The all-new Nordica Promachine 3 115 W has been redesigned to make a strong boot even stronger on edge, a quick boot even quicker to transition between turns, and while the narrow Promachine fit remains mostly (thankfully) unchanged, the new powerhouse has gotten lighter on the foot.
The rebuilt power plant relies on the featherweight and extremely rigid 3Force Frame sub-structure that’s co-molded into the lower shell—it’s this internal chassis that adds the 3 to the naming scheme. This minimalist, exoskeleton-like framework is buried within the surrounding polyurethane of the shell, making it laterally and torsionally stronger than in the past and simultaneously shedding some weight. Testers said that the boot is shockingly reactive to edging and steering inputs—quicker than the previous version, and it was damn quick already.
Testers thought that the lateral stance angles of the new Promachine 3 cuffs were a touch more bowlegged than in the past, which set them up for aggressive inside edge engagement. This strong bias to the inside edge in addition to the new 3Force shell’s rigidity made for deeply scribed carves on firm, smooth surfaces but required extra effort to disengage the inside edge and a bigger move to find the outside edge of the inside ski, testers said. Most testers played with the dual-sided cuff alignment feature to find a flatter, more neutral feeling ski. They love the cam buckle style power strap to lock the leg and boot together in a gap-free lever for tipping the ski over and holding steady through aggressive arcs—it’s available on the tested 115-flex but steps-down to a Velcro strap in the line’s three softer flexes.
The updated Promachine 3 liner maintains its external cork laminate cladding, which testers love for its positive connection between liner and shell, with no shearing or slippage to sap energy intended to reach the skis. The liner continues to work in concert with the Promachine shell shape to create one of the tightest narrow class fits available but with surprisingly few complaints of hotspots. That has historically been one of the Promachine’s super powers, and testers say that it hasn’t lost it in current form.
