G-10 Plate

[animal]

I have been skiing a Reflex binding on an alloy plate but considering upgrading to a carbon plate. The problem is that the Reflex carbon plate is so thin that the mounting screws for the binding hardware will not counter sink flush with the bottom of the plate. Is the G-10 plate better in this regard and who would I contact to buy one?

[eleeski]

Add a washer.

Weight is the enemy. Thicker plates are heavier. Glass is heavier than carbon. I might make a G10 washer - it's lighter than stainless.

The G10 I used (that was similar to the Goode G10) was fairly heavy - about the same weight as the aluminum plate. But it was very strong and would not bend. Massive lightening is possible (drill lots of holes) and the plate should still work. Maybe the net result would be even lighter than the thinner plate.

I used G10 for my trick skis funky release system all summer with no failures (aluminum lasted about four releases).

Darwin might have some G10 but it is also available in bulk from online rocketry suppliers - not cheap but not outrageous. Fun to play with...

Eric

[skidawg]

You can get G-10 plate made to fit what ever binding configuration you want very reasonable from erbilishious design, JD will give you a link.

[Horton]

The stock reflex plate works fine. You will not ski any better in the G10.

[Director Darwin]

The main advantage to the G-10 plate is that you can move both bindings from ski to ski very easily and keep your distance between bindings the same.  Convenience - that's the main advantage.  I would suspect that since the G-10 flexs easier than aluminum, there may be an advantage when it comes to allowing the ski to flex natuarally.  Not certain on that but it would make sense.  Cost is another issue - the G-10 plate is much less than the "carbon" plate sold by Reflex.  I've recently moved to the Reflex system and once I'm comfortable w/ my binding placements, I'll be moving to a single G-10 plate.

My neighbor, Erb has made dozens of custom plates for Reflex applications - you can contact him at teammalibu2000@yahoo.com

 

[animal]

My problem with the Reflex plate is not a performance issue but a quality issue.  The screws that attach the toe loop from the bottom remain 1/16 of an inch from tightening flush.  Don't know if the counter sunk hole for the screw is to small or the plate is too thin to allow the screws to fully counter sink into the plate.  I'm not sure about enlarging the holes as this may weaken the plate.  The result is that when the plate is then screwed to the ski, the protruding screws from the bottom of the plate force the plate to  bend up at the toe.  It just does not seem to fit together very well.  I have seen two Reflex carbon plates and both are the same.  The thicker alloy plate does not have this issue.  The screws fully countersink into the bottom of the plate and it screws down flush to the ski.

[Thomas Wayne]

Many bindings - HO and Radar, for example - that have aluminum plates also have an additional plastic plate underneath the aluminum that adds a bit of rise to the binding.  At each screw location the plastic is absent, allowing access to the screw heads when the plate is removed from the ski.  While the purpose of the plastic is probably to allow the plate to slip against the ski [as the ski flexes], a secondary result is to space the aluminum off the ski by some amount.

Perhaps some ~ 0.060" UHMW (or whatever thickness is required) and double-sided carpet tape would be the easiest solution here.

TW 

[animal]

Thanks TW.  I'll pursue that route.