Tecnica Bodacious Tech sole fail!

[wasatchback]

Guys, don't just start calling Tecnica and asking for Bart if you want your soles replaced. It's not really his job to handle every case by case warranty replacement. He's incredibly busy right now working on next year's stuff, traveling to Europe for meetings/testing etc. He would love to help everyone out cause he's a good guy but he simply doesn't have the time. The 5 Customer Service ladies at Tecnica should be able to help you out (I'll call Tuesday to confirm) and there are two guys in warranty that are up to speed as well.

If you're outside the US you've got to get ahold of your country's Tecnica distributor. Everyone should be up to speed. If you're having troubles or have questions please PM me.

[nobueno]

^^^I contacted tecnica on Thurs and the CSR I talked to had no idea what I was talking about so it'd probably be a good thing if you can call and confirm that they're all up to speed to help take some of the load off him.

[camlax]

I had this problem on my right toe last spring and could definitely feel it getting worse. called tecnica yesterday and they are sending me new soles for free.
big shout-out to tecnica for taking care of the problem!

[bern43]

Guys, don't just start calling Tecnica and asking for Bart if you want your soles replaced. It's not really his job to handle every case by case warranty replacement. He's incredibly busy right now working on next year's stuff, traveling to Europe for meetings/testing etc. He would love to help everyone out cause he's a good guy but he simply doesn't have the time. The 5 Customer Service ladies at Tecnica should be able to help you out (I'll call Tuesday to confirm) and there are two guys in warranty that are up to speed as well.

If you're outside the US you've got to get ahold of your country's Tecnica distributor. Everyone should be up to speed. If you're having troubles or have questions please PM me.

The guy in warranty I spoke with knew exactly what I was talking about. Said the new blocks had just come in.

[xyh200]

Do the new soles appear to fix the issue? Has this issue been resolved? I'm just about to mount some skis with tech bindings and, was thinking about switching from my Cochise boots to some Dynafit boots...

[Ski to Be]

I got the replacement soles in from Will at Tecnica. Very friendly and sent me out the new soles and just asked that I return the old ones. I haven't had a chance to test them yet but it looks like touring season is just around the corner . I will report that the new tech holes look different from the ones that they replaced. I will bump this with an update once I get out and ski on them.

[hardkorps]

Got the new soles a few days ago and so far so good. Skied them in similar conditions ( icy hard pack) to what was accentuating the fail last spring and no fail or hint of a groove yet. I will report back after a few more times but looking positive for now

[Flyin'shoes]

Ran into this issuse a few years ago at Marmot (while working at the Berkeley shop) with some Scarpa Spirit series boots. At the time Scarpa replaced the boots. FWIW we never encountered this issue with any other model or brand.

[snoboy]

Got my new tech soles from Technica via the local rep. So far so good. Skied once on some refrozen crud with a few inches of pow over, and no releases. Can not cause any clicking the way I could with the old soles.

I am not convinced that this issue is fully solved however. The inserts already have noticeable wear on them, including a groove. This from an hour of skinning and a couple test releases each. Will keep an eye on them and report back. Hopefully they will wear in and it will all be good. My old Dynafit boots with quite a few days on them show less wear than these new Technica soles though.

[flatNshallow]

I just got my Cochise 120s and will not be needing the tech soles. I'd like to sell them to help defray the cost of the alpine soles (that I forgot to order with the boots)...

Is there a way to determine if my soles are part of the suspect lots? (not gonna sell them if they're the "bad ones")

These would be euro stock as they came from snowinn... If that matters...

Serial #s on Boots? Other identifiers?

[flatNshallow]

Removed the tech soles from my Cochise 120's last night and noticed something odd...

I noticed a big difference between the torque on the heal piece screws and the toe piece screws.

Heel: high breakaway torque, all screws roughly same torque.

Toe: rear 2 screws had less torque than heal screws but noticebly more than the front screws in the toe pieces. The front toe.piece screws had barely any torque at all on them AND these two screws have what can only be red loktite on the threads...

Is it supposed to be this way?

Why low torque + loktite on toe fronts?

Any specific torque requirements when reattaching sole plates?

[rob stokes]

I have just received the updated toe pieces from Tecnica Canada.....will ski them tomorrow and update.

[Winkler]

I received my replacement toe pieces from tecnica canada last week. I made a point of taking them to the resort to gain confidence in them. Problem solved in my eyes, no issues even skiing unlocked.

