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Spademan Technical Manual shared by Rick Glesner

Uncle-A

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I had one of these manuals too but mine went in the dumpster ( along with two pairs of boxed, black SRS 3’s ) when my mom sold her house after my parents divorced. I was in grad school 3000 miles away and totally forgot I even had them until months later.
I still have two decent pairs of SRS 2’s, but I’d gladly , enthusiastically, ski on S-3’s or 4’s today without qualms.
If they had stayed in business, I’d bet many of us here would be skiing on “S-20’”s or whatever and I’d imagine those might be very good bindings indeed. Thanks @ Dave Peterson for posting this.
I would probably ski the new version of Spademan (maybe not full-time) if I had the rental plate so I didn't have to screw the butterfly plates on my boots.
 

Philpug

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I would probably ski the new version of Spademan (maybe not full-time) if I had the rental plate so I didn't have to screw the butterfly plates on my boots.
The tough part is that all new boots have a separate toe and heel lug making adding a modern butterfly near impossible without some sort of plate.
 

Uncle-A

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The tough part is that all new boots have a separate toe and heel lug making adding a modern butterfly near impossible without some sort of plate.
The rental plate that I mentioned above should solve that issue. See the All Things Spademan thread for a picture of the rental plate (post number 1 on the far right or post number 5 is a set of rental plates) those are the ones I would like. Years ago I made a set out of an old Americana binding plate and a Marker heel that I mounted the butterflies. They worked surprisingly well.
 

Philpug

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The rental plate that I mentioned above should solve that issue. See the All Things Spademan thread for a picture of the rental plate (post number 1 on the far right or post number 5 is a set of rental plates) those are the ones I would like. Years ago I made a set out of an old Americana binding plate and a Marker heel that I mounted the butterflies. They worked surprisingly well.
I have Spademan rental plates, I know exactly what they are, I use my if I am taking my yellow/blue The Ski out. . If a reintroduction of the binding has to rely on an additional interface, it will fail.
 

skipress

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That 'function tester' is interesting - it looks like a pre Vermont Vermont, if that makes sense.
 

Philpug

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That 'function tester' is interesting - it looks like a pre Vermont Vermont, if that makes sense.
I tried the Spademan in a modern Huber device (electronic Vermont Calibrator) and to say the results were "inconsistent" would be a fast over statement. The brass to brass interface for lateral would get hung up at various points. The Forward lean because of the connection point under the ball of the foot would release under most situations.
 

skipress

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Yep I know the Huber. The odd response in twist doesn't surprise me, because the test is static the plate and 'arms' would clang against each other whereas real world with a difference in speed between the plate [and all above it] and the arms then it would probably clear the surfaces.

I'd always regarded Spademans as being an incredible bit of design - essentially measuring loads more directly from the tibial axis but... wonderously uncommercial. As you say tho' the adaptor plate might make them work well with any boot they would not sell into the current market.

Geze showcased a Spademan type binding at one ISPO - the Intral/Intrex but cannot find any images.
 

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I'd always regarded Spademans as being an incredible bit of design - essentially measuring loads more directly from the tibial axis but... wonderously uncommercial. As you say tho' the adaptor plate might make them work well with any boot they would not sell into the current market.
I agree, theoretically it is a great design.
 

Uncle-A

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I agree, theoretically it is a great design.
Spademan was a doctor if I remember correctly. He should know about bones in the legs and feet. But not necessarily about commercial products and running a business.
 

Philpug

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Spademan was a doctor if I remember correctly. He should know about bones in the legs and feet. But not necessarily about commercial products and running a business.
LOL, it gets into the failure of most businesses..."Oh, you are a great cook, you sould open a restaurant..." "You know a lot about skis...you should open a ski shop...". "You are a great _____, you should open a _______".
 

skipress

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Spademan was a doctor if I remember correctly. He should know about bones in the legs and feet. But not necessarily about commercial products and running a business.
There are pages out there on the failure of Spademan...the concept was mechanically sound, measuring the loads closest to the thing you want to protect. I seem to recall some research that they 'recogonised' dangerous loads [or dangerous chains of events] so that what was sometimes pervieved as pre release was actually a required release but before the skier knew it was required, but....but...
  • The plate... iced up, pulled out, wore out, was slippy on ice when you walked
  • The boot sole standards did not refence the plate area so you couldn't guarentee a plate would fit without major boot carpentry
  • Version 1 latch in - horrible to get into, especially if there was snow or ice on the plate [there always was], version 2 step in, see version 1. never used version 3
  • Other people started making better and more convenient toe-heel bindings
I think what finally did for them, notwithstanding the above was that they outsourced production and for some reason deliveries were months late. More here

ISHA Plate bindings

if you want a trip into a plate binding rabbit hole :)
 

mdf

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There are pages out there on the failure of Spademan...the concept was mechanically sound, measuring the loads closest to the thing you want to protect. I seem to recall some research that they 'recogonised' dangerous loads [or dangerous chains of events] so that what was sometimes pervieved as pre release was actually a required release but before the skier knew it was required, but....but...
  • The plate... iced up, pulled out, wore out, was slippy on ice when you walked
  • The boot sole standards did not refence the plate area so you couldn't guarentee a plate would fit without major boot carpentry
  • Version 1 latch in - horrible to get into, especially if there was snow or ice on the plate [there always was], version 2 step in, see version 1. never used version 3
  • Other people started making better and more convenient toe-heel bindings
I think what finally did for them, notwithstanding the above was that they outsourced production and for some reason deliveries were months late. More here

ISHA Plate bindings

if you want a trip into a plate binding rabbit hole :)
And the low-end rental Spademans were horrendous. I'm guessing the ones I learned on were mostly worn out, making things worse.
 

Bill Talbot

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I tried the Spademan in a modern Huber device (electronic Vermont Calibrator) and to say the results were "inconsistent" would be a fast over statement. The brass to brass interface for lateral would get hung up at various points. The Forward lean because of the connection point under the ball of the foot would release under most situations.

I'll bet it wasn't an S4 with the last butterfly design. That is the finest iteration and I think the results would be better.
 

Philpug

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I'll bet it wasn't an S4 with the last butterfly design. That is the finest iteration and I think the results would be better.
IIRC, It was an S4, I cannot confirm what generation of butterfly though. It was on my Blue/Yellow The SKi and that is what I had on them.
 

Bill Talbot

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This display shows the Spademan Butterfly timeline.
it is from our friend @Mack

Spademan Butterflies.jpg
 

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