Salomon Shift Issues and bugs

S

SKIINGPARK

New member
Ive been skiing the shifts all season so far and to say the least I love them but as the season goes on ive discovered some quirks and issues and im wondering if im the only one experiencing these things, first thing, the breaks, they suck and I understand they were designed to be light but I think they bent my second day on the binding. My second issue with the binding is they are prone to freeze because snow gets into all the areas possible and if your not onto of it on a cold day you can expect to spend a few minutes during a transition trying to get the binding back into ski mode. Finally my biggest issue is in ski mode the bindings are destroying the toe of my boots, I have lots of experience with many bindings and have not really seen anything like it. I got the bindings mounted at a shop and had them adjusted again when I got new boots (Dalbello Lupo ax120) and have since skied them 2 days, one day touring, only really in ski mode for about 40 min and than one full day at Revelstoke mountain resort and the points of contact between the toe and the binding have been damaged enough that im starting to be a little nervous skiing them after only 1 day, I will attach pictures of the boots and bindings. if anyone has any ideas of what could solve this for me id really appreciate it!
 
Yeah, thats an issue more with the boots than the binding...

Those toes on that boot will get absolutely chewed up 'dynafiddling' the shift pins into place...

Doesn't happen with my boots, because they're made of denser polyether, rather than the Polyofaline grilamid that the lupos are constructed with.
 
14007679:DingoSean said:
Yeah, thats an issue more with the boots than the binding...

Those toes on that boot will get absolutely chewed up 'dynafiddling' the shift pins into place...

Doesn't happen with my boots, because they're made of denser polyether, rather than the Polyofaline grilamid that the lupos are constructed with.
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Do you mean when putting the boot in the binding in tour mode? because that's not the case, this only happens in ski mode.
 
14007796:SKIINGPARK said:
Do you mean when putting the boot in the binding in tour mode? because that's not the case, this only happens in ski mode.
Click to expand...

It will happen in touring mode as well... But yeah, i'm not even surprised it's getting chewed up. Those boots will get chewed up by anything that touches it, seemingly.

I'd be surprised if you clicked into some crampons with those, accidentally stepped one foot onto the other, and didn't leave a pretty obvious gash in the plastic. It's just soft stuff.
 
14008449:DingoSean said:
It will happen in touring mode as well... But yeah, i'm not even surprised it's getting chewed up. Those boots will get chewed up by anything that touches it, seemingly.

I'd be surprised if you clicked into some crampons with those, accidentally stepped one foot onto the other, and didn't leave a pretty obvious gash in the plastic. It's just soft stuff.
Click to expand...

Dang:( Wish I knew they were this soft when I got them. I did notice after I was done my tour on them( it was the first time I used them on the way up) that they were looking pretty good. I guess just need to be careful with them in tour mode, as for downhill mode is there anything that could reduce how much they get chewed up other that skiing like a granny?
 
14008626:SKIINGPARK said:
Dang:( Wish I knew they were this soft when I got them. I did notice after I was done my tour on them( it was the first time I used them on the way up) that they were looking pretty good. I guess just need to be careful with them in tour mode, as for downhill mode is there anything that could reduce how much they get chewed up other that skiing like a granny?
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don't worry about chewing them up.. they're not going to split in half, they'll just look scuffed. the tech fittings aren't going to fall out or anything..

Treat it like chipping topsheets - at the end of the day it's superficial as fuck and who cares.
 
I had some bad wear on the toes of my boot from the shift also. It was because the AFD pressure wasn't correctly adjusted and there was up/down play in the toe when I was in ski mode. I could actually feel the toe play going off jumps or moguls when the ski flexed. I got the AFD adjusted and it totally helped. I know atomic issued a memo to shops about how to properly adjust it since it isn't the same as a normal binding. Not sure if your bindings were adjusted before or after the memo went out.

I also had an issue with the walk mode on my shifts. Both of my toe pieces wouldn't go into walk mode. It takes a bit of force to lock them in walk, but I pulled as hard as I could without being sure I was going to snap them and they wouldn't lock out. I ended up taking them in to evo and they warrantied the toe pieces of the binding.
 
I haven't seen any boot damage, so that seems more like a specific boot issue.

Been skiing on my Shifts since December. My early morning hungover self really enjoys the reduced weight, compared to my Atomic Trackers, and helps me keep up with my lame friends who didn't take shots last night. Downhill skiing confidence is way up in all conditions and touring is super easy. They're definitely a game changer and I really appreciate all the R&D their engineering team put into them. I'd buy them again for an all mtn ski.

That being said, no piece of gear is perfect and the Shifts are not immune to problems. Here are some of the things I'd love to see them correct in future versions:

1.) Lots of space between moving parts for snow and ice to collect. So far this hasn't been a major issue when flipping back and forth between ski/tour modes but I can see how it could get you into some trouble.

2.) While in tour mode, with the heel elevated for steeper touring, the entire heel binding piece will snap back into ski mode. The brakes drop and I suddenly find myself having to take off the ski to put it back into tour mode. Thinking this was user error I've ensured there was no ice build up, that I wasnt bumping the brakes on anything, and that is was 100% snapped into walk mode...but it still happens ever now and again. In speaking to other ppl who own Shifts, they have had similar trouble. This is a nuisance more than anything.

3.) Gap between toe pins is a bit narrow for my Dalbello Lupos which makes snapping in frustrating in deep snow but is a manageable issue.

4.) Flipping the toe piece from walk -> ski mode. After several uses you really learn the temperaments of the mechanical/moving pieces. Pushing the toe piece lever up/forward from walk to ski mode 100% of the way reduces your ability to push the front toe piece all the way down to snap in. Instead you need to push the lever up/forward about 95% of the way to allow some room for the front toe piece to snap down. Again, this is manageable but I could see how this might get you into some trouble, especially if ice or snow builds up while touring up.

All in all, the Shifts are great and I'd recommend them if you're looking for a hybrid binding to use for backcountry and inbounds skiing.
 
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