[r.king]

Thanks for all the info here. I need to buy some tech soles, how will I know if they are the new ones or the old problematic ones? Any recommendations for a shop in Europe to buy from?

[Winkler]

Thanks for all the info here. I need to buy some tech soles, how will I know if they are the new ones or the old problematic ones? Any recommendations for a shop in Europe to buy from?

Not sure if its universal or not but this years tech soles are black vs the white ones last year.

[1000-oaks]

Tecnica (more pin slope)

In case anyone wants to see how the new inserts look, here's a shot of the tech soles from a pair of Cochise Lights (grey boot photo) from late spring 2013. The Radicals are new, so you can see exactly where the tech insert rubs on the shaft of the toe pin, see red arrow. The pin does seem to be a bit deeper in the insert, and doesn't look like it could possibly twist out when loaded from above.

Strangely the inserts in a new pair of Maestrale RS boots (white boot photo) don't contact the pins ANYWHERE but the tapered cones at the end. There is zero contact between the shaft area of the pins and the inserts (which are sourced from Dynafit by Scarpa), which suggests it might not actually be necessary for the insert bore to rest on the shaft of the pins. Or, maybe they do when loaded, and the first-generation Tecnica inserts simply had such a large radius there was no horizontal pin contact to take the load.

[DoWork]

Here's a shot of the tech soles from a pair of Cochise Lights from late spring 2013, which may have the updated tech inserts. The Dynafits are new, so you can see exactly where the tech insert rubs on the shaft of the toe pin, see red arrow. The pin does seem to be a bit deeper in the insert, and doesn't look like it could slip out. (Which could change as the inserts wears.)

Strangely the inserts in a new pair of Maestrale RS boots don't contact the pins ANYWHERE but the tapered cones at the end. There is zero contact between the shaft area of the pins and the inserts (which are sourced from Dynafit by Scarpa), which suggests it might not be necessary for the insert bore to rest on the shaft of the pins. Or, maybe they do when loaded, and the original Tecnica inserts simply had such a large radius there was no horizontal pin contact to take the load.

I would guess that the tip-only contact may lead to better releases? If you focus the energy on one point it's easier for the pin to roll out in a twisting motion, however with the entire shaft & point making contact with the entire dimple I'd have to think there is a more solid connection between the boot/binding but the releases may be *sightly* more questionable.

Now keep in mind that those are just *theoretical ramblings* and have no real world implications whatsoever- I doubt very seriously that the difference in ride and release characteristics of different pin/dimple combos would even be noticeable to 99.9% of skiers or quantifiable outside of nanojoules. I think it's important to simply keep in mind that there are a ton of variations of this technology out and all of them work. It's fun to obsess but don't go scaring yourself for no reason.

[victoreriksson]

Bumping this tread as I recently found the same issues with my tecnica cochise 12/13 (or 11/12?) boots (the brown/orange/white) in my newly bought dynafit beasts... (RIGHT outer insert is to shallow and keeps fuckin)

I'm about the get new AT soles but I'm just curious if the newer soles solved the problem or if it still kept coming back? I don't see any reason to buy the soles just to try if it may keep poppin out. In that case I'd rather just buy alpine soles for these boots and use them with alpine bindings and get a pair of scarpas or dynafit boots for my beasts.

[LiveLarger]

I'm about the get new AT soles but I'm just curious if the newer soles solved the problem or if it still kept coming back? I don't see any reason to buy the soles just to try if it may keep poppin out. In that case I'd rather just buy alpine soles for these boots and use them with alpine bindings and get a pair of scarpas or dynafit boots for my beasts.

Where can you even get new soles? I have a pair of cochise pro light, that desperately needs new soles. Different issue, these are worn out from hiking up trough rocks and shit when spring touring. I can't seem to find them anywhere. Every place I have checked, are sold out.

[victoreriksson]

http://www.backcountry.com/tecnica-i...-BLASOL-ONESIZ

just choose the tech-sole in the options roll

[LiveLarger]

http://www.backcountry.com/tecnica-i...-BLASOL-ONESIZ

just choose the tech-sole in the options roll

Awesome! And now I feel a bit stupid. Are the Cochise pro light and Cochise soles the same?

Much appreciated!

[bern43]

Should be the same. Call tecnica directly to see if they have any.

[wasatchback]

All Cochise tech soles are the same. One size fits every Cochise (and Mach and Demon) boot.