In the world of AT tech bindings, not only are there new “players” entering into the market every year (mainly copying many of Dynafit’s expired patents), companies like Dynafit are continually pushing binding designs and innovation to make the bindings we use…better. While companies attempt to test their products to the full extent prior to launch, occasionally, a bad batch of 
raw materials sometimes sneaks through the cracks, and/or when products are released to the mass market, to a full range of abilities, body types and experience levels, sometimes issues that weren’t noticed during testing, may become more visible once more people start using a product.
Currently, it appears as though both Plum and Dynafit are both having some issues with their recent binding releases. With Plum, it seems as though there may be some durability issues with their Guide binding, while at the same time, Dynafit is reporting a technical upgrade soon to be available for their new Radical series of bindings, which seems to be having a little issue with the counter-clockwise-only rotation mechanism in the heel-piece.
While I’m not currently in contact with Plum (if you are…please feel free to chime in), the maker of the Plum Guide binding, as well as other tech binding options, I’ve been following this thread on Teton Gravity Research’s Tech Talk forum. Â In the 13-pages, there is talk of a few heel pin failures, where a heel pin has broken right at the interface with the housing on the heel-piece.
Plum Guide binding pin failure.
Photo by NHBrooks, courtesy Teton Gravity Research.
While it is important to not get too worked up about a handful of binding breakages, especially with the abuse that us free-skiing Americans put on the these lightweight bindings by mounting them on big, stiff skis and driving them with big, heavy boots, the broken heel pins are worth noting since the Guide is relatively new and the number of units out in the field, is most likely rather limited. I haven’t heard of or seen an official response from Plum regarding these broken heel-pins, which leads me to believe they think the breakages aren’t relevant and are only isolated instances, it would still be nice to hear that straight from the horse’s mouth…instead of just assuming it to be the case.
The other tech binding tweak/issue is related to the new Dynafit Radical bindings. Dynafit has been pro-active in getting word out about what they are calling a “quite specific and unlikely circumstance” that can lead to damage to the heel-piece. Word from the head-honchos is that after extensive testing, under certain angles and forces put on the heel-piece while in “tour” mode, and basically when/if the heel-piece is forced hard in the counter-clockwise direction, the spring-loaded retaining pin located in the locking mechanism, can cause damage to the housing of the heel-piece. Dynafit states that the damage incurred in no way presents a safety risk and the binding will continue to function normally.
In light of this however, Dynafit does claim to have a fix for this and is offering a pin-replacement, which can be handled through the retailer/store where you bought your Radical bindings, or directly between Dynafit NA and the consumer/user. The replacement-pin will be available soon and Dynafit states they will resume shipping their current inventory of Radical bindings again around January 9th. So, if you’ve been waiting for your Radicals to arrive, that pin is the reason delivery is delayed.
Dynafit Speed Radical heel post and housing.
I took apart some Speed Radical heel-pieces last night, to see what was going on, and you can see how a strong force in the counter-clockwise direction could cause the small pin to jam into the locking slot and cause some damage. I guess the question is…how much force does it take to cause any damage? The biggest force I can see where this happens is when you are in tour-mode, with your lifters up or down, and your right ski tags the back or your left boot, binding, or ski as you move it forward. This used to be one of the causes of the auto-rotate problem that the Radical binding is trying to alleviate, but it appears as though the same force may still be a problem.
Hopefully this “pin-replacement” will be the correct fix for this Dynafit Radical binding issue. I will replace the pins on the Speed Radicals that I own (or I may just remove the pin all together, as I think the Radicals will perform much like any non-Radical binding when doing so) and continue to use them…or at least start to use them, as they are mounted on skis that I don’t really want to use until it snows again.
(See below for official Dynafit statement.)
Dear Dynafit Community,
We are writing to inform you about an issue related to our new Radical bindings. We have discovered a quite specific and unlikely circumstance that can lead to the heel unit being damaged. Since identifying this issue, our international team has been working hard on understanding the issue and finding a solution.
