SkiStop Tech told me to leave my Marker M11s and return my FKS140s??!

Captain_Slow

Captain_Slow

Active member
I made other posts about this so sorry if your reading this again, but long story short I land switch , either doing a 1 or 5,and my brakes rip off, 4 times in 2 weeks. Bumped up the DIN from 5-8.5 (im 120lbs) and decided to buy FKS140s to try n solve the problem. Well, I went today to the tech and he said the problem was that my back din setting was set at 6 and only my fronts were adjusted up to 8.5 (stupid tech from local mountain)... He said FKS's will be worse with brakes cause of the turntables and they can release left and right, where if you just increase the DIN to 9.5-10 the brake will not come apart b/c the ski will not pop off at all. He said return FKS's, get money back, and increase both back and front of bindings to 9-9.5..... is that good? I know lots of ppl are sayin M11s suck and believe me, Im not too happy with them, but maybe b/c they were not adjusted correctly and its not the binding's fault..

sorry for long post i just dont want to go to colorado next month with my m11s, have em fuck up with the brakes again, and end up regreting returning my fks's.. thxx to all help
 
there were 3 techs there actually, all saying the same thing... I said "Im pretty sure that the fks's are better than M11s" and they r like nah man if you increase the din the M11s are fine... idk what to think now and I need to return them by this week if i want to get refund
 
so should I keep them and get them mounted or refund them and stick with my m11s and really increase the din on em..
 
This. I had M11s on my THalls (for a little at least), and even cranking the DIN up to 11 on BOTH heel and toe didn't stop me from breaking my breaks...and then they COMPLETELY shattered. How can the break come off the FKS - it's UNDER the entire heel piece, the ONLY way for it to come off is too unmount the heel piece, and literally take apart the entire base of the binding. Just tell them that you want them for the safety of the turntable (it's true) and the durability of the binding in general, cause they clearly don't know what's up...in fact, if possible go somewhere else, cause ANY shop tech that says having FKS is bad doesn't know what's up.
After typing all that, I realized that I've talk to you before...
 
also...what shop tech goes around blindly raising DINs...is he trying to break your knees...
 
yea i hit u up wonderin about the turntables b4 i bought them... My local mountain tech just lays em out and increases the din... obviously he did them wrong
 
yeah, but this tech is also in favor of upping the DIN...did you grow/gain a lot weight/get a longer BSL since the beginning of the season...I'm gonna guess no - maybe you've increased your Skier Type, but that should be cause for raising the DIN, especially from a 6 to a 9.
 
FKS brakes suck. So do markers, and so do almost every binding brakes out there. you might just have to be careful and replace brakes here and there..
 
Take your FKS 140s and run as fast and far from this shop as you can. This shop is a liability waiting to happen.
 
FKS bindings are outstanding bindings, and if a shop tech ever DOUBLES your DIN to fix your bindings you need to leave.
 
maybe they don't work well with you're little gypsy grinds but they've held up awesome when you're actually doing real skiing
 
thank you all for the help, .. I stomp landings and the chart puts me at like 5 (according to weight, ski type, etc) which is not right with what Im doing, so I dont rlly follow the chart nyways... My local mountain was the place that screwed up with the DIN, not the shop i went to to get my FKS's mounted, so the blame is on them..

what Im going to do is go to Colorado with my M11a mounted on and put the din to around 8.5 just to be safe and if the brakes snap again on 8.5, ill go to vail's shop and have them swap during a lunch break or w/e (i was told bindings only take ~20min to put on) ...Hopefully they can just take off my m11s and put my FKS's there within half a day. If my m11s do hold up and it was the DIN problem the whole time and not the actual binding, ill just return my fks's when i get home.. ill still have 5 days left for the 20day guarantee from getboards.com... hopefully thats the right choice!
 
brakes snapping has nothing to do with the din. if they are to big and hang over, they will snap
 
Almost every binding brakes suck? What brakes are good then?

I was under the impression that the FKS brakes are the most durable.
 
That tech is an Idiot. ALL marker bindings suck. Sure the Griffons/Jesters may be a little better than lets say your m11s. Get the FKS 140s mounted.
 
They are the most durable if you consider that the entire assembly doesn't snap off the heel piece altogether, but they will bend and eventually snap just like any other brakes.
 
