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2010 Katana Mount Position

#1
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10/13/09 at 7:36am
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Any suggestions on where to mount the bindings on this year's Katana? I've read all sorts of posts suggesting that the bindings should be mounted forward of center. Ingrid Backstrom is mounting hers 2 cm ahead of center. I'm an aggressive skier and dlon't like to sit back on my skies even in deep powder.
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#2
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10/13/09 at 9:10am
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Keep in mind that women often mount their bindings forward to accommodate their body type being different from men.  I believe the traditional wisdom is usually 1 cm forward for women, although I am sure you can find all kinds of different opinions.  Women specific skis deal with this by increasing the ramp angle in the mounting area, or changing the boot mount line.
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#3
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10/13/09 at 9:12am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sciatore57 View Post

.... Ingrid Backstrom is mounting hers 2 cm ahead of center. .....

 
Interesting. Ingrid rode Explosives (buddha model) in her early professional years. That model was often mounted forward (men and women). and she definitely doesn't ride pow on her tails.  Volkl seems to design models that should be skied in a forward stance. and their standard center mount requires forward pressure to stay out of the back seat. mounting forward seems to broaden the sweet-spot, at least for me.
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#4
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11/18/09 at 2:23pm
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I just got my Katanas in and compared them to the 2010 Gotama mounting location. The Katanas are 190's and the Gotamas 186's, but the center boot position on the Katanas are at least 3 cm. behind (taking in the difference in length) the Gotamas. Anyone have an opinion as to why the suggested mounting positions would be so different?
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#5
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11/18/09 at 4:46pm
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Totally different skis.
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#6
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11/18/09 at 4:50pm
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Well, a few things come to mind. Following up on what HB said - most likely, despite a rocker profile pretty philosophically similar to the Gotama and Kuro, the Katana is still a much more conventional ski in terms of shape.

The Volkl marks on their rockered skis seem to work quite well for quite a few people.
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#7
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11/18/09 at 5:45pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sciatore57 View Post

 I'm an aggressive skier and dlon't like to sit back on my skies even in deep powder.

In that case I'd mount them on the line. IB is a girl and would benefit from a forward mount. Every Volkl I've skied was great right on the line. And comparing mounting points model to model is wrong. Sanouks had a super rearward mounting point and skied best right on the line.

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#8
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Yesterday at 4:12 am
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At the suggestion of a friend, I measured the midpoint of the running surface of each ski. The running surface of the Gotama is 159 cm, the Katana is 160 cm. If I take the midpoint distance of each, then measure the distance to boot center, they are only 1 cm apart.
 
I guess I could mount the Katanas 1 cm ahead of center to be where the Goatamas are mounted, but is it really necessary, will I really feel the difference? One more complicating factor is that most of the testers of the Gotama suggested mounting the bindings 2 cm forward of center. My bindings on the Gotamas are adjustable fore and aft so I can test this out on the mountain. But the Katanas are coming with fixed position bindings. Maybe I should ski the Goatamas first and find out where I like the bindings, then mount the Katanas accordingly.
 
By the way, the Katanas have more of an early rise in the tip and tail than the Gotamas, that's why the lengths are almost identical for each running surface.   
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#9
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Yesterday at 7:49 am
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 I'm just gonna say that on a (virtually) full reverse camber ski -- the traditional notion of "running surface" is kind of meaningless. The nature of base & edge engagement is rather different on these skis than traditional cambered skis...
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