After intensive testing, we are confident this identified damage DOES NOT present a safety risk. But at the same time, we aim to take a proactive leadership approach and as a result are communicating a “required technical upgrade of the Radical seriesâ€. This includes all bindings in the RADICAL series, including RADICAL ST, RADICAL FT, and SPEED RADICAL.
Details on the issue and the solution:
1. Issue: The damage can happen when the heel unit is subjected to forces in a particular way. This particular arrangement of forces is pretty rare. In the ascent mode (when the heel unit is in “lock†or “tour†position) the housing may be damaged if the unit is strongly impacted in a counter-clockwise direction (back towards “ski modeâ€) causing the internal PIN to strongly impact against the internal housing wall. Damage can only occur in ascent mode, not in the descent (or “ski†mode).
Even if the housing is damaged, the binding should still release perfectly in any mode, and there is little danger of the heel unit detaching. Therefore this does not constitute an acute danger or risk for the skier. Essentially after the damage, the binding functions similar to a TLT Vertical binding which doesn’t have a PIN in the back unit (this “lock position†was introduced to prevent the inconvenient – and fairly rare – rotation of the heel unit back into ski mode, while touring).
2. Solution: The good news is we can eliminate the risk of damage. This is achieved by a quick and easy exchange of the small PIN which is within the heel housing. For bindings in the market, this exchange can be completed without having to return the bindings. Please see the attached visual and written description of the solution.
Details on next steps:
1. Dynafit inventory – We will hold additional sales of Radical bindings until our existing inventory has received this technical upgrade. We expect this will be complete by the second week of January (week of January 9). In the meantime, we have availability in Vertical ST and Vertical FT bindings.
2. Dealer inventory – We are requesting dealers also hold sales of current Radical bindings until they have completed the required technical upgrade. This upgrade
can be completed after we ship the replacement PINS to dealers, with a target ship date of the second week of January (week of January 9).
In the meantime, dealers have the ability to sell the Vertical series of bindings. In addition to any dealer inventory, we have Vertical FT’s and ST’s in stock, as well as Speed Superlights.
3. Consumers – We are also requesting consumers with Radical bindings to undertake the required technical upgrade. This can happen in one of three ways:
a. We can send PINS to the consumer to replace themselves.
b. The consumer can bring the bindings to a retailer for the upgrade.
c. The consumer can call us for a return authorization, and then return the binding directly to Dynafit in Boulder, Colorado for the upgrade.
4. In the meantime and into the future of course, we will continue to honor any valid warranty claims for bindings that incur damage to the heel unit.
THANK YOU for your understanding and your partnership in working through this matter together. We appreciate your support, and we are at your service.
– Your team at Dynafit North America
i’ve heard there have been 12, out of 5,000 radical bindings sold in the US, that have been warrantied because of this issue. none of the 100 test bindings last year showed signs of this.
i’m tempted to just ski my radicals as is, because this may be happening when someone brain-farts and just forces the heel piece in the counter-clockwise motion with their hand. it wouldn’t surprise if this is more of an user-error type of problem, than a product defect.
Steve, any mention (or have you noticed) lateral movement of the heel of the Speed Radical after mounting? The two I’ve inspected (one mounted, one new-out-of-box, both rock side to side because the black plastic based plate doesn’t hold the pivot post base close enough to the ski deck (or counter top in the second case). Fix could be as easy as putting some tape on the underside of the post base or putting the plastic base on a belt sander for a couple seconds . . .
Greg…I haven’t seen this rocking with the radicals yet. I have seen it on other dynafit bindings, but mostly relate it to inconsistancies with the surface the binding is mounted on…rather that the binding’s base-plate. Mosst of the Radical bindings I have seen have been mounted on new skis…so probably w/ pretty flat surfaces.
I have been skiing my new radical ST bindings touring around all the rocks and low snow out there and even moguls and icy groomers at the resort! Binding retention and release has been flawless. I’ve been out maybe 20 days on them and I’ve had zero problems aside from catching a tree branch and bruising my quad (my fault not the bindings). I don’t see any reason to fix the pin issue. They seem to function like a modern work of art. They are indeed “radical”.
yes the speed rad rips……both the improved toe piece and lack of brakes makes makes stepping in a breeze.
