Tech Binding - Toe pin shear

[kalisto]

Don't see a huge place for kingpins once amers shift binding comes out...

[TahoeJ]

Don't see a huge place for kingpins once amers shift binding comes out...

Well, Shifts still weigh a decent bit more. But I think the Tectons have made the kingpins irrelevant since they're even lighter.

[GeezerSteve]

Time will tell whether the Shift somehow averts the nearly universal pattern of first-year tech binding latent defects. I'd never buy a 1st year new technology tech binding.

[XXX-er]

Totally agree with Spats, especially after going through the 1st gen Plum fiasco.

I still run verticals and the wife still runs comforts.

Dynafit got it right, or pretty darn close to right, a long time ago...a lot closer than dynafit, or anyone else, has gotten it since.

I used to think they had it going on but watching Dynafit fuck things up with the RAD1 and fail to market a big boot follow on to the Vulcan TWICE I realized it was just a happy accident

I'm gona stick with my 2 pairs of verts and the vulcans


people seem to talk about SHIFT like it is here and been workin just fine ...not the case

[LeeLau]

re SHIFT. I've now had 18 days on the Atomic/Salomon variations. A guest reviewer (powder11) has 3 days. Another guest (TomP) has 3 days. That combined 24 days is the most of anyone who isn't a Salomon/Atomic athlete. But by no means is that still a long-term test.

I'll note for example that the Radical1 exploding top caps showed up only after real long-term use. Ditto Plum failures. Ditto Kingpin sheared toes and heel-tracks.

What I'm saying is that xxx-er and OldSteve (must i call you that?) are right. No matter what it's still first gen

[XXX-er]

it doesn't matter how many things a product is tested for something WILL show up that they did not forsee

call the factory and they will say "that can't happen ! " or " we never intended it to be used that way ! "

kingpin pins fell out on the very 1st bindings and then they were fine until the beginning of the second season

rad1 heel pieces would explode in just under a season depending on how much you toured

[GeezerSteve]

OldSteve (must i call you that?)

You can call me Steve. Just don't call me late for supper

[Vt-Freeheel]

Don't see a huge place for kingpins once amers shift binding comes out...

I wouldn't trust Salomon to get this right on the first attempt. They did such a great job with tech boots.

[reckless toboggan]

I used to think they had it going on but watching Dynafit fuck things up with the RAD1 and fail to market a big boot follow on to the Vulcan TWICE I realized it was just a happy accident

I'm gona stick with my 2 pairs of verts and the vulcans

Agree 100%

You can try to pry my verticals out of my cold, snowy hands.




Well, actually, you probably could, because my hands are cold in this scenario...maybe too cold from holding these cold metal bindings. So they'd be easier to take from me...but please don't.

[Spats]

Yeah, Speed Turn 2.0 is our tech binding of choice. Actually, Speed Turn is an improvement over TLT Classic/Speed: tougher heel base plate (less prone to cracking), longer adjustment range, no Le Bump to grind off. Speed Turn 2.0 has very nice lighter 4-screw toe, big improvement over old 5-screw toes. New Speed Turn 2.0 heels have improved riser, much easier to change modes with ski pole.

Now I just have to figure out how to McGyver a Speed Turn 2.0 onto the old Dynaduke plates that only have the pattern for the old 5-hole toes, or find an old pair of Speed Turn 1.0s. Should have bought a pair when skimo was blowing them out under $200...

[heinzsd]

Was on a hut trip 3 weeks ago and right in the middle of the week two of my buddies with Kingpins within 30 minute sof each other had 3 pins sheer off on them on three different toe pieces. The timing was really odd for failures like that to all happen at the same time. Each of the sheers happened while they were either skinning, or just transitioning to skinning and putting the boots in the skis. They did buy the bindings together so seems like there could be some faulty batches out there. It was very cold -10f the whole time but nothing noticeably different that day then the prior.

[GeezerSteve]

-10F or even much colder should be irrelevant with a proper material spec and execution (i.e., heat treatment). OTOH, failures resulting from either are not uncommon with stuff that gets exposed to lots of repeated shear stress cycling. Once again, beware all 1st generation tech binding designs.

ETA: Has anyone experienced any pre-failure wiggling at the wing arm/pin interface? That could accelerate a fatigue failure.

[LiveLarger]

I wouldn't trust Salomon to get this right on the first attempt. They did such a great job with tech boots.

And the Guardians.. I'm sure none of those broke?

[gramboh]

And the Guardians.. I'm sure none of those broke?

Guardian failures were mostly user error, slamming the rails down with ice/snow on them.

[LiveLarger]

Guardian failures were mostly user error, slamming the rails down with ice/snow on them.

To be fair, I skied mine for three years without them breaking. But, that doesn't change the fact it's a pretty bad design.

[Skidog]

To be fair, I skied mine for three years without them breaking. But, that doesn't change the fact it's a pretty bad design.

As bad a design as any other rail binding imho. I broke dukes..never a gaurdian. Never a pintech either, so there that.

Sent from my XT1650 using TGR Forums mobile app

[TahoeJ]

I put a shit ton of days in on a few pairs of Guardians - because I'm a stubborn idiot - and never had a single issue so long as I cleared snow properly. They were bomber on the DH... which they should be since they weigh 100 fucking pounds.

[mcski]

I put a shit ton of days in on a few pairs of Guardians - because I'm a stubborn idiot - and never had a single issue so long as I cleared snow properly. They were bomber on the DH... which they should be since they weigh 100 fucking pounds.

I want a refund!

[TahoeJ]

I want a refund!

Haha, hey, they do what they were designed to do very, very well. For that purpose I highly recommend them. Honestly, a great binding in that regard and much better than the Marker offerings in terms of feel. I'd still rather tour on them than ride a tech binding inbounds. I still have a pair.

[gramboh]

No problems on gen1 and gen2 Guardians for me either... Gen1 did start to develop play in ski mode (as my gen1 Dukes did as well) but that is to be expected. Gen2 Guardians still going strong although I think I've only skinned one lap in them this year (thank god). And yeah, they ski waaaaay better than my Radical ST 1.0. Looking forward to replacing both with Shifts next year.

[LiveLarger]

Haha, hey, they do what they were designed to do very, very well. For that purpose I highly recommend them. Honestly, a great binding in that regard and much better than the Marker offerings in terms of feel. I'd still rather tour on them than ride a tech binding inbounds. I still have a pair.

Touring on guardians is an atrocious experience. Skiing inbounds on Tectons is actually pretty good. So I have to disagree.

[TahoeJ]

Touring on guardians is an atrocious experience. Skiing inbounds on Tectons is actually pretty good. So I have to disagree.

Yeah, I've done some inbounds laps on Tectons and they're pretty good - you can definitely feel that there's some elasticity in the toe. But I wouldn't want to hammer them inbounds on a regular basis...