Connelly Talon binding questions

[DangerBoy]

I have a line on a very good deal on pair of NOS Connelly Talon bindings. Full rear boot, NOT an RTP. I believe they are 2014.

 

My questions have to do with compatibility with HO Skis. From what I've been able to determine, the front plates are compatible but what about the rear mounting plates? If not, can they be modified by drilling to be compatible? If not, can the boots be mounted on a HO/Radar rear binding plate? Does that require any modification (i.e. drilling new holes) in the plate?

[RINLE]

I will check when I get home, but I do not see any reason they cannot be drilled.

[RINLE]

My talons fit good on my HO.

[RINLE]

FYI Talons are foot specific.

[Jmoski]

Make sure you don’t overtighten the upper laces on talon bindings - a friend bought my old talons, had the laces cranked, out the front fall and didn’t come out - badly sprained ankle.

[RINLE]

Why not include a pic

 

 

[DangerBoy]

Just picked up a double boot set of 2014 all black Talons NOS/overstock for a paltry $100 USD shipped. Booyah! B) They should work well with the NOS HO Syndicate V-Type Blem I just picked up for a mere $270 USD Shipped. For just $370 shipped, that's a pretty good rig I'd say. :p

[DangerBoy]

UPS finally just dropped off my $100 pair of NOS all black Connelly Talons and I just finished unboxing them. They're awesome and I love them already!! The Medium (8-9) fits my size 9.5 feet perfectly. As a matter of fact, my big toes fall about 1/2" short of the end of the footpads so I suspect that even someone at size 10 or 10.5 can fit the medium shells. That's the beauty of open toed shells. I also love how you can make the portion of the boot around the ball of your foot narrower or wider, depending on what you need. The narrowest setting works great for my narrow feet. Perfect fit. :p

 

The only minor hitch is that a seam on the tongue of the left boot presses on my protruding inside ankle bone so I have to put the tongue outside the shell on the that foot. Don't have that problem on the right side (back foot) so I can put the tongue on the inside on that foot. No big deal. For $100 shipped for the pair, I'm ecstatic and I think they'll be a nice upgrade from my Approaches which have served me well for 12 years. Rear mounting plates have exact same hole pattern as Radar and HO which is also nice.

[TallSkinnyGuy]

Talons tend to hold your foot in the boot like, well, talons. Personally, I think they made the highest lace loops of the bottom section too high up on the foot. I could have the cuff laces super loose on mine and still not come out easily, so I ultimately stopped using the highest lace loops. Now I can crank down on the lower lace, mildly lace the upper cuff bungee laces and feel more secure in the boot yet still come out easily in a fall.

[Glydon]

@DangerBoy you are unreal at finding the deals ... I can't pull the trigger on the V-type but I DO need new bindings my exo's are starting to come apart. May I ask where you found the talons ... and you say the hole pattern matched right up ? I will be mounting them on a Syndicate A2.

[DangerBoy]

@Glydon, I got them from Wave Pro. They have lots of their closeout bindings listed on SIA. I enquired about a set of Radar Profiles they put up for sale for $50/boot one day but I was too late. She mentioned that they had some other types of bindings that they were about to list so I asked about Connely Talons and HO vMaxs. Turned out they had a set of Talons in just the right size. Lucky for me, they had one right and one left and one was on a front plate and the other on a rear plate. I bought them before they had a chance to list them on SIA. :p

 

I will PM you with an e-mail address.

[DangerBoy]

@TallSkinnyGuy Thanks for the tip on how to make it easier for the Talons to release. For the last 12 years I have skied on Approach bindings and just thought you were not meant to be able to release from them. I didn't know that you actually were supposed to be able to release from them but they were so poorly designed that you almost couldn't. I was also shocked as hell one day when a 20 something year old who sometimes skis with us did a spectacular OTF and actually ejected from his Approaches - with his feet still attached to his legs!! I didn't think that was possible. ;)

 

In the 12 years I was on the Approaches, I really never had need to release from the bindings and never came close to it although I do remember several years ago having an OTF where the heal of my rear foot came up maybe an inch or inch and a half and I had to struggle a bit in the water to get my heal back down so I could continue my run. I don't think I've done an OTF since then. In the few times I've felt like one might be coming on, I've either been able to recover and avoid it or I've bailed to save myself.

 

I'm just free skiing at 31 - 33 mph so am never scrambling and pusing myself to get to a buoy. I turn when I'm ready not when I have to so that reduces the odds of taking a bad crash. I always ski hard and aggressively but I seldomly get out of control and have very few wipeouts. The majority of runs I take, I have no wipeouts at all. When I do wipeout, it's always pretty tame and there's no need for me to release. We'll see if this changes though as I transition from the Monza with Approach bindings to the V-Type with the Talons. I might be crashing a lot more in the beginning as I get used to the new equipment and get the fin and binding place,ent setup all dialed in to my liking.