Also like the new heel lifter design which i feel is much easier to switch between heights w/out having to twist the whole binder.
Thanks for all the info. I had a pair of Plum Guides and on my second day skiing them earlier this winter the pin broke just like that picture. Also a good friend had a pair of Radicals and that rotation pin snapped the heel as well.
Anyone planning on just leaving the pin out? In nine years of using Dynafits, I’ve experienced unwanted “auto-rotation” maybe 3 times . . . not that big an issue for me.
Hey everyone, Just a heads up. The pic of the broken plum above is mine, and I think I found at least a partial solution to the pin failure that I and others have experienced.
I noticed that the was lots of vertical slop in the surviving heal pin when I checked my binding, and when I went to take the binding apart, the four main torx screws that attach the top plate where loose.
My theory is that the screws loosened over the course of about 3000′ vertical feet of skiing (I was doing laps at Berthoud pass).
The loose screws allowed for the normal vertical play in the heal pins to grow into a few millimeters of slop.
This caused the heal pins to bang around enough to break the plastic buffer and bottom out on the metal housing piece.
I am going to add blue lock tight to these screws in hopes that I can at least know that the screws will stay put…..currently I am still waiting for a response from Plum for replacement parts.
Feedback on my theory is always welcome, and I recommend checking the same screws on Dynafit bindings as well.
The new radical toe piece looks great. Just mounted my speed radicals but pulled the pins first. The wildsnow comments seem to trend that without pins the heel piece will auto-rotate. I wonder if the internal barrel is shaped differently than previous versions? Obviously the pin mechanisim causes the barrel to be slightly different. Will try to get out tomorrow and see if they autorotate. I did crank the din all the way up to ten.
thanks for that noah. i haven’t really seen the top-plate torx screws loosen on my dynafits, so I wonder why they would loosen up w/ the plums? do the screws go into metal or plastic?
kevin…if the heel-post and springs of the radicals is similar to the other dynafit non-radical bindings, i’m not sure why a radical w/o the pin would auto-rotate any more than other non-radical binding. i guess maybe if your boot hit the climbing bars at a particular angle…but that would also have a similar effect with other non-radical bindings as well. right?
unfortunately (or fortunately…since it’s -15F right now) i’m off to florida today, so i don’t have time right now to really test this theory…although dynafit does claim the following…
“the binding functions similar to a TLT Vertical binding which doesn’t have a PIN in the back unit”
for the record. i’ve been told that the locking “non-auto-rotate” feature of the radicals, is there more in an attempt to be the first tech-bindings with DIN certification…than to prevent the dreaded auto-rotate problem. but of course, they could be related…so it might not mean much.
I have around 20 days of touring on the Radical FT and one of the heals is now able to rotate in both directions, but has not done it when in touring mode.
As for the Radical failure, I am concerned that it will not function like a normal Vertical after pin/housing failure. I have now read comments both here and at Wildsnow that say the binding constantly auto rotates after failure. There must be something different about the forces applied by the new lifter design on the heel unit that make it auto rotate easier than a vertical. Either that or the snap back spring mechanism that swivels the binding back into place from the quarter turn to tour mode.
After thinkiing about it last night, I realize what the deal is. The pin/housinig is taking all the torsional forces when the ski is on the opposite edge while on traverses. This is why dynafit is being vague about the forces involved, because it is a common force that the bindings have to deal with, about half the time your skinning. It’s not people trying to rotate them counter clockwise, as evident in the responses here and on Wildsnow.
So when you are skiinning up a steep, hard skin track that’s maybe a little off angle, on the higher lifter, the housing gets busted by the pin as it tries to sustain the leverage of the higher lifter torquing it in the counter clockwise direction. The new breakable pin will likely occasionally fail in the field.
Sounds like Dynafit screwed the pooch on this one.
Tony…i don’t think the replacement pin will be plastic or “breakable”…just something that will change the forces so that a counter-clockwise movement won’t actually break the binding.
More info coming from Dynafit soon, though…
Steve,
From what I can tell, the torx screws on the plum go into metal. On my Dynafit Vertical ST’s, it looks like they go into plastic. Maybe this makes a difference, not sure though.
