Why the FRICK has there not been advancements in alpine bindings over the years?

[CabbyArrant]

This is true.

But, there will always be individuals like JLev who find a way ahead despite all that. There must be, or we'd all be cavemen or Amish or mogul skiers.....this is NEW schoolers!

So there's E-bikes nowadays with pressure sensors in the pedals. I guess a little computer and some code controls how much juice to kick in relative to how hard the rider is cranking. Seems to me like this tech could easily be adapted to ski bindings.....rather than using predetermined spring tension to meter static friction on specific release planes, the sensors could be programmed to trigger release according to more complex variables.

Maybe that hardware could be moved from the bindings to the boots, so the settings would be skier-specific not ski-specific. You and a friend could switch skis without having to mess with DINs, and rental shops could have set programs for different skier variables (weight, skill etc).

I agree there is room for improvement but my point is such that unless the entire market is upended which is unlikely, there wont be any developement. To your point about E-bikes, these came about as there was a significant demand for them, and the market was big enough to offset the development cost, but also think about what they cost too. If a company went through the development they are gonna have to recoup their costs at some point which would be tacked to the price of the binding. Also it's the mechanics of the binding that are the problem. As an Embedded electronics engineer pushing any sort of electronics in a ski is a terrible idea you might be able to do some cool stuff for like the first hour but they would be anhiallated pretty quickly.

My point is that from a business and engineering perspective it makes zero sense to do. And designing an I terface that is capable of full lateral release without changing the surfaces of the boot I thi k would be extremely difficult

**This post was edited on Oct 29th 2019 at 9:00:31am

 

[chrispyminis]

My knees hurt just from reading this thread

 

[dolanslebensraum]

Skis are very different now than they were 25 years ago. Alpine bindings, not so much. With the exception of the knee binding, who I've never actually witnessed anyone use, why the hell are we running the same mechanisms that have been around for decades?

What about a heelpeice the releases laterally at the pull of a trigger on a ski pole? Just a pipe dream and wouldn't prevent all injuries but knee surgery fuckin blows and there's gotta be a better way. [tag=17763]@JLev[/tag] any ideas brewing? I know you've tried before!

Maybe the pinnacle of binding tech was nearly reached 20 years ago op. Once something is perfect you cant improve on it. I think good modern bindings are pretty damn safe. Why do you think there is so much room for improvement in bindings op?

 

[CabbyArrant]

Maybe the pinnacle of binding tech was nearly reached 20 years ago op. Once something is perfect you cant improve on it. I think good modern bindings are pretty damn safe. Why do you think there is so much room for improvement in bindings op?

Bc they definitely arent perfect. Toe pieces have no ability to release in the vertical plane so twisting falls such as when you land backseat, you are at severe risk for the toe to not release which poses a huge risk to your knees.

 

[hippystinx]

I think the next step in bindings is a electro magnetic connection, with a battery pack carried on a mini backpack system or something. Ski boot heaters have come from nicad batteries lasting 2 hours in the cold, to 1700ma lithium batteries controlled by your phone with intelligence sensors built in to turn up or turn down based on movement. I think we are at the point where battery tech is up to the challenge of managing an electromagnetic connection for a day of skiing.

 

[Cream_Sauce]

u idiot just last year they release the pivots in the new forza colorway and ur already complaining?

 

[b0ss]

Duke pt, shift, the new marker race binding. Kingpin, CAST touring system.

yall go ahead and dislike my ass but im right as fuck so i aint even trippin

**This post was edited on Dec 7th 2019 at 10:30:25pm

 

[Lokdog]

Learning how and when to fall properly will negate much of your knee injury worries. The few times I've gotten close to messing my knee up is from landing something and trying to ride out when I should have just taken the tumble.

 

[GayWolf420]

Learning how and when to fall properly will negate much of your knee injury worries. The few times I've gotten close to messing my knee up is from landing something and trying to ride out when I should have just taken the tumble.

You gotta factor in the other people who are buying or using ski bindings as well and those are the large numbers of people who would be considered novice/inexperience skiers who are just learning everything, so to them falling "properly" or whichever way is deemed more safe is just falling to them no matter what, which include falls that would put your legs/knees in bad situations. Even skiers who get nice gear but only ski a few times out of the season. Falling is falling no matter what.

 

[Cream_Sauce]

Learning how and when to fall properly will negate much of your knee injury worries. The few times I've gotten close to messing my knee up is from landing something and trying to ride out when I should have just taken the tumble.

That's just one scenario you're talking. What about big mountain skiiers riding with their dins maxed out?

 

[Lokdog]

That's just one scenario you're talking. What about big mountain skiiers riding with their dins maxed out?

That's pretty much eactly the scenario I relate the most to. However most big mountain skiers don't ride with dins "literally' maxed out, that is a very bad idea, please don't do this. Most freeride/bigmtn skiers I know will ride between 12 to 14 din depending on weight, if you're cranking your din higher than that you're either a heavvvy mfcker that skis with some serious power or just making a bad decision. I don't see how scenario really affects what I was trying to say tho, knowing how and when to fall will help reduce risk of a knee injury, or any injury for that matter. I don't feel like that advice applies to a specific scenario tho, it's something that will help in all aspects of skiing.

 

[Lokdog]

You gotta factor in the other people who are buying or using ski bindings as well and those are the large numbers of people who would be considered novice/inexperience skiers who are just learning everything, so to them falling "properly" or whichever way is deemed more safe is just falling to them no matter what, which include falls that would put your legs/knees in bad situations. Even skiers who get nice gear but only ski a few times out of the season. Falling is falling no matter what.

Novice/inexperienced skiers shouldn't have their dins cranked high enough to cause a knee injury, if it is then that's not really the bindings fault, it's more along the lines of improper use of equipment, or improper preparation. A lot of people don't really know what din means if they're new like you said though, and if someone preps the skis in the shop for them it could be hard to gauge what din is appropriate. That being said anyone can learn how to fall, and that's really what you should take out of this, if you don't know how to fall properly, fucken learn cause its gonna save you some hurtin.