MFD is dead. Anyone interested in buying the MFD Alltime intellectual property?

**coreshot-tourettes** · 11-27-2013, 12:16 PM

So, given that MFD is out of business, is anyone interested in putting together a bid for the intellectual property, design files, and back stock for the Alltime design?

What with the CAST new hotness, I know everyone is loving on them right now, but the Alltime has a base of customers that like the design and I think the Alltime has at least some merit, certainly a dollar value above zero.

Notice about MFD going under:

Thank you so much for your interest in MFD. Due to lack of projected sales for the 2013/14 season we have been forced to make a hard decision and going forward we will not be selling or delivering any MFD product at this time.

Further and regretfully at this time, we will also not be able to offer any service or parts for existing customers.

Again, we are very sorry for the news. A sincere THANK YOU goes out to everyone that supported MFD and our products. Our customers and supporters made it all worth it and we are sorry not to be able to be in a position to progress.

Sincerely,

Jason Prigge
Founder
MFD
info@runmfd.com

**stuckathuntermtn** · 11-27-2013, 03:51 PM

Aw bummer.

**nyskirat** · 11-27-2013, 03:58 PM

I honestly dont see MFD being viable in any sense anymore. Want to do short tours to do some jibbing? CAST, Trekkers (just cheaper). Want to do longer tours with bomber bindings? Duke, Guardian, Adrenaline, CAST, BEAST etc. Want to do SUPER long tours? Tech Bindings, BEAST (Sorta). All those options seem better than the MFD option, not to mention lighter. Unless you drop the price point of the bindings (what were they, $200?) I dont see that being a better option than an older model of a Duke, Guardian, etc. that can be found for $100 more.

**bsavery** · 11-27-2013, 04:52 PM

Originally Posted by coreshot-tourettes

wait for a big binding company to come knocking.

Hope you have a comfortable place to wait. Or maybe if they have some vague patent you can go the troll route and sue the bejesus out of marker, look, etc.

**Skidog** · 11-28-2013, 07:35 AM

Wish I had some cash. I always liked the MFD idea and think it can still compete. I will keep an eye on this thread.

Sent from my GT-P3110 using TGR Forums

**BP Pow** · 11-28-2013, 10:00 AM

Originally Posted by nyskirat

I honestly dont see MFD being viable in any sense anymore. Want to do short tours to do some jibbing? CAST, Trekkers (just cheaper). Want to do longer tours with bomber bindings? Duke, Guardian, Adrenaline, CAST, BEAST etc. Want to do SUPER long tours? Tech Bindings, BEAST (Sorta). All those options seem better than the MFD option, not to mention lighter. Unless you drop the price point of the bindings (what were they, $200?) I dont see that being a better option than an older model of a Duke, Guardian, etc. that can be found for $100 more.

I agree with the point about pricing but that would have had to come with time since MFD was probably not at the point where they could have dropped their price more and remained profitable. I have had MFDs for over a year and can't say enough positive about them. I tour with guys on Barons & Dukes and never once wished I bought those over MFDs. It really is too bad a product like the Alltime couldn't penetrate this market more. I think if it had been released to the market 2 or 3 years earlier than it was, this might be a different story. All of a sudden there is tons of competition in this once relatively dry sidecountry/short tour segment. Good for the sport I suppose.

Good luck to Jason Prigge and the MFD guys

**coreshot-tourettes** · 11-28-2013, 11:00 AM

Originally Posted by nyskirat

I honestly dont see MFD being viable in any sense anymore. Want to do short tours to do some jibbing? CAST, Trekkers (just cheaper). Want to do longer tours with bomber bindings? Duke, Guardian, Adrenaline, CAST, BEAST etc. Want to do SUPER long tours? Tech Bindings, BEAST (Sorta). All those options seem better than the MFD option, not to mention lighter. Unless you drop the price point of the bindings (what were they, $200?) I dont see that being a better option than an older model of a Duke, Guardian, etc. that can be found for $100 more.

All of this has been rehashed a lot already.

"Duke", "Guardian" and "bomber" do not belong in the same sentence. Read some threads here.

The Adrenaline appears to share the same icing and kneefall issues that make the Duke and Guardian susceptible to breakage, so that one is an unproven flyer right now IMO.

Dynafit BEAST is not in the same league as a Look P18 that will mount to the Alltime. And $1000 retail? Really?

CAST has some potential but requires drilling holes in your boot (!) and securing your brakes with a rubber band

Alltimes you can take your existing FKS 140 or P18 or whatever that you totally trust and pay an extra $200 and be able to tour with them. Sure they are heavy but I've never had a problem doing short tours on them in a group with Dynafits, and of course I destroy them on the way down.

Needless to say, I think the design is still viable and a lot of others do too. At the very least, I think the design has a nominal value somewhere above zero, and that is the intention of this thread.

**nyskirat** · 11-28-2013, 11:34 AM

Bomber and MFD dont really fit either. There will always be reports of bindings breaking. Nothing is indestructible.

Im just saying, I dont see people buying the MFD at the point where the break-even for the manufacturing is worth it.

**98brg2d** · 11-28-2013, 11:39 AM

I would love to own the IP to this but I have no time to dedicate to running any operations into the foreseeable future. I personally think a utility patent on the concept is the best way to secure any future but ultimately I would want to do this as a side business and possibly as an avenue to provide design and engineering services to others that have ideas they would like developed into an actual product (skiing/boarding/backcountry oriented design as opposed to general mechanical design).

**HankScorpio** · 11-28-2013, 04:03 PM

The MFD had potential but its biggest set back was certainly price. $299 for those things? C'mon, I can get new Dukes on eBay for that much. I'll admit if the price was half that I would've considered a pair.