People need to realize that binding material and design are just as important, if not more important, than DIN setting.

on p18s, I can have the DIN at 9 and ragdoll without coming out.

on 14 DIN Looks, I can have them at 13 and pop out in a standstill because they're made of plastic. Markers are even worse.
 
i've destroyed FKS brakes. they're attached to the heelpiece in a more secure way than most bindings, but the arms themselves are actually pretty thin, if not more so than salomon and marker. honestly, set your DIN based on being a type 3 skier. if you land nose-heavy switch, you're gonna trash whatever bindings you have, it's just a fact of life unfortunately. your best bet is to land more balanced and not so heavy on your tips. no binding will change that.
 
but still, if fks's are more secure than my m11s, why not get them mounted? i mean i have them with me, if my m11s fail on me again i might as well slap em on and give em a go
 
yeah, never max out your din. i forgot the actual reason but it makes the spring very inconsistent.
 
He has the 2010s which do have a wider brake arm then the old ones (I have a pair of both and the new ones look much more durable).
 
your tech is retarded, keep the fks cuz they are better for preventing pre release, which is essentially what is braking your brakes
 
I'm saying that the FKS turntable design is the only ski binding I trust enough to step foot into. The biggest weakness to the FKS design are their flimsy brakes. I consider this a small price to pay for what I consider to be the only safe binding.

In my opinion, the fact that they're a simple design made out of metal makes them a safer binding than anything out there. It doesn't matter if the DIN goes up to 30, if it's made of plastic its shit.

Maybe I just have bad luck. I snapped the toepiece off my Dukes from doing a 180 three feet off the ground. The din was on 14, yet the fact that they were made of plastic made them shit regardless.

As a rule, I don't trust plastic bindings, regardless of their DIN range.
 
seriously

yeah just crank up your din to the max so you dont release and ruin your knees

good idea buddy, there is no way 140's wont be 10 times nicer than m11's
 
cause after reading all of the ppl coomenting on how the tech is a dumass, i was thinkin i might as well show it to him.... he literally said to me , "if your brake snaps off, jus keep crankin up the DIN until it stops." I looked at my dad thinkin is he for real? , cause i didnt know thats what your supposed to do. Then his friend, who is also a tech, comes over and says that he weighs around 130 lbs and has a 12 DIN setting and his recommended is 6,,,? so he also supported to just keep increasing the din and send back the FKS's. i told my dad when we walked out that i am def. posting this on NS to see wht these guys have to say about this, because he didn't believe me that the techs didnt sound right...
 
Some shops who don't know their ass from their elbow will look at FKS bindings and say "OMG those are retro and outdated! send them back!"

Also, according to liability laws, shops can't legally put the din higher than the chart says. I'm 145 lbs and my DIN is supposed to be around 6 or 7, according to the chart. If I actually rode with my bindings like that, I would die.

Raising the DIN only helps to a certain degree. At some point, the plastic will snap regardless of your DIN, which is when a smart person buys metal bindings.
 
yea, when i get my fks's mounted at vail ill be sure to bump up the din to around 8.5 so they will release only when i need em to..
 
Unless you specify that you are a "Type 3+" skier, then you can specify what DIN you want (although you need to sign a waiver to do that usually - which is what you do when you get them mounted anyways).
 
Rable rable, bunch of fucking knowitalls posting out of their ass. Turntable breaks blow ass in comparison to any marker break. I just cut them off if I ever plan to land switch on those skis.

You can do better then the markers, but p14s are not the answer for you.

- they are overkill for you. You don't need them.

- they are expensive. You could put that extra $100 in nice little savings account. Or buy some blow.

- you will still have your damn break problem.
 
i have the new ones too. the brake arms are no thicker than the old ones i have. they're wider, yes, so i didn't have to bend them to fit, but not thicker or stronger. cobra_commander is right, the brakes suck, but it's a price to pay for a binding that otherwise is awesome. i'd rather bust the brakes than completely explode the heel or toe piece of the binding.

OP, if all you're looking for is a binding with more durable brakes, the FKS/Pivot is not it, sorry.
 
FKS brakes suck, but then again, they shouldn't be sticking out when you land, unless you eject, but why would you ride a binding that ejects when you land on your feet?

I would take the shittiest brakes any day if it meant having a trustworthy binding.

also, keep in mind that brake assemblies on regular bindings are made up of tons of pieces. If you tweak a break on a plastic binding, chances are the heel platform is going to get fucked as well. If you bust the brakes on the FKS, only the brakes get busted. The binding isn't affected.
 
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