BD is pretty quick about shipping out heel lifter replacements. Their warranty process is super easy.

The Vipec doesn't release horizontally at the heel.



I'm not entirely sold on this line of thinking. Also, there are some forces that cause the heel to never release at all to begin with, so...

Black Diamond has warrantied stuff on occassion that is outside the warranty period. Doesn’t hurt to ask them, especially since this is kind of a safety concern.

Yes to all of this. I don't really snag the tips of my skis (or fall at all actually) in firm snow in the BC, so power transfer is more important to me than lateral release at the toe.

Kingpin for firm snow. Vipec for soft snow. Lightweight (350g max) trumps it all for medium to long tours and meadow skipping.

Depends on snow conditions, no? Also when stepping out of the binding the brake might not spring out and allow the ski to take off.

Yeah, warranty issue. They replaced my heels. That was a few years ago though. Probably some sort of tolerance issue. New heels were fine.

Its possible you have boot toe socket issues? What boots are you using? The Vipecs have pretty tight tolerances. I never had an issue with Cochised. Nor with the heels releasing. What DIN are you at?...

I'd call BD about it. Sounds like a warranty issue?

Been using inserts with my Vipecs most of the season. No issues.

Try filing in these two places. I talk about it in the review I wrote for Blister Gear Review, but they didn't publish the photo for whatever reason. Be careful and go slowly. If you file away too...

Patent issues in Italy

You got 120s, not 108s. The brakes barely, if at all, fit their respective sizes.

A heel cover plate was added to 2nd gen whites

wildsnow has something about that

My theory:

If the nut loosens, there will be slop in the pin and the pin can strip. Thats how it fell out?

Its important to keep slop in check by making sure the nut stays tight.

Perhaps...

Had another awkward crash over the weekend on a runout where one ski got hung up near the toepiece and the lateral release likely saved me some ankle damage.

FWIW the toe lever on the new black is really short compared to the old ones. It does work way better, but only if you aren't missing rubber on your boots. I have a small chunk of rubber missing and...

I have the 2nd gen Vipecs, lots of days on ATK Raider 14s and Speed Radicals and a few days on Plum heels.

Its relatively hard to compare retention, since each fall or crash is so unique and they...