G3 ION tech binding

[Pudge.]

I would assume same heel drill for simplicity's sake, any screws in the vicinity of the brake? Or only rearward of it?

[XXX-er]

Speaking of leashes, does anyone have any thoughts as to the least intrusive place to attach powder cords? I'm not a fan of digging for skis

That little spot on the front of the lever looks like a candidate for some 3mm cord, but I don't want to interfere with the touring action. I suppose it's time to experiment and report back.

Not sure how to post an in-stream photo, but here are possible solutions:

http://www.galibierdesign.com/images...n_0800_Med.jpg
http://www.galibierdesign.com/images...l_0800_Med.jpg

Edit: packing up for 4 days at Alta ... field testing time

Cheers,
Thom

http://bndskigear.com/skileash.html

thats more or less how B & D attaches their leashes, these are long enough you can just loop around the boot, I ordered several for myself and friends who seem to like them, I haven't used mine yet

[AlpiNord]

Why not simply mount an eye screw/bolt behind the binding?

Speaking of leashes, does anyone have any thoughts as to the least intrusive place to attach powder cords? I'm not a fan of digging for skis

That little spot on the front of the lever looks like a candidate for some 3mm cord, but I don't want to interfere with the touring action. I suppose it's time to experiment and report back.

Not sure how to post an in-stream photo, but here are possible solutions:

http://www.galibierdesign.com/images...n_0800_Med.jpg
http://www.galibierdesign.com/images...l_0800_Med.jpg

Edit: packing up for 4 days at Alta ... field testing time

Cheers,
Thom

[1000-oaks]

Sounds like these are holding up well for the down, but the brakes are releasing a lot while in climb mode according to the comments on Wildsnow. Any home-brew fixes, short of removing the brakes?

[frorider]

I would say the problem with the plastic base plate and metal toe not fitting together is because they fit perfectly. I had the problem and took the binding off and the plastic mates perfectly with the the metal. If the holes aren't lined up really straight it take some persuasion to get the metal toe to mate perfectly with plastic base and sit flat on the ski.

Just saw this post, sorry. On one of my bindings the plastic fits the Alu plate perfectly. On the other, it didn't. Two of the holes in the plastic piece were obviously too close to each other. I can post pics when I get a chance. The fix via dremel was obvious. As I've posted, this is a simple quality control issue. I've checked out pairs in shops that didn't have this issue.

[frorider]

After dremeling.

[neck beard]

the brakes are releasing a lot while in climb mode according to the comments on Wildsnow.

About three times for me in 35 days of use. Only when I am using the heel riser, which is not so often.

Twice I rotated the heel into ski mode, but the brakes remained locked in tour mode. I just spun the heel piece around a few times in different directions and it corrected.

The toe lock lever is tearing the plastic hook on my BD pole handles to pieces. Not a big deal, but the hook wont be there for much longer.

[granteezy]

After dremeling.

I've mounted two pairs and both sets had no such issues FWIW.

[Adrgha]

About three times for me in 35 days of use. Only when I am using the heel riser, which is not so often.

Twice I rotated the heel into ski mode, but the brakes remained locked in tour mode. I just spun the heel piece around a few times in different directions and it corrected.

The toe lock lever is tearing the plastic hook on my BD pole handles to pieces. Not a big deal, but the hook wont be there for much longer.

This has happened only once for me in about 30 tours of various length, and I use heel risers most of the time. Ie, it's not been a problem for me. I wonder what causes it?

I bought a pair of G3 Via adjustable poles after I landed on one of my BD poles and snapped it in half, and the extra large hooks/lips on these are proving quite useful paired with the Ions.

[AlpiNord]

A couple days ago on the bench the brakes did not lock in place. (I also think when I was first getting familiar with the binding it occurred, but not certain.) I rotated the heel 180° and it locked. It definitely had me wondering about the locking mechanism wearing out over time and of course at a very inconvenient moment.

[1000-oaks]

Looks pretty easy to remove the brakes, but it doesn't look like it leaves a very good heel pad for flat-touring?

Nice photo of next year's brakeless LT12 (looks like a shorter rear mount pattern).

[LJC]

Looks pretty easy to remove the brakes, but it doesn't look like it leaves a very good heel pad for flat-touring?

Nice photo of next year's brakeless LT12 (looks like a shorter rear mount pattern).

Are these going to be any chapter thanthe models with brakes?

[galibier_numero_un]

Why not simply mount an eye screw/bolt behind the binding?

Thanks Terry,

Ya know ... I just ended up doing that after returning from Utah. I mounted p-clips with some spare Quiver Killer inserts.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, they're made of various materials, but I found some galvanized ones that look like this: http://www.armadaleautoparts.com/use...l/p_clamps.jpg

Cheers,
Thom

[galibier_numero_un]

http://bndskigear.com/skileash.html

thats more or less how B & D attaches their leashes, these are long enough you can just loop around the boot, I ordered several for myself and friends who seem to like them, I haven't used mine yet

Thanks for the link. I think I may finally put leashes on a pair of skis with older Dynafiddles (TLT Comforts), and perhaps also on a Vertical ST equipped pair. I can't trust the brakes on these older bindings anyhow (especially the Comforts).

