Dynafit Brake ???'s

[lowsparkco]

I poked around a little on Dynafit's website as well as a few of their dealers' sites and still am a little foggy about how their brakes integrate... mostly my question has to do with switching them out.

I'm thinking of mounting the new Radicals on a pair of spring mountaineering boards that are 88 under foot so the stock 100 mm brake will work fine. If I mount on inserts and switch these bindings over to my Pontoons for deep days can I run them without the brakes? I was figuring I'd just rig some kind of leash for resort days. Maybe spending the $80 on a second brake kit would be worth it? I'm assuming the 130 brakes would work fine on the Pontoons even if they required a little bending. Also, those brakes are universal to all of their bindings that take brakes? Thoughts? Answers?

Any Dynafit wizards with any wisdom on mounting them on inserts would be appreciated as well.

Thanks for the patience as I'm an AT newb after using tele gear for the last decade.

[Jethro]

Mounting Dynafits on inserts is no big deal. It takes a quite a bit more time than a regular mount but there are no real hidden surprises. As far as swapping the brakes out, it is real easy to do, but I probably would not be inclined to do it frequently. You have to back out the big screw on the back of the binding and lift the heel piece off of the post it rotates on. Then you slip the brake around the post and secure it with a little tab. The brakes are pretty flimsy and I do not know how well they take repeated installs.

I would see if you could just install the heel piece with the 100mm brakes on the pontoons and have the brakes not deploy due to them hitting the wider ski. Then you could use leashes or not, depending on your preference. I do not know how much this would affect a lateral heel release though

[dcpnz]

Installing brakes is not at all hard.
Apparently supposed to swap the spring out to keep release value accurate but I didn't get them with my aftermarket brake - I believe friction from brake increases DIN approximately 1 point.

As Jethro says not sure i would want to swap them on and off regularly - not so much because its difficult but mostly because even with great care it is easy to cross thread the rear screw.

Everything you need to know about Dynafit brakes here:

http://www.wildsnow.com/articles/dyn...e-install.html

[soylent green]

I have a set of these for sale. PM me if interested.

[lowsparkco]

great responses - I appreciate it! - the picture tutorial is money, great find

kinda creates more of a dilemma - I don't ski the Toons that often, and usually don't mind a few minutes for a binding switch the night before a big day, but it sounds like there would be substantial wear to both sets of brakes if I was switching very often

makes me kinda tempted just to go with the less expensive Speeds and a leash

Soylent Green - you're selling a set of the 130 brakes?

[soylent green]

i think my brakes i have for sale are 100

[Jethro]

I really do not think you will have a problem running 100mm brakes on the Pontoons. They just will not deploy on that ski but the would work fine on your other ski. With inserts, the swap would be easy if you did not bother dealing with the brakes.

[Dee Hubbs]

Same advice as above, run the 100mm brakes on the Pontoons, they just will stay up. No need to pull the brakes off and/or switch them every time you switch skis.

[skis_the_trees]

One other factor to consider is that the brakes can cover the screw holes depending on where the Dynafit heel is mounted. I have swap plates on 2 sets of skis that I switch my Dynafits between and I choose not to use brakes because it makes the swap easier. If I did use brakes, it would require me to move the heel post fore/aft for each swap to uncover the screw holes.

There aren't any problems using no brakes. My vote is to get some nice B&D coil leashes and just go brakeless.

[lowsparkco]

thanks again everyone

I decided to go with the Speeds (no brakes) and I'll just run leashes at the resort.

I was a little excited for brakes after years on tele, but whatever. I'm used to leashes and it won't be a big deal.

To be honest, I was kinda sick of mulling over binding options. My new AT boots have been sitting in the closet for three months unused next to a brand new pair of boards. The Speed Radicals are less expensive and lighter. Any Dynafitters who still read this wanna weigh in on DIN settings? I checked a chart at WildSnow and it says I'm about a 7. The only other time I skied Dynafits I cranked them all the way down to 10 cause I was bumping chairs.

[Micol]

I decided to go with (no brakes) and I'll just run leashes at the resort.

.

I was happier without brakes. Less dynafiddle. they were a pain in the ass. However, I lost a ski once at about 12,500 removing skins and it was a bitch (sorry no cool de-skin with skis on). Anyway, from that point on I ran normal leashes and a 4' tether i cobbled together out of small diameter cord (stuffed up into the leg powder skirt. So, whenever I had my leashes off/skis off, the skis couldn't make a run without me. Only use the tether when skinning. Take it off for final descents for no spidey web effect.