The Official Salomon S/Lab SHIFT MNC Thread -AMA

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Originally Posted by stuntmanbo

Some users on the French forum installed and used them and it solves the issue.

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So, just to confirm ... the little plastic nubs on the new window serve to keep the touring lock engaged?

I really want to like these bindings, but something about this really creeps me out. This is a plastic (window) to metal (touring lever) contact, right? Am I missing something? Make me feel better about this.

... Thom

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Originally Posted by galibier_numero_un

So, just to confirm ... the little plastic nubs on the new window serve to keep the touring lock engaged?

I really want to like these bindings, but something about this really creeps me out. This is a plastic (window) to metal (touring lever) contact, right? Am I missing something? Make me feel better about this.

... Thom

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The lever is plastic as is most of the binding (plastic and carbon infused composite). I can see how the nubs would add some additional resistance to keep the toe lever up. It definitely seems like a tolerance issue, either on the boots or the binding.

The main reason to feel better is that most people don't have this issue. I'm on my second season with my shifts and I don't have any issues with the touring lock or the brakes staying up.

One thing to check though, is that the toe of your boot is not able to contact the lever when you kneel forward as far as you can. My friend's boots can hit the lever and disengage the touring lock. It only happens to him in kick turns. I suspect a significant percentage (definitely not all however) of the lock issues are happening due to that. I believe someone mentioned the same issue a few pages back in this thread.

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Originally Posted by s_curran

update: I skied 3 days on them this weekend. First day, fine, never came out skinning, never had to transition back to walk mode though after the first time. Day 2: Fine for the first 3 miles skinning, transition once, then useless, had to use a strap to hold them into place. Day 3: same deal, but right from the start.

OGE is replacing the windows, but I hate the solution, obviously the bindings are different left to right, why would this fix it.

Also had a new issue, brake refused to stay up for about 15 minutes while climbing with the riser. Had to go without riser so I could step on it every time, eventually it stayed put.

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Solution: get touring bindings for touring.

It has absolutely nothing to do with the boot tolerance and nothing to do with the boot hitting the lever. While those issues may affect some people randomly, the toe lever itself being faulty is a well documented issue. It is a common enough issue that Salomon has created these din windows to try and solve it. That says something.

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Originally Posted by jslattsbham

The lever is plastic as is most of the binding (plastic and carbon infused composite). I can see how the nubs would add some additional resistance to keep the toe lever up. It definitely seems like a tolerance issue, either on the boots or the binding.

The main reason to feel better is that most people don't have this issue. I'm on my second season with my shifts and I don't have any issues with the touring lock or the brakes staying up.

One thing to check though, is that the toe of your boot is not able to contact the lever when you kneel forward as far as you can. My friend's boots can hit the lever and disengage the touring lock. It only happens to him in kick turns. I suspect a significant percentage (definitely not all however) of the lock issues are happening due to that. I believe someone mentioned the same issue a few pages back in this thread.

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Originally Posted by galibier_numero_un

So, just to confirm ... the little plastic nubs on the new window serve to keep the touring lock engaged?

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Yes exactly.
It’s plastic to plastic.

No issue either with my og shifts. It seems most problematic pairs are from this year ?

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Originally Posted by GoldenBC

It has absolutely nothing to do with the boot tolerance and nothing to do with the boot hitting the lever. While those issues may affect some people randomly, the toe lever itself being faulty is a well documented issue. It is a common enough issue that Salomon has created these din windows to try and solve it. That says something.

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I don’t disagree with you. I just wanted to point out that the nubs won’t help in the situations where the boot is hitting the lever.

I do think that the majority of shifts are working as intended.

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Originally Posted by roQer

The 110 brakes on my Shifts are popping off when I‘m applying the ski boot method to put the heal into walk mode. This problem doesn’t occur when I manually elevate the brake prongs and then switch over the heal lever.
This issue seems to be not restricted exclusively to 120 brakes.
Otherwise I‘m very happy with my Shifts in the second season of use.

