Head PRX Bindings

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Head PRX Bindings

Postby jbotti » Thu Dec 22, 2016 11:43 am

I have continued to work with Diana on further dialing in a more forward set up. For anyone with very long femurs flexing puts our COM further back than anyone with shorter femurs and certainly technique (a strong pull back move is essential) is key but adding more forward lean to the set up helps a ton as well. I ski with a 4mm heel lift under my boots, I use the Intuition Pro Tongue liner (which adds forward lean) and I use a spoiler with that (which adds a little more). Like most HSS devotee's I had avoided the PRX bindings (and the greater delta of 8mm versus 4mm on the PRDs)but Diana told me to try a pair. Wow, they probably get me to the fore aft position that most get to naturally with no added ramp or forward lean. Its also a simple fix because I have PRDs on a large number of my skis and its easy to just swap them out for the PRX's.

I would say that I can feel and sense my fore aft balance better than ever before. Since using the PRX (the past 4 ski days) I notice immediately when my fore aft balance is off (this always means I am aft). Feeling and or knowing when my balance is off is everything because I know how to fix it and it is this sensing that I am just slightly aft that is changing my skiing because it is relatively easy to correct being slightly back versus trying to correct being a good deal back!

As it relates to gear, tall people with long femurs should consider the PRX (among other things to add forward lean). On the other hand my set up would be an absolute disaster for most people. Heluvaskier is a great example of someone who hates and can't have much ramp or forward lean. In fact most do poorly with added lean. If you add some to your set up and you feel quad burn immediately that generally means you have gone too far and you are leaning back in reaction to the set up pushing you too far forward.I have yet to get to this place but I am told it happens all the time to skiers.
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Re: Head PRX Bindings

Postby chris719 » Thu Dec 22, 2016 1:50 pm

So, when you have insufficient ramp, do you feel like you can't get forward at all?

I do better with less ramp, but I am curious as to what the feeling is like when you go too far. I have a pair of skis set up with shimmed Freeflex Pro bindings that are at 0mm delta and I really prefer that to the stock 7mm.
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Re: Head PRX Bindings

Postby jbotti » Thu Dec 22, 2016 3:36 pm

chris719 wrote:So, when you have insufficient ramp, do you feel like you can't get forward at all?

I do better with less ramp, but I am curious as to what the feeling is like when you go too far. I have a pair of skis set up with shimmed Freeflex Pro bindings that are at 0mm delta and I really prefer that to the stock 7mm.


No its just harder to get forward and stay forward.

The sure sign of too much forward lean or ramp is quad burn when you normally would not be feeling any.
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Re: Head PRX Bindings

Postby ToddW » Thu Dec 22, 2016 7:57 pm

Some shorter skiers can have the same issue if the femur is long relative to the tibia. I have short legs 26.5" inseam. I actually skied with toe lifts for a while, but Chris Brown was puzzled for years by my fore-aft issues. I flew out to Dumont a couple of weekends specifically to track this down and wound up with a good bit of ramp. I currently ski with ff 14 (7 mm delta) plus a 3mm heel lift installed under the binding (and an in-boot heel lift) and pro tongue liners. For a couple years, I also had 1.5mm under the boot heel until the space was needed to make another change.

The toe lifts made gentle skiing better but placed a strict limit on flexing. Confusing! Bottom line: fixing fore-aft takes a highly trained alignment expert, lots of video and time testing on snow, and --very importantly-- skiing with the coach in a large variety of snow conditions before making permanent changes. You're likely to regret a permanent fore-aft change that wasn't test driven in a wide range of snow conditions.
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Re: Head PRX Bindings

Postby HeluvaSkier » Thu Dec 22, 2016 10:00 pm

I'm still shocked that manufacturers aren't making bindings that are built to be shimmed... set a standard ramp angle and provide a few 1-2mm shims to adjust the angle. Most Freeflex bindings come with those options (which is why I use ONLY Freeflex bindings)... not sure why the others don't yet.
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Re: Head PRX Bindings

Postby chris719 » Fri Dec 23, 2016 2:21 am

Atomic race bindings (X12 var, X16 var, etc.) can be shimmed (Atomic calls them distance plates, they can be stacked). I think the Rossignol/Look race bindings are shimmable too and Vist has some limited options for speedlock. The Atomic bindings are pretty nice if you like low ramp, they start at 2mm delta. They also have a relatively large adjustment range (VAR feature) for a fixed mount. Good luck finding a plate for them though if you don't want to use an Atomic ski. Might be able to drill an RDX for them though.

The line seems to be drawn at bindings that screw into a plate vs the rail / system type bindings. There's really no acceptable way to shim them. The older Atomic Neox could sort of be shimmed a few mm without an issue because the captive part of the plate was basically integrated into the ski and the track guide was removable. It doesn't seem like there is a way to shim Tyrolia Powerrail or Look "fluid" system bindings.
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Re: Head PRX Bindings

Postby l2ski » Fri Dec 23, 2016 8:49 am

I have a similar experience.

At the start of last season I switched from the PRX to the PRD bindings with lower ramp angle; I wanted to experiment.
I struggled all season with fore-aft and balance during transition in general. After some communication with Diana,
I switched back to the PRX bindings for my last few ski days of the season
and things improved substantially. I only wish
that I could have discovered the problem cause earlier in the season.
I'm just about 6 ft tall and my femur is long compare to my tibia.
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Re: Head PRX Bindings

Postby theorist » Fri Dec 30, 2016 12:29 am

The PRDs (but not the PRXs) may be shimmable. The PRX has a single-piece toe unit that slides on top of the plate. You can't (aren't supposed to) shim under the plate, because that distorts the track (and voids the warranty). I've done 2 mm, but only temporarily. And you obviously can't shim between the toe unit and the track on which it slides. But the PRD is different -- it has a two-piece toe unit, where the lower part consists of a truck that slides on the track, and the upper part (the toe + AFD) attaches into it. I was told there's a shop in the east that unscrews the toe+AFD from the truck, and places shims between them. Thus it can be shimmed without distorting the plate. I've never seen this work myself, but it's worth looking into.
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Re: Head PRX Bindings

Postby chris719 » Thu Jan 05, 2017 7:43 pm

theorist wrote:The PRDs (but not the PRXs) may be shimmable. The PRX has a single-piece toe unit that slides on top of the plate. You can't (aren't supposed to) shim under the plate, because that distorts the track (and voids the warranty). I've done 2 mm, but only temporarily. And you obviously can't shim between the toe unit and the track on which it slides. But the PRD is different -- it has a two-piece toe unit, where the lower part consists of a truck that slides on the track, and the upper part (the toe + AFD) attaches into it. I was told there's a shop in the east that unscrews the toe+AFD from the truck, and places shims between them. Thus it can be shimmed without distorting the plate. I've never seen this work myself, but it's worth looking into.


I just took a look at some old Railflex II skis (no PRDs here) and it is exactly like you describe. The only problem with shimming the Railflex toe this way is the plate that the screws go into is recessed compared to the plastic under the AFD, so you would need to make a "stepped" shim. No idea if the PRD is designed differently. Seems doable with enough effort though.
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