Fritschi Tecton

[LeeLau]

Happy New Year Tecton users

The good - Ski day 6 on Tectons. Flawless performance on the downhill. Heel ejected when I slammed into a tree when I wanted it to so that part is tested.

The bad. Don't knee-fall on the Tecton toe while using Backlands while the toe lever is in walk mode



The good. It's pretty easy to punch and form the toe of both that Backland and my Vulcans back after the knee-fall. Plastic has good memory

[cycology1]

Toe in ski mode with heels still in touring mode? I think most of us lock down our heels first.

... Thom

Not sure why or how u could do that...

Nope, using ski mode while touting as I have for a couple years with vipecs, as a solution to the boot toe crush issue of new tecton toe.

In just 5ish hours inbounds early morning skinning up Breck last few days, it's substantially easier to inadvertently come out of tecton toe while touring in ski mode.

In fact, in ski mode (ie non locked out mode) i intentionally switched to walk mode while skinning uphill yestersay past vista house at breck (semi steep short face heading towards patrol hut) I've never really thought about that except in true backcountry no fall situations.

[cycology1]

That said, they definitely ski better. Feel like much more power transfer which was one of the goals of them.

[adrenalated]

Not sure why or how u could do that...

Everyone I tour with rips skins with skis on, and we all lock into the heel first. You must have a different technique.

[cycology1]

You're right. Mis understood what Thom said...

my thought about the new toe stands, touring in this version while in ski mode doesn't seem to be optimal.

[Muggydude]

What din are you at? My Brother didn't report any unwanted releases skinning on a hut trip this weekend with the toes at 10 in ski mode

[LeeLau]

I'm at DIN 8 skinning in 2017-8 Tecton Evo and need to put toe lever into walk mode to stay in. I need to do the same with Dynafit toes

I can stay in while touring on Salomon Mtn, Kingpin, G3 and older Vipec toes with toe levers in ski mode.

[ticketchecker]

What’s the argument against vipec black toe and tecton heel?

This is the route I'm going for now. Will put the Tecton toes on the shelf and see how this shakes out with Fritschi

[greasyslope]

I hope that Fritschi figures out the glitch, because I am a big fan of their performance so far.

[GravityDT]

I hope that Fritschi figures out the glitch, because I am a big fan of their performance so far.

Have a set I'll be mounting this week as a resort/sidecountry rig on a pr of QST 106s. Not super concerned with the latest discoveries as I'm mostly interested in their skiing performance over locked out toe skinning... that said i'm curious!as to the official 'remedy' vs the just skin in ski mode...


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[counterfeitfake]

I was convinced the Tecton would be the next binding I would buy, but this problem has put me off. What's the second best choice now? Try to find a Vipec Black?

[clong]

I like the idea of a second bump installed higher on the lever, which would give you a force normal to the lever in the event of a knee-fall while touring. The difficulty might be that you might inadvertantly bump it and send it into ski mode. I might try to mount something to my levers and test it on the bench to see if I can get it to release without affecting the ski-mode. Agree the cam is a wildcard, but I would bet it is feasible.

[dcpnz]

For me the idea of modding binding and adding extra bumps stops is ridiculous. Either Fritchi fixes in second release (unlikely) or people have to deal with possibility of boot damage.
I know I’ve taken knee fall a couple of rare times while skinning over past few years. Personally would rather the thing just stayed locked on in those circumstances than punching dent in my boot.

[doebedoe]

I was convinced the Tecton would be the next binding I would buy, but this problem has put me off. What's the second best choice now? Try to find a Vipec Black?

Wait a year and buy a shift?

[telemon10]

For me the idea of modding binding and adding extra bumps stops is ridiculous. Either Fritchi fixes in second release (unlikely) or people have to deal with possibility of boot damage.
I know I’ve taken knee fall a couple of rare times while skinning over past few years. Personally would rather the thing just stayed locked on in those circumstances than punching dent in my boot.

I could be wrong, but I'm not sure any boots were "damaged" in these instances....I think the plastic can be easily pushed back out to its normal shape. Maybe some toes were damaged! I think we'd all prefer the binding toe just stayed locked on, rather than punch the boot, that's the whole issue. I can't ever recall taking a knee fall while skinning, but will certainly be more conscious of the possibility if I'm going downhill with skins on, and will try to remember to put the toe in ski mode.

[John_B]

Wait a year and buy a shift?

Wait 2 years because there will inevitably be some issue with the first run.

[counterfeitfake]

If you have to punch the boot to fix it, it's damage.

As I mentioned before, I've had a similar thing happen with Dynafits many many times (hasn't everyone else??), and the toe unlocks and usually the ski stays on my foot. This seems like a reasonable design.

The other night I was skinning up a steep mogul field in the dark because I'm dumb like that, and I took a solid knee fall onto my Dynafit Superlite. I started sliding down the mountain and then the ski fully ejected. This seemed reasonable, at least it's what I'm used to from years of using Dynafits. It seems like on a Tecton the ski would have stayed attached and I would have a huge divot in my boot. Neither of those things sound desirable in my situation.

