powers
New member
Back in the old days...
....I used to use a modified hand torque wrench to test bindings, a Vermont Safety unit I believe. Now a lot of shops use an electronic tester that pushes the boot out at the touch of a button. The big advantage with the hand test was that you developed a feel for what a correct heel/toe release feels like. You could put a ski on the bench and tell if the binding was functoning smoothly or not. The standard for binding testing gives you a peak value for release or force in Newton /meters or ANSI equivilent foot-pounds. It does not specify the amount of energy required to be absorbed before release, which is force over a period of time. Looks/Rossi's with the turn table heels require a huge amount of energy to release for a given DIN setting. They absorb huge shocks well and hardly pre-release. This is fine if you are skilled enough to recover from the shock. So, you could hit a bump wrong but still be in control of your line and have something to ski out of or land a big air on your shovels and butter your way out. On the other end of the spectrum are ESS/ATOMIC bindings. They have very little elastic travel and are notorious for pre releasing. Not a good bump binding but an okay race setup. They were the first to use the rail type mount and eliminated the flat spot under foot. But, hit a bump wrong and you were gone. most users cranked up the setting into the max ranges and when they did release, they broke. POS's, rest in hell with the Nava soft boot system. In the middle are the Tyrolia's/Marker's/Salomon's. Marker's were/are known for "Markering" out or tripping the Twincam system and not releasing. This caused the boot to stay in the binding until the next turn when just floated away. Usually why people don't like them for bumps. MRR's, BTW, were great turn tables and had excellent energy absorbtion, except your buddy could hit the button on the heel with his pole just as you were going to push off, causing you to kick his @$$. I have used all brands of bindings and all have thier good points and bad points. Big thing is 1. Get them tested every year or 20 days. 2. Inspect them for cracks. 3. DO NOT let your former ski racing buddy stuff duct tape on the AFD's to correct your "hip angle". Most importaintly, 4. only tip the mechanic with BROWN bottles, preferably one's that require a bottle opener.
....I used to use a modified hand torque wrench to test bindings, a Vermont Safety unit I believe. Now a lot of shops use an electronic tester that pushes the boot out at the touch of a button. The big advantage with the hand test was that you developed a feel for what a correct heel/toe release feels like. You could put a ski on the bench and tell if the binding was functoning smoothly or not. The standard for binding testing gives you a peak value for release or force in Newton /meters or ANSI equivilent foot-pounds. It does not specify the amount of energy required to be absorbed before release, which is force over a period of time. Looks/Rossi's with the turn table heels require a huge amount of energy to release for a given DIN setting. They absorb huge shocks well and hardly pre-release. This is fine if you are skilled enough to recover from the shock. So, you could hit a bump wrong but still be in control of your line and have something to ski out of or land a big air on your shovels and butter your way out. On the other end of the spectrum are ESS/ATOMIC bindings. They have very little elastic travel and are notorious for pre releasing. Not a good bump binding but an okay race setup. They were the first to use the rail type mount and eliminated the flat spot under foot. But, hit a bump wrong and you were gone. most users cranked up the setting into the max ranges and when they did release, they broke. POS's, rest in hell with the Nava soft boot system. In the middle are the Tyrolia's/Marker's/Salomon's. Marker's were/are known for "Markering" out or tripping the Twincam system and not releasing. This caused the boot to stay in the binding until the next turn when just floated away. Usually why people don't like them for bumps. MRR's, BTW, were great turn tables and had excellent energy absorbtion, except your buddy could hit the button on the heel with his pole just as you were going to push off, causing you to kick his @$$. I have used all brands of bindings and all have thier good points and bad points. Big thing is 1. Get them tested every year or 20 days. 2. Inspect them for cracks. 3. DO NOT let your former ski racing buddy stuff duct tape on the AFD's to correct your "hip angle". Most importaintly, 4. only tip the mechanic with BROWN bottles, preferably one's that require a bottle opener.
