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Carla gets a Helicopter

Moi , Stef and Warren off piste Les Deuz Alps.

WHY FREE PIVOT?

 The frictionless pivot version of the 7TM Tour binding eliminates the need to fight spring tension, functioning with AT-like efficiency on the uphills. The combination of free pivot and a teleboot is well worth the weight. Those who claim that it isn't worth the added weight likely haven't yet tried it.

Q-Does having AT pivot feature will only provide a practical improvement in the context of very stiff boots?

I agree that as your boots get softer you experience less of an advantage with a free pivot. However, I used the 7tm tour last season with well worn not stiff 2 buckle t2s. The binding made a large difference in terms of efficiency and was well worth the added weight. Also I noticed no downhill difference is terms of swing weight when compared to 7tm sans tour.

Q- Does 7tm tour make it so the boot hardly does any flexing (although I actually wonder if this a 100% good thing- a little flex in the toes would seem to make for a more comfortable climb, vs. the AT feel)?

No doubt that your boot will still flex, in fact the free pivot allows boot to easily flex farther since you'll have more weight and leverage with increased stride length. Nicer then AT too too since the tele boot flexes at the ball of foot.

CLIMBING WIRES  FOR 2005

Starting with 2005,  7tm tour has a better designed wire. Also the 05 model will also have a 3mm shim mounted to the ski and the climbing wire will be 3mm longer. Thus you have 6mm more of lift then last years 04 TOUR model. I've replaced the 3mm shim with a full heel riser to get a higher lift -  see -  Tour Climbing wire optimized .

After 2 seasons, I can easily state that these work great!

Replace it with a full riser attached on the ski. But DON"T use a riser in front, leave that as is original. This way you get back the 10 mm of climbing height. For steep uptracks the added 10mm is most welcome. The high and low climbing positions now regain their original values. You'll need to purchase a 10mm rear riser to get this to work, again don't use the front risers. All my 7tms are modified this way so I can easily swap bindings.Note: If using Step in system use Z013 upgrade kit standard not tour.Below

My hybrid STI power Tour with non Tour Riser.

 Keep the boot in the binding to click back in.  The 7tm release mechanism is much like a clipless pedal system found on bicycles except that you don't wiggle in, just put the toe in first and step on it. If stuck on a steep slope you might try a glove under the ski before step in. Animation taken from the 7tm

Given the right conditions all telemark bindings can suffer from snow buildup. I I have read on ttips that it might be good to drip candle wax on on exposed metal screw heads (13) that rest under the tension straps and or spray silicon in this area. I've only had snow build up once in aweful wet heavy snow. This year's 7tm have small plastic caps to cover these screw heads. On the underside of the new tension strap is a small wedge that helps to push away snow and discourage snow build up.

The width of the heel bar is made for about 90% of the boot sizes. Mostly boot sizes bigger than 11.5 (maybe) are to broad a little . But no problem will happen - the bar is flexible as needed and can usually adapt to the breadth of the sole himself. A little trick will help mostly: remove the bar from the red heel piece, turn it upside down, remove the heel lever also and turn it back; than mount all back as before. Now the crease (bow) of the heel bar should show downwards and you will win a little more space for the heel. But if you prefer to bend the wire a bit from each other - it's possible to do that carefully without any risk

 The brakes come in different widths. I've got the 70s on my TUA 110 (110/76/100) and 90s on my TUA 112(112/80/110). I bent mine a small amount to get the best fit.  To avoid having your left and right brakes collide during skiing, don't bend in breaks that are too wide. 

"Medium for skis with a waist up to 85 mm, and Large for skis up to 105 mm. The 85 mm crampons can be used in combination with the 70 mm ski brakes, or on skis up to 85 mm at the waist without ski brakes.Similarly the 105 mm crampons can be used with the 83 mm brakes or on skis up to 105 mm at the waist without ski brakes " - Telemark-Pyrenees

Also if you are using power tours you might also need to make room for the older wider power bars .

http://www.telemarking.de/index-start.html ->downloads

Do this by drilling holes as in image-

When unweighted the heel will rest higher. However when weighted you'll notice no difference.

BINDING CHECKUPS AND My BC KIT

I'm 6,2" and ~200 pounds and ski roughly 1/2 my days at the resort and 1/2 my days in the backcountry. I'd guess I'm a typical San Francisco Bay area weekend warrior skiing on average about 30 days of per year. I've been skiing 7tms since 2001 and have only broken one plastic heel piece. Not bad, given my size. Understandably I'm not easy on equipment. I've broke numerous Rainey Superloops and Fritchi Diamirs and old Look Nevada bindings. So, I'm pleased with the durability of this binding. Still, like all experienced backcountry skiers, I always bring along some back up parts. 7tm sells a bc kit, you should own one if you venture into the backcountry.

Here is my 7tm bc kit.

1. Plastic heel piece
2. Tour bolt (see below)
3. Plastic toestrap
4. Extra small screw and bolt to secure strap
5. Small screw driver and small pliers
6. Wire cable and cable cutters

Also, I make a habit of quickly inspecting the binding before and after use. I check to make sure the tour bolt is secure and that the toe cups show no signs of wear and tear (see below). Since I often switch between 2 different length boots, I always recheck forward pressure adjust setting. Too much forward pressure can damage the binding, too little pressure will cause a loss in binding performance. Side note, don't forget to readjust forward pressure after initial duckbill to toe cup breaking.

