How far back is Too far back for mounting

every rider has their own preference. Personally I like my bindings not to be mounted directly in the center but maybe a centimeter or two back on my skis.

But Why do 9/10 Factory’s recommend all mountain twin tip skis and some Park skis to be mounted Sooo far back?! (Seriously why should park skis be mounted back like a race skis?)

I know very little about mounting so if someone (with experience) can enlighten me on mounting preference/ position that would be great.

What influences where a binding should be mounted?

Do Ski Shops fear that if they mount the bindings where You want them to.. you will get fucked up and want to sue?

Can Ski Shops ALWAYS amount where You want to mount?

Do Ski Shops do factory reccomended mounts because they are lazy?

Should You trust your local crackhead/ ski bum named Joe to mount your bindings for you?

All of these are legit questions that deserve legit answers for skiers everywhere.
 
topic:Govygen_gourmet said:
But Why do 9/10 Factory’s recommend all mountain twin tip skis and some Park skis to be mounted Sooo far back?! (Seriously why should park skis be mounted back like a race skis?)

the overwhelming majority of skis (including park skis) are marketed to people who ski < 10 days a year. the overwhelming majority of these people dont dive into ski tech enough to know where they want a ski mounted, or why the mount position changes the ride. also nobody rides backwards on skis except for those scary guys in the long hoodies. i dont want you associating with those people little timmy. factory recommend on your head walls at -7cm it is.

topic:Govygen_gourmet said:
Do Ski Shops fear that if they mount the bindings where You want them to.. you will get fucked up and want to sue?

no, you sign the thing that says you know where you want them mounted and the shop tech does it. if they mount them backwards or do something that you dont ask for, thats a different story.

topic:Govygen_gourmet said:
Can Ski Shops ALWAYS amount where You want to mount?

pretty much. a shop wont mount where holes will be too close or where the ski is too thin but if you want them at +6 and you are really sure about that theyll do it. if a shop cant mount where you asked, and mounts somewhere else without calling you about it, you got problems.

topic:Govygen_gourmet said:
Do Ski Shops do factory reccomended mounts because they are lazy?

see Q1. shops that i have gone to in the past dont even ask me where i want the mount and i have to tell them as theyre trying to take my skis off the counter. i look like i know what im doing but the dudes are so used to moms with brand new blizzards that they dont even need to bother asking 95% of the time.

topic:Govygen_gourmet said:
Should You trust your local crackhead/ ski bum named Joe to mount your bindings for you?

if Joe works in a shop, yes. if joe smokes crack, probably go to a different shop.

overall, paying a shop to mount your bindings is an overwhelming ripoff. it takes less than 20 minutes and costs you $50+. make friends with someone who works in a shop and buy them beer and donuts like once. or buy your skis from a shop and theyll mount them for free
 
topic:Govygen_gourmet said:
Why do 9/10 Factory’s recommend all mountain twin tip skis and some Park skis to be mounted Sooo far back?! (Seriously why should park skis be mounted back like a race skis?)

I know very little about mounting so if someone (with experience) can enlighten me on mounting preference/ position that would be great.

What influences where a binding should be mounted?

Can Ski Shops ALWAYS amount where You want to mount?

Should You trust your local crackhead/ ski bum named Joe to mount your bindings for you?

The mount point is set to work with the skis geometry, flex, rocker profile. Different points are used during testing and prototyping.

Most fully symmetrical park skis have recommended mounts pretty close to center afaik, I'm not a park skier.

What you should do if you're not ready to diy is take a piece of masking tape, the 2" wide blue painters tape works great, measure out your skis and draw a nice straight line exactly where you want boot center on each ski. Make a little clearly legible note with an arrow pointing to the line indicating boot center. Measure again to make sure the lines are even and exactly where you want the mount.

Chances are Joe's an ok guy. crackheads gotta eat too.
 
The recommended mounting point comes from the ski manufacturer, not the shop. The recommended point is the apex of the sidecut, so the point where the ski most naturally carves and flexes. This is usually pretty far back from center because your weight is pretty far forward if you're skiing well, even when skiing switch, so the manufacturer takes that into account when designing the ski. Everyone is different, but usually keeping it within a cm or 2 of that line on all mtn or powder twintips is way better than going -1 from center. It's all personal preference, but for me personally I had a pair of blizzard gunsmokes s few years ago that I initially mounted -1 from center and it skied way worse than when I demoed them at recommended. I ended up remounting it +1.5 from recommended (about -4 from center) and was stoked.

It also depends on how powder oriented your "all mountain" ski is going to be. If you ski somewhere with
 
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