If you say knee falls just don't happen or happen very rarely... I feel like you don't tour very much? Or you only tour in nice soft snow conditions, and your skins never slip somehow? I don't know, your usage model is way different than mine. I estimate my klutziness to be no higher than average, I tour in the PNW and I go out on days when it's not really about "fun skiing".

[summit]

If you say knee falls just don't happen or happen very rarely... I feel like you don't tour very much? Or you only tour in nice soft snow conditions, and your skins never slip somehow?

Exactly... spend enough days trying to stick to a sketchy skin track and you will have a knee fall.

The amount of intrusion could definitely give someone some black toenails in addition to damaging the boot. To those that say the plastic is easily popped back and therefor it is not true "damage," sure but what if there is a toe blow and it is thin and breaks? How many times can it be popped back before fatigue compromises the boot? If it is not "damage" then why does it reverse punch have to be fixed?

Bottom line is Fritschi either doesn't care about their customers because they think they have no competitors, or Fritschi is scared of impacting sales because they haven't figured out a cheap fix.

[telemon10]

If you have to punch the boot to fix it, it's damage.

As I mentioned before, I've had a similar thing happen with Dynafits many many times (hasn't everyone else??), and the toe unlocks and usually the ski stays on my foot. This seems like a reasonable design.

The other night I was skinning up a steep mogul field in the dark because I'm dumb like that, and I took a solid knee fall onto my Dynafit Superlite. I started sliding down the mountain and then the ski fully ejected. This seemed reasonable, at least it's what I'm used to from years of using Dynafits. It seems like on a Tecton the ski would have stayed attached and I would have a huge divot in my boot. Neither of those things sound desirable in my situation.

If you say knee falls just don't happen or happen very rarely... I feel like you don't tour very much? Or you only tour in nice soft snow conditions, and your skins never slip somehow? I don't know, your usage model is way different than mine. I estimate my klutziness to be no higher than average, I tour in the PNW and I go out on days when it's not really about "fun skiing".

I guess there's damage that's repairable and damage that isn't. What is the damage if the boot regains it's shape? I don't know squat about plastics, but I guess it could be weakened if it happens repeatedly. I tour more than I ski lift service, and have been for 20 years. About 15 years tele and the last 4 or 5 on dynafits. I just don't recall taking knee falls. Its probably happened and I just don't remember because it wasn't consequential, and I also avoid skinning up mogul fields whenever possible (I'm dumb like that!). I'm not saying the tecton toe design is good. I don't like the idea that the toes don't release in tour mode at all. Seems unsafe on many levels, especially in avy terrain. I'm counting on Fritschi to do the right thing and fix it in future iterations, as well as replace the toes for those of us who forked over the money to beta test the thing.

[garuda]

I guess there's damage that's repairable and damage that isn't. What is the damage if the boot regains it's shape? I don't know squat about plastics, but I guess it could be weakened if it happens repeatedly. I tour more than I ski lift service, and have been for 20 years. About 15 years tele and the last 4 or 5 on dynafits. I just don't recall taking knee falls. Its probably happened and I just don't remember because it wasn't consequential, and I also avoid skinning up mogul fields whenever possible (I'm dumb like that!). I'm not saying the tecton toe design is good. I don't like the idea that the toes don't release in tour mode at all. Seems unsafe on many levels, especially in avy terrain. I'm counting on Fritschi to do the right thing and fix it in future iterations, as well as replace the toes for those of us who forked over the money to beta test the thing.

the toes do release in tour mode, which is one of the safety features of the binding that fritschi touts. They only release laterally, however, at an increased release value, when in tour mode. most other pin bindings don't release laterally in tour mode but will release if your boot toe is far enough forward to trigger the lever back into ski mode.

[telemon10]

the toes do release in tour mode, which is one of the safety features of the binding that fritschi touts. They only release laterally, however, at an increased release value, when in tour mode. most other pin bindings don't release laterally in tour mode but will release if your boot toe is far enough forward to trigger the lever back into ski mode.

Yes, good point...the side release will (or should) function in a twisting fall or if you get caught in a slide while skinning.

[Muggydude]

Any thoughts on backing off the toe din whenever you have the toe locked for skiinning? Not sure how robust the threads are on the screw housing though if it's plastic on metal. Pain in the ass but I'm curious if the toe would release when it's at the lowest setting

[summit]

Any thoughts on backing off the toe din whenever you have the toe locked for skiinning? Not sure how robust the threads are on the screw housing though if it's plastic on metal. Pain in the ass but I'm curious if the toe would release when it's at the lowest setting

Are you suggesting adjusting the DIN each mode transition??

[Muggydude]

Mostly just curious if it would allow the boot to release forwards with the toe in walk mode. Obviously not a viable fix for the issue in any long term sense

[1000-oaks]

^ No-go, it won't forward release in walk mode at any release setting.