Where do you rollerski?

[Pat]

Well I think I'll buy 3 or 4 pair of both skate and classic so that I can verify all the inputs. Hey it's only money.... How well and easy to use are the speed reducers? As I hinted at before, I'm all about living to fight another day. I generally just chicken out on any big downhills with the Skikes. I'm OK if I hit the brakes frequently with those and kind of creep down the hill, but I have zero confidence in picking up speed and then jumping on the brakes.

Pat

[Neuro]

I have the Jenex speed reducers and they are easy to use and work well. I am also overly cautious and use them together with brakes, although brakes will do for most things except the longest slopes where it's a bit tiring to stand in the telemark pose when braking. When wet, neither will work well.

Swenor also has speed reducers I believe you could fit to any model, and there's this one too.

For my next skis I will just go for brakes though.

[Magnus Johansson]

About the Jenex aluminum ski, some here are not too happy with it, and even their top composite ski doesn't get favorable review in the XC-Ski.de test, check these links:

viewtopic.php?f=24&t=4968
https://www.xc-ski.de/material/skirolle ... 0-classic/

It might very well be so that XLA 9848 is better than XLQ 900. What I believe can be good with XLA 9848 is its big wheels and the fairly long shaft that permits balance point binding mounting for many shoe sizes. The roller ski can perhaps be a little hard on the feet because it doesn't seem to dampen vibrations very good with its low tires and stiff shaft.

[Pat]

Well I did order the XLA9848s from Nordic Skater up in Vermont. Nice people that have always given me sound advice. I'll let you know how it goes when I get the gear. I've enjoyed the discussions and the advice/opinions.

Pat

[Neuro]

Grats. Enjoy your new skis.

[Magnus Johansson]

Well I did order the XLA9848s from Nordic Skater up in Vermont. Nice people that have always given me sound advice. I'll let you know how it goes when I get the gear. I've enjoyed the discussions and the advice/opinions.

Pat

What bindings will you use, and will you mount the bindings yourself?

[Pat]

They are doing the mounting and I use NNN.

Pat

[Magnus Johansson]

They are doing the mounting and I use NNN.

Pat

Do you know what principles they use when mounting? Many shops totally ignore the balance point, sometimes resulting in tail-heavy classic roller skis that are a complete disaster to use.

[Pat]

Well -- they asked all the right questions, height, weight, boot size, etc... I think they are a very experienced supplier and so I'm making the assumption that the set-up will be accurate.

They didn't ask me whether I'm a MaryAnn or Ginger fan -- but since I'm married to a MaryAnn I had better go with that.....

[Magnus Johansson]

Well -- they asked all the right questions, height, weight, boot size, etc... I think they are a very experienced supplier and so I'm making the assumption that the set-up will be accurate.

Let's hope it will. But when you get the roller skis I would like you to check where the balance point of the roller ski is in relation to the pivot point of the binding.

[Pat]

Magnus -- if you can explain that to me. So should the balance point of the system be at the point where you clip into the binding? Thanks

Pat

[Magnus Johansson]

So should the balance point of the system be at the point where you clip into the binding?

Yes, or even 1 or 2 cm in front of it for classic style roller skis.

[skiffrace]

Pat - you may want to call the shop and stay on top of this. I bought my Jenex V2s from the same store, and they did not mount the bindings anywhere near they should be (although 100% correct mounting is not possible on model I had)
Check out this thread: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=4939

[Pat]

Well -- got my roller skis delivered yesterday. Ripped them out of the box and tried them out on the living room carpet(my wife wasn't home.) Checked the balance like you suggested -- seems to be at the correct point. Used them this morning in the same area I've been using my Skikes. Seemed to work fine -- a bit surprised that I wasn't getting that hard of a workout, but the area is pretty flat and a good place to get adjusted. I'm figuring that doing longer uphills is what I'm looking for -- probably walk down even though I have the speed reducers (discretion being the better part of valor...)

Thanks for the help everyone -- sure could use some decent snow here in southeast Pennsylvania.

Pat

[Magnus Johansson]

Ripped them out of the box and tried them out on the living room carpet(my wife wasn't home.)

Ha, ha! Great!

Checked the balance like you suggested -- seems to be at the correct point.

Good! Then I hope the roller skis will serve you well. If you have NNN-NIS bindings on standard screw mounted NIS plates you can set the binding in three different lengthwise positions.