Fritschi Tecton

[telemon10]

Mine have performed pretty flawlessly as well, although I had an annoying thing happen while touring over the weekend. While in tour mode and negotiating through thick woods, I realized the brake on one ski was down and dragging. I took the ski off, locked the brake up and continued on. Maybe 10 minutes later I noticed it had happened again, so I was careful to knock the ski several times with tip-down to clear out any snow that was lodged in the heel piece, then re-locked the brake. It never happened again. I assume there was some snow or ice jammed under the brake pad or somewhere in the heel housing that was preventing the brake from fully locking in the up position. I'm also not crazy about how the brakes don't fold in tightly when locked up. I have the 100mm brakes on 98mm skis and they stick out wider than the skis and get caught on things when schwacking in the puckerbrush. I know this has been discussed thoroughly, but in hindsight, I should have gotten the 90mm brakes. I'll just have to get fatter skis!

[nickel]

yeah brakes are weird. 90mm brakes on 94mm skis are still big. 98 probably doesn't even require shaving the brakes.

[LeeLau]

I know its already been pointed out as datapoints but 100mm brakes fit my 115 skis

[telemon10]

Yes, I bought the bindings last year before the details on brakes were made clear. I'll probably pick up a pair of 90 brakes.

[riff]

I’m running with leashes for now ‘cause even with the bd deal brakes are still $60 or $70!?!?!
I’d love to get some 100’s or even 90’s for my 108 waist but damn


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[NorCalNomad]

I’m running with leashes for now ‘cause even with the bd deal brakes are still $60 or $70!?!?!
I’d love to get some 100’s or even 90’s for my 108 waist but damn


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Do you just need the arms? I have an extra set that I could sell you for $20 shipped.

[telemon10]

Do you just need the arms? I have an extra set that I could sell you for $20 shipped.

What size arms and how do you swap them? I'd be interested if they are 90mm.

[LeeLau]

What size arms and how do you swap them? I'd be interested if they are 90mm.

telemon i put up some pics in this super long thread. They just snap in and out fyi. No tools needed. If anyone has access you can buy or scrounge old arms from old Fritschi Diarmir Freerides and they work in the Tecton and Vipec. If you need the brake pad plastic thingy into which the arms insert then that's something you have to get from BD

[telemon10]

telemon i put up some pics in this super long thread. They just snap in and out fyi. No tools needed. If anyone has access you can buy or scrounge old arms from old Fritschi Diarmir Freerides and they work in the Tecton and Vipec. If you need the brake pad plastic thingy into which the arms insert then that's something you have to get from BD

That is a game-changer....I had no idea! I have an old set of Diamir Freerides with brakes I can probably use. Thanks LeeLau! I missed your post, but will look for it.

[riff]

Whoa! Damn interesting info lee.
Pm sent to norcal too.


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[telemon10]

I just discovered why my brake wasn't staying up in tour mode--one side of the heel pad brake off, so it doesn't take much force to pop the brake open now. I'm pretty sure it happened because the brake arms don't fold in tight to the ski and they probably caught on something while I was skinning through tight, dense woods. I always put the binding in tour mode by first depressing the brake pad with my hand, then placing the heel in tour mode. I never put the heel piece in tour mode first and then stomp on the brake pad--that has been shown to cause the plastic heel pad to break. I put in a warranty claim with BD--we'll see what happens.

[Adrgha]

The brakes sticking out is my one annoyance with these things so far. I have them mounted on a 124 mm ski, and they stick out a great deal. I'm actually not sure what width these are (bought them slightly used), but they don't fold in much at all when retracted.

[TahoeJ]

I had my first issue with the Tecton brakes yesterday not staying up. Skinned 7 miles and they were fine, but it was after my first transition that it occurred. Came to the conclusion that it was due to just a little icing underneath the brake pad that collected while skiing down. Once I really scraped it clean, they stayed up in place after that.

[SupreChicken]

I got an email saying they were dealing with my warranty request and the next day a new set of toes showed up with the non-dimpling toe bump and no instructions or request to send my old toes back.

Can’t imagine it working out better than that.

[galibier_numero_un]

Do I have it right, that other than width labeling, the brake architecture on Evos/Tectons is identical to Vipec Blacks?

The pics in post #s 700 & 909 look the same.

