AT Boots in Alpine Bindings - Controlled Test
Test Equiptment:
Garmont G-Rides (Mine)
Salomon S850 demos (same mechanism as the S900 S12 S914 etc etc etc)
Montana ~$15,000 mechanized binding test machine, recently calibrated (not those occaisionally error prone Vermont manual testers)
Goal: Achieve consistent release of DIN 8
Method:
SOP for fitting the Solly binding for the boot (meant cranking the toe height way the fuck up. Toe heigh was adusted such that the pull tab came out with the same amount of force as an alpine boot) I took extra care (because of the vibram sole) to whack the boot around and recheck the FPI after each adustment (length/wings/height).
IVIS DIN 8
SOP for using the binding machine with appropriate adjustments to the bindings inbetween.
Results:
Forward leen (heel) release was spot on every time at registered eight with the VI set to 8.
Twisting release (toe) varied wildly ranging from 5.5 to 12 until I messed with the the toe height some more. Then I was able to get somewhat consistent release (-0.5 to +1 DIN) on one side, BUT no matter what I did the other side would release up to 4 DIN different. (if only it had a moving AFD)
Conclusions:
It would seem to me that for a binding to work with AT boots it has to have adjustable toe height AND a moving AFD (like the Freeride and the Naxo have).
Twisting Release settings are highly variable, unnacceptably so under controlled conditions. They fell outsite the manufacturer specs for end use variation and are therefor UNSAFE. Most likely, the variablity would be worse in the field with snow crammed into the bindings or a wet AFD.