Regarding the torx screws in the plum heel top plate. A guy on tgr is reporting that the screws on a brand new binding were loose.
Got out on my new Speeds today w/o pins. Had no auto-rotation problems. Also, w/o pins am able to switch modes with only a quarter turn. New heel lift system seems to work well. I am using the grip end of my pole to flip the levers.
thanks kevin. i’m curious as to how/why some people’s heels seem to be rotating w/o the pin…and why others aren’t. i’m not sure what to make of it.
Drew from Dynafit here. I received the final word on the new pin material. The new pins will be made of brass (not plastic).
Thanks Drew. I’m not sure who started the plastic rumor…but that seemed pretty far fetched.
Well at least it sounds like the solution dynafit has worked out is a going to work. Must be that the pins are designed to handle the load differently I guess. The only thing I care about is that they don’t auto rotate constantly after the failure as some describe. Obviously this is not the case for everyone, probably depends more on the skintrack and technique than anything. I bet there are alot of hard, icy, off angle, beat skintracks out there in North America right now.
Not that it’s caused a problem yet, but I noticed a heel slop in my dynafit vertical STs (2.5 years old) that looks like its coming from the torx screws on the top plate having come loose (vertical slop in the heel pins). Time for some binding maintenance
jason…is it heel slop or pin slop? usually the torx screws don’t loosen on dynafits…but be careful tightening them if they are loose. it is VERY easy to shear the tops off of them or strip the threads. check this out if you still have some pin movement and the top-plate torx screws are tight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNw3WqXM7FE
if it is “heel slop”…has it started after recently remounting them? usually this is caused due to an uneven mounting surface because of old holes that are being mounted over. make sure the surface is very flat before mounting, since it is the surface of the ski that holds the post in place. a small piece of duct-tape under the metal heel post before mounting can fix this and take up space, if you are still getting some movement and have done all you can to make sure the surface is flat.
now…off to the beach club! 🙂
for the record…i’ve got about three solid 5k’ days in while skinning on radical ft w/o the pin…and i haven’t really haven’t had any auto-rotate issues.
Not the issue at hand, but I have about 10 days on my new dynafit radical ft’s and broke the heal lifters right off today while setting a skin track up. I am in the middle of a huge trip and can make due by turning the heal piece one extra quarter turn and using the heal body as a lifter. Anyone else have this happen? I only weight 145 lbs, so I`m not a big guy. Makes me question the durability of these new heal lift systems.
bummer tj…that sucks. this is the first heel lifter failure i’ve heard of with the radicals. luckily there is a recovery option so you can still enjoy your trip.
if i may ask…where are you now?
Yup – a voile strap is also a good thing to have on hand. Wrap it around the brakes and over the top of the heal body or else it has a tendency to twist back to the “normal” positions. It isn’t too bad skinning with the heal body being used as the lifter, but certainly isn’t the best either.
Currently in Rogers Pass. I’m going to take a down day (aka much needed rest day) on Tuesday and try to get it sorted out. Anyway, keep an eye on your bindings as I noticed a small crack the day before the entire system ripped off.
Destroyed my FT heel piece after 3 weeks of use. The pin possibly caused damage to the case which eventually caused catastrophic failure for the heel. I never turned these bindings counter-clockwise nor modified them in any way. I’m thinking the plastic was compromised prior to me skiing them as 1 of the heel pieces shows signs of weakness on all sides of the plastic casing. I’m very disappointed in the durability of this binding, and am looking forward to see how dynafit handles this problem. In the coming weeks I will be happy to drag around a more bombproof binder!
bummer dmon. i’m sure dynafit will take care of you. weird how the plastic looked weak before skiing? what do you mean by “it looked weak”?
saw a broken rad FT 12 today, failure of top plate that holds risers.
“saw a broken rad FT 12 today, failure of top plate that holds risers” “catastrophic failure for the heel” This is exactly what happened to mine. Sounds like this is a common problem. I noticed that the other binding is now showing signs that the heal lifter system is close to end. I’m going to take them into the shop tomorrow and ask to have both complete heal bodies replaced. I’m curious to see how Dynafit solves this problem.
