Member of the Month

JalmarKalmar
April, 2024

Online

Welcome to the Newschoolers forums! You may read the forums as a guest, however you must be a registered member to post. Register to become a member today!

Ak JJ mounting 2012/ Bindings

profile picture
send_it
Posts: 234 - Karma: 69
So i have just bought last years AK JJ and was wondering were to get them mounted I have heard go factory or more foreword so idk. Im 6'3 and 200 lbs An aggressive skier and I don't know what bindings to get either. I was thinking FKS or marker jester pro but the FKS only comes in a 115 and 130 the JJs are 120. Im kinda lost at this point and i'm open to other binding choices I just want a 16 din or higher.

Always ++K
Aug 28 2012 9:06PM
2 0
profile picture
jfrauen
Posts: 183 - Karma: 35
I have last years AKs as well and i have the FKs 180s mounted on them and its such a great set up. I had the chance to tweet Riley Leboe and ask him what he has his mounted and he said he rides his AKs at -4 i decided to go -3 and he said that you wouldent lose anything by going -3 i would be able to drop any cliff spin off booters ski huge lines and ski the deepest powder. Going either of those would be perfect. Hope this helps
Aug 28 2012 11:43PM
0 0
profile picture
VD.
Posts: 4054 - Karma: 4,564
At your size and considering you're level 3+ I presume? A16 din or around that would be ideal. If I were you I would go STH16 Driver of FFG16 Team. I have used Jesters but they were difficult to get on in pow and had trouble with the heel piece sliding back on the rail causing me to pre-release. FKS/Pivot are a great binding just I would put them on my pow skis because they can be difficult to put on, but I do see a lot of guys rocking them on their pow skis. I have never used any of the Tyrollia bindings (NB. 4FRNT,Liberty,Head rebranded Tyrollia), but I know guys that are pretty happy with theirs. Here's a thread from a few days ago full of quality answers:

Aug 29 2012 4:17AM
0 0
profile picture
VD.
Posts: 4054 - Karma: 4,564
*wouldn't
Aug 29 2012 4:17AM
0 0
profile picture
Rachy
Posts: 4355 - Karma: 2,761
Not entirely relevant, but about the brakes.

130 would be good. Most companies carry additional brakes anyway, so you can get a lot more than what is just advertised. I have a little stack of salomon brakes going since I only buy salomon now and often need a different brake.

You also need to think that the most narrow part of the ski is 120 mounting them standard will likely mean that the brake is over an area wider than 120. So 130 would be the preferred size to keep from bending out the brakes.
Aug 29 2012 7:10AM
0 0
profile picture
jfrauen
Posts: 183 - Karma: 35
Yea sorry about the brake issue I forgot what size bake I have but i do know I had them bent out to fit. They might of been a 110 or 115mm
Aug 29 2012 8:58AM
0 0
profile picture
pghjibber
Posts: 1298 - Karma: 329
I skied the AK JJ all this season with Tyrolia Peak 18 bindings with 130mm brakes and I think it's about the best ski/binding combo you can rock with them.

The Peaks are light, durable and easy to get on. Moreover though, they have one of the widest screw patterns on the market, ensuring you won't have to worry about any potential pull outs.

I would recommend against mounting them up with any FKS binding for this same reason; the heel pattern on FKS can fit on a silver dollar (translation: it's really really small).

Markers are okay, just make sure you get the 2012/13 version as they had to redesign the Duke and Jester screw pattern to make sure they wouldn't pull out of wider skis... the fact they did this illustrates just how big of a problem this was.
Aug 29 2012 11:36AM
0 0
profile picture
send_it
Posts: 234 - Karma: 69
So im thinking 2013 jester pros, should I keep the 110 brakes and bend em to 120 or BUY 130 and just use them??
Aug 30 2012 9:56PM
0 0
profile picture
division.bell
Posts: 2762 - Karma: 1,905
Use the 110mm brakes for 120mm waisted skis. 10mm is not that big of a difference. Better to bend or tweak a few mm than have too wide of a brake.

