anyone with knowledge of racing snowshoes?

Atlas makes good racing snowshoes. They are $300 on their website. You might be able to find a good used pair somewhere though.

any models in particular you know of?

Up here in the northeast we swear by Dion Snowshoes. Great for training and racing. Lightweight but durable. Best of all the shoes, bindings, and cleats are interchangable so breaking one part does not mean buying a brand new pair - just replacing the broken part.

I've tried racing snowshoes by Red Feather, Crescent Moon and Dion and Dion are the best hands down.

sweet, I actually go to school quite close to Readsboro, where their address is listed. Do you know if they sell snowshoes directly from their company?

Thanks!

I know they sell them directly through their website, I'm not sure if they have a retail store or not. There should be a contact email or phone # on the website.

Another thumbs up for Dion snowshoes

any reason why not redfeather? was seriously considering gettin a pair of those ones...

Been using Atlas Dual Trac Lites for a few years now. GREAT snowshoes for running, and especially for racing. We have five sets of snowshoes, and I prefer these 21" shoes over my Redfeather's that are a bit longer, and the 3 other pairs of 21" shoes. I have never tried Dion's, but I prefer my Atlas' over the Crescent Moon shoes that I tried. Just my two cents.

By the way, I bought mine new off of ebay for around $85, which was a great deal.

Been using Atlas Dual Trac Lites for a few years now. GREAT snowshoes for running, and especially for racing. We have five sets of snowshoes, and I prefer these 21" shoes over my Redfeather's that are a bit longer, and the 3 other pairs of 21" shoes. I have never tried Dion's, but I prefer my Atlas' over the Crescent Moon shoes that I tried. Just my two cents.

By the way, I bought mine new off of ebay for around $85, which was a great deal.

Been using Atlas Dual Trac Lites for a few years now. GREAT snowshoes for running, and especially for racing. We have five sets of snowshoes, and I prefer these 21" shoes over my Redfeather's that are a bit longer, and the 3 other pairs of 21" shoes. I have never tried Dion's, but I prefer my Atlas' over the Crescent Moon shoes that I tried. Just my two cents.

By the way, I bought mine new off of ebay for around $85, which was a great deal.

A tangent, but if you know someone who can direct mount a shoe to your snowshoes, you'll end up with a much lighter shoe with no play at all from bindings.

I prefer a good stiff XC Spike for shorter races and marathon flats (Brooks ST4 is the best I've had so far) for longer races. It takes a little bit of knowhow, but it is completely worth it if done right.

Does anyone know how to do this / has seen this done recently?

questioner of questions wrote:

A tangent, but if you know someone who can direct mount a shoe to your snowshoes, you'll end up with a much lighter shoe with no play at all from bindings.

I prefer a good stiff XC Spike for shorter races and marathon flats (Brooks ST4 is the best I've had so far) for longer races. It takes a little bit of knowhow, but it is completely worth it if done right.

The hardest part is usually getting the bindings off, since they're usually riveted on.

Before you do that, put the shoe you want to mount in the binging and find a way to mark it so that you can put it in the exact same spot with the binding off. I usually put some marks on the decking to get the shoe lined up L-R and front to back.

After that, get the bindings off with as little damage as possible. This will include removing the front cleat off of the bottom of the shoe. There should be somewhere between 2 and 4 rivets in the cleat, and the holes that those rivets were in are where you'll have to mount it.

Next step, line the shoes up and secure them with a rubber band or something so the shoe is where you want it to sit. Through the rivet holes, use some sort of marker or pen to mark the sole of the shoe you'll mount, so you know where to drill the holes.

Remove the shoe, get a drill and drill through the sole of the shoe as straight and neat as possible (try to use a drill with an ever so slightly smaller diameter then the screw you're using).

To secure the shoe on, you'll need some screws (or bolts, or whatever you call the threaded kind with a flat end, not pointy) that are approx 3-4" long, washers and lock washers of the appropriate size, and some patience. Try to find screws with as flat of a head as possible, because if the screw has a big bulky head, you're really going to feel under your foot when you put the shoe on.

When you put the screws in the shoe, there should be a flat washer on the inside of the shoe (to keep the screw from pulling out the bottom). Once you get all of the washers and screws all the way through your shoe, line the protruding screws, put the screws through the rivet holes in the binding. Lastly, thread the screws through the cleats, put on the lock washers, and then a good solid lock nut to hold it all together.

From the inside of the shoe to the bottom of the snowshoe, you now have

Flat washer

-----------

Midsole of the shoe

-----------

Snowshoe binding

-----------

Snowshoe cleat

-----------

Lock washer

-----------

Lock nut

With a 3-4" screw going through the middle to hold it all together.

Now as for the details of how mane screws to put in (some cleats have 4, some only have two, some have more), thats up to you. More screws means a more secure hold onto the snowshoe, but the more screws you use, the harder it is to get them all to line up right, and if the screws are lined up crooked, the shoe will be crooked on the snowshoe. Another side note, some people find the decking to be a bit floppy without the binding on top. If that is the case, you can take the base of the binding (if it has one) and add that between the shoe and the snowshoe to give you a little more solid platform.

I think that about covers it. Take it slow and be careful, and you'll end up with a wonderfully secure and light snowshoe that requires no bindings whatsoever.

Dion is the brand most of the serious snowshoers around western ny wear. Probably the closest you'll get to a running stride. Most people I know that have them direct mount.

I have a pair of racing redfeathers. I find them too big and clumsy.

I race in crescent moon's. Easy on and off. You can get a fairly good stride in them.

boss, thanks dudes

I owe a pair of the super light yellow Northen Lites that I will sell for cheap, used 10+ times like new; I now live in NC with NO real snow.

ooh cool