Reflex release question.

[slalomdude]

I have seen two styles of the 404 release. One has a green release and the mounting bracket goes across the back of the plate. The back of the boot appears to sit ontop of the bracket. The other possibly newer style has two individual mounting brackets, and so the boot would sit flat on the plate. It seems to me that the one style would actually lift the rear of the boot up some . Anyone have any ideas on which is preferable and why.

Thanks 

[cliveous]

Hi slalomdude, I have the old style green/yellow release and I have stuck a rubber strip to the bottom of my boot about 1/8th inch thick as I like the idea of being on my toes. I know of many skiers that have the new style and they do not seem to have any problems I suppose its a horsese for courses thing.

[Marco]

According to Remi, the original version had the boot on top of the bracket, but after feedback from Mapple, they deleted the bracket so the heel could sit right on the mounting plate to provide better control.  I don't think they sell the older style anymore.

[lagdawg]

I just wanted to comment that raising the heel of the boot will not make you put more weight on your toes, instead it actually causes you to put more weight on your heels and you actually move back a bit.  If you want to put more weight on your toes then you would need to actually raise your toes a bit.  This is a phenomenon that is commonly experienced when canting and adjusting snow ski boots.

 

As an example imagine standing on a hill looking straight up the hill.  In order to just stand there you are forced to keep your weight on your toes (I challenge you to put all your weight on your heels and not fall backwards).  In this position you are essentially raising the toes in relation to the heels.  Next turn around and stand facing directly down the hill.  You will now have to keep more weight on your heels.  This is the same as raising your heel.   This concept explains why it is so important to have all your weight on your toes when you hit the jump while jumping.

[Deke]

lagdawg,

Great analogy.  I agree with your comments completely regarding raising the heels and snow ski boots.  However, on a waterski it is complicated by the one foot in front of the other stance.  Raising the rear heel can actually shift your weight toward the front as long as you are not trying to stand flat footed on the back foot.  Sort of the same thing as allowing the rear heel to lift which lets you move your hips forward.  What do you think?

 Deke

[slalomdude]

Ok, I drilled out the rivets from the release so that I could remove the bottom bracket. The boot will now move up and down some with the release locked. Should I put a piece of rubber under the heel of the boot to make up the gap. Without it, the boot does not sit flat on the heel. I didnt buy it new, so cannot really call Remi. I know Andy runs a layer of Bondo under his boot, maybe to ensure the bottom of the boot sits flat. Any ideas?

[eleeski]

You can move the heelpiece forward.

You can move the catch lip on the boot higher.

You can raise the heel.

Experiments have shown for waterskiing that the foot should be as low as possible to the water. Also a nice forward cant seems to work well. A heel lift gives a forward cant but raises the foot. Your personal tastes will decide. Note that I pin my trick shells ankle cuff forward to get some canting but I no longer use a heel block - but I like a soft shell for slalom and I don't pin the cuff at all - hmm maybe I should block my heel in slalom?

I have put a block under my rear foot to cant it more - but that's more to ease the pain on my arthritic knee (I seem to be making a lot of tradeoffs fot arthritic reasons). It didn't affect my buoy count much.

Unless you use a rear toe kicker, I'd be very careful using the Reflex system. One footed pre-releases scare me. I'm bolted straight onto the ski and my one bad fall this year broke the shells for my release - expensive but not damaging. Make sure the release holds the boot firmly and is set high enough to avoid pre-releases. Good luck.

Eric