I have 90mm wide brakes on 110mm wide skis as well as 115mm wide brakes on 135mm wide skis. For what it's worth, both bindings mentioned are FKS.
Aug 30 2012 10:31PM
0 0
profile picture
Rachy
Posts: 4355 - Karma: 2,761
And here is where you are wrong sir.

On powder skis, I'm going to note that it really doesn't matter that much since the likelihood of your brakes stoping your skis is about nil and you are better off with powder cords.

That being said, My JJs care alright and I can ski groomed terrain with them, so yeah, brakes are a solid idea.

The issue with bending your brakes is that you need to bend them out far enough so that they don't have contact with the edge of your skis. The more you bend them out, the shorter they are when they are released. Also, the more you bend them out, the weaker they become. Also, when you bend them out, it makes them sit differently on your ski. You need to make sure they stay flat and that you don't bend in slightly the wrong direction. There is a lot more that can go wrong than simply buying a proper sized brake.

Or, you could just buy a brake wide enough. Within 15mm wider is a safe spot. The goal is to keep them from dragging. You'd have 7 or less mm hanging off. I've got about 3mm hang off on my JJs mounted standard. So basically, I'd need to be on an insanely steep icy slope (with powder skis) to notice. Unlikely.


Aug 31 2012 7:24AM
0 0
profile picture
division.bell
Posts: 2762 - Karma: 1,905
I mean no offense mam, but how am I wrong if I am merely stating my opinions based on my own personal experiences?

My 90mm wide FKS brakes were not bent at all to fit on my 110mm waist skis. A minor tweak was all that was needed to clear the waist and the brake arms do not come in contact with the edge or sidewalls of the skis. Yes I do agree with you, that you can easily destroy a perfectly good brake arm if care is not taken when bending for a wider ski. But when you are only talking a few millimeters of adjustment, most of the time that can be done without bending the brakes in the true sense of the word.

As I was on my way out of my garage this morning I snapped a few pictures of my stock 115mm wide FKS brakes for reference. I set the ruler at 10mm one the inside edge of the brake arm on the left just to keep the ruler from falling down. Make your own assumptions on how much or little work would need to be done to fit a wider ski, but these images clearly show the 115mm wide brakes will clear more than 115mm (it looks to be about 123mm of clearance) without bending.





Aug 31 2012 11:45AM
1 0
profile picture
Rachy
Posts: 4355 - Karma: 2,761
You said it's better to bend out brakes than to buy wide brakes. Yet everything I've heard has been, if you can get the right sized brake, do it, if it's with in 0-15mm larger, it's not too wide.

Some shops will tell you a little less, some may even tell you a little more. Bending brakes should only be done if you know what you are doing and it isn't so dramatic that you are left with 1 inch of brake.

There are more issues that can stem from bending brakes than buying proper sized/slightly wider brakes.

OP is asking about what binding to buy, he is buying a binding, he can buy a binding with the proper sized brake. Less hassle, less likely to mess things up, better if he decides to sell the set up down the road.


If you had 90 and 130 on a 120 ski, If you were mounting standard, the general consensus would be to get 130 breaks.

If you had 90 or 110 brakes and your skis were 95, yeah, I'd probably go with the 90 and bend. But figuring this guy has a shot to buy the right bindings rather than recycling what he already has... he should buy the right size.
Aug 31 2012 12:35PM
0 0
profile picture
division.bell
Posts: 2762 - Karma: 1,905
When talking about the difference between "bending" a brake arm out 10mm (5mm per side) versus buying a 130mm brake set for a binding that only comes standard with 110mm brakes (Marker Jester Pro, as mentioned above) why spend the extra money on 130mm brakes if the 110mm brakes will work with a little effort. Most shops will have no problem getting the 110mm brakes to fit.

In regards to a 90mm brake for a 95mm ski, no bending would need to be done, at least not in any of my experiences with brake widths and ski waist widths being within 5-10 millimeters.

In all honesty, you could go either way (110mm stock brakes or 130mm wide brakes,) but why spend extra money on wide brakes if you don't have to?
Aug 31 2012 12:51PM
0 0
All times are Eastern (-4)