Edit: Never mind. I saw Lee's Post above. Kudos indeed to Fritschi for reverse compatibility.

Never had issues with my Blacks like what's being reported. Maybe just luck or dry Colorado snow?

... Thom

[yellofin]

Is there an adjustment to the toe bumper that lines up the step in. I so far love the way these ski and tour but stepping in has been a challenge even when the toe piece is clean. Stepping into kingpins and Verts was easy I have used Tecnica Cochise 120’s for all bindings. So far I haven’t had to transition in sketchy conditions.

[TahoeJ]

I have Cochise 120’s and one of the pluses of the Tecton is how much easier it is to step into than Kingpins. Funny, different approaches I guess. Try stepping into these almost like a regular binding in terms of boot angle.

[yellofin]

I have Cochise 120’s and one of the pluses of the Tecton is how much easier it is to step into than Kingpins. Funny, different approaches I guess. Try stepping into these almost like a regular binding in terms of boot angle.

Maybe I’m holding my heels up to high

[TahoeJ]

Maybe I’m holding my heels up to high

Likely the case - which you absolutely had to do to get into the kingpin toes.

[yellofin]

i try hover the toe, rest the heel on the binder, then set the toe. not a perfect system but it helps when the stars align.

Thanks to Tahoe and you for the tip. The toes definitely don’t click in as easy as and not as forgiving of not having the heels aligned.
Boy do they ski great I have pushed them very hard on mixed conditions at the resort an at my weight of 165 lbs I felt totally comfortable with them. I did bury the tips off piste on some hidden brush and both toes released smoothly as advertised. They are mounted on wildcat tour 108’s so light but they charge and slarve and hold an edge so much fun. Don’t ski crud or chopped up pow like my Bibby’s but there so light and nimble that a lighter approach to these conditions will be all I could ask for.

[SupreChicken]

Thanks to Tahoe and you for the tip. The toes definitely don’t click in as easy as and not as forgiving of not having the heels aligned.
Boy do they ski great I have pushed them very hard on mixed conditions at the resort an at my weight of 165 lbs I felt totally comfortable with them. I did bury the tips off piste on some hidden brush and both toes released smoothly as advertised. They are mounted on wildcat tour 108’s so light but they charge and slarve and hold an edge so much fun. Don’t ski crud or chopped up pow like my Bibby’s but there so light and nimble that a lighter approach to these conditions will be all I could ask for.

An upgrade from your old cd110 then?

[yellofin]

An upgrade from your old cd110 then?

I like them in open terrain but they are a true 186 length and almost a straight tail just a little to much ski for me. Definitely not as playful as the 108’s

[Adrgha]

So I just noticed this on after a weekend of skiing my Tectons. I had a crash on Saturday in deep pow where one of the skis caught on a branch, so it must've happened then. It doesn't look like it'll affect anything, but I have to say I'm a little skeptical to the durability of the plastic construction.

Attachment 265718

Well, I talked to the distributor, and they actually sent me a new toe piece. Unfortunately this new toe piece is the old type that I had, but I guess I should be happy they replaced it at all.

[telemon10]

A helpful video about mounting brakes to Tecton and Vipec (NOTE: Tecton starts around 1:08).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STGdNEDWWxc

[CSG]

F&&&*CK!!!

Slipped on a ice hard exposed skin, fell/slipped forward and boots are ruined! Now I'm going over this thread to figure out my options.

From the last few pages of the thread, seems like BD is great to work with (consistent with my and people I know ' s experience), so ok, fine, maybe I'll get new toes. I would have maybe liked to have gotten better toe pieces before ruingn my boot (Salomon MTN guides... hopefully they can get punched... will read through the thread..)

Here's a quote from a few pages ago from Fritschi reps:

"This is a relatively uncommon issue with approx 30 known instances, in spite of thousand of units sold. None of the known cases are with the boots you have, and as such this will not be cause for a warranty replacement of the toe."

Either the '30 known instances' is rubbish or I'm extraordinarily unlucky. Regardless, that's some pretty lousy attitude from Fritschi.

In case anyone cares:
I've had 40 - 50 days on these (BD Helio 105s / Salomon MTN guides). They're fine. Can't really tell the difference from various dynafit bindings I've used on the down. I don't like their ski crampon design over dynafit. i'm in the market for a ski mountaineering / traverse ski and these bindings are *not* on the short list.