One thing I've always wondered about with the "fused" links on the various rigs people put together, is what the forces are during a typical fall on steep terrain. I read B&D's analysis (regarding longer leash length etc.), but I'm trying to visualize what the effect would be if you took a tumble on 40 degree terrain and slid for 30 or 40 yards, dragging the ski with you. Is 50# holding force really enough? Then again, do you really want to be attached to your skis in a situation like this, and if not, where will they end up (without brakes)

It might be time to do some long term fused leash testing, using brakes as a backup. It might raise my confidence level in the system enough to simplify and remove the brakes.

Last week, I had a pre-release on a ski equipped with Dynafit Vertical ST's mounted on them. It was on relatively flat terrain, cutting a hard right turn onto the cat track at the bottom of Pallivacini at A-basin. The ski didn't come to a stop for about 50 yards (traveling on 4-6" of wind-blown powder). I watched it almost go out of sight. At first, I thought it might be the typical weak, or frozen Dynafit spring scenario, but this wasn't the case. The spring deployed but the ski still took off.

Cheers,
Thom

[neck beard]

I've skied about 40 days on a pair of IONS. Today I noticed the Mz release value was backed off so far that the orange screw edge was not even visible in the window. The screw head itself was loose, under no tension. The same on both skis. Mz was set to less than 5. It was previously set on 7. In the last few days I noticed easy twisting heel pieces that I swear I did not notice before. The recent easy twist in my hand prompted me to investigate. Either:

1. I have an enemy with access to my ski room.
2. I am really stupid and never set the Mz value, and it never "pre-released" in over 40 days on the ski. What Mz do they ship with?
3. It worked its way loose on both skis.

[Knut]

What Mz do they ship with?

I just uboxed a pair and they were set to 9ish. One at 9, the other one nearly at 10. So it might vary...

[neck beard]

Thanks, and damn. I was hoping they were set to zero and I am stupid. But as you say, perhaps they ship with a wide range of MZ values pre-set. Though I am 99.9% sure I set mine correctly when I mounted them. I only noticed the loose-twisting heel pieces recently.

[Knut]

Well, that's disappointing. But there should be an easy fix for it: unscrew the Mz value screw, put some loctite low strength on it and rescrew it in. But carefull, it's very, and I mean really super easy to set the screw slightly tilted and ruin the treads in the casing.

[Adrgha]

Just checked mine. Skied them since december. I don't know exactly how many days, but quite a few. The screws haven't moved at all, and they're set to about 9. They were set to roughly 6 when I got them.

[1000-oaks]

Loctite dries hard and is really designed to secure metal-to-metal threads only once (for automotive parts that are installed & never adjusted, for example), and must be reapplied if the screw is ever turned. Not an ideal choice for binding adjustment or insert screws, particularly since Loctite is known to cause cracks in some plastics. I do a fair amount of automotive work, rebuild engines, etc. and use plenty of Loctite, but it's not something I'd ever use on ski gear.

For an adjustment screw, use a gummy threadlocker like Vibra-tite VC-3, since it can be moved many times and still provides good resistance to the screw turning without being reapplied.

[zeroforhire]

Loctite dries hard and is really designed to secure threads only once (for automotive parts that are installed & never adjusted, for example), and must be reapplied if the screw is ever turned. Not an ideal choice for binding adjustment or insert screws, particularly since Loctite is known to cause cracks in plastic. I do a fair amount of automotive work, rebuild engines, etc. and use plenty of Loctite, but it not something I'd ever use on ski gear.

For an adjustment screw, use a gummy threadlocker like Vibra-tite VC-3, since it can be moved many times and still provides resistance to the screw turning.

+1 I use this on my sollyfit plates. Works great.

[Knut]

Loctite dries hard and is really designed to secure metal-to-metal threads only once (for automotive parts that are installed & never adjusted, for example), and must be reapplied if the screw is ever turned. Not an ideal choice for binding adjustment or insert screws, particularly since Loctite is known to cause cracks in some plastics. I do a fair amount of automotive work, rebuild engines, etc. and use plenty of Loctite, but it's not something I'd ever use on ski gear.

For an adjustment screw, use a gummy threadlocker like Vibra-tite VC-3, since it can be moved many times and still provides good resistance to the screw turning without being reapplied.

Very good point!

That's what I meant, actually. But obviously I got it quite wrong. Here in Europe a vast amount of screw glues are sold under the label loctite (and most people use "loctite" even as a word meaning "some sort of screw securing glue of any brand and type"), but yes, it is recommendable to use a glue for securing reusable/readjustable screw connections.

[XXX-er]

loctite also makes different types of threadlocker for different apps, if you got plumber's teflon thread sealing tape kiciking around you could try that also

[el hefe]

My buddy is up at the Hilda Hut for the week, just got a message he had a major Ion failure. Details soon I hope. Good thing he had a back up pair

[bobsdesk]

My buddy is up at the Hilda Hut for the week, just got a message he had a major Ion failure. Details soon I hope. Good thing he had a back up pair

That sucks. I'm interested in hearing what the failure was. I have probably have 15 days on my Ions, there's a considerable (1-2mm) amount of vertical slop (ie, they move up / down 1-2mm) in the heel pins. Both heel pieces. No response from my local shop yet.