Tom I recently bought an alpina Alaska 75 with a voile 3 pin binding on a madshus m68. I’ve got about 7 days on it and love it. However I’ve just noticed on both boots on all 4 sides the binding is digging into the rubber just above the duck bill. Is there a comparability issue? You would think the shop that I purchased this from would know. Any advice would be appreciated?
Voile has several different versions of their 3 pin binding. The Voile 201 Telemark 3-Pin Binding is designed for thinner duckbills, like those on the Alaska 75. The 201 specs list duckbills from 14 to 15 mm thick. The rest of their 3 pin bindings were designed to accommodate thicker duckbills, especially those found on modern plastic boots like the Eco T2, so if they mounted the Mountaineer, the 3 pin cable, traverse or hardware, you have a front toe piece that was designed for the thicker duckbill. I'm not sure that I'd worry too much about it as it is common for people to ski leathers like the Alaska and other thinner duckbill boots with the Voile 3 pin cable binding. I did ski that combination for many years; not with the Alaska, but with a whole series of Fischer and Rossignol boots that have similar duckbills. I've also skied the Rossignol Super Tele 3 pin binding with those boots and a lot of skiers say they prefer the Rossignol 3 pin over the Voile 3 pin when skiing leathers. I can't say I could tell any difference as far as wear goes between the two, but I did like the fit of the Voile 3 pin binding on plastic boots like the T4 and T2 better than the fit on the Rossignol 3 pin. I don't have any of my old 75 mm leathers around that I can check for wear, and I don't recall any excessive wear on any of my boots on the duckbill from the binding. I did go back and look at one of my videos from a few years ago to look for wear on the Fischer duckbill after 2 seasons and hundreds of miles on the Voile 3 pin cable binding. ua-cam.com/video/p_l_ntJwSaA/v-deo.html The video matches my memory that I never noticed duckbill wear from the Voile binding. The only advice I can give is that if you are clamping the bail down to the 2nd notch, you might try clamping it down to the 3rd notch and see if that makes any difference in regard to wear. It might just be that the boots will wear down to a point where the bail seats into the duckbill and then the wear might taper off. If something seems abnormal to you then it might be worth sending a photo with an explanation to Voile and get their opinion. They are very helpful in that regard and I'm sure they will give you good advice as they sell the Alaska boot. www.voile.com/contact-us.html
@ thank you. I have emailed voike and am going to contact my shop tomorrow. I was just trying to understand why this is happening before they explain it. I appreciate all the info. And I have been clicking it to the 3rd setting since the first day with them. Thanks again.
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Tom I recently bought an alpina Alaska 75 with a voile 3 pin binding on a madshus m68. I’ve got about 7 days on it and love it. However I’ve just noticed on both boots on all 4 sides the binding is digging into the rubber just above the duck bill. Is there a comparability issue? You would think the shop that I purchased this from would know. Any advice would be appreciated?
Voile has several different versions of their 3 pin binding. The Voile 201 Telemark 3-Pin Binding is designed for thinner duckbills, like those on the Alaska 75. The 201 specs list duckbills from 14 to 15 mm thick. The rest of their 3 pin bindings were designed to accommodate thicker duckbills, especially those found on modern plastic boots like the Eco T2, so if they mounted the Mountaineer, the 3 pin cable, traverse or hardware, you have a front toe piece that was designed for the thicker duckbill. I'm not sure that I'd worry too much about it as it is common for people to ski leathers like the Alaska and other thinner duckbill boots with the Voile 3 pin cable binding. I did ski that combination for many years; not with the Alaska, but with a whole series of Fischer and Rossignol boots that have similar duckbills. I've also skied the Rossignol Super Tele 3 pin binding with those boots and a lot of skiers say they prefer the Rossignol 3 pin over the Voile 3 pin when skiing leathers. I can't say I could tell any difference as far as wear goes between the two, but I did like the fit of the Voile 3 pin binding on plastic boots like the T4 and T2 better than the fit on the Rossignol 3 pin. I don't have any of my old 75 mm leathers around that I can check for wear, and I don't recall any excessive wear on any of my boots on the duckbill from the binding. I did go back and look at one of my videos from a few years ago to look for wear on the Fischer duckbill after 2 seasons and hundreds of miles on the Voile 3 pin cable binding. ua-cam.com/video/p_l_ntJwSaA/v-deo.html The video matches my memory that I never noticed duckbill wear from the Voile binding. The only advice I can give is that if you are clamping the bail down to the 2nd notch, you might try clamping it down to the 3rd notch and see if that makes any difference in regard to wear. It might just be that the boots will wear down to a point where the bail seats into the duckbill and then the wear might taper off. If something seems abnormal to you then it might be worth sending a photo with an explanation to Voile and get their opinion. They are very helpful in that regard and I'm sure they will give you good advice as they sell the Alaska boot. www.voile.com/contact-us.html
@ thank you. I have emailed voike and am going to contact my shop tomorrow. I was just trying to understand why this is happening before they explain it. I appreciate all the info. And I have been clicking it to the 3rd setting since the first day with them. Thanks again.