CAST Binding/Green Mountain Freeride/ Lars Chickering-Ayers Binding is live

**Beyond** · 04-17-2014, 09:57 AM

Originally Posted by skiingsamurai

Im with you Bsavery. None of your gripes are unreasonable.
I brought all of these issues up with the guys and got nowhere. The delays were not surprising, but the customers should have been updated WAY more frequently. Im trying to sit down with Lars before I leave teton valley to go over the lessons learned this winter.
Matt (has left CAST to sail around the med) was working on all the legal stuff, including patents, but Im not sure where that ever got.
Ive been pretty detached for the past couple months, seems my help was not needed and my design input went ignored.
Without throwing my friends under the bus: you can lead a horse to water...

I will continue to bring up everyone's comments with the guys.

This is depressing. Our family has a small business. Turning a cool idea into a new business is the easy part. But even several years in, no time to go sailing. Or more to the point, skiing has to take the leftovers. Hassles about training and keeping the right personnel, vendor relationships, constant need to update the products and keep them in view, increase the customer base. After the new wears off, honestly wonder if these guys have the stamina to give up so much for so long.

**bsavery** · 04-17-2014, 11:49 AM

Look at the MFD guys. They were around for what 2 years? They definitely pushed their product hard, and while they IMO didn't have as innovative an idea as CAST, they sold some units. Now they're out of business, either way they seemed like they were pushing their product a lot harder than CAST. Having an idea is maybe 1/10 of the battle.

**Stowelen** · 04-17-2014, 08:05 PM

Hope it works out for them, but it seems they are busy with other stuff. Too bad, seems like a cool product.

**1000-oaks** · 04-18-2014, 08:09 PM

My post on CAST's Facebook page:

Originally Posted by 1000-oaks

Hi guys, would like to order a set but I'm waiting until the toe baseplates are countersunk for 5mm screws instead of 6mm. I understand that you guys prefer 6mm for burly attachment for competition, but the rest of us mere mortals use 5mm. (It's easy to open up 5mm holes to 6mm, but there's no way to go the other direction.) Longer insert plates for the Dynafit toes to reduce twisting play would also be a plus. Any ETA on these improvements, particularly the 5mm baseplate drilling? Thanks!

Response:
Thanks for the interest, we will not be using 5mm screws or extending the base plates. We have eliminated both of those through our prototyping process and the current design functions better with stronger screws and correctly sized sliders.

Soooo....apparently M6 screws work better (than M5 screws) in baseplates drilled for 6mm screws. All you guys with Binding Freedom or Quiver Killer M5 inserts, you're doing it wrong.

**kidwoo** · 04-18-2014, 09:25 PM

I'm still trying to figure out why it's such a big deal. As long as your holes are straight, what's the problem?

Hugh Conway · 04-18-2014, 09:31 PM

Originally Posted by KillaWhale

Sole Boot Lab is expensive. With friends we asked them their prices to mount a few skis on Quiver Killer but it was more cheap to order and mount ourselves.

welcome to the big bad adult world.

MFD was pushing their product to the wrong people.

**1000-oaks** · 04-18-2014, 09:59 PM

Originally Posted by kidwoo

I'm still trying to figure out why it's such a big deal. As long as your holes are straight, what's the problem?

More than one person with the CAST system said that the M5 screw heads bottom out on the ski/inserts before the baseplate is tight against the ski, so they had to shim up the baseplate. (The screw heads drop through the 6mm hole.) Even if the BF/QK inserts are installed slightly recessed instead of flush with the topsheet and the screw heads don't bottom out before the baseplate is tight, the M5 screw head only grabs a little ring of thin aluminum at the bottom of the countersunk hole in the baseplate. Doubt it would take a whole lot of force to rip the baseplate off M5 screw heads. An M6 screw really is the correct size for the holes in the CAST baseplate, but who has M6 inserts in their skis besides the CAST team?

I'll resist going full OCD about how the 6mm holes could allow the M5 screws to become bent...

**Rufus Sr.** · 04-19-2014, 05:59 AM

^^^ I'm one of the guys that mounted with a 1mm riser. I'm 200lbs and ski pretty hard. I didn't have a problem with the concerns you mention. That said, I agree with you and will be mounting the toe plate without inserts on a new pair of skis for next season. I became obsessed with checking everything to make sure it was still tight. I may still use inserts on the heal.

**KillaWhale** · 04-20-2014, 01:13 AM

Originally Posted by Hugh Conway

welcome to the big bad adult world.

MFD was pushing their product to the wrong people.

What do you mean exactly ?

We ordered 400 inserts. Directly to QK it was 400€. By Sole Boot Lab it would have been 800€, without the mounting (and we're not near to Chamonix)...

**Lambert** · 04-20-2014, 03:31 AM

Originally Posted by Hugh Conway

MFD was pushing their product to the wrong people.

What do you mean?

