Strive 14/16 quality/durability

tdolloStrive 16 is my favorite binding ever made. Low center of gravity, consistent release

PartyBullshiitI have pivots, strive 16’s and sth2 16’. I’m currently skiing the pivots and strive 16’s at Breckenridge.

I’ve been really impressed with the strive 16. They feel similar but better than my sth2. And I would say they ski pretty damn close to pivots over all. I haven’t noticed any huge difference between the two the past few days. And I’ve swapped skis everyday so I’ve been consistently skiing the bindings b2b.

if you like sth2’s you’ll love strive 16’s. And if you love pivots you’ll love the strive 16’s as well as they ski very similar.

as far as durability goes I’ve had no issues with my sth2 or pivots. The strives I fucking nailed a thick ass branch with and took most of it home with me compacted in the toe din screw and surrounding area. I cleaned out all the wood and the bindings are perfect. So far so good.

one word of note. The 14 has a different heel that has been designed as its own new heel. I’ve heard nothing but positive reviews about the 14 heel as well but you do loose metal and durability.

For reference here’s the toe I nailed. You can still see a little wood in there.

C.R.E.A.MThis is awesome, thank you for the writeup! I saw that the Strive come in at a similar gram weight as the pivots but I realize alot of that mass is centered more around the boot, which makes them ski lighter.

How about their release qualities, I assume nobody has had issues with them prereleasing? I like my pivots because I ride them about 1 din setting lower then other bindings (attacks, STH2) I suppose as long as the binding releases when you want and doesnt when you dont, it doesnt matter what the binding says, but still curious.

Last question, another reason I am looking at the strive is because I want a little more size adjustability. As you guys know pivots aren't really easy to change on the fly. Assuming the strive have a more classic heelpeice, and therefore have several boot sizes of adjustability in them, correct?

Thanks again

C.R.E.A.MThis is awesome, thank you for the writeup! I saw that the Strive come in at a similar gram weight as the pivots but I realize alot of that mass is centered more around the boot, which makes them ski lighter.

How about their release qualities, I assume nobody has had issues with them prereleasing? I like my pivots because I ride them about 1 din setting lower then other bindings (attacks, STH2) I suppose as long as the binding releases when you want and doesnt when you dont, it doesnt matter what the binding says, but still curious.

Last question, another reason I am looking at the strive is because I want a little more size adjustability. As you guys know pivots aren't really easy to change on the fly. Assuming the strive have a more classic heelpeice, and therefore have several boot sizes of adjustability in them, correct?

Thanks again

C.R.E.A.MHey everyone,

I am sure like some of you, I have been looking at the Salomon/Armada/Atomic Strive 14/16 as alternatives to pivots. It looks like they took some of the R&D from the shifts, and put it into a strictly alpine binding. Apparently they were benchmarking performance off of look pivots and the marketing reflects that, my questions are:



Do they have the retention/release qualities as advertised?
How are they in terms of durability?
Is there any "feel" improvement over Pivots? (Stack height is almost the same)

Curious from users who have ski the binding, and experience releases in proper (or improper) settings.



Thanks!

Brother_truckerWhile i cannot comment on the durability of the Strive, i have a pair of STH on skis and they've been good enough, but they are on planks i don't use that much. Have just received a pair of Strive 14 this week, and on inspection of the physical bindings to make sure they have everything i found i should've checked more details before buying. Like the STH they have only 2 screws mounting the toe piece on the ski, which to me seems not enough, i'm used to seeing 4 on the heel and toe. I didn't know the STH only had two, but that looks to be the case i think (can't confirm as i bought in shop and had mounted).

The bigger issue for me is the mobile, spring loaded anti-friction device on the toe piece. I hate these, i've had two pairs of Look bindings fail with these unnecessary additions to the "safety". I could see these being useful for beginners as they fall at low speeds with low impacts, but anyone hitting a 20m kicker really wants to be sure they won't have a malfunction in the toe piece for now reason on a solid take off at speed, which happened to me with the first pair that malfuctioned. And Look didn't want to know about replacing them even though they were less than a year old. I will not have anything with one of these monuted to a pair of my skis again as a result of this. But none of the reviews i saw for the Strive said they changed the anti-friction device on the toe from the type on the STH2, which is a standard solid piece of white plastic that does not move. Back to the shop on returns and replace with a pair of Look Pivot 15s like i have on both my go to sticks at the moment :-)

Hope this helps.

Brother_truckerWhile i cannot comment on the durability of the Strive, Have just received a pair of Strive 14 this week, and on inspection of the physical bindings to make sure they have everything i found i should've checked more details before buying. Like the STH they have only 2 screws mounting the toe piece on the ski, which to me seems not enough, i'm used to seeing 4 on the heel and toe. I didn't know the STH only had two, but that looks to be the case i think (can't confirm as i bought in shop and had mounted).

Hope this helps.

Non_State_ActorIf you look closer you will see both STH and Strives have four screws for the toe and four for the heel. They are basically the same binding.

If you like pivots that's all good. Other people have issues with heel pieces pulling out, turntables snapping, and $200 brake replacements, all bindings have some compromise.

PartyBullshiitSth2’s have the sliding afd just like the strive. Here’s one of my pairs.

Brother_truckerYeah, not sure why you have a different setup in that department than i do, but the STH i have on my planks do not have the mobile type anti friction device :-) Thought i had STH 2 but maybe they're first itteration, got them about 2019 or thereabout.

PartyBullshiitOne thing to keep in mind is the strive and sth’s have different toe mount patterns.

The referenced post has been removed.

Brother_truckerAh, just found the little brackets that have the other 2 points of screw into the ski for the toe pieces, they're not actually a part of the toe piece, rather there is a little bracket fits into the ski itself and then looks like you slide the binding toe piece into a semi-circle cutout effectively. Defo doesn't look as convincing as a screw that goes top to bottom with full circle contact. Also looks like there is way more opportunity to get some water in there.... see diagram from tech manual below. Only 2 screws that get full toe piece contact. The other screws are holding a small plastic bracket in place... not sure if the same applies to the Strive 16, this is the 14 version.

PartyBullshiitYa that’s why the strive and sth’s have different toe patterns.

Brother_truckerAh, just found the little brackets that have the other 2 points of screw into the ski for the toe pieces, they're not actually a part of the toe piece, rather there is a little bracket fits into the ski itself and then looks like you slide the binding toe piece into a semi-circle cutout effectively. Defo doesn't look as convincing as a screw that goes top to bottom with full circle contact. Also looks like there is way more opportunity to get some water in there.... see diagram from tech manual below. Only 2 screws that get full toe piece contact. The other screws are holding a small plastic bracket in place... not sure if the same applies to the Strive 16, this is the 14 version.

PartyBullshiitThis actually shows the full mounting.

https://issuu.com/salomonnz/docs/tech_manual_2023/s/17461657

PartyBullshiitThis actually shows the full mounting.

https://issuu.com/salomonnz/docs/tech_manual_2023/s/17461657

Brother_truckerThink i was right to go for return on the Strive. Don't fancy the look of that underside. I've sure there is a reason they've not got the usual setup with screws from top to bottom. But i don't like the idea of a little plastic section being the only thing holding the toe piece front end secure like that. Maybe it'll never be a problem, but peace of mind goes a long way :-)

Brother_truckerThink i was right to go for return on the Strive. Don't fancy the look of that underside. I've sure there is a reason they've not got the usual setup with screws from top to bottom. But i don't like the idea of a little plastic section being the only thing holding the toe piece front end secure like that. Maybe it'll never be a problem, but peace of mind goes a long way :-)

The referenced post has been removed.