Fritschi Vipec review thread

[cat in january]

Thanks for clarifying Not keen on pieces of kit falling off. Is the toe bump release for releasing ski if toe is in touring mode (which would be great) or is it just related to forward release in ski mode?

[LeeLau]

I've got a few reservations still about Vipecs but the clips falling out? Not happened to me or to anyone else. I actually had to pry pretty hard to get them to fall out

[galibier_numero_un]

I find they're difficult to remove as well, but I expect that repetitively R&R-ing them might loosen them up, which is why I'm going to fit a bumper to one of my pairs of boots.

...Thom

[turbomike15]

I've got a few reservations still about Vipecs but the clips falling out? Not happened to me or to anyone else. I actually had to pry pretty hard to get them to fall out

Have you already elaborated on your reservations Lee?

[LeeLau]

Have you already elaborated on your reservations Lee?

Yes. See article

[NorCalNomad]

I was wondering about choices as well. They do seem solid, at least.

Noticed that G3 is selling an adapter to attach their Ion Binding to anything.

http://us-store.genuineguidegear.com...on-adaptor-kit

[XavierD]

Defiantly a good option for those considering the Vipec.

Re: G3 ion crampon. Easiest ski crampon I've ever used. Big fan of the simplicity and ease of use. Slightly less grip than a Dynafit crampon, but still enough. Big draw back is lack of sizes. I believe it is 90, 105 and 130mm. 105mm crampon just barely fits over my ZeroG 108. Anything wider and I would be forced to jump to a ~130mm crampon.

[NorCalNomad]

And bending alum = dicey business :/

[cat in january]

I have ridden Dynafits for the last 7 years with leashes. Bought Vipecs this Spring and I am faced with the decision of whether to go with brakes. Wrote BD about removing brakes for leash attachment and this is what they sent back which I thought was useful information:

Yes you are able to remove the brakes to use the Vipec with a leash. You will want to remove the brake and re install the brake plate. What you will want to do is remove the brake platform that holds the brakes on. You will then remove the brake and re-screw the brake platform onto the binding. The reason that you will want to re-screw the platform onto the binding is that our Vipec is not a free floating heel like the Dynafit. Our brake is designed to be flush against the bottom of the boot while in ski mode.

[retirwntm]

I'd use the brakes. Seems they are set to function with them. Plus - the advantage of no brakes was weight. These already seem light. The disadvantage of leashes is they suck for any avy event and they hurt like a son of whore if you fall on them or they snap back on you.

I never saw leashes as a huge advantage except the early dynafits had shitty brakes that never really worked so leashes were better than non functioning brakes.

[cat in january]

I used to think harder to loose in powder and reassuring using where I felt a little sketched putting on skis.

These are my first skis with seeming real brakes-did not like the dynafit verticals. Most likely going to use the brakes for the ease, but it has been 7 years on leashes so a change. I just did the leashes when I did my boots, so not much of an issue except when taking skis off and on to walk over burned out sections.

[SUPERIOR]

Warning to all used Vipec buyers:

The adjustable toe pin will confuse the shit out of ski techs and you should adjust it yourself if needed.

I just dropped $45 bucks on a professional mount, then came back in to ask for the toe pins to be adjusted, as they were loose.

The ski tech actually didn't have the parts to adjust the pins, so I had to buy a wrench and loctite at the local Napa Auto for him.

Sadly, he charged me labor for the pin adjustment, and I now feel ripped off and stupid.

I guess I just wanted the piece of mind that a highly reputable shop had mounted the tech binding.

Moral of the story: mount your own fucking skis.

[whyturn]

Pulled the trigger on Black Friday
Now to mount and ski. Onward

[otto parts]

^All speed?

[whyturn]

^^^yep. They could not do 120 brakes but I got 108 for my 110 ski

[jroz]

Shud be good my 108 brakes were more like 120's. Some info on that a few pages back

[NorCalNomad]

Odd, my 120's brakes seemed smaller.

On my BD Amps (115 waist) I even mounted them +1.5 and had to file the inside of the plastic hooks a bit to make them clear without touching the ski.

[Lindahl]

Shud be good my 108 brakes were more like 120's. Some info on that a few pages back

You got 120s, not 108s. The brakes barely, if at all, fit their respective sizes.

[galibier_numero_un]

You got 120s, not 108s. The brakes barely, if at all, fit their respective sizes.

Yes!

Brakes might be the simplest thing to fix in this design, and yet they're the most frustrating. I ordered the next size up from the ones supposedly delivered with my Vipec Blacks (read back through this thread regarding my puzzlement about sizing - BD catalog vs. Euro specification) and found them to be the same size.

At that point, I gave up and bent them to fit my 108mm waisted skis. Bending can be a bit challenging because the fulcrum area generates the spring tension to actuate the brake. You need to maintain the actuating pressure when bending the brakes. If you don't, this is where I believe the sticky actuation comes from.

I love these bindings, but their brakes frustrate me. It seems to be an attribute of most tech bindings (not having played with Kingpins and Beasts). G3 Ion brakes are one of the exceptions, in that they're very good in this respect. Not being able to swap them is a non-starter for me. If I ever get another pair of Ions it will be the lights.

... Thom

[NorCalNomad]

Anyone have luck bending down the metal step in wire on their 1st and 2nd gen toe pieces to get the plastic step in locators to work better?

[sklar]

I did some more pre releasing on my Radical ST 1.0's last weekend before I locked out.
Is it a reasonable assumption that I'll be able to ski Vipec's without locking out?
It's not like I ski crazy hard, 175lbs, 5'11", heavy WA snow sometimes though. Mounted on pow sticks.

[LeeLau]

I did some more pre releasing on my Radical ST 1.0's last weekend before I locked out.
Is it a reasonable assumption that I'll be able to ski Vipec's without locking out?
It's not like I ski crazy hard, 175lbs, 5'11", heavy WA snow sometimes though. Mounted on pow sticks.

I believe so. 160lbs. I had to ski Verticals at 10 to get them to not pre-release. I could ski Vipecs Kingpins and Radical 2.0s at 8 without pre-release

[smooth operator]

isn't the whole idea with the elasticity in the toes of the Vipec (and rad 2.0/beast) that they don't prerelease any more?

Don't have any hands on experience with the Vipec, but my beasts have never ever pre-released in the 2 seasons of skiing them pretty full on.

[LeeLau]

isn't the whole idea with the elasticity in the toes of the Vipec (and rad 2.0/beast) that they don't prerelease any more?

Don't have any hands on experience with the Vipec, but my beasts have never ever pre-released in the 2 seasons of skiing them pretty full on.

Exactly. It has a bit of added give to the binding as a system. Also when the toe is deflected a bit (by a hard hit), the heel is also less deflected (think of the entire boot going sideways as opposed to just the heel going sideways with bindings without a toepiece that can deflect and return to centre). I think of it as improving Return to Centre characteristics. Not sure if that's a technical term

[sklar]

isn't the whole idea with the elasticity in the toes of the Vipec (and rad 2.0/beast) that they don't prerelease any more?

Yea, I'm wondering if it actually works. If I have to ski them locked out, there is no use in switching form my radicals