Tyrolia - Head LD 12 Bindings

I just ordered a pair of 176cm Fischer Watea 84 skis from Sierra skis. This will be my soft snow ski for places like Mary Jane, Abasin, and Copper. I plan to use them in bumps, trees, and groomers. I have Icelantic Nomads for Powder days, Recreational GS skis for hard snow days, and various race sotck skis for racing to round out my quiver. I am 5' 11" and 165lbs.

I was thinking of putting a pair of Tyrolia LD 12 bindings on the Fischers to keep them light and quick. I bought a pair of '09 Head LD 12 bindings ar Boulder Ski deals for $109 since they were made by Tyrolia and I thought they were the same binding. When I got them home I noticed that they had the Tyrolia LD heel piece but the SL (super lght) toe piece (it still went to 12 Din though). I checked Head online and sure enough the Head version does have the lighter toe piece compared to the standard LD toe piece. I have three questions:

1. Is the Tyrolia LD 12 a good binding?
2. What is the real difference between between the toe pieces and is the SL toe adequate for a ski used for bump skiing?
3. Should I keep the Head bindings or try and find the regular Tyrolia LD 12 bindings?

Thanks in advance.

 In general, the LD-12 variants are all great bindings in my experience.  I have interchangeably used both the Head and Tyrolia versions, and they have all been fine.  The SL toe does look less beefy than the LD toe, but has held up fine in my applications.  Functionally, I think the SL toe and the LD toe are identical.  The real distinction comes with the heel piece, and that (to me) is what makes a binding an LD or not.  If you have the LD heel, then that's the majority of what justifies the "LD" designation.  The rest is marketing.

I'd go with whichever binding you can find a good deal on. Tyrolia Peak 12 bindings have been going for $99 on  www.tramdock.com/, and those are essentially an LD-12 with a lower (by 4mm) stand height at the toe and a more durable toe pad (it's a teflon AFD instead of the roller AFD).  That's another option to throw in the mix, as is the Head Mojo 12 (twin to the Peak 12).

219 has good points.

Since you're planning to use the 84 as a soft snow ski, I'd seriously consider a Railflex to give you the option of improve float by moving the mount point back.

Thanks for the inputs. Would the movable bindings still be a benefit if I was only going to use them up to 5" or 6" of snow? For deeper snow I would probably use my Icelantic Nomads.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rcahill 

Would the movable bindings still be a benefit if I was only going to use them up to 5" or 6" of snow?

The benefit to being able to move them is that you can play with mount point without redrilling.  You may find that you like them in all conditions exactly on the line.  You may not.  You're probably the best judge of whether you'll play around with them.

My everyday ski last season was the 167cm W84's with the Head LD-12's flat-mounted at the marked boot center (me 5'-5" and 130lbs).  I used them in a variety of CO conditions @ Copper, Steamboat and WP (from hardpack to a foot+ of the lighter stuff) and I never felt like the binding position wasn't anything but perfect (they actually floated better than my Gotamas in all but the deepest and gnarliest).  The concensus here generally agrees with this assessment.  So go for the Railflex if you must but the W84's are one ski where I don't think they are needed.

P.S. My '08 Head LD-12's have the same toe piece as that on the Tyrolia's (I have the SL toe piece on an older pair of skis, thought them to be a bit under-built, and made sure I got the full-boat LD-12...but maybe I'm just picky).

Thanks again for the info. I checked back with Boulder Ski Deals and they told me the 2009 Tyrolia LD12 as well as the Head version all have the SL toe piece but with a 12 din. The guy said the functionality was the same just a lighter body. Unless I find out differently I plan to use them with my new Watea 84s.

I think Dad's point may be that considering your height you might consider a RF2 due to the 176 length Watea.

If you don't choose to go with the RF (which I have on several sets of skis and like) I believe the Mojo 12 and Peak 12 bindings have the "full-on" LD 12 toe piece,  If I'm wrong about this I'm sure someone will correct me.  The Peak 12's are currently on sale at backcountry.com at a good price, so there's no real need to wait for them to come up on Tramdock.

Now all you have to do is decide--to RF, or not to RF.

Best of luck,

STE