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Was a solution to this ever determined? My brakes are popping off every tour and its pretty infuriating and seems like a pretty crappy design flaw to not have a connection between the brake assembly and heel lever itself that actually holds it all together.

there are two pieces of plastic that click into place. it doesn't seem like they need to. but make sure they are probably engaged before sliding the whole piece on. I've heard of this happening and it feels like an easy oversight. I've used boots and hands to get brakes up and haven't had any issues.

Ok this has been covered many times in this thread. Sometimes the brakes refuse to stay up regardless of how you do it. It’s a problem. Wish it would get addressed. My solution has been to tour on Tectons. ;-)

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Originally Posted by kalisto

there are two pieces of plastic that click into place. it doesn't seem like they need to. but make sure they are probably engaged before sliding the whole piece on. I've heard of this happening and it feels like an easy oversight. I've used boots and hands to get brakes up and haven't had any issues.

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Yeah, its hard to believe I am misaligning those teeth on the brake assembly every time, but I'll definitely check haha. The finicky-ness is kind of getting to the point of unreliability

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Originally Posted by TahoeJ

Ok this has been covered many times in this thread. Sometimes the brakes refuse to stay up regardless of how you do it. It’s a problem. Wish it would get addressed. My solution has been to tour on Tectons. ;-)

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haha yeah had been doing most my touring on traditional pins, but had been trying to use these lately. I tried searching but most results were for brakes deploying and not staying up. My issue its the whole assembly sliding off which I saw mentioned a couple times but never seemed to have a resolution. Wasn't sure if it was just a faulty piece or something but I traded out a 120mm to a 110mm brake assembly and its still happening.

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Originally Posted by jhyatt

Solution: get touring bindings for touring.

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Yet the other half of the people talking say the opposite. I will be going tectons since Im pissed about this. I wanted something "safer" (I know, I know) as I'm getting more skilled in the BC that might allow me to make a few slightly stupid mistakes.

Even Blister says they are the best things ever basically, I have no clue how they came to that conclusion. My wife is on vipecs and absolutely loved them, should have taken her lead...

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Originally Posted by powderdetective

haha yeah had been doing most my touring on traditional pins, but had been trying to use these lately. I tried searching but most results were for brakes deploying and not staying up. My issue its the whole assembly sliding off which I saw mentioned a couple times but never seemed to have a resolution. Wasn't sure if it was just a faulty piece or something but I traded out a 120mm to a 110mm brake assembly and its still happening.

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One guy has come into our shop twice with this happening. He bought the skis used and I couldn't tell you why it happened.

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Originally Posted by powderdetective

haha yeah had been doing most my touring on traditional pins, but had been trying to use these lately. I tried searching but most results were for brakes deploying and not staying up. My issue its the whole assembly sliding off which I saw mentioned a couple times but never seemed to have a resolution. Wasn't sure if it was just a faulty piece or something but I traded out a 120mm to a 110mm brake assembly and its still happening.

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The same happened to me on several occasions. I have 2 shifts and 4 sets of brakes and it used to happen almost exclusively with the 120mm brake. Upon investigation I found two reasons:
1. The tips of the tiny notches of the brake where it interfaces with the heel were broken. A very small part of the tip - probably a millimetre in size.
2. There was icing in the brake. (had a single occasion with a 110m brake that was completely in order without broken notches)

Now I handle them a bit more carefully, try to close the brake by hand while putting the skins in order to avoid icing and haven't had problems since then.

I don't have shifts, i tour with MTNs, but i read this thread to gloat on all the shift problems.

Sent from my Redmi Note 8 Pro using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by rod9301

I don't have shifts, i tour with MTNs, but i read this thread to gloat on all the shift problems......

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In reality, relative to the numbers sold, the Shift has f'all problems. I've sold/mounted hundreds of them and not had an issue.

^this :).

Yes, the Shifts are (a little) finicky. Yes, I used to have the occasional pre-release, but once I upped the forward pressure and release value a bit they seem OK.

