NIS plate is important for Nanogrip, Skintec, high tech waxless – tune the grip by adjusting the balance point

How to use your NIS plate – Madshus video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ybDz65KjWU

http://blog.ultratune.net/2014/02/nis-binding-plate-retrofit-for-flat-top.html

Choosing the Right Race Skis – Part 3: Get the Most Out of Your Equipment  http://news.madshus.com/2012/12/19/choosing-the-right-race-skis-part-3-get-the-most-out-of-your-equipment/

This page has graphics near the bottom showing EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT BINDING POSITIONS

http://www.fischersports.com/en/Nordic/Service/Assembly-of-the-binding

With a high tech waxless ski like the Peltonen Nanogrip it is critical to use a NIS plate since it allows one to tune the grip by adjusting the balance point. I found that at -20C, -15C last winter moving the NIS plate forward one notch solved the Nanogrip issue that some folks complain about at cold temperatures.

Normally with a Classic waxable ski one adjusts the length and position of the wax zone to suit the conditions. But Nanogrip is a fixed length wax zone, Atomic Skintec Sport is a fixed size Skintec, the Atomic Redster has a choice of wide or narrow Skintec modules. So one needs to adjust the balance point since one can’t adjust the wax zone.

Now if we get any snow in Central NY state I will see how my Atomic Redster Skintec with a NIS plate perform.

A limit of Rossignol’s Xcelerator mounting plate for flat, non-NIS plate, skis, is it only has -2, 0, +2 – 3 NIS steps.

The built-in plates are +/- 0,1,2 – 5 steps or +/- 0,1,2,3 – 7 steps. NIS provides a.5 cm adjustment for each step.

What I still have trouble understanding. From the Madshus page

NIS on classic skis: “Moving the binding backward on a classic ski will increase the glide, because you will sit slightly higher on the flex curve of the ski,”Austrem explains. NIS on skate skis: On skate skis, the NIS binding principle is the same, but because of the ski and flex construction, the effects of moving the binding forward/backward is slightly different. If you move the binding back, the skis will feel like they accelerate faster, they ski easier from standstill to race pace. This might be a benefit on hillier courses with lots of transitions. Moving the binding forward is the opposite. It might feel harder to get the skis “up to speed,” but you’ll reach a higher max speed.“You can think of the NIS binding steps as the gears on your car: Moving the binding backward is like using your lower gears, moving the binding forward is like going into overdrive,” Austrem explains. This is probably because with a skate ski you are using a V motion and pushing on the ski edge. So moving the binding backwards means there is a shorter distance of ski behind the binding and one puts more pressure under the heel and tail of the ski – like a bicycle low gear where the wheel covers less distance. This page has graphics showing the pressure distribution on both Skate and Classic Skis www.fischersports.com/en/Nordic/Service/Assembly-of-the-binding

• moving the binding forward increases pressure in the shovel area.
• moving the binding back increases pressure in the tail.

At least in the States it seems that very few folks know about NIS and adjusting the binding position. Go to a PSIA instructor class and even the instructor’s don’t know about NIS and adjusting binding position.