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Notes On Rottefella's Introduction
and Demo Tour of the NTN Binding
2/16/07-- Rottefella's introduction
of its NTN has certainly
generated a lot of discussion on our Telemark Talk Forum. Several
threaded discussions have been started and are ongoing. Unfortunately
there is a lot of confusion regarding several issues, most prominently
it would seem is the question of releasability of the binding
that will be sold this fall.
We asked Rottefella's NTN Project
Leader Øyvind Aanes to clarify this issue for us, said
Aanes in an email reply: "The NTN binding currently being
demoed, and which will be sold this fall, is releasable, but
as of the moment not in accordance with industry standards. We
expect to have more information on the release function sometime
this spring."
Also, we have mentioned this in a previous report but it bears
repeating: it is extremely important that skiers demoing the
NTN binding check to see that the spring cartridges supplied
are truly the best choice and closest to the kind of binding
they are used to using. The range of activity is huge, with the
number one cartridges being very neutral, and on the other end
of the scale, the number four cartridges being off the charts
in their level of activity.
We encourage those demoing the binding
to check for themselves which spring cartridges they are being
sent out on. The cartridges are color coded, and unfortunately
at the demo event we attended subsequent to our own test a few
days earlier, there was a lot of apparent confusion in this regard.
The orange and red colors were hard to distinguish in shaded
light and the folks manning the demo booth seemed to be a little
confused as well. Big Tim and myself were even sent out at one
point having been misinformed as to which cartridges we were
using.... and we knew how important this was so we were doing
our best to pay close attention. Since this happened to us on
our second full day of NTN testing, when we were already at least
somewhat knowledgeable and aware of the issue, we are concerned
that others may be sent out at future demo events having also
been misinformed as to the activity level of the cartridges they
are demoing.
The action around a demo tent can
be hectic. Again, check them out yourself and make sure you are
given the spring cartridges that are most suitable to your own
personal preference, do not simply rely on what you are told.
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