**shirk** · 11-28-2013, 07:48 PM

lol wanting to rally around MDF plates.

**skifishbum** · 11-28-2013, 08:30 PM

count me in for 2 pieces of bacons worth

**Lambert** · 11-29-2013, 03:49 AM

I would like to see that riser system on the back on all touring bindings. It works so quick and fast.. Tyrolia has something like it on their lighter touring binding, forgot the name, but you have to stick your pole tip in it..

**JayPowHound** · 11-29-2013, 07:00 PM

Forget the intellectual property, grab the product while u can!

If any of you MFD converts are looking for another set, I've got a pair of Solly/Atomic smalls I'd happily ship you for $100.

/gearswapspam

SRSLYTHO. PM ME.

**powder11** · 11-29-2013, 07:13 PM

Having skied 30 plus days on Beasts last season, I will say they're a viable answer to p18's. The only issue with those bindings is lack of availability and price tag.

**KillaWhale** · 11-30-2013, 05:50 AM

Hello, a few weeks ago I talked with two people I know who are working for a big ski compagny, and I told them what they though of CAST system, they answer me that it's a good thing, but they advise me to keep my money and to wait a little (for 2015 winter I guess) because they are working on a solution. They didn't tell me what, but they told me "actually we can ski and tour on light bidings but not reliable for knees or on reliable but heavy bidings. Soon we will ski with light and reliable bidings." Another solution cheaper than the beast is the new Diamir.

**powder11** · 11-30-2013, 12:44 PM

Dynafit has completely blown their marketing stratedgy for the Beast. Making it unobtainable will turn people off and only give the competition time to play catch up. Too bad because it really is a great solution and a bomber binding as well as a great all around product that nobody is going to currently buy. Dynafit could have pwned the HD tech touring binding market by releasing high volume at an affordable price and achieved the same profit margin. The current Dynafit marketing strategdy has potentially alienated the Beast target market who will most likely figure something else out and never look back.

MFD was a good idea at the time, but only a band aid solution. With back country access being the only growth market in skiing, you bet we will see more effective solutions coming down the pike.

**toast2266** · 11-30-2013, 02:15 PM

What's included in the intellectual property for the MFD? Is there a patent on it? It didn't really seem like a complicated or non-obvious idea, they were just the only ones that actually made it. If all they have is a couple of solidworks files for machining some bits and pieces, it doesn't seem like the IP would be worth all that much.

Hugh Conway · 11-30-2013, 02:16 PM

Anyone else think MFDs proteam was a non-negligible portion of their market?

Originally Posted by KillaWhale

Hello, a few weeks ago I talked with two people I know who are working for a big ski compagny, and I told them what they though of CAST system, they answer me that it's a good thing, but they advise me to keep my money and to wait a little (for 2015 winter I guess) because they are working on a solution. They didn't tell me what, but they told me "actually we can ski and tour on light bidings but not reliable for knees or on reliable but heavy bidings. Soon we will ski with light and reliable bidings." Another solution cheaper than the beast is the new Diamir.

FUD from unnamed sources? Who cares?

**neufox47** · 11-30-2013, 04:33 PM

^^^My grandpa once told me that he knew a guy who saw the carburator that would let a v8 get 100 mpg, but the oil companies bought the patent...

**Lambert** · 12-01-2013, 10:29 AM

Originally Posted by KillaWhale

Hello, a few weeks ago I talked with two people I know who are working for a big ski compagny, and I told them what they though of CAST system, they answer me that it's a good thing, but they advise me to keep my money and to wait a little (for 2015 winter I guess) because they are working on a solution. They didn't tell me what, but they told me "actually we can ski and tour on light bidings but not reliable for knees or on reliable but heavy bidings. Soon we will ski with light and reliable bidings." Another solution cheaper than the beast is the new Diamir.

Can you tell what company?
I have also heard some rumors about new things to come in the touring/freeride corner.. A smaller tech binding producer (that makes stuff for different industries aswell) was asked to produce a normal tech binding, like older dynafit/plum.. Now they produced that and showed what they could do they are working out on something completly new.. I think it will be a new system, like dynafit but better for harder freeriding and with better releases etc..
Time will tell, I also heard 2015..

**KillaWhale** · 12-01-2013, 10:56 AM

Originally Posted by Hugh Conway

Anyone else think MFDs proteam was a non-negligible portion of their market?

FUD from unnamed sources? Who cares?

I know a guy, who knows a guy...

Who cares ? People who hesitate to buy a CAST or a Beast and who can be patient.

**KillaWhale** · 12-01-2013, 10:58 AM

Originally Posted by Lambert

Can you tell what company?
I have also heard some rumors about new things to come in the touring/freeride corner.. A smaller tech binding producer (that makes stuff for different industries aswell) was asked to produce a normal tech binding, like older dynafit/plum.. Now they produced that and showed what they could do they are working out on something completly new.. I think it will be a new system, like dynafit but better for harder freeriding and with better releases etc..
Time will tell, I also heard 2015..

Salomon. I don't know anything more, just enough to motivate me to wait instead of buy a CAST (with biiiig shipping here).

**jondrums** · 12-01-2013, 03:43 PM

If MFD guys are keeping an eye on this thread - drop me a pm. I'm not really interested in the intellectual property, but I might consider purchasing the tooling (extrusion die and injection mold), depending on the price. I always thought that the design could be improved a good bit in a second rev. Anyone else looking to buy the rights, let me know, I'd be willing to offer advise on improvements.

I'm serious about this.