michaelo@tektronix.UUCP (Michael O'Hair) (02/28/85)
[ I don't believe in ... ] I need some information to help me deal with the following situation: I have come to skiing late and, as I feared, like it a lot. With some work, I could get pretty mediocre. However, due to my misspent youth, my left leg is an inch shorter than my right and has a more limited range of motion ( going into a full racing tuck pulls my left heel up ). As I see it, there are three ways to make up for the inch difference. 1) Insert a (perhaps tapered) lift between binding and ski. Quick and dirty. The lift could be in one or two pieces. A simple machining job. 2) Attach a one inch lift on the left boot-sole. More effort. The plastic would have to be full-surface welded for safety. 3) Working on both boots as well as on the left ski/binding. Stays close to the original boot/binding/ski geometry. Spread the "impact" throughout the system. One man who claimed a lot of experience advised the third path, lowering the right footbed and raising the left, then handling any angling with shims between the ski and binding. This seems the most reasonable approach, but brings up a number of questions, the chief of which is: How much whittling can be done on a boot? Informational aside: I recently bought a pair of Nordica 950's, mainly for the fit. I love the wide range of adjustments across the foot, instep, and ankle. (I have feet like a duck and large ankles.) What are the limits of safe modification? How do you judge boot mechanics? Talk to previous customers? What are the factors involved with putting lifts between the foot and the ski? I come up with: altered release geometry, altered release pressures due to altered leverage, altered ski flex if a one piece lift is used. Has anyone out there any solid engineering arguments for any of the above three methods? Does anyone out there have access to any manufacturer's engineers? I'd be interested in any pointers, advice, or general comments anyone has to offfer. If I can solve this problem, then maybe I can tackle why the on-sale ski jackets always have sleeves an inch too short. Thanks much. Michael O'Hair M/S 50-782 Tektronix, Inc. P.O. Box 500 Beaverton, OR 97077 tektronix!michaelo