I'm going to upgrade my touring bindings this year and am facing a dilemma. I want to break the bank and go for the salomon shift bindings. However, the only thing that makes me think twice is the fact that the walk mode risers are 2 & 10 degrees. I am currently using the duke which has 0, 7 & 13. Any advice on how much it would suck to tour on flat with 2 degree angle. Also do you think 10 degrees is enough riser for steep climbs? Perhaps I'm just overthinking it.
Oct 31 2018 2:52PM
all the salomon guys say if you need more than 10* up your doing it wrong on the skin track. True or not, i'm sure those guys have a lot of R& D time on it and figured you're good with out more than 10. On flat tours you should be ok with 2*, if its a long meadow flat tour and it bothers you, you can leave the brake block down and just put a rubber band on the brakes, that'll allow you to tour at 0*.
Oct 31 2018 2:56PM
Oct 31 2018 3:37PM
As Cobra said, no matter what, it's better than a Duke.
That said, the 2° doesn't bother me at all on flats, and even on downhills. The 10° is a little low for me. I know you shouldn't need more riser if you're setting a good track, but my body geometry is weird and I really like high risers, I am usually in my second riser when my partners are in their first still. So I don't love the 10° and I'm figuring out how to raise them a bit. We have too many steep skin tracks in the Tetons where 10 is just not enough. But I think it will be easy to DIY fix and make them a bit taller.
TL;DR: You'll be fine
Nov 1 2018 12:15PM
cydwhitAs Cobra said, no matter what, it's better than a Duke.That said, the 2° doesn't bother me at all on flats, and even on downhills. The 10° is a little low for me. I know you shouldn't need more riser if you're setting a good track, but my body geometry is weird and I really like high risers, I am usually in my second riser when my partners are in their first still. So I don't love the 10° and I'm figuring out how to raise them a bit. We have too many steep skin tracks in the Tetons where 10 is just not enough. But I think it will be easy to DIY fix and make them a bit taller.
TL;DR: You'll be fine
Sweet deal. I ended up getting them. Keep us posted if you find a good DIY to make them a bit taller.
Nov 4 2018 4:49PM
Nov 4 2018 9:59PM
the 10 degrees is the thing i find the most frustrating about the binding. on the tours I took it on last year, I felt like I was having to toestep just going up moderately steep skintracks to get to the zone.
If they had a 7 and 14 i'd be pumped. I end up touring up steeper stuff than 10 degrees all the time, because guess what its sticky as shit in the west coast and you can get plenty of purchase on steep terrain, and it doesn't wear you out contrary to popular belief. .
I'm happy with my vipecs and tectons though.
Nov 5 2018 3:44PM
cobra_commanderDynafit’s bindings are currently a good 2-4 years behind the competition right now. They’re not bad, it’s just most everyone else’s bindings are much much better.
I wouldn't say much better.. I mean.. I'd argue that the Dynafit Rad 2's ski better than the majority of everyone's stuff. I'd almost argue they're nicer than my Fritschi stuff for actually skiing on. That turntable toepiece is legit.
As for their low-tech stuff, I'd say they're generally ahead or on par with everyone else or ahead. I mean, the superlite is still the primo binding on the market for that, even if salomon and marker are competing now, And while I personally would prefer the ease of transition that the MTN has for my own use, I'd argue that for a lot of people, the Superlite is a totally better binding.. quick in-field removable brake, which the MTN and Alpinist do not have, and a din adjusted heelpiece, which neither have either? I mean, the binding is legit for that customer, if not outright superior in comparison to anything else in the category.
Nov 24 2018 7:08PM
GodBehind how?
I'm sort of between Dingo and Cobra here. If you're looking at the stuff NS'ers care about, Dynafit is totally behind. The Beast was a bad binding that no longer exists for a reason, and now Dynafit doesn't really have anything that competes on the jibby, hucky side. Like basically their line tops out at the Rad 2.0, which I'd call similar to the BD Vipec, and they have nothing to compete with the Techton, Shift, or Kingpin. But yeah, on the weight weiner end of the spectrum they've got a lot of good bindings, the problem is, there are plenty of great brands with light, simple skimo bindings, so they don't stand out. All that said, the Rad 2.0/ Rotation whatever/whatever the heck it's called now is a great binding, but if you want to ski your touring binding inbounds, or build booters, or huck big pillow lines, Dynafit doesn't have anything for you.
And on the low-tech lightweght end of the spectrum, the competition is all closer together so Dynafit doesn't stand out there.