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just received the new highbacks for the Ks. fitted them and wow I have so much movement. I think too much.

with the K new highback the forward lean is binary- either you have it (set at home with tools or you dont) in the skin mode basically the highback is 2-3cm away from the back of the boot.

my thought process was, the highback during the skin should give me some support.

Is support required during the skin? or is there good reason to have no support and lots of movement? Textbook skinning style would indicate a long even stride, especially on the traverses when life on a split can be tricky. therefore maybe support is just in my head and the highback is not necessary.

Unfortunately not had a opportunity to test any theory just yet. therefore what do you guys do?

whilst I wait I have been in the cellar making things to give me on trail options for forward lean. I have copied the old plastic cubes from the fuses/ignition era. simple but effective.

From my experience the highback will only inhibit your forward stride, negative forward lean is definately an energy saver.

I have my Triad proto baseplate with a rigged flow highback as my setup. I attached the ankle strap to the highback so my boot doesn't slip out while touring. I tour all the time (flat or steeps) with my forward cable lean buckle down so the highback leans back as far as my boot will allow. I have Ride Insano's which are pretty stiff, but give just enough to make my skin out perfect. I never use forward lean for touring, only riding.

I skinned two laps up the local ski area last night. The first, I too out the forward lean on my Sparks, on the second, I left my forward lean on, maily because I was too lazy to change it over and the Sparks highbacks are actually pretty hard to adjust.

I definitely liked not having forward lean on the first lap, longer stride and even better control because I was able to let my foot roll more when crossing uneven terrain to keep the skins flat. The second lap with forward lean was less enjoyable, still doable, but shorter stride, and stiffer feel.

I kinda miss the old spark bent metal hb's with the cube. The new adjustment leaver is really stiff to pop out for adjustment. Feel like I'm going to break it every time.

forward lean while skinning is horrible. it does not allow you to have an actual stride and you end up doing the baby step shuffle. (watch a group of splitters vs. a group of competent AT skiers) being able to go into negative angles on your stride is essential to being efficient on the skin track. This is the reason I ended up in hardboots, it is so much faster and efficient. [rant] I know that most people will never go to hardboots but if they could spend a few days on them they would realize how childish strap bindings and soft boots are for touring. [/rant] anyway it is cool to see k'ram building some of this functionality into their bindings so in other words embrace that is has a larger range of travel, and for gods sake don't try to limit it.

As a recent soft boot defector, I agree 100% with this.

I run Lowbacks and have no issue what-so-ever!

i rigged up a set of removable highbacks last year. loved skinning with no highbacks at all. then slid them in at the top for the ride down. Sparks go to -5 degrees which is almost as nice. It would be nice to have a quick switch from touring to a selected downhill mode. Spark #3 works well with the blaze highbacks.

Look at the old Switch step-in Highbacks (HBs) and K2 Clicker HBs, as both of these bindings allowed negative rear lean when activating a lever or spring lever on the high back.

I put some bent metal highbacks (cube adjust) on my voile lightrails, works awesome.

I may have some of these lean adjusters sitting in a box somewhere. Let me know if you would want them.

love the cube. don't let the cube die.

i back off the lean on the up and max it out on the down. if i didn't have the cube, I probably wouldn't bother, but it does make a difference.

Whats the cube?