Shift vs cast vs alpine trekkers

D

drifts

Member
(move this to the bc forum if this is the wrong place for this)

so I got some used armada JJs for ~$10 and found a $20 in the parking lot when I was leaving so basically free skis and now I'm trying to figure out bindings. Right now the options are: shift 13s for a really good price when they are in stock, buy alpine trekkers from a friend and still need bindings, or I could buy a cast kit and pivots.

**This thread was edited on Nov 7th 2020 at 6:42:16pm
 
14194293:LorryRetype said:
You're looking to put $700 bindings on $10 skis?
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Yeah so this is definitely agreeable in a sense, but also if your skis shit the bed you can always take the bindings off and then put them on another ski.

how much touring are you planning on doing? If you wanna just experiment with it and learn the ropes, buy trekkers and used griffons or something to keep things at the most cost effective. If you wanna spend a little more the shift is a great binding and you’ll be able to throw it on your next ski if you decide that you like touring. The CAST system is awesome but it is expensive and if you find out you don’t wanna tour then that’s $750 that you’ve spent on something that you won’t use again.

personally if you have the money and they’re on a deal I would go Shift. It’s a great binding and even if you decide that you only wanna tour once in a while it’s the perfect binding for that. Hope that helps, feel free to ask any questions
 
14194293:LorryRetype said:
You're looking to put $700 bindings on $10 skis?
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I wont be paying $700 for shifts otherwise I wouldn't even consider them. why not? every where I ski has lots of rocks so bindings are more of a long term investment than the ski they are on. the JJs have a couple spots patched up but other than that are in good shape
 
Are these regular recent JJs? They're a heavy ski and aren't gonna be the most fun to tour in. If I had to put a touring binding on them I'd probably go CAST for the tech toe up and not sacrifice anything when I'm using the skis inbounds.
 
I’ve found some BCA trekkers online recently for like $75, I’d get those to test the waters of touring especially if you wanna keep it cheap. Shifts are great too and perform great and aren’t too heavy like the cast, which I’d say get if you plan to tour a lot and go hard.
 
14194297:animator said:
Yeah so this is definitely agreeable in a sense, but also if your skis shit the bed you can always take the bindings off and then put them on another ski.

how much touring are you planning on doing? If you wanna just experiment with it and learn the ropes, buy trekkers and used griffons or something to keep things at the most cost effective. If you wanna spend a little more the shift is a great binding and you’ll be able to throw it on your next ski if you decide that you like touring. The CAST system is awesome but it is expensive and if you find out you don’t wanna tour then that’s $750 that you’ve spent on something that you won’t use again.

personally if you have the money and they’re on a deal I would go Shift. It’s a great binding and even if you decide that you only wanna tour once in a while it’s the perfect binding for that. Hope that helps, feel free to ask any questions
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the shifts are on deal thats the only reason im considering them, I only went once last year because I had to borrow someone's skis to go but all my friends tour up the ski areas at night or in the early am before lifts spin so I'll probably go a few times. I watched the blister podcast with cody townsend and he really hyped the shifts up saying they were better downhill bindings than the STH and I really like my STH 14s so that got my attention but its hard to judge how much of it is just hype because shifts are plastic and STH is metal and he gets bindings for free.

14194307:LorryRetype said:
Are these regular recent JJs? They're a heavy ski and aren't gonna be the most fun to tour in. If I had to put a touring binding on them I'd probably go CAST for the tech toe up and not sacrifice anything when I'm using the skis inbounds.
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yeah older JJs but I'm not a weight weenie, heavier skis will just make my legs stronger and I'm not going to do any really long tours just skinning the local ski areas with friends so im not super worried about it. I've never ridden pivots so as much as I like the idea of the cast system I'm kind of hesitant to pull the trigger on it, plus its going to be more expensive to go cast than shifts unless I find some cheap used pivots
 
14194311:Titus69 said:
I’ve found some BCA trekkers online recently for like $75, I’d get those to test the waters of touring especially if you wanna keep it cheap. Shifts are great too and perform great and aren’t too heavy like the cast, which I’d say get if you plan to tour a lot and go hard.
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It'd have been a no brainer on the trekkers if I found some cheap used bindings in the last few weeks but fb marketplace and craigslist have been dry so its making it a bit more of a complicated decision
 
I mean yeah FWIW I skied Shifts all last season in resort and out including the park and had 0 issues so if you can get a good deal go for it
 
14194316:drifts said:
yeah older JJs but I'm not a weight weenie, heavier skis will just make my legs stronger
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Everyone thinks this until you are halfway to the top and want to die.
 
14194377:CLQ said:
Everyone thinks this until you are halfway to the top and want to die.
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when I'm half way up and dying I'll blame all the times I skipped going for a run, doing more squats, ate too much junk food, or drank too many beers, not the extra pound I didn't save because I didn't go buy new skis to try out touring.
 
14194382:drifts said:
when I'm half way up and dying I'll blame all the times I skipped going for a run, doing more squats, ate too much junk food, or drank too many beers, not the extra pound I didn't save because I didn't go buy new skis to try out touring.
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Alternatively, just be a weight weenie on the bindings and get a free pass to drink more beers? The BCA trekkers are so miserable to use it's unreal. They have no torsional stability so they are almost unusable for traversing. The Daymakers were literally built because the trekker is that bad and they could be a good option if you can find a cheap tyrolia attack (depending on how much you tour). Personally, I'd go Shift, I've only used them in the backcountry so far but they felt really solid to me. I'll reserve my full judgment for when I've tried them in the park though. CAST is the most bomber option but they are heavy... and I refer you to point A.
 
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