RTbulldog
An innovative, multi-feature
tele binding compatible with NTN and 75mm toe boots
by Mitch Weber
Friday, December 18, 2009--
Over the years at the
trade shows we've watched as Louis Dandurand's
RTbulldog took form. In the beginning it looked like what it
was, a heel piece thingy tacked on to his old TeleBulldog, a
3-pin, step-in design, and we didn't give it a lot of thought.
Apparently Louis has been giving it plenty of thought because
last week we received a package containing the most innovative,
well-thought out, and seemingly fully evolved new tele binding
to come our way in years. It's nothing less than a step-in binding
with brakes, a touring mode, and it will work with every tele
boot on the market today, including those for NTN.
Easily swapped toe pieces make the
RTbulldog compatible with both NTN and the old standard 75mm
duckbill toe boots. Changing out the toe piece is simple enough.
Four screws, that's it. The base plate and ski brakes remain
attached to the ski. Two of these screws are more clearly visible
below (A):
Also visible above is a pole-activated
switch (B) that slides back to hold a pole-activated tab (C)
in the down position. When pressed down with a ski pole this
tab opens the binding up for boot entry in the same way as the
old TeleBulldog, but with this RT model the heel piece
holds the boot in the binding, so once you have your boot fully
clicked in, the tab (C) can be held down by the clip (B), significantly
freeing up the toe piece for uphill touring.
Above left: A view of
the RTbulldog's symmetrical toe piece for NTN boots. Notice also
the changeable (removable?) 3-pin plate and the toe piece latch
(center, in front of the two plate screws), activated by the front
black plastic tab. Above right: The devil is always in the details,
here's an important one. The pin in the center of the photo has
a slot cut into it to accept a flat blade screwdriver, this makes
it easy to keep the pin from rotating while removing the front
two screws, when changing out toe pieces.
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A spring-loaded
heel tube adjusts for various boot lengths in two ways, with
a movable heel tower, shown below, and also at multiple attachment
points up front where it meets the toe piece. Louis says to adjust
the heel piece so that the heel of the boot meets the heel piece
"at the bulldog's chin," (see it there, molded in to
the plastic?) and he adds "higher up on his face for more
pre-load." You gotta love it.
First Look Impressions
Of course there are many unknowns
here. There will be many fewer by next week, after we have spent
some time skiing the RTbulldog. In the past, step-in designs
like this that don't have a throw to really crank on the preload,
have suffered from poor performance and unwanted separations
of boots from skis. The configuration of this 3-pin step-in design
may solve that problem. The softer flexing bellows of NTN boots
may mean less preload is needed to break the boot, and the pins
may be enough to reliably keep the boot in the binding. Will
there be enough torsional rigidity with NTN boots that aren't
held below the forefoot? We'll see. It will be all about the
down.
I have a lot of other thoughts related
to the RTbulldog, but for now let's just say that I think it's
more than a little interesting that, once again we are back to
a time when true innovation in tele bindings seems to be coming
out of the garages and basements of visionaries who are willing
to work hard, with an ever-present risk of little to no reward,
to advance the gear we use and to progress the sport. Nearly
a decade ago we saw the HammerHead come out of Russell Rainey's
garage, and now we have the RTbulldog emerging from Louis Dandurand's
basement. In between the Norwegian's rocked the tele world with
their new system.
For these designers and product
developers, telemark skiing and innovation has truly been a part
of who they are, it really is in their DNA. They don't necessarily
follow the crowd and the latest trends, instead they seek to
bring freeheel skiing and its gear into a modern age. Even if
for nothing else, for this they get our eternal and grateful
respect.
Stay
tuned for more...
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