TEST YOUR BINDINGS!

[summit]

TEST YOUR BINDINGS!

I tested mine today after I got hurt Saturday. Turns out my bindings, set at 8, were releasing at 11.5 for forward lean!!! These were Look P12s. The toes were releasing at 9.5. I tested my Marker Comp 1400 Piston Motions, also set to 8 on the dial, and they were releasing at 9 and 10. I've tuned them back to 8. But, this goes to show that its worth it to test your bindings... your joints and bones could expierience much higher forces than you expected during a fall because they aren't releasing properly.

I think the culprit with my bindings was the boot wear which increases friction. Look/Rossis are very succeptable to boot wear and release problems while markers dont care so much. Sollys are inbetween depends a lot on model.

[Blurred Elevens]

I'll be testing mine hucking in East Vail with you tomorrow....hehe

[summit]

Hell ya!

Of course with my luck I'll now prelease in the deep!

[snowsprite]

How would I test them?
Any advice appreciated--I really should understand how they operate better.
Thanks,
Sprite

[ulty_guy]

bring 'em to a shop and they'll test them for you. really should do it at the beginning of each season and maybe again at some point.

[Mulletizer]

Originally posted by ulty_guy
bring 'em to a shop and they'll test them for you. really should do it at the beginning of each season and maybe again at some point.

How do they do it? Do they have some kind of torque gauge attached to a boot sole?

[CaddyDaddy77]

It's basically a torque wrench that measures in Newton meters. When you find your din, it has what are called in -use and inspection ranges on the far right colloumn of the din chart these are used as pararmeters for wht the readings should test out at.

Summit, are you sure you didn't read the in-use values as your release values?

[Viva]

Sprite, you'll need to bring your boots in addition to your skies for the test to be performed.

[snowsprite]

Okay, thanks!

[Foggy_Goggles]

The device most shops use is called a Vermont Calibrater invented by a dude I know in Underhill Ctr, VT. All it is a torque wrench attached to a "foot" that goes inside the boot. It can test both twist (toe) and forward lean (heel). As a former head rental monkey, I've used this POS literally 10s of 1000s of times.

In my opinion, the binder is a much more accurate piece of equipment than the Vermont Calibrater. This reason for its invention has more to due with appeasing the insurance requirements of both the ski shop and the binding makers. As long as your techs are certified, the binders are tested, and the paperwork is correctly filled out, the manu is supposed to "indemnify" the shop and employee. I have only seen a handfull of binder pass "visual inspection" and fail the torque test. The results you get on the device are very affected by the operator and the "way" he/she does the test. You can make any binder fail with a tweak here and there. Winterstiger makes a much more sophisticated machine but I've never used it. I think only big chains can afford it. In a nutshell, this guy made a ton of money (they cost >$2K) for a smoke and mirror contraption designed to keep the trial lawyers out of the ski industry. Nothing makes a shop owner turn white faster than a customer walking in on crutched telling the tech that their binders were adjusted wrong. The shop I worked at did about $1MM in rental business a year between about 4 locations. We always had atleast 1 suit pending against us at all time. Without exception, the suits at Salomon always stepped up and backed us. The kicker is that the renter signs that the visual indicators match what's or the form so if the proper setting is 5 and thats on the paper work, you are all set. Now a computer calculates the setting based on data the renter inputs so as long as the computer doesn't f-ed, the shop is covered. Don't think that binders aren't readjusted after injuries to cover the tech's ass.

[midget]

There is also a machine that will do the same job and takes a lot of the operator error out of it.......that is if it's working and calibrated correctly.

[summit]

Originally posted by midget
There is also a machine that will do the same job and takes a lot of the operator error out of it.......that is if it's working and calibrated correctly.

That's what our shop has. That is what we use. Quite accurate. I believe it is made by Montana.