PSA: Mount your own fucking skis.

[Vitamin I]

...How do you have so many old salomon bindings? And how do you know they still work?

I have been hoarding metal Salomons for a long time, in anticipation of my little project. And I've been grabbing every Salomon wormscrew metal heel (steel track) I see at thrift stores, even if they come with a plastic toe (DIN=14). The steel track (wormscrew) heel seems to work reliably no matter how old it gets, and I'd just retire them before catastrophe if I ever see the heel wiggle/looseness getting way, way bad. For toes, the metal toes seem reliable no matter how old they get, unless you can see obvious loose toe wing wiggle, or if the toe wing adjustment screw gets loose frequently and needs to be retightened every day, etc. I prefer not to use the Salomon plastic DIN=14 toes, but I've never seen one fail catastrophically, because you just retire them when you see obvious warning signs, like toe wings getting loose every day, etc. Honestly, I don't know if the DIN release values are still accurate on any of these old bindings, or need to be recalibrated, but they hold me in, and I've never had a problem.

A few less common versions of Salomon's DIN=14 bindings had the common low-end weak alloy heel track with tab adjustment (not wormscrew), but with a strong metal heel cup...although that heel had other plastic components that can break with age. I have always rejected those, because that weak alloy tab heel track can break with age, or the plastic slider in the track can break. However, I'm starting to consider using some of those on my least favorite skis in the quiver (which I might ski only 1-2 days per year), because I can "create" pairs of those metal heel cup bindings by mixing and matching parts at the thrift stores (like I could harvest metal-heelcup sliding tab heels from the unpopular Salomon ProPulse DIN=14 bindings, and slide them into any common Salomon DIN=12 alloy heel track). Etc.

.

[plugboots]

I have been hoarding metal Salomons for a long time, in anticipation of my little project. And I've been grabbing every Salomon wormscrew metal heel (steel track) I see at thrift stores, even if they come with a plastic toe (DIN=14). The steel track (wormscrew) heel seems to work reliably no matter how old it gets, and I'd just retire them before catastrophe if I ever see the heel wiggle/looseness getting way, way bad. For toes, the metal toes seem reliable no matter how old they get, unless you can see obvious loose toe wing wiggle, or if the toe wing adjustment screw gets loose frequently and needs to be retightened every day, etc. I prefer not to use the Salomon plastic DIN=14 toes, but I've never seen one fail catastrophically, because you just retire them when you see obvious warning signs, like toe wings getting loose every day, etc. Honestly, I don't know if the DIN release values are still accurate on any of these old bindings, or need to be recalibrated, but they hold me in, and I've never had a problem.

A few less common versions of Salomon's DIN=14 bindings had the common low-end weak alloy heel track with tab adjustment (not wormscrew), but with a strong metal heel cup...although that heel had other plastic components that can break with age. I have always rejected those, because that weak alloy tab heel track can break with age, or the plastic slider in the track can break. However, I'm starting to consider using some of those on my least favorite skis in the quiver (which I might ski only 1-2 days per year), because I can "create" pairs of those metal heel cup bindings by mixing and matching parts at the thrift stores (like I could harvest metal-heelcup sliding tab heels from the unpopular Salomon ProPulse DIN=14 bindings, and slide them into any common Salomon DIN=12 alloy heel track). Etc.

.

Hmmmmm, OK!

[pfluffenmeister]

This project just gets better and better!

[Vitamin I]

...And another thing. I will definitely not even consider using Salomon "Ti" weak alloy heel tracks after they have aged. Salomon product names like "S912 Ti" initially sound like "Titanium is stronger than the non-'Ti' version."...but NO, Salomon meant "Titanium is the lighter-weight version", which is weaker. That same lighter-weight version also had names like "TenEighty" and maybe other terrain park related names. You can feel they are lighter weight in your hands, and you can tap it with a metal screwdriver to hear that it sounds like thinner, lighter-weight metal than the regular kind.

.

[skier666]

Love the metal Salomon clamps porn...

[straightlineorbust]

Sooo, uhh, Vitamin what exactly are you doing with all these skis?

[Dee Hubbs]

Sooo, uhh, Vitamin what exactly are you doing with all these skis?

Duh... he is going to ski them.

[PlayItLeo]

Love the metal Salomon clamps porn...

This

[straightlineorbust]

Followup, are all these skis from thrift stores? Cause if so, ya'll have great fucking thrift stores

[JayPowHound]

Loving it VI! Are you using a jig, or paper templating all these stairwell jobs?

[Vitamin I]

Are you using a jig, or paper templating all these stairwell jobs?

I use a Salomon 3mm-thick rigid plastic toe riser and heel riser as stencils for the holes, and I use a ruler to position those 2 stencils. I also keep FKS risers in my tool bag as stencils, but I've only mounted about 7 pairs of FKS in my life.

Followup, are all these skis from thrift stores? Cause if so, ya'll have great fucking thrift stores

Most of my skis were Ebay scores, but yes... Whistler thrift store is nuts for old ski gear, because 1) many seasonal foreigners donate their skis at the end of April, likely because they forgot to make time to sell their skis before returning to their home nations, and 2) the store puts all the low-demand skis & bindings outside along their parking lot fence, for decoration and for spare parts for a US$3.75 donation. As the store gets flooded with skis at the end of the April rush, the employees drop prices, sometimes as low as US$3.75 for skis if >2 sets of holes, or a broken brake, or some other issue that is easily fixable by me.

