rottefella NTN Freeride 2015

I bit the bullet and went NTN this year for my tele setups. On the positive side the freeride binding is easily removable with a swap plate, so for people with a quiver of skis, the expense is quickly offset. These bindings are very easy and quick to step into compared to most tele bindings. That is about where the positives points end... When I initially set these bindings up out of the box they met my expectations, providing good edging capability, a powerful feel, and easy step-in. A few days later however, they became part of a system of extraneous play and slop that I have been trying to work around since then. The springs broke in-a lot (I'm on the blue ones) and then kept on going. I am currently on my third set of springs due to the coils breaking. You can tell when this happens because it feels like you're suddenly skiing in walk mode. Speaking of walk mode, sometimes the binding will just pop into walk mode unannounced. I took care of this by zip-tying the walk mode lever to the main lever. Release is around the wrong axis to be useful for safety, but the release mechanism has about 15 degrees of slop that I encounter when bombing chunder or hitting rails usually. Oh and the binding sits ungodly high off the ski. Honestly purchasing these bindings has encouraged me to design my own NTN system binding, and build a homebrew telemark tech system. Just in case telemark wasn't dead enough already, Rottafella came in to finish the job!

• Terrain
  Park
  Pow
• Design
  Clean
  Busy
• Durability
  Fragile
  Durable
• Weight
  Light
  Heavy
• Style
  Uncool
  Cool
• Reliability
  Sketchy
  Trustworthy