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How good are the FKS 14 to the sth 14

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BCski95
Posts: 151 - Karma: 353
title sais it all
Jan 3 2012 2:06PM
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tribefan226
Posts: 2122 - Karma: 209
any turntable binding > all other bindings
Jan 3 2012 2:14PM
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awesomeness17
Posts: 639 - Karma: 27
from experience from salomon bindings, don't buy them
Jan 3 2012 2:31PM
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bibs_skibum
Posts: 4462 - Karma: 449
if we're talking the driver toe, pretty comparable on how rad they are. If we arent talking driver toe, FKS>Solly
Jan 3 2012 2:34PM
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BCski95
Posts: 151 - Karma: 353

i had the sth 12 last year and im getting the fks's and i wanted to know if i made a good decision

Jan 3 2012 2:46PM
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uosdwiSrjewoH
Posts: 4220 - Karma: 121
that's more or less how i look at it
Jan 3 2012 2:52PM
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Balto
Posts: 25985 - Karma: 4,398
this, both plastic but both very solid, neither will disappoint most likely
Jan 3 2012 2:56PM
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FerrisBueller
Posts: 8280 - Karma: 5,173
FKS are money but i think you might want to think about how often you will dystroy your brakes
Jan 3 2012 3:25PM
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TheClap.
Posts: 21649 - Karma: 4,013
no
Jan 3 2012 3:34PM
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cobra_commander
Posts: 16909 - Karma: 4,682
People actually want to ski bindings other than pivots/turntables? What a bunch of complete fucking retards. Evan Helen Keller could see the stupidity in that.
Jan 3 2012 3:35PM
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tomPietrowski
Posts: 7099 - Karma: 17,045
^this exactly. the brakes are not great on FKS, and the FKS14 comes with the plastic toe, there is a thread about a broken one here. The sth14 is the full driver version, so in STH 14 vs FKS 14, the sth is better.
Jan 3 2012 3:35PM
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cobra_commander
Posts: 16909 - Karma: 4,682
Minus the fact that there are a few angles that the sally heel piece releases at. I can ski pivots at a 13 din, but need to go to 14 or 15 to stay in the sally heel.

What the fuck are people concentrating on the toe for? The heel is the big difference between the two.

Fact of the matter is, the turntable/fks has more travel before release in every dimension than the STH (driver toe). If you do a good job of bending your breaks there is nothing to worry about.
Jan 3 2012 3:38PM
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tomPietrowski
Posts: 7099 - Karma: 17,045
Personally having a bombproff adjustable toe and a good heel piece, make up for having an awsome heelpiece and a cheap toe piece and bad brakes. I have never suffered any prerealeases on my STH 16. I have ridden FKS and there great they hold well, but not well enough for me to forgive there bad points. But thats just me.
Jan 3 2012 3:42PM
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Simmo
Posts: 512 - Karma: 28
This. best binder out there

I dont get the support for solly bindings. A year ago when dumonts ski kept falling off in the pipe newschoolers HATED them. Still the same old toepiece....

Tyrolia/head/Frnt are at least trying to be innovative.


Jan 3 2012 5:42PM
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crawley
Posts: 605 - Karma: 729
STH anything is better than FKS with the plastic toe. The STH toepiece is so much better than the PX12/14 toepiece that it absolutely negates the mild advantage the FKS heelpiece has.

FKS 18 is perhaps better than STH 16 except for the brake situation. FKS 18 is substantially heavier than STH 16, but has more metal so probably more bomber.

In any case, FKS is a park only binding for me. I'll fucking ride biometric markers before dealing with a FKS heel in deep snow again.
Jan 3 2012 6:29PM
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crawley
Posts: 605 - Karma: 729
^shit edit: meant STH Driver 12/14/16 is better than FKS with the PX toe.
Jan 3 2012 6:30PM
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cobra_commander
Posts: 16909 - Karma: 4,682
Explain to me how the driver toe, which has inconsistent release at angles, is better then the full drive toe, which provides the most consistent release values across the 180 degrees, and does so by providing longer travel than any other brand's binding?

The only advantage the driver has is in it's adjustable toe hight.

You honestly sound like a total vagina. I don't get people who bitch about the turntable heel in powder or any deep snow. I have never once had a problem with it, but maybe that is because I have common sense and am not a total cry baby.

The heel piece is so much better than anything else out there, that if you measured the two on a bar graph, the STH would not even register a blip.
Jan 3 2012 6:48PM
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uosdwiSrjewoH
Posts: 4220 - Karma: 121
this thread in a nutshell
Jan 3 2012 8:19PM
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NWlife.
Posts: 179 - Karma: 14
salomon sth's are gonna be better for hitting backcountry booters. fks are gonna be better in the park
Jan 3 2012 10:51PM
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beermuscles
Posts: 1821 - Karma: 100
really? this is the comparison you go with? really?!
Jan 3 2012 11:16PM
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crawley
Posts: 605 - Karma: 729
Can't really argue with that. I guess it's settled. The FKS is better than the STH in every way because I'm a vagina. No matter the fact that the STH toe is mounted with a wider pattern which is undenably stronger and more responsive, is substantially beefier, has adjustable toe height, a larger contact area with the boot, and adjustable wings. Fuck it, I'll remount all my shit with PX12s cause Cobra Commander has pointed out how good the toe is. What a fucking dumbass.