Keep an eye on your top plates if you own these bindings (the dynafit radical ft or the st) as it is just a matter of time before they break. Carry a voile strap and use the fix I mentioned above when it happens.
Wow, this list is growing. Hopefully they reply to my email soon about procuring some spare parts sooner than later.
[…] after a couple weeks in limbo, Dynafit has now released the new Radical binding heel-pin upgrade. The pin is made of bronze and […]
Has anyone had issues with the toe piece pin on the throw lever( the one the spring goes through). One the one toe piece the pin is correctly sized, fits perfectly in the plastic lever. the other toe piece the the pin is a few mm shorter and wants to come out of its track so to speak(the pin slides as the throw lever is pulled into lock position). It worked fine in 10 or so days out but…. So I was heading back to the store to have them check it out and thought I would see if there were any other issues on the web and came across all the heal piece issues.
matt…that sure sounds strange. your local shop should stand behind them and replace them if there is an issue.
Mine are all updated with correct longer pin on the toes piece and the new ‘sacrificial’ pins in the heel. From what he showed me, the new heel pins are brass with a small diameter on one end that should shear off rather than break other parts.
having taken the Radical speed apart after reading all this – it seems that without the pin it performs like my 12 year old TLT Techs – in the shop mind you – particularly with respect to the rotating issue. My old TLT rotate every so often when skinning and though annoying I have lived with it. besides the failure concern of this pin – new or old – I imagine with continual rotation, over the years a groove will wear in the plastic housing – even with the new rounded pin. – not sure what this will do? I think it was a good try but Dynafit should go back to the drawing board all together
bobm…moving forward with future production, dynafit is testing three long term fixes for the radical pin issue. the one with the best results wins!
a clarification from my part – without the pin -in the shop it autorotates counterclockwise ( what the pin was stopping) about the same as the old TLT Tech – it would perhaps rotate clockwise through 270 degrees, easier than the old TLT Tech since there are not the stops built into the post, but I imagine no easier than with the pin in. seems what is the most concern to folks is its ability to counter rotate without the pin. Not sure if boot forces on the heel lifters would push the binding into counter rotation ( without the pin) as I have not mounted my bindings yet.
yeah bobm…i’ve toured a bit with radicals w/o the pin and have found mix results. on terrain where your ski is flat, they work fine. but with other off kilter skin tracks and traverses, mixed with a variety of different sole shapes, the heels can rotate back to ski mode from tour mode quite a bit.
i have the new pin installed on both pairs of radicals i own and zero issues so far.
was wondering if the new pin – think it is rounded at the contact end – will allow a counter rotation under stress by sliding over the catch in the housing rather than blowing through the housing?
yeah bob…the new pin allows for less resistance to rotate the heel in a counter-clockwise motion. it’s square on the end, but shorter.
interesting – what do you think the end result is. just not going to press hard enough to blow through the housing? still stop counter-rotation though?
Dear Radical Friends,
I’ve developed a strong “aftermarket” solution for this problem.
You’ll find some information here:
http://www.maruelli.com/radical%20upgrade/DYANAFIT%20RADICAL%20UPGRADE.htm
The installation is very easy: just 2 little bolt included. The intherna pin must be removed at all.
http://n-w-b.com
For more info on our products.
Ciao
Stefano
(Of course the new Radical will not be longer affected by this problem)
Stefano: “(Of course the new Radical will not be longer affected by this problem)”
The “new Radical”? Please tell us more.
patrick…dynafit is working on a few other “fixes” for the radical pin issue…besides just swapping out for the new pin. i believe this is the “new radical” stefano is referring to.
I’ve had 3 heel pins break on my Plum Guides – all 3 were the originals that came with the bindings.
Now, i’ve had a toe piece ‘arm’ shear across the middle of (right) pin that fixes the binder to the boot. i was unable to find the pin/nipple but assume it is still intact and the ‘arm’ is what failed/broke.
Obviously, the 12 days I’ve had on the Plum Guides have been very exciting.