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One of the really cool things about the SBOL forum is the fact that we have some really skilled guys here who can help with skiboard design and engineering problems . As I have written about previously.. Bill in Missouri , has been active designing touring binding parts for the Receptor Skiboard binding , thinking up cool ideas while driving his tractor around his farm and taking time out from Spring turkey hunting. Meanwhile Slow in Canada , has been spending bad weather days in his garage coming up with touring binding solutions for the Zero skiboard binding . Since these guys no longer have snow in their parts of the world , poor me gets the job of testing these inventions on the snow . Damn , don't I have a crappy job 
!
Anyways .. here is Slow's recent drop in touring binding aid for the Zero binding .. (ps . secret ... he is working on another really cool idea as we speak !)
I get in the mail a simple kit of plastic parts
step 1 , remove the retaining screw for the front lever of the zero binding
attach a plastic nut to the screw
reattach the screw holding the front lever to the front bale
step 2 , attach and crimp down plastic hose clamps on either side of the front lever to prevent motion of the lever side to side
step 3 loosen screw on plastic wings and attach them to the telemark binding cable near the heel
these just slide on and then push the metal piece over the cable and tighten down the scew and the wings are securely attached
the wings are beveled and the bevel should face toward the rear
ok that's it !!!!
as I have explained previously the zero front lever does double duty as a heel elevator in the touring binding application , the boot is turned around and the rear heel bale of the zero binding serves as the toe bale touring touring .
In the heel elevator down position .. the touring wings do not impede natural walking but act as a brake to prevent the boot heel from sliding to far to the sides in climbing traverses. or side hilling ..
There are two possible climbing positions .. and in each position there is enough of the touring wing down to keep the heel of the boot from sliding off the heel elevator .. you can see why slow put the plastic nut on the lever attachment screw ,it acts as a place for the heel of the boot to rest.
low position
high position
rear view of touring wings seated in high position
It is still possible to raise your heel and torque to the side and drop one of the wings on the wrong side of the bale
but this does not not happen too often if you are careful to not raise your heel too high on climbing traverses .. and if it does it is easy just to move your heel a bit and the wings fall naturally back into place , the way they are beveled really help that
ps .. if you do not need the full binding slot to adjust for your boot length .
Slow has also invented a cool heel elevator receptor piece that fits in the binding slot and is screwed on from underneath just like a binding bale .
Wow !!!! amazing how simple and cool this solution is ... great job Slow !!!
eager to try it out on snow !
! Anyways .. here is Slow's recent drop in touring binding aid for the Zero binding .. (ps . secret ... he is working on another really cool idea as we speak !)
I get in the mail a simple kit of plastic parts
step 1 , remove the retaining screw for the front lever of the zero binding
attach a plastic nut to the screw
reattach the screw holding the front lever to the front bale
step 2 , attach and crimp down plastic hose clamps on either side of the front lever to prevent motion of the lever side to side
step 3 loosen screw on plastic wings and attach them to the telemark binding cable near the heel
these just slide on and then push the metal piece over the cable and tighten down the scew and the wings are securely attached
the wings are beveled and the bevel should face toward the rear
ok that's it !!!!
as I have explained previously the zero front lever does double duty as a heel elevator in the touring binding application , the boot is turned around and the rear heel bale of the zero binding serves as the toe bale touring touring .
In the heel elevator down position .. the touring wings do not impede natural walking but act as a brake to prevent the boot heel from sliding to far to the sides in climbing traverses. or side hilling ..
There are two possible climbing positions .. and in each position there is enough of the touring wing down to keep the heel of the boot from sliding off the heel elevator .. you can see why slow put the plastic nut on the lever attachment screw ,it acts as a place for the heel of the boot to rest.
low position
high position
rear view of touring wings seated in high position
It is still possible to raise your heel and torque to the side and drop one of the wings on the wrong side of the bale
but this does not not happen too often if you are careful to not raise your heel too high on climbing traverses .. and if it does it is easy just to move your heel a bit and the wings fall naturally back into place , the way they are beveled really help that
ps .. if you do not need the full binding slot to adjust for your boot length .
Slow has also invented a cool heel elevator receptor piece that fits in the binding slot and is screwed on from underneath just like a binding bale .
Wow !!!! amazing how simple and cool this solution is ... great job Slow !!!
eager to try it out on snow !
! the wings did not perform as intended, as you expected they were too hard to keep in place and not keep popping out and over the bale ... i did carefully use them as intended on a very steep icy slope with crampons in and some of the wings broke and were lost .. i think there is a tremendous amount of pressure on the metal fitting that keeps the wings on the cable and the pressure on the wing caused the door to open and the wings to fly off.... but actually no problem , because your 2nd invention saved the entire operation ! the plastic lever slot and the nubbin for the boot . keeps the boot heel in exactly the right position , just high enough , not too high , and not low and i can press my heel right up against the edge of the bale and that is enough to prevent overtorqueing the boot ... the little plastic lever slot attached to the bale slot is actually a stroke of genius ,t he only problem is that it limits the size of boot that can be used , it makes the whole assembly very easy to move from board to board .
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