Gremlin

I persuaded them tighter with a hammer and vise. Not quite as clean or even as I'd have liked, but I'm not at the shop much currently. I wound up getting a bit eager with the vise on the second one and pinched it too tight to get the heel in. Had to hold the bottom together and whack the corners back outwards. Fits alright now, I'll probably even it out nicely in the future when I feel patient and fiddly. Pictures to follow tomorrow. Your conversion looks good. I like the bail holder, you make it yourself? Ever put something under the plate around the inserts to mitigate binding suck? I bought some neoprene washers, but they're too thick. Have to thin them out some and try again.

Heat isn't in the plan. I don't know what they are or how they're heat treated, so I'm not screwing with that. I'm thinking pipe the diameter of the heel and a vice/press. How'd you go about making them Intec compatible?

I just came into possesion of a pair of WCs (thanks Wolf!). They're in great shape and I'm eager to try them out. Firstly; Is a spacer for the center kingpin such that it can be fully tightened without any tension on the corner set screws strictly necessary? I'll obtain one, as I'd like my sole attachment point to not be dependant on other screws staying tight. Hardware store isn't open again till tuesday though. Secondly; The fit of the rear bail around the heel is far from stellar and makes me worry about rocking a foot out sideways. The same problem can be see in this thread. Given that a foot coming out at speed makes my knees creak in terror, I'm strongly considering modifying the bails for better fit. Anybody have any experience with these working/failing/modifying them?

Ah, I see. Clever. Yes, I've been planning to replace mine since coming across that in your content. However given the cost or time and effort involved, fintecs are sounding much more enticing after that clarification on function.

To be fair, I've never handled a set. This is basesd on old forum posts I found, which eveyone knows are 100% correct. Why more positive? I'd imagine the pins would need some small amount of slop in order to allow for reliable engagement. Is it due to to the greater contact of the front bail and a wider attachment point? The increased bail deflection makes sense.

299mm RC11s. I'm running a large lift block and two opposed cants under my front toe currently.

I'm not interested in intec heels. My understanding is that the increased stiffness is largely due to the heel being solid, rather than compressible at all. The increased heel height would force me to run an even more extreme lift under my front toe. I also dislike introducing more complexity and expense into a system without good cause. Instead I'll eventually buy or make harder sole blocks if I find the need.

Gotcha. That's the reason I'm dissatisfied with the F2s. The height requirement in the front toe with UPZs gives it a lot of squish. Makes sense. Indeed it is. Thanks for the help. Can I edit the post title here, or do I need to repost?

More flexible how/where? Smaller footprint sounds good, minimization of the dead spot they'll create in the flex. I'm not pleased with the amount of flex in my F2 race titaniums. Nor the options available for lift and canting. I like the seeming versatility of the cateks in that regard.

Interested in Catek OS 1 or 2. (What are the major differences?) Long plate. Standard Bails. Located in conus.

Yellows all around, yes. I'd try blues if I could find them. If somebody has some they'd like to sell, let me know. These are reasonably new, and definitely haven't seen enough sun to affect them at all. I'm surprised that bike manufactureses moved away from urethane when it's so effective in skateboard trucks. Most bikes don't seem like cold weather devices. I took my bindings to the shop yesterday and started to disassemble them in the hopes of making aluminum blocks. Unfortunately the center pin is not intended to come out, and bushings are meant to be changed by compressing one till the other can be removed. Wouldn't quite work for aluminum.

I bought some TD3 sidewinders last season and have been reasonably pleased with them. One huge problem I've had however is the bushings compressing and not rebounding till they're warm again. This leaves a large zone in the middle of the travel where the toe and heel pieces simply flop back and forth. I'd like to try some blue bushings, as I'm slightly above the recommended limit for the yellows. This would likely mask my problem as opposed to actually solving it though. I'm dubious that the harder urethane would remain more elastic rather than simply compressing less in the first place. So, I'll also be starting the search for a set of standard TD3 blocks. If anybody has a line on some, a heads up would be appreciated. Has anybody else heard of or experienced this problem? I don't figure it would manifest as badly out west, as I see it the worst in the negatives.

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