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Thread: Fritschi Tecton
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01-05-2018, 03:59 PM #451
I'm sure Fritschi is working on figuring out a fix for this. I think their initial response is predictable, if you assume they care about this but don't have a solution ready to go yet.
that's all i can think of, but i'm sure there's something else...
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01-07-2018, 05:46 PM #452Registered User
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Spent the last 2 days ripping around Targhee on the new setup. Stoked! Mounted up a pr of Salomon 188 QST 106s w/ Tectons. Feel even more 'alpine binder'ish' than my Kingpin 13s. Guessing it may be the 'elastic' toes.... For a 75/25 resort/bc setup think it'll suit me just fine and thankful for some solid Black Diamond contacts to help out whenever a dented toe solution comes to life. Fyi, after a month on the Atomic Hawx 130 XTDs i finally have boots that truly fit my feet and hike/ski worth a damn....
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk
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01-08-2018, 05:46 PM #453
So I had read Volken's Tecton review from earlier last year a while ago. But I just re-read it after the rather extensive coverage of the non-upward-release/non-unlock in touring mode issue upthread and I noticed the bolded section below in his writeup:
Overall binding performance in uphill mode: The Tecton has three uphill modes. A flat mode and two elevator bar settings – just like most other touring bindings. They are easy to activate. Some bindings that have rotating heel pieces tend to create snow build up right in front of the heel piece in soft snow (especially heavier soft snow) conditions, which can then inadvertently turn the binding into ski mode. This can be annoying. Since the heelpiece simply slides backwards and out of the way when the binding gets put into walk mode and the heelpiece does not rotate, I did not notice this problem. Pretty cool for sure. The one drawback of the toe release is that there are obviously more moving parts under the toe of your boot and you can feel that in very hard technical skinning moments. In a classic tech toe piece, you are fully locked in and nothing is moving which creates a very solid power transfer in uphill mode. Fritschi has worked hard to solve this problem by creating a non-progressive DIN release curve over the elastic travel distance (it is getting geeky now, I know). This means that you will have to create the set DIN release value in order to move the toe piece laterally at all.
In previous versions of the Vipec this release curve was progressive which makes a lot of sense in terms of downhill safety, but it created too much lateral play in walk mode. See Graph below
Of course, there is the issue of being able to release while in uphill mode, so considering that technical hard skinning happens relatively rarely and you can just put the ski crampons on, I am in favor of their solution.
Overall I consider the walking performance of the Tecton very good and a noteworthy upgrade in uphill safety.
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01-08-2018, 08:00 PM #454
I didn't use a mallet, but adjusted the DIN well below the scale to isolate the walk-mode lock effect, and pushed on the wing carriage with my thumbs. Very easy to move the carriage sideways in ski mode with light thumb pressure, but it wouldn't move at all in walk mode. See the little ridge in the plastic at the interface that holds the carriage in place. Clearly a mallet impact is enough to knock the carriage past the ridge (which is good in case of avalanche), but normally skinning probably doesn't create as much horizontal impact as a mallet strike.
Last edited by 1000-oaks; 01-08-2018 at 08:52 PM.
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01-15-2018, 04:24 PM #455Registered User
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I have a bunch more days on Tectons and am still very impressed with their overall performance. The only concerns I have noted (beyond fear of knee falls) are associated with minor icing of heel and toe pieces during ideal icing conditions (warm inverted temps up high producing thawing schmoo in the alpine and cold temps at lower elevations freezing said schmoo into concrete prior to being able to remove it from bindings). The icing on the heel occurs below the nub of plastic that catches the bottom of your boot during step-in to ski mode. Snow packed into the hollow under this tab can prevent the binding from transitioning all the way into walk mode. The super easy fix is to cycle the heel in and out of ski mode by a hand with no boot in the binding a couple times. The snow in the hollow will typically pop out and allow the binding to switch all the way into walk mode.
