Dynafit toe pre-releasing

Whoa now I never said Dynafits are defective. I started the thread wondering if I my personal binding was defective. If no one had ever experienced what I have described then I would conclude that my personal binding was defective. What I have discovered in this thread and others is that all things being equal (no snow, no ice, no obstructions) people have seen the product prerelease. Lou Dawson's demonstration in the video shows it is possible and plenty of folks around BC forums have experienced it.

That anyone's results are different is relevant but not definitive. I have over 200 days and 1300 hours on Dynafits and it has happened twice. As I said in my last post this is definitely a glitch. A glitch means an irregularity; the behavior is not what you would expect but does in fact do such a thing.

The net here is: You might stomp the ski for purchase on rock hard snow 99 times and it won't happen but the 1 time this glitch / irregularity happens lets hope your ski doesn't slide to the bottom.

Solution: accept that fact that the binding can do such a thing and change how I set an edge on a hard slope to keep from side slipping while standing.

I had the same thing happen on Sunday up above timberline on Mt. Hood, except it was my uphill ski. First time it has popped off doing a stomp. That same ski has popped off the same boot four times now, once while skinning on bulletproof snow. I know it's the same ski because the leash is broken, and I guess I always put it on the left side. I haven't tried skiing with it on the right side yet to see if it's the boot or the binding. But, I have used these same skis with a few pairs of dynafit compatible boots with no pre-releases. So I guess it's probably my left boot. I've also noticed I can pull the toe lever up more easily than other boots and bindings. Any ideas on that issue? I'll have to check out the gap, thanks for that info Ron.

After thinking a little about why I have to pull my toe lever up so much, I decided to look at my pins. The "bad" ski has a pin that is noticably more worn and rounded than the others. It's 0.010" to 0.020" shorter than the other pins. Does this affect anything? Is it time for new toe pieces?

There is a pretty big gap between the sole and the operating bar, almost 1/8". Sounds like that's about 1/8" too much? Wouldn't it be hard to get into the bindings if the sole is built up that much?

After thinking a little about why I have to pull my toe lever up so much, I decided to look at my pins. The "bad" ski has a pin that is noticably more worn and rounded than the others. It's 0.010" to 0.020" shorter than the other pins. Does this affect anything? Is it time for new toe pieces?

I had the same kind of pin wear and also boot dimple/cup wear, when I had space under my worn boot toe when locked in. In fact on one boot the dimple was almost worn open at the top. Eliminating the gap fixed the problem despite the worn pin and boot cup.

There is a pretty big gap between the sole and the operating bar, almost 1/8". Sounds like that's about 1/8" too much? Wouldn't it be hard to get into the bindings if the sole is built up that much?

No. For me it helped better center the boot vertically. With a worn boot sole the pins hit the boot cups high and the conical shape of the pins tends to lift the boot up off the center operating bar as the pincers engage, creating the gap that is the is the cause of the wear of which you mention and the subject pre-release issues.

Edge, perhaps I read too much into this, which is from your initial post: "but I now believe it to be a problem systemic to all Dynafit models."

You are right of course, to only have it happen twice is good, but if either of those two times leaves you stranded then its going to make for a shitty day.  Last march I got rid of brakes and started using leashes.  Less weight and the skis won't run away, I personally won't go back to brakes for tech bindings.

After hearing about Garmont's messed up tech holes, it makes me appreciate how subtle changes in the pin/toe hole shapes can really effect the interface, and is something that should be inspected with some degree of regularity.

Reread your last post, and I want to ask, how much do you use ski crampons? I find myself to use them pretty liberally, which doesn't require me to really stomp down on the ski (or at least not as hard if i wasn't using them).

... how much do you use ski crampons? I find myself to use them pretty liberally, which doesn't require me to really stomp down on the ski (or at least not as hard if i wasn't using them).

In my case, this effect is only a problem in downhill mode. Locking the toe cures it completely.