a viable alternative. Breaking trail, fresh snow, the wire touring clip being difficult to access, and all the underfoot hardware mean I'm removing skis during the downhill transition more often than not. So the Meidjo is not a good touring binding for me, but I definitely recognize there are environments and use cases where it could work for someone else. I just couldn't recommend it in case someone encounters those scenarios, and ends up frustrated by their "touring" binding that costs them time, effort, and annoyance compared to TTS.

I generally agree. I do miss not being able to easily go between ski / skin and visa versa. But if you only have one binding, for me this is the best so far.

[Dostie]

Any spy photos of new voile tts binding yet?

Nah. Need to honor my verbal NDA. But I can share what you could surmise...

It has a real tech toe - OEM from the EU. Three cable pivot locations with the ability to remove the cables for skinning. The problem with the first proto was that the cables came off too easily; like in the middle of a turn. So the internal metal piece the cables hooked in to was/is being revised. Am guessing the curvature on the cable hooks will be modified as well. The proto baseplate didn't allow crampons, but the production version will. Am getting proto II soon. Voile takes their time releasing stuff 'cuz they hate warranty costs. They were the last to offer a free-pivot 75mm cable binding, but it is a very clean design. I trust their TTS will follow in that vein. The O1, Targa Ascent, and Enzo are all history.