To-Pin or Not-To-Pin…that is the question. (And I don’t mean telemark.) 🙂
Alas, after a couple weeks in limbo, Dynafit has now released the new Radical binding heel-pin upgrade. The pin is made of brass and has a skinny end, as well as a think end with a small ring indented into it. When installing the new pin, the thin end goes in, towards the heel-post. I’m not sure what the indented ring is for, but it may add a bit of bite to the lock-out feature or be some sort of break-off point so as not to damage the plastic housing. All-in-all, the new pin is reported to decrease the amount of force it takes to spin the heel-piece in a counter-clockwise motion and over-power the auto-rotate lock-out feature of the Radicals.
Here are some instructions for pin replacement if you need them. (Note: Don’t get confused by the arrows and follow the numbers under the images. See last page with text for additional guidance.) FWIW, for the past couple of weeks, I’ve been testing a new ski for next season (Fall 2012) from Dynafit called the Huascaran (AKA, the Landfish) with a Radical FT12 binding that had the pins removed. It’s temping to go completely sans-pins, since I really didn’t have any problems or excessive auto-rotation issues without them being installed. Anyway, food for thought.
Where can I get the new pins? Can I just stop by the local Dynafit dealer and pick them up, or do I have to have Dynafit mail them to me?
Thanks for the instructions. I am curious though…if the “pin” is related to DIN pressure (thus the DIN Certification)and not just to the fix the auto-rotate issue, won’t removing the pin negavitively affect the DIN?
Drew from Dynafit here, jumping in to clarify these questions.
Dlaw – You can call us for replacement pins at 303-444-0446 or email us at service@dynafit.us.
Jen – The pin is unrelated to DIN and will have no affect on that. The pin serves the purpose of preventing heel unit rotation while in tour mode. It does not play a role while in ski mode.
Thanks for your support and understanding!
thanks for chiming in drew…while i was out powder skiing. 😆
Well I’m glad to see someone could find powder. Up in MT it’s 50 degrees and the snowpack is non-existent. What little skiing there was is now half way between crappy breakable crust to avalanchy spring conditions. : (
yeah caleb…we’ve got some sun-crusts to deal with here, but it’s winter…and there is snow to ski, so i’m not complaining.
Drew,
Can you clarify the role of the new pin? If it is meant to “decrease the amount of force it takes to spin the heel-piece in a counter-clockwise motion” as stated above, then it would seem that the heel would ghost rotate even more while in tour mode.
Since, my brand new radicals auto-rotated over a dozen times in a short pitch w/medium slope, I am needing a solution that inhibits counter-clockwise rotation, and this fix seems to be doing the opposite unless there is a typo above.
nicky…are you getting rotation w/ your radicals with the pin removed? you should not get that many auto-rotations with the new pin. my guess is your bindings don’t have any pin in them. put in the new pin…and you won’t get auto-rotations.