Ok, so lately I’ve been noticing a ton of threads asking what bindings would suit them the best and as winter gets closer there’s gonna be a ton more, so I thought it’d be a good idea to have a thread which includes some info to your questions when considering binding choices.
Main things to consider when selecting bindings are skier weight, skier ability, binding price, and type of skiing you will be using it for.
There’s a lot of bindings around so I’m going to stick to the more popular ones and the ones i’ve had experience with.
First off, i’m assuming ability rating of II and III here:
10 Din and below bindings: I would recommend a 10 din and under binding for light weight skiers. Even for a skier who is rates themselves as level III ability, if they are under about 120lbs a 10 din might even be a bit much depending on the min setting of the binding. For reference, a din chart estimates a din of 6 (varies slightly depending on a few factors) for a level III skier between 108-125lbs.
12 Din Bindings: I would usually recommend a 12 din binding for people between 145lbs and 170/175lbs or so depending on ability. For most people on here, a 12 din binding would be perfect. If you’re a more cautious skier and don’t go fast, take impact ect you should really go down to a 10 din or below binder. Likewise if your aggressive skier you can go up, but be realistic. Don’t get an 18 din binding because if makes you look cool. You won’t be thinking its cool when you’re getting knee surgery and can’t ski half the winter.
14/15 Din Bindings: I would recommend a 14/15 din binding generally only for people who are 175lbs+ as well as being a pretty aggressive skier. Basically, if you’re not rating yourself as a level III skier and doing big jumps, cliff hucks, and skiing fast ect, you don’t need it and your better off saving your money.
18 + Din bindings: I would only recommend an 18+ din binding for people who are skiing very aggressively and are reasonably heavy. I would normally only recommend something like this for big mtn skiers where you only want your skis to come off in pretty gnarly bails.
All of these recommendations give you some “leeway” of the max din of the binding for the particular weight at a level lll skier. You don’t really want to be within 2 dins of the max. So for a 10 Din binding, you don’t really want to be setting it above about 8, likewise if it starts at 5 you don’t really want to se it too far below 7. So yeah..check the din range first.
10/11 Din er’s:
-Tyrolia Peak 11 (3-11)
-Rossignol freeski 100
-Look PX 10
-Look P10
-Rossi SAS 100
-head Mojo 11
-Rossi SAS2 110
12 Din er’s:
-Marker Griffon
-Look PX 12/Dynastar PX12/ PX12 jib
-Look P12
-Rossignol FKS 120
-Head Mojo/ Tyrolia Peak/ Amplid (all the same)
-Rossignol Axial 120
-Rossignol Axial worldcup 120
-Salomon STH 12
-Rossi SAS 120
-Rossi Axial2 120
-Rossi scratch 120
-Tyrolia freeflex 12
-4frnt deadbolt 12
-Rossi SAS 110
14/15/16s :
-Rossignol FKS 155
-Rossignol freeski 140
-Rossignol freeski 150
-Rossignol Axial 140
-Marker Jester
-Head Mojo 15/Tyrolia Peak 15
-Look PX14/PX15
-Salomon STH 16
-Salomon STH 14
-Salomon S914 Lab
-Tyrolia Freeflex 15
-Rossi SAS2 140
-Rossi SAS2 140 Ti
-4frnt deadbolt 14
18+ :
-Look P18
-Rossignol FKS 185
-Rossignol freeski 180
-Tyrolia Freeflex 18
-Salomon s920
-Salomon S916 (only goes to 16, but I’d put it up there with p18’s ect)
-rossi Freeski 200
-Rossi freeski2 180
-Rossi SAS2 200
Remember, this is a general GUDIELINE ONLY. There are a huge number of factors to consider. I know people who weigh nothing but are hucking off 60 foot cliffs, so they need a high din binding to keep them in. I know just as many people who like to ski on groomers and take it easy so don’t need a high din binding even though they are heavy. Ask yourself how heavy you are, how hard you ski. Where you ski, what you ski, and what ski your putting it on when choosing a binding.
DISCLAIMER: If you don’t know what you’re doing, do everyone a favour and don’t fuck with your dins. Any adjustments you make are at your own risk. Most shops will check your bindings and set dins for nothing, yes for FREE. So let them do it. Why put yourself in risk you don’t need to.
Why are my skis still pre-releasing? There set at like 16 and I weigh 150lbs !!!??????
A lot of people crank up their dins because there skis keep coming off when in reality, there forward pressures set wrong which just increases knee injury as you need so much force to get the ski off in slower crashes. Bottom line: Go to a store to have it checked out.
I know i haven't covered everything or listed all the binding so feel free to ad. We could maybe make it some kind of binding database.
-Dave