Before the Shifts I had Ions and had a lot more pre-releases (some of which led to minor consequences). My better half broke her leg, because her Ion 10s did not open (2 spiral fractures + ankle fracture = 3 fractures on a single leg). Now she is on Vipecs.
Additionally, I have ATK RT10 2.0 that I'm selling tomorrow because I always grab the Shifts, so I guess they are OK - at least for me.

For those with brakes unclipping and sliding off the track. Was the mount for your BSL? Curious if the position of the heel along the track increases the likelihood of this happening?

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Originally Posted by kalisto

For those with brakes unclipping and sliding off the track. Was the mount for your BSL? Curious if the position of the heel along the track increases the likelihood of this happening?

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I have several pairs of skis with different mounts due to conflicting holes. Typically, but not as a rule, this would happen on skis mounted for larger BSL (the heel assembly is forward on the track).

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Originally Posted by aanev

I have several pairs of skis with different mounts due to conflicting holes. Typically, but not as a rule, this would happen on skis mounted for larger BSL (the heel assembly is forward on the track).

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That was my thought exactly. Possibly why no one ran into this in testing was because everyone probably had mounts for their specific BSL on their new skis.

all them salomon boys are little guys ?

there is always something that doesnt get tested

So a lot of suggestions, try to cover them for my situation:

1. Checked the teeth on the assembly and they seem to be in order. Nothing on them that would indicate that a piece broke off at all, even a small one at the tip.

2. Mine are the only mount on my skis and mounted to my BSL so that failure case shouldn't apply with mine.

3. I'll make a point of using my hands to lock the brakes for touring and see if this makes a difference. Maybe stepping down with my heel flexes the ski or binding in a way that is causing the issue.

More background, this is the second/third season I've had them. And just started touring on them exclusively because my pin set up bit the dust. They worked fine inbounds, but I went through all the AFD issues and pre-release issues and got those sorted out. Now with consistent touring they are having the brake issue. Seems like the solution is if you're >=50% touring on them go with a different binding.

If they work for people that's great and keep using them, but just one issue after another has popped up for me. Once I get a set of traditional pin bindings mounted again these will go back to full time resort and occasional touring use (which they have been good for that) and the issues won't be amplified. Also, for the athlete testing, I doubt they would be blasting binding failures of their sponsor on social media, etc haha

So I've been asking around a bit today with conflicting answers on two topics with this binding setup:

First - is the current manual correct with regards to the forward adjustment settings? The manual says to have the boot in and then adjust until that silver nub is right between the two arrows on the heelpiece enclosure. My shop had it set so that if the boot was in then that silver part would be recessed deeply compared to those arrows and I fixed it according to the manual.

Second - manual says I need space between the AFD plate and the bottom of my boot. I had it set like that (when the front of the boot is as high as it goes I can slide a credit card in there) but it seems like my toe will be moving around way too much on the downhill and I'll get that clicking. I tightened it up so that there is practically 0 vertical play - was this the right move?

I find the guide on newschoolers addresses all these concerns well, and I've had a good number of inbounds days on the shift without any issues.
1. The manual is "correct" but as the newschoolers guide explains it's a bit vague. You want the silver part to line up with the arrows.
2. A credit card may be 1 step too low, but it's hard to say depending on the steps and your boot sole.

Here's a link to the guide: https://www.newschoolers.com/news/re...n-Issues-Fixes

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Originally Posted by jdeist

I find the guide on newschoolers addresses all these concerns well, and I've had a good number of inbounds days on the shift without any issues.
1. The manual is "correct" but as the newschoolers guide explains it's a bit vague. You want the silver part to line up with the arrows.
2. A credit card may be 1 step too low, but it's hard to say depending on the steps and your boot sole.

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Thanks for that, never thought to look at NS for good setup info. For reference I'm using Hawx XTD boots with the gripwalk soles so my AFD plate is angled quite high now.