**kidwoo** · 04-20-2014, 02:31 PM

Originally Posted by 1000-oaks

More than one person with the CAST system said that the M5 screw heads bottom out on the ski/inserts before the baseplate is tight against the ski, so they had to shim up the baseplate. (The screw heads drop through the 6mm hole.) Even if the BF/QK inserts are installed slightly recessed instead of flush with the topsheet and the screw heads don't bottom out before the baseplate is tight, the M5 screw head only grabs a little ring of thin aluminum at the bottom of the countersunk hole in the baseplate. Doubt it would take a whole lot of force to rip the baseplate off M5 screw heads. An M6 screw really is the correct size for the holes in the CAST baseplate, but who has M6 inserts in their skis besides the CAST team?

I'll resist going full OCD about how the 6mm holes could allow the M5 screws to become bent...

Ah......inserts.

There's still a good amount of purchase there even with the bigger bevel. The potential failures you mention aren't really a problem until some play develops I would think.....which should obviously never happen.

Yeah I agree, I don't really see the point of the mismatch but I just don't see it being a problem mounting them like they were meant to be, straight to the ski. I mean hell if you really wanted to, you could machine some spacer cups that would go on the screw heads like a washer.

**1000-oaks** · 04-20-2014, 03:13 PM

If they countersunk the M6 baseplate holes just a bit less deep, the M5 screw heads wouldn't bottom out and would eliminate the need for shims for some users.

**Rhodeguylander** · 05-21-2014, 01:47 PM

I'm getting the CAST system, anyone know any other place online I could buy tech toe piece? I would like to get it for less than $175 that Lars is charging, obviously. And they have to be the new 4 holes right?

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using TGR Forums

**skiingsamurai** · 05-22-2014, 05:19 PM

Last I heard Lars could no longer get toes from Dynafit.
We were sending customers to Spark R&D http://sparkrandd.com/gear/dynafit/radical-toe-pieces/
Looks like theyre out of stock though...

**pfranc** · 05-22-2014, 07:12 PM

these guys sell dynafit andplum toes - http://skimo.co/product/search?searc...l%20toe%20pice

**hick** · 05-24-2014, 08:13 AM

Any talk of a full length plate for the dynafit toe peice?

**east or bust** · 05-24-2014, 10:02 AM

Any talk of this even going a second year?

Need another set.

**ChrisNZ** · 07-08-2014, 09:07 AM

I build these a 50gram tech binding. I dont have a cast system to check if they fit. They use a 3 hole hold pattern or forged carbon fiber adapter plate for splitboard pattern.
$140USD currently for binding only no adapter plate.

We are a tiny company 1 employee! everything is built on cnc's in a garage in NZ on a cnc mill and cnc GT lathes.
http://instagram.com/p/ozrs4-P-Wi/?modal=true

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Sorry for plugging in a cast thread. But thought it might solved the techbinding issue.

**DoWork** · 07-08-2014, 09:27 AM

^While that's cool, the last thing you should be doing is putting it in an existing thread about another company's product that is isn't compatible with.

**swerve** · 07-08-2014, 10:51 AM

You could talk to the CAST guys about supplying them with toes. At one point they were having problems buying toe pieces from Dynafit.

Its a nice idea but doesn't really fix anything for current owners. Can you use these for going downhill or are they just for the uphill? How are these any better than Dynafit toes?

I would start you own thread in tech talk or gear swap to get feedback on your design and/or sell your product to people.

**JTrue** · 07-08-2014, 01:05 PM

Originally Posted by ChrisNZ

I build these a 50gram tech binding. I dont have a cast system to check if they fit. They use a 3 hole hold pattern or forged carbon fiber adapter plate for splitboard pattern.
$140USD currently for binding only no adapter plate.

We are a tiny company 1 employee! everything is built on cnc's in a garage in NZ on a cnc mill and cnc GT lathes.
http://instagram.com/p/ozrs4-P-Wi/?modal=true

Sorry for plugging in a cast thread. But thought it might solved the techbinding issue.

Cool idea, thanks for posting.

**alTAos** · 07-11-2014, 10:51 AM

Originally Posted by east or bust

Any talk of this even going a second year?

Need another set.

Got a call from Lars last weekend asking about design changes/updates/issues!! It should mean that they're back at the drawings board making some revisions. Slop in the tech toe was the main thing. This was all through voicemail/texting. I still need to get in touch with him to discuss further.

But a very good sign that this isn't done.

**grinch** · 07-11-2014, 01:39 PM

Good . Mine are working fine. Ended up with 9 or 10 days on them. Got thru the snow build up using tech toe lever to scrape it out when necessary. Basically , got a routine going with change overs and all good. Tech toe plate hasn't been an issue with mine but maybe that changes and longer plate protects against future wear

**Lindahl** · 07-11-2014, 02:35 PM

Cool. Yeah, full length Dynafit plates would improve the two problems I had - slop and snow buildup. Might not fix completely, but an improvement for sure.

**bsavery** · 07-14-2014, 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by alTAos

Got a call from Lars last weekend asking about design changes/updates/issues!! It should mean that they're back at the drawings board making some revisions. Slop in the tech toe was the main thing. This was all through voicemail/texting. I still need to get in touch with him to discuss further.

But a very good sign that this isn't done.

Good to hear they're not moved on. I never had an issue with the toe slop all season.