I have 8 PX12 or PX14 toe pieces on hand currently. Since you seem to love that shit, I'd be happy to trade them to you for STH toe pieces. Let me know!
Jan 4 2012 12:51AM
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rozboon
Posts: 1642 - Karma: 868
Wut?

Although FKS do make me swear occasionally when there's snow involved between my boot and the binding, I still reckon they have the best 'feel' of any binding.
Jan 4 2012 12:54AM
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cobra_commander
Posts: 16909 - Karma: 4,682
Might want to whip out the ol' tape measure there pal, and also test out angular rigidity (driver toe is lower here than just about everything else on the market) which is what determines responsiveness.

Jan 4 2012 1:02AM
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crawley
Posts: 605 - Karma: 729
.
Jan 4 2012 1:11AM
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Kreech
Posts: 4178 - Karma: 3,024
I actually like putting fks on better in pow because you can just sit down, insert your boot, and pull the heel up with your hand. I do however use sth 14 drivers on my park skis because I don't do anything gnarly enough to warrant the burliness of the fks, and clicking in/out of the fks can kinda be a pain in the ass when hiking. Bottom line: both are bomber, look for fks 155 used, if not just go with whatever cheaper.
Jan 4 2012 2:43AM
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Balto
Posts: 25985 - Karma: 4,398
i don't like how FKS will sometimes not fully disengage when you are clicking out and the heel will snap shut again when you move your boot out.

There is no doubt fks are amazing bindings, some people (including my self) just prefer the feel of a salomon binding. Personally i don't have any big reasons, it's just what I choose to use most of the time.
Jan 4 2012 2:49AM
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crawley
Posts: 605 - Karma: 729
I grabbed calipers, seemed cleaner than the "ol'tape measure":

STH toe mounting widths- 1.57" and 1.65" wide- 1.61" avg. mounting width

Plastic PX/FKS toe mounting width- 1.66" and 1.37" wide- 1.51" avg. mounting width

Like I said, the STH is mounted on a wider footprint than the full drive/fks toe.

Just for humor I measured the POS marker royal bindings which are advertised as "wide chassis" bindings or some crap. They measure 1.42" wide at both mounting locations, over 10% narrower than the STH pattern. What a crock of shit, so predictable from Marker.
Jan 4 2012 8:46AM
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J.D.
Posts: 21362 - Karma: 5,141

Are you measuring hole pattern width? Because that's not what he was talking about. And to be honest I don't see that it's relevant to anything. Heel screw pattern is obviously a big deal because of pullouts, which has always been an issue with Rossi / Look binding. I've never had that happen, but it is a thing. That being said, everything Cobra's said sounds about right to me.

Jan 4 2012 5:05PM
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Crispy.
Posts: 6103 - Karma: 7,627
Happens to me every single time! I will try K_M's advice because normally I just step on them.
Jan 4 2012 5:52PM
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crawley
Posts: 605 - Karma: 729
sure. Why even use all the screws right. Two screws is probably plenty in the toe anyways.... jesus
Jan 4 2012 7:15PM
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cobra_commander
Posts: 16909 - Karma: 4,682
screws are to keep the binding on the ski... there are other things that determine how well the binding transfers energy from the boot to the edge of the ski...
Jan 4 2012 8:30PM
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J.D.
Posts: 21362 - Karma: 5,141
So wait. I say the screw pattern width in the toe doesn't have any relevance to what we're talking about here... and you take from that that I'm saying you don't need to use all of the screws in the toe? How do you even rationalize that to yourself?
Jan 5 2012 2:36PM
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Justo8484
Posts: 3905 - Karma: 204
why so much hate on the pivot/axial toe all of a sudden? have you broken them before? I used to ride salomon bindings exclusively when I first started working at a shop, because they do ski really well. As I got more and more into riding park, I started breaking bindings on a far too regular basis. I broke a lot of heel pieces, which they've since beefed up, so I'd assume that issue is taken care of, but have you ever bent the pivot rod in a driver toe? or snapped the toe right off the pivot rod? As much as salomon may want to claim 180° release, it's not 180° in the same way that a look/rossi toe is. I've seen the wings on a look toe get flipped completely upside down, and we had to crank the DIN all the way down to address that, but the binding was still 100% completely functional. I broke way more breaks on salomon bindings in one year than I have over the past 7 or 8 years riding look bindings exclusively. not sure where your argument is here...
Jan 5 2012 3:34PM
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schwab
Posts: 461 - Karma: 232
if your on the fks bandwagon, have fun skiing around with cinderblocks on your feet. sth14/16 driver is still a very legit binding plus being way lighter.
Jan 5 2012 10:04PM
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cobra_commander
Posts: 16909 - Karma: 4,682
I weight 185lb, I have a pair of 11-15lb? skis, my boots about 4 lb each, my back pack with all my gear is another 15lb. Plus clothing-helmet-goggles-poles etc.