The toe is a different story that I haven't figured out completely. Wet snow seems to get into the internals somewhere and makes it impossible to push the toe lever down far enough to get the toe into "step-in" mode. This makes it difficult to get in and out of the toe piece. I have looked pretty carefully at all of the external conflict points/removed all visible snow and ice from the binding and still had it not want to open, so I think the conflict is internal. I had to hit mine with some heat the other morning before I could get them to transition to the step-in position. I have since started leaving them in the step-in position at the end of the day and will see how this goes. Again, these instances have only occurred during pretty ideal conditions that would have lead to icing on dynafit toes as well - I just know how to deal with the icing on dynafits. Any additional experience/intel on the toe icing?
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01-15-2018, 05:03 PM #456Registered User
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01-15-2018, 07:57 PM #457Registered User
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I’m talking a heat gun on low and far enough away to just barely melt snow. I’m not seeing how this can strain the spring? Or do you mean leaving them in step in position? I could see that maybe. Might just be a case of cycling them a few times at the end of the day.
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01-15-2018, 11:41 PM #458
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01-16-2018, 03:55 AM #459Registered User
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the locking in walk mode is def a design feature, not an oversight - even if the benefit of the design is debatable. With how incredibly easily they release vertically in ski mode, i would think that making them release a bit less easily in walk mode would take some effort, if not be impossible. The vertical release is a lot smoother and much more easily engaged on the tecton/evos than the blacks, something that i find very impressive.
Also, the difference in the lateral mode elasticity in walking mode vs skiing mode as described by 1000-oaks above is also a design feature as far as i know, present in latter white and the black iterations of the vipec bindings. They are designed to be less elastic in walk mode, but they will still release laterally.
i also find the tecton front bindings to engage a lot less positively while stepping in (on snow) than the whites and especially blacks. I find that I often have to help them along - even after cycling them several times without boots on to get the process to function smoothly. I do not know if this is partly due to me not using the masterstep inserts i used with my black/khion combo last year and that masterstep inserts clear snow better than the older dynafit inserts (as compared to the tecton/hawx combo i use this year) or if i need to be more careful to clear snow from the inserts on the hawx. That being said, i i do not think that is the main cause - perhaps some silicon spray will make it engage more smoothly. Other than that, I do not know what causes the step in issues - though i do find it a bit annoying.
That being said, i do find the tectons to perform really, really well - i like em a lot. I have yet to tour with them, having used several pairs over 15 days inbounds where they - sans the step in issues - have performed flawlessly.
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01-16-2018, 08:23 AM #460
Maybe I missed it somewhere in this thread but boot punching aside is there any actual improvement/benefit of the EVO toe over the black one?
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01-16-2018, 08:35 AM #461
I've experienced the same difficulty with stepping in to ski mode, but only after skiing them for awhile (e.g. it's a non-issue when the bindings are clear of snow when I first step in, but after skiing a bit I sometimes encounter this issue). Cycling the toe lever between ski and tour mode helps, but not as consistently as it does with Dynafits. It is annoying, but not a big deal. I too will hit it with some silicon spray to see what effect that has. I have yet to tour with them also, but skiing lift service on them as been excellent, especially after skiing on-piste with Radical 1.0s the last couple of years. The lack of elasticity was harsh at times, and the Tecton heel provides a noticeably more powerful ride.
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01-16-2018, 01:07 PM #462Registered User
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the evo toe releases a lot easier in ski mode and has a reduced fiddle factor due to the automatic release bump stop, but also has the aforemention kneefall issue/vertical release lock in walk mode design feature and occasional fiddle factor of the front bindings not engaging as crisply as the blacks. If you are thinking about the vipec evos then the black is no less of a binding imo, whilst the tecton has an even better downhill performance than the vipecs. That being said, the vertical release in ski mode on the evo is pretty damn impressive (on top of the features of the already solid vipec platform) and really makes the tecton one hell of a binding imo. Yes, i am a fanboi having been on the vipecs the last three seasons, with one incident of rear binding snow build up in my old whites. I honestly don't get why people would get radicals/comparable bindings over the vipecs or kingpins over the tectons. I would myself also prefer a 200gr heavier ski than switch the tectons to shift bindings as i think the heavier ski makes more of a difference than 30mm elasticity up front and 2mm more in the back. - though i might be mistaken
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01-16-2018, 01:07 PM #463Registered User
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I have experienced some challenges getting the toes back to "step-in" mode, but I thought that was just me being clumsy. Some of them were on those variable-temp (prime icing) days and may involved snow/ice build-up. Overall, I've been happy with downhill performance. I tried skinning in ski mode and skinned right out of the binding two steps in a row, so I'm going to stick with tour mode and trying not to fall forward.
