Message #5533

[jim-ratliff]

Not sure what "center of running surface" or "BOF"exactly means.?
Svend

Hopefully you already found the full write-up in the articles.? Readers Digest version.
Center of running surface.? Squish the skis together base to base and measure the distance where the surfaces touch, and then find the middle of this touching surface.? That is the center of the running surface.? Similar to what you said, it's the midpoint of the part of the ski that touches the snow, it is NOT the mark on the ski where the mid-point of the boot should be.
BOF.? Put your boot on and tap on the big toe side of the boot shell until you find where the ball of your foot is in the boot.? Mark this point on the boot.

For optimal balance on the ski, the BOF mark should be directly over the Center of Running Surface mark.

In general, factory mount point for French-feel skis will be pretty close to this while the factory mount point for Austrian-feel skis will be considerably rearward (10-20mm) of this point.