Fritschi Eagle - sneak preview

[yuckster]

http://quill-outdoor.cz/nove-vazani-...i-diamir-eagle

Machine translation: http://translate.google.com/translat...ial%26hs%3DrCx

Text is probably in Czech, but you get the drift. Looks like a nice incremental improvement to a good binding.

[drewvw]

Awesome...hmmm maybe its time to unload the spare pair of freerides I have sitting in my basement...

[yuckster]

Looks like the Eagle is the new version of the Explore, don't know if they are making a new Freeride or what. But the Eagle looks about as beefy as my 04/05 Freeride?

The new forward pivot might limit flexibility to less than 90 degrees. Similar bindings from Silvretta had occasional breakage reports in a forward fall in touring mode, due to this limitation.

[davidhowland14]

Originally Posted by drewvw

Awesome...hmmm maybe its time to unload the spare pair of freerides I have sitting in my basement...

what size...

[drewvw]

the good size...PM me if you want to chat about it.

[Affix Snow]

meh......

[Fanatic1]

They look like a nice updated design and 300g lighter per pair than the Freerides...When de we get them here???

[PWDR8S]

Looks like we'll be picking these up this year as member bonuses in the Toni Matt Club! Excellent! I'm loving this club more and more! Wahoo!!! Think we'll get the below pro-rates on the skis again?

[RR]

Originally Posted by yuckster

Looks like the Eagle is the new version of the Explore, don't know if they are making a new Freeride or what. But the Eagle looks about as beefy as my 04/05 Freeride?

The new forward pivot might limit flexibility to less than 90 degrees. Similar bindings from Silvretta had occasional breakage reports in a forward fall in touring mode, due to this limitation.

Ouch, getting out there and busting a binding is not so good.....riser shims of 8-12mm might take care of that.

Whilst looking at the detail photos, I was again reminded that the FreeRide and other Damirs allow full flexion of the ski when dealing with powerful turns and terrain irregularities. NX binders too, I believe.

The Dynafiddles depend on the heel locator pins length for that. Short pins mean closer positioning of the heel piece and less flex before the boot impacts the heelpiece and prevents further flexion...although, F1 boots might help in that regard.

Anyway, smoother releases are a good thing...progress indeed!

[outlawjoseywale]

If anyone is interested, Lou Dawson did a (pre/re)view

http://www.wildsnow.com/1769/fritsch...eagle-binding/

[RR]

thanks ojw! Dawson's discussion is solid as usual

[yuckster]

Originally Posted by RR

Ouch, getting out there and busting a binding is not so good.....riser shims of 8-12mm might take care of that.

Though the Dawson article states that the Eagle has a design countermeasure that is supposed to reduce this breakage. Like the "anti-insta-tele" feature, time will tell if it actually works.

The Dynafiddles depend on the heel locator pins length for that. Short pins mean closer positioning of the heel piece and less flex before the boot impacts the heelpiece and prevents further flexion...although, F1 boots might help in that regard.

My pair has been rock solid this season, even for mogul skiing, ever since I yanked the brakes off and set the DIN a little higher. Of course I don't get stuck in as many bump troughs as I used to.

Anyway, smoother releases are a good thing...progress indeed!

Yeah, I never quite understood why Fritschi moved away from the mechanical AFD in the Freeride model. My overall impression of the Eagle is it looks just as bombproof as the Freeride, if not more so, while returning to the roots of the Fritschi design in a nice way (there were some breakage reports of the red heel plate on the Freeride Plus from the hucksters out there (I myself am a yuckster not so much a huckster, never really hit bigger than the medium terrain park, so I wouldn't know))