before bindings I am sitting at 220-230 lb, the binding is an after thought...
Jan 5 2012 10:11PM
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Carson22
Posts: 11 - Karma: 22
The STH toe adjustments don't stay adjusted. They flew off in mid air twice on me with a 9 and a cork 7 so i would highly recommend getting the FKS instead of the STH.
Jan 9 2012 9:47AM
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Justo8484
Posts: 3905 - Karma: 204
I used to love pulling my ski off mid air doing mutes. good times. then I got pivots.
Jan 9 2012 11:31AM
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Carson22
Posts: 11 - Karma: 22
Haha yeah my skis normally don't make it that far they come off before i can grab.
Jan 9 2012 11:35AM
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Justo8484
Posts: 3905 - Karma: 204
check your forward pressure. more often than not, that's the issue with salomon bindings, not the wings/toe height. also, you could just be prespinning the lip super hard, in which case your bindings should probably come off...
Jan 9 2012 11:43AM
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tomPietrowski
Posts: 7099 - Karma: 17,045
Cheack foward pressue, you would be amazed how many people have no idea how to set them. Also cheack that you are setting up the toe height correct. You can use a business card to check it. The only toe pieces I have seen come off the height rod, were being used with AT boots so it was on the last thread of adjustment to fit the boot.
Jan 9 2012 3:11PM
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TheWeaz
Posts: 803 - Karma: 1,903
slightly off topic, but i found some skis at the dump recently and took them home, the bindings on them say solly 997 equipe driver, are these just old versions of the sth 14 driver or are they different? also do you think these bindings are worth mounting up or are they shitty, it looks like they have never been used
Jan 9 2012 4:44PM
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rozboon
Posts: 1642 - Karma: 868
6-14 DIN? Pretty much the old STH14 driver, some people would even say they're beefier. There were a few models that all kinda come under that name, what colour are they?
Jan 9 2012 5:01PM
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TheWeaz
Posts: 803 - Karma: 1,903
ya 6-14 din, they are mostly silver/gray with the little plastic piece you use to unclip on the heel being red, they are also on yellow lifer plates and the skis they are on are also called solly equipe or something similar, they aren't too old as i clipped in in my yard and they still slid fine, but the skis are probably 60-70mm underfoot, have very little sidecut and are red.
Jan 9 2012 5:18PM
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Simmo
Posts: 512 - Karma: 28
Put em up for sale on tgr, the all metal brigade bum them over there.

Jan 9 2012 6:13PM
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TheWeaz
Posts: 803 - Karma: 1,903
how much do they sell for, i was mostly asking to see if they were good enough bindings for me to put on my own skis, but it looks like they are a bit overkill for me as i only ride on a din of six and these appear to be all metal
Jan 9 2012 6:34PM
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Trojan~Man
Posts: 1996 - Karma: 1,357
FKS without a doubt. i dont understand how this is even a topic?
Jan 9 2012 6:51PM
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Carson22
Posts: 11 - Karma: 22
Just got all that done last night for the second time but yer right the torque and prespin was the issue.
Jan 10 2012 8:54AM
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Ghini
Posts: 2233 - Karma: 2,885
I love my pitvots.. But I want to get a pair of MFDs on some inserts so I can swap them between different pow skis.. BUT, you cant change FKS/Pivots brakes.. SUCKS! They should mount the brakes at the toe pieces and make them interchangeable.. Now I might have to go to STHs with MFDs.. :-(

What would you do? + I have 115mm brakes on my Pivots.. They fit my 188mm bibbys, but how small can they go??
Jan 10 2012 9:47AM
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onenerdykid
Posts: 6641 - Karma: 10,553
your local shop has a binding indemnification list. if the bindings are not on that list, no shop in the USA will want to mount them.
Jan 10 2012 10:06AM
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TheWeaz
Posts: 803 - Karma: 1,903
i know people who work at a shop and they said if the bindings still tested fine and the shop had the jig for them they would mount them as long as i assumed all risk of using them
Jan 10 2012 3:58PM
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rozboon
Posts: 1642 - Karma: 868
You can swap the brakes. There's a sticky thread at the top of this very forum where the first post is a very good video instructional on how to do it. But they're not exactly interchangeable.
Jan 10 2012 10:11PM
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