Below are 2 things you should inspect.

r

January 20, 2008-  I read a thread on telemark tips about toe cups defects, here are 2 pictures. I've never seen these defects in any of my 7tms, however I now make this a part of my 7tm check up.

K2 inserts

Northwest Avalanche Center's Utube movie to show how to mount 7tms with K2 inserts

Note: Karhu is no longer distributor of the 7tm as mentioned in the movie. Currently, Garmont is the 7tm distributor.

Step in!

Utube Quick  Demo

Utube Various Boots and Preloads

Common STI questions

Andinista wrote: "Regarding backwards compatibility, I agree it's a good thing, I'm just saying I have the impression that things could be done better. I may be completely wrong, but doesn't it seem easy to do the following standardizations?- Use the the protector plate rather than the riser for all models: why not just add the small riser on the heel piece to the powers? It would simplify so many stuff, like the different lengths of all the wires for both models ?"

We are getting into some technical stuff that most user need not know.However since your concerns beg the question....The only difference between the Z013-STI upgrage kit for 7tm Power and Z014-STI kit for Tours is the length on the rear support bar. This because of the 10mm grey distance block under the Tour heel. The use of the riser with Z013-STI upgrage kit for 7tm Power is optional. You only need it if you are already using risers or use the k2 adapter plate.

But if as you suggest, you remove the rear riser on the powers and replace it with the gear distance block you would break the swapablity between other non risered skis and k2 adptor users would be outta luck. Now try swaping that binding to another pair of skis without risers? The heel sits 10mm too high. I think you'd agree that it is a big deal to be able to swap in any direction and keep k2 adapter users happy.

Andinista wrote:"A unique tension strap and power pin. I can guess there are compatibility issues, but it doesn't seem crazy to end up with just one of them, either of both. And make a plan to help retrofitting but not conditioning the product so much. The tour was in production very shortly anyway!. If they sold the toe piece + strap + pin, wouldn't they give customers a good chance? They already sell the plastic part with the pyramid, to fix the release housing."

A unique power tour tension strap and pin was created to allow for limited space due to the free pivot mechanism. I don't have a problem with that.

Andinista wrote:"I'm sure I may not be seeing all the details but in general terms, the beauty of design and engineering is on the simplicity of the solution, there's something that don't quite fit my expectations there. And my expectations are high because this binding was revolutionary in my opinion, it may not be perfect but -weight aside- it's the only one that has everything. Sometimes screwing the customers a little bit is not so bad, particularly when it's necessary to reach the next level of excelence".

I've seen a lot of positive response when 7tm added features that telemarkers wanted dating back to 2001. But, screwing the customer is when you add a cool feature and get forced to buy a completely new binding and lose compatibility with your older stuff. That's not the case here.

What to with the old heel levers after switching to STI?

Take one in your BC kit, the other bend a slight amount wider and hook them onto STI to make for better transport mode, binders won't flop around.

Actually the pop out of adjuster is a feature by design.

The adjuster is allowed to pop out to prevent overload of the spring inside the spring housing. The max. spring force is about 1600 N! Without this overload feature, If spring expands in a second (maybe due to the boot slip out from the toe cup during a forward fall), this force could destroys the spring housing. So don't add a washer in there as it needs to be able to release.

The pop out doesn't happen often. As mentioned, for me 1x since 2001. But if it does it is easy to reinstall. To reinstall the adjusting knob, push out the pin, positioning the adjusting knob on the right place and reinstall the pin.

Psuedo Free pivot? 

I'm not selling my free pivots yet but Whitehonky's lighter more affordable option is worth a mention.

"I've been riding around on my 7TM's as they come stock with no special mods, no grinding, no changing heel throws for much of the season. Yesterday we really chocked up some vertical. Touring for turns outside of Whistler on fast, cold snow led to lots of steep skintracks and lots of steep side-hilling.

I simply continue to fully invert the heel throw and have the heel throw leash adjusted to the proper length to hold them to my boot (with just enough slack to allow the natural characteristics of the webbing the clip to flex). I have nearly zero resistance for the first 3" of boot rise off the deck and then some minor resistance as the leash pulls into the boot with bigger extension and holds the binding true and tight to the boot. Never a slip. The metal bars that support the heel piece actually engage into the T-1 groove as well, creating a natural "seat" that further supports the binding laterally. I'm a long way from desiring the extra weight of a free pivot binding when this is so easy. "

I've tried free pivot only in AT gear.... and it is wonderful. My modification IS NOT free pivot, but pivots fairly freely about 2 to 3 inches off the base of the ski, then I begin to get some moderate resistance. On side-hills, only occasionally do I feel the boot slip, but nothing that affects climbing performance and the ease of climbing is significantly better than just simply dialling out the spring tension each time. I'm happy enough with this system to not spend the $ on free pivot at this time.... rather spend the money on lift ticket and other gear." - Whitehonky

NOTE: Any tips or suggestions found here originate from my own experiences or from other 7tm user's contributions found at Telemark talk forum. As the name of this page suggests, this is NOT the official 7tm website.