Examples:
- Orange race-room Legend Pro 194cm w/bindings for US$35 (was net FREE for me after I flipped the bindings).
- Cochise 193cm for US$36, drilled 2x, but I re-used holes.
- Faction Thirteen 194cm for US$15, yes some sloppy epoxy on topsheet that I had to sand off.
- Megawatt 188cm for US$3.75, because drilled 3 times.
- ZAG H112 195cm for US$36, drilled 2x, but I re-used toe holes.
- O.G. Big Daddy w/1018 bindings for US$16
- Stockli Stormrider DP Pro 193cm w/bindings for US$17
- 2 pairs Salomon DIN=16 bindings for US$3.75 each
- 6.5 pairs Salomon DIN=14 bindings (wormscrew heel) for US$20 total

Rossi S7 trifecta:
- I got 2 "broken" pairs of Rossi S7 195cm for US$15 total, kept the 2 good singles to form my own pair, then re-donated the 2 destroyed singles. Duh. (The Whistler thrift store is also a garbage/recycling depot, so they can easily dispose of the ridiculously damaged donations).
- S7 188cm for US$1.82, yes many drilled holes, but I re-used holes.
- S7 178cm w/bindings (for women friends back home) for US$3.75 because 1 brake was destroyed and looked scary, so I replaced it with a good brake from the "spare parts" skis that line the thrift store's parking lot fence for decoration. Duh.

Some of my memorable Ebay scores were:
- Spatulas in plastic for 202.50 shipped, sniped early morning while everyone else was apparently hungover from St Patricks Day.
- Spurs for US$80 shipped,
- El Dictator 194cm for US$71 shipped
- m103 193cm for US$57 shipped,
- Sally Rocker 192cm for US$51 shipped,
- Katana 190cm for net $3 shipped (after I flipped the bindings)

.

[Vitamin I]

sounds like the parking LoT taco truck tour on hold for now?

Great idea! But there are so many great ideas that I just never get around to executing. Probably no tour next winter, but I could launch the "Club 314" ski lending-library in Whistler next winter. The closer your BSL to my 314mm, the more skis will fit you. (Sorry, I just couldn't tolerate demo bindings on all these skis when metal Salomons rule so much, and it was too intimidating to mount multiple inserts into all of them to fit wider BSL range.) For winter 2018-19, I will likely move all skis to Squaw. Need to think more about the tour idea...

.

[Vitamin I]

Stealth Mounting
Episode 8

Over the past couple of days, between ongoing tasks for my Spatula repair, I mounted 2 pairs of skis in the stairwell of a public parking garage:

- 189cm K2 Pon2oon 2012-14 (precise year TBD), used, now mounted with used mismatched ZZlab 916 heels & ZZlab 920 toes, for 314mm BSL at -10.9cm from true center (-0.1cm from manufacturer recommended line).

- 188cm Black Diamond Megawatt 2009, used, now mounted with used mismatched 957 DIN=20 metal heels & 997 DIN=14 plastic toes (with swapped in shim parts), for 314mm BSL at -11.3cm from true center (+3.4cm from manufacturer recommended line).

[plugboots]

Great idea! But there are so many great ideas that I just never get around to executing. Probably no tour next winter, but I could launch the "Club 314" ski lending-library in Whistler next winter. The closer your BSL to my 314mm, the more skis will fit you. (Sorry, I just couldn't tolerate demo bindings on all these skis when metal Salomons rule so much, and it was too intimidating to mount multiple inserts into all of them to fit wider BSL range.) For winter 2018-19, I will likely move all skis to Squaw. Need to think more about the tour idea...

.

I'm in!!

[mr_pretzel]

"Club 314" ski lending-library in Whistler next winter. The closer your BSL to my 314mm, the more skis will fit you.

.

Cursing my baby 290mm BSL
Would atleast be awesome to shred a lap or two with you next season!

[pfluffenmeister]

307 here!

[skimaxpower]

Probably no tour next winter, but I could launch the "Club 314" ski lending-library in Whistler next winter. The closer your BSL to my 314mm, the more skis will fit you. (Sorry, I just couldn't tolerate demo bindings on all these skis when metal Salomons rule so much, and it was too intimidating to mount multiple inserts into all of them to fit wider BSL range.) For winter 2018-19, I will likely move all skis to Squaw. Need to think more about the tour idea...

I'm a 317 BSL and this idea rocks.

[Vitamin I]

Stealth Mounting
Episode 9: Season Finale

Over a week ago in Whistler, I spent 5 or 6 days repairing and mounting one last pair of skis, partly in the stairwell of a public parking garage, and partly in the hallway of my storage unit:

- 186cm Volant Spatula 2003-04 (precise year TBD), skied 5 days then broke and unmounted many years ago, now repaired and mounted with used S900 920, for 314mm BSL at -5.3cm from true center (+0.1cm from manufacturer recommended line). The full story behind the repair job is at https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...-How-to-Repair


Series Recap:
- 21 pairs of skis “stealth mounted” in 30 days
- No animals were harmed, but all that screwdriver work and tapping work with intense downward pressure has made my already chronically injured wrist feel like it will be worthless for the first month of summer…
- My jeans did not respond well to 21 mount jobs of sitting, pivoting, and rolling around on a concrete stairwell floor.


.

[buttahflake]

Hugh Jass

[detrusor]

Mounted 2 fucking pairs today

Can't fucking send pictures. Thanks

[sb]

New planks in hand, I wanna fkn drill something, where are mah boots?

[detrusor]

Works with full web access I guess

[NW_SKIER]

187 Praxis Protests at -1cm for 307mm Sth2.

[Norseman]

Sick.

[::: :::]

Nice [emoji106]


Looks like you got a couple pairs of extra binders there