Scarpa F1s and TLT compatibility

Finally picked up some second hand TLT STs to go with my Scarpa F1s. When I bought the F1s they came with some shims to be mounted on the ski to make the boots compatible with Dynafit bindings, as the boots have a bellows across the toe. I ignored them at the time since I was using Silvrettas. Now that I have made the switch, it doesn't look like the shims will fit on the TLTs since there is the small plastic plate behind the toe piece.

Are the shims only for the the TLT Speeds? Do I need to have the small plastic plate behind the toe piece removed so that I can have the shim installed, or does that plate remove enough of the boot flex to make the shim unnecessary? Anyone else using F1s with TLT STs?

Yes, they're compatible, but no, the baseplate does nothing to support the bellows.
You either need a thicker fixed shim, or the Scarpa sliding shim (thicker of the two sizes), or the B&D ski gear combo crampon mount & shim.

I use F1s with STs sometimes. I just cut the ribs off with a hack saw. I cut the front ones off at the same time since they don't do anything! (in front of the part that interacts with the toe lever of course)

The STs put the boot a couple mm's further from the ski than the speeds, FYI. Not sure if it came with both thicknesses of shims. For the STs, I just made my shims with 3/8" delrin.

I also have the scarpa shims that go into the crampon slot. I don't like those very much because they are heavier and seem a little too high for me. For switching out for crampons they are better than screwed on shims though.

I have had bad luck with my F1s forward pre-releasing and sending me flying over the handlebars. I am wondering if it because the bellows effectively makes the boot sole smaller in the fore-aft dimension, putting more leverage on the heels to pull them up. It seemed to be worse with the scarpa slide in shims. Maybe I just need to crank up the din forward release settings?

Steve

Steve,
Are you saying that you cut off the plastic plate at approximately the point indicated with the screwdriver in the first photo?

The second photo shows the binding and shim, is the idea that the shim has to fit where there is currently the small plastic binding plate, or could the shim be mounted as shown in the photo?

Jonathan,
Are you saying that there is a shim that fits around the existing binding plate? In other words a shim that would fit without cutting the current binding?

Thanks for the feedback...

That looks like the thinner (8mm) shim in your picture - you should get the thicker 12mm shim for the ST's. Also it's fine to cut the thing in half (or even smaller) and just use the part with the screw holes. I used to use just the rear triangular part with one hole.

Scarpa makes a shim that slides into the crampon slot that you take out for skinning that makes it possible to not permanently mount any shim.

I would suggest not cutting the plastic off below the crampon slot, I think it adds some structural integrity.

PS Shim position should be under the ball of the foot, not necessarily abutting the binding baseplate.

Rootsman - I cut my ST's at the point you have the screwdrive. Works fine with Megarides (no shim) or F1's with the Scarpa shim that slides into the Dynafit groove.  Cutting the plate also means my B&D ski crampons fit as well. - Russ