I also saw another dented-boot photo on the 'gram this morning, but it was a white binding and not a black one...Vipec Evo, maybe?
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01-22-2018, 07:59 AM #464
FWIW....Lou Dawson deconstructs a tecton/Vipec EVO toe. Other than revealing the complexity of the engineering, not much of use here.
https://www.wildsnow.com/23780/frits...-teardown-evo/
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01-22-2018, 09:17 AM #465
Fritschi Tecton
I have the same icing at the heel issue with my freeride pros. I believe it has more to do with the pressure of the heel coming down and packing the ice at that spot. I have to carefully scrape it off in order to put the heel back in downhill mode so that the plastic isn’t deformed.
My theory is it’s the material/design itself and not the environmental conditions. It always happens.
Unfortunate to hear it’s still part of the tectonic design
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01-22-2018, 11:55 AM #466Registered User
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^^^ I’m familiar with the FR icing. The minor blockage on the Tecton heel is is completely different and is definitely condition specific. It’s easily remedied and has only happened a handful of times in 20 days of use. Toe icing I mentioned seems to be remedied by cycling through modes at the end of the day. Hasn’t been an issue since. Still very impressed with these.
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01-22-2018, 03:01 PM #467
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01-22-2018, 03:02 PM #468
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01-23-2018, 11:56 PM #469
Finally mounted my Tectons, and was looking at the brake stomp pads where they broke on Lou. The instruction diagram isn't exactly clear about the order of steps going from ski mode to tour mode, but the illustration does show the brakes retracted when pulling up on the heel lever.
If you move heel lever to walk mode while the brakes are extended and then try to retract the brakes, you'll see the brake arm hits the stomp pad in the perfect two places to force apart the sides of the pad and break exactly where Lou's did. For the brakes to drop into place under the stomp pad while in walk mode, the steel arm would either have to flex quite a bit in the middle (which is pretty tough to do - it's extremely stiff there), or the stomp pad wings have to flex outward to allow the arm to pass.
Are most folks shifting into walk mode and then stomping down the brake, like you do with Ions? Or depressing the brake pedal and then shifting into walk mode, like you can do with Dynafit Radical 1.0?Last edited by 1000-oaks; 01-24-2018 at 05:54 PM.
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01-24-2018, 08:06 AM #470
Interestingly, that is not how Fritschi demonstrates shifting into walk mode on their own video. It shows the guy flipping up the heel lever with brakes extended and then stepping onto the brake pad to lock them up. I'll have to take a closer look at mine to see what you're talking about.
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01-24-2018, 03:46 PM #471
The one day I've been on the Tectons I used the same method as shown in the video and had no problems. I could see something breaking if it is done too violently or maybe if the plastic becomes too brittle? LeeLau's failure could have been a manufacturer defect with the stomp pad. Or maybe it's more of a press-down pad than a stomp pad and requires a bit more care than would be desired.
Has anyone else had this failure yet?
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01-24-2018, 05:34 PM #472
Wildsnow talked about the stomp pad failure in their Tecton writeup. FYI I did what was done in the video - ie flip the heel into walk mode then step on the brake stomp pad.
When the snow is wet (ie from inversions) snow does pack into the crevice between heelpiece and stomp pad so I flip the ski tip first on the ground then bang the heel with my hand to get some snow out then press the heelpiece into walk mode. Then put skins on, lay ski on ground then step on the brake pad to put the brakes into tour mode.
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01-24-2018, 06:35 PM #473
^ Sorry, edited.
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01-25-2018, 10:43 AM #474Registered User
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Is anyone using Tectons without the brake? If so, do you just remove the metal arms and add a leash or is there more to it?
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01-25-2018, 11:09 AM #475Registered User
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you remove the metal arms and the plastic part that cycles the brakes, then re-attach the heel pad piece to main rear binding unit, and slide the rear binding assembly back onto the rail that is attached to your skis. Easy peasy.
My google search of "tecton brakes" yielded this little gem as the number two hit
https://www.wildsnow.com/22447/frits...emove-install/
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