Fritschi Vipec review thread

[wwwllw]

Do the new black vipecs have the same hole pattern as the whites and do they usually come with a template?

[Roxtar]

Do the new black vipecs have the same hole pattern as the whites and do they usually come with a template?

Pretty sure you have to request a template

[NorCalNomad]

Yeah my white's didn't come with a template. The one from wildsnow is good.

[Roxtar]

Yeah my white's didn't come with a template. The one from wildsnow is good.

Black Diamond (Fritschi) has an excellent one.

[Smiley]

Do the new black vipecs have the same hole pattern as the whites and do they usually come with a template?

I used the same jig to mount the black ones as i did with the white ones.

[wwwllw]

Got my bindings mounted up. Everything seemed to go well. I'm fairly new to tech bindings, just one pair of dynafits prior to these. The heels seem excessively difficult to step into. I have to stomp hard to get clicked in. With my feet out of the boots, clicking in by hand requires the boot heel to be slammed down with what seems to be too much force. My rv is set at 10. At the lowest value I can step in with what seems "normal" force. Any help or trouble shooting advice would be much appreciated. What the hell did I screw up?

[NorCalNomad]

It might be that your toes are mounted at a slight enough angle that the heel pins end up "off center" in relation to your boot so that they drag on the boot heel fitting.

[wwwllw]

Thanks for the reply. I thought about that. To my eyes the alignment looks fine... They were drilled with a jig. Is there an easy way to tell?

[NorCalNomad]

If you can't see it then that's probably not it. I slightly bunged one of my mounts and depending on which ski is on which foot there is a misalignment like I described.

[NorCalNomad]

Setting up my vipecs tonight for my new boots made me think of something else that might make it hard depending on manufacturing tolerances.

The very front of your pins, the circle bit of the cylinder, might be dragging on the rubber of the outsole. So if the rubber is glued on where it's not entirely flush with the plastic of the boot where the tech fitting slides in you might get extra drag.

Since dynafits (and G3's?) need the "tech gap" it probably wouldn't get noticed there.

[wwwllw]

Thanks for the reply. I've looked at that and that's not the issue. I took them to a couple of shops with some guys who know tech bindings well and have decent exposure to vipecs. They saw nothing wrong and confirmed that they'd never seen a set that stiff. So far this is baffling everyone. I was hoping to take them in and to be imbarassed by a stupid mistake, but everything checks out.

[Smiley]

Thanks for the reply. I've looked at that and that's not the issue. I took them to a couple of shops with some guys who know tech bindings well and have decent exposure to vipecs. They saw nothing wrong and confirmed that they'd never seen a set that stiff. So far this is baffling everyone. I was hoping to take them in and to be imbarassed by a stupid mistake, but everything checks out.

Mine are the same. Takes some force to get into. I wouldnt be surprised if a pin breaks at some point. I have seen some people push them into touring mode then reach down and pull the lever up to push the pins into the boot. Or you could also try putting the heel in first (push the boot into the pins, not slamming the boot down if you know what i mean) then step down into the toe piece.

Its likely the heel pins were bent too far. Maybe next years versions will be "the ones"....they also need to address the issue of the lifters on the heel piece which come off from time to time.

[LeeLau]

I used the same jig to mount the black ones as i did with the white ones.

Just got a test pair from BD of the black ones. Took my white ones off and the black ones just dropped into the pre-existing holes. Epoxied and done.

Now available in Noram. Just one ski on them so no meaningful impressions other than that they're a hell of a lot easier to get into. Only took three versions but finally done Fritschi! Now you can depress the toe lever and it stays down

Some measurements.

Dynafit toe inserts spacing (measured on Vulcan) 65mm

Binding opening black Fritschi (stays open without needing pole to hold the toe lever down) - 70 mm

Binding opening white Fritschi 2013-4; 2014 - 5 (does not stays open unless you have pole to hold the toe lever down) without toe lever being pressed down - 63mm

Binding opening white Fritschi 2013-4; 2014 - 5 (with toe lever pressed down) -68mm

Binding opening Dynafit Comfort - 68mm

[galibier_numero_un]

I was talking with someone the other day who likened the Vipec's brakes to the Dynafit Vertical era. IOW, not very confidence inspiring. Does anyone have either positive or negative experiences regarding this?

Thanks,
Thom

[LeeLau]

Not at all. Vipec brakes are long and engage quickly. Ditto Kingpin Beast Radical 2.0 Ion. Seems like new bindings learned from the old