Freeride Brakes

[laseranimal]

Is it possible to order Freerides with wide brakes? Or am I stuck buying standards and either bending them or spending $50 on wide brakes

[fez]

When i bought my freerides a couple years ago, i ordered them right from Black Diamond and they included the wide brakes free. Most other retailers charged extra for the wide brakes.

[El Chupacabra]

Is it possible to order Freerides with wide brakes? Or am I stuck buying standards and either bending them or spending $50 on wide brakes

You can order them with wide brakes. If you end up with some with narrow brakes, call Black Diamond - they will arrange an exchange for you for no cost.

[Vinman]

from the BD website

new model http://www.bdel.com/gear/diamir_brakes.php

old model http://www.bdel.com/php/cart.php?add...parts_snow.php

[Particle]

We used to sell them with wide brakes directly...no upcharge:
http://www.backcountry.com/store/BLD...e-Binding.html

looks like it's not an option on that page but I'm sure if you gave our CS a call they could work it out for ya.

[Buzzworthy]

When I got mine they had the normal brakes, called em, they said they would exchange them for $9. That was good enough for me, the difference in the price of the two sizes.

[Cirquerider]

Just talked with Marcie in CS at Backcountry. (I bought another set 2 weeks ago.) No dice. I even offered to pay for the up-charge. Either I buy all new brakes or live with bending the mediums that came with the binding. Backcountry Access would not offer any kind of exchange. These guys used to be really good about it and freely swapped wide brakes for my last set in 03/04.

BTW, I asked the same question at the time I ordered, and had the same answer, so, no surprises. Figured it couldn't hurt to ask again. Bottom line, add the $63 bucks into your budget if you need wide.

[Particle]

Looking into it for you Cirque...this was one of my favorite things that Backcountry did and I'm pissed to see it gone. Will update with what I find out.

[Cirquerider]

Sure appreciate the effort. The brakes are catching on the deck. Haven't started bending yet (no snow in Tahoe). Sure hope you can help. Picture shows released position with no boot in position, standard medium brake, no bending on 94 mm Mantra ski.

[Core Shot]

Just talked with Marcie in CS at Backcountry. (I bought another set 2 weeks ago.) No dice. I even offered to pay for the up-charge. Either I buy all new brakes or live with bending the mediums that came with the binding. Backcountry Access would not offer any kind of exchange. These guys used to be really good about it and freely swapped wide brakes for my last set in 03/04.

BTW, I asked the same question at the time I ordered, and had the same answer, so, no surprises. Figured it couldn't hurt to ask again. Bottom line, add the $63 bucks into your budget if you need wide.

Ouch.
I guess that explains why wide brakes have been selling for $40 on egay.

If backcountry cant get wide brakes included from Fritschi, then they should at least offer the upgrade at cost for those folks that are buying a spendy binder.

[El Chupacabra]

Did anyone try calling Black Diamond like I suggested?

BD's customer service is second to none. They offered to send me wide brakes in advance, then for me to just ship them back the narrow brakes when I got to it. I was ordering a pile of other stuff from them at the time -- when I got through with my list, they said "go ahead and take the wide brakes, free, don't worry about sending us the narrow ones back."

Other alternative -- that I haven't tried myself -- supposedly Fritschi brake arms are interchangeable with Salomon. So although the new Fritschi arms are supposedly brittle, Salomon ones aren't -- so get yourself some wide (or bendably wide) Salomon brakes and do some swapping.

[Cirquerider]

The real wierdness on the Fritschi Freeride brake is that it is rated at 98 mm wide. The problem is it is unreliable in opening to its full width. Since a brake is safety equipment, the word "unreliable" really shouldn't be part of the description. Anyway, the medium binding fits over teh 94 mm waist of the V-Mantra, but instead of moving out and down, it first catches on the top of the ski. So, while the brake is rated for 98 mm, it has some design flaws that prevent it from performing reliably on even a 94 mm waist ski. Safety/Reliability really ought to be the issue with Black Diamond and Fritschi. The picture below shows the brake extended, but with only 2 mm clearance, it sticks during release.

[Core Shot]

I think you can safely bend to fit your Mantras.

All you are doing is spreading the brakes a bit to get clearance. I have done this with the bindings on the skis (grab each brake arm and pull outward without torqueing the plastic). To be safe, you can easily remove the brake.

Compare this to the "P18 brake bending thread" where you straighten the brake arm, then re-bend it further out.

I wouldn't spend $60 for new brakes when you are that close.

[Cirquerider]

The original question in the thread was "is it possible to order with wide brakes". The answer to that was no. Particle offered to look into why the free exchange policy has apparently changed. If exchange does not work out, I will bend the brakes, no problem. At this point we are still running down the original question asked by Laseranimal. I apologize for the thread hyjack based on my personal interest.

When bindings cost over $400 you would think an option to select the appropriate brake size would be included? I mean, we're not talking about a garage sale item here.

[Mountain Junkie]

Did anyone try calling Black Diamond like I suggested?

BD's customer service is second to none. They offered to send me wide brakes in advance, then for me to just ship them back the narrow brakes when I got to it. I was ordering a pile of other stuff from them at the time -- when I got through with my list, they said "go ahead and take the wide brakes, free, don't worry about sending us the narrow ones back."

People on this forum can be really dense. I've mentioned in a couple Freeride wide brake threads that all you have to do is call BD-and no one ever listens. I think people just like to bitch about it.

Backcountry Access would not offer any kind of exchange.

Huh? Do you mean backcountry.com? I don't think Backcountry Access is going to have Fritschi brakes.

[Cirquerider]

People on this forum can be really dense. I've mentioned in a couple Freeride wide brake threads that all you have to do is call BD-and no one ever listens. I think people just like to bitch about it.


Huh? Do you mean backcountry.com? I don't think Backcountry Access is going to have Fritschi brakes.

As a dense person, I can only say, I have a call in and am waiting on a return call from Brett at BD. As far as bitching, I think it would just be easier if the option for wide existed at the time you place your order. That is where the system is busted. Yeah, Backcountry.com...don't know why I typed BCA.

BD called back and offered to swap at the price of shipping ($5). For the guys with wider 100 mm+ skis, the ability to choose width at the time of ordering would be better than messing with exchanges.

[Particle]

Well looks like Backcountry.com's policy has changed b/c the brake itself has changed. Here's the straight dope on why we used to do the swap and don't now:

"That was because the old Freeride’s binding only “stretched” to 84 mm – the new Freeride comes standard with a brake the goes up to 98mm – really no need to offer the wide brake version anymore – We still sell a Wide brake for older models but that only goes to 100 mm."

So looks like if you've got a 100+ waisted ski...maybe gotta get the wide brake. But 98-ish waists you should be able to safely bend them a little bit to make it work safely and reliably. Sorry for the letdown...