Wrecked my STH2 16s

R

RossF

New member
I got these sweet ON3P Kartels (108 x 191cm) this year and was trying to save on bindings, so I snagged some lightly used Salomon STH2 16s.

- Mounted @ recommended for 30.5 FT's.

- I'm 6'3", 220 lbs.

- I wipe out in the park a fair amount and send medium cliffs.

- Shop that mounted these said the DIN readings were a bit off, but bindings were in good shape. Set me @ 11.

- I was pre-releasing constantly, so cranked them up to ~13-14.

- Under-rotated on the landing of a medium 360.

- Per the pic, the up-hill toe piece was obliterated.

- Salomon doesn't honor any kind of warranty bc I'm not the original buyer.

- Most stores and online retailers I've reached out to don't have any bindings left w/ DINs in the 16-18 range.

Trying to figure out:

- Is this expected when you have the DIN's set pretty high on a binding like this?

- How do I get these sick skis rideable for my next trip in 2 weeks?

- Can I just replace the toe piece on these? Or should I not trust these bindings anymore? How do you procure just a toe piece?

- Will Atomic STH2 bindings fit in the same screw holes and should this be a consideration?

- Do I just need to stick to 18-DIN bindings? I have real old pivot 18s on some powder skis and Head Mojo 18s on my old park skis.

- Looking for some advice on best actions. I hate spending $$ on bindings, but really don't want to break a binding like this out in the woods or miss another day w/ broken gear. I want to make sure my new 1-ski quiver stays rideable.

Some options:

- My old pivot 18s or head mojo 18s: both have seemed a bit sketch on the mountain in past years, but i haven't had a shop test them in a while.

- New Pivot 18s $320:https://www.backcountry.com/look-pi...sdHM6c2tpIGJpbmRpbmdzOjE6Mjpza2kgYmluZGluZ3M=

- Tryolia Attack 18 Freeski $320:https://www.backcountry.com/look-pi...sdHM6c2tpIGJpbmRpbmdzOjE6Mjpza2kgYmluZGluZ3M=

- Atomic STH2 WTR 16 $210:https://www.backcountry.com/atomic-...dHM6c2tpIGJpbmRpbmdzOjE6MTk6c2tpIGJpbmRpbmdz#

Any insight is appreciated. Thanks
 
Damn op, you must shred pretty hard.

Heres what I know:

No you should not expect that from any binding. Especially a full metal one like sth 16. This is very uncommon. (this may or not be true but I vaguely remember someone saying this has happened before with sth’s but I cant remember. I havent personally seen this before)

Thats last years sth so I would still trust the rest of the binding. Did you go over forward pressure and toe height at the shop?

Atomic sth 16 will fit those holes. Same binding, different company name on em.

Its pretty rare but you can scower tgr and ns bst forums for binding components (kind of a long shot, especially for that same binding color way but ya never know). Also taking em into a shop to contact salomon may work. It wont be warrantied but you may be able to buy just a toepiece direct from them. Im not 100% sure on that, maybe someone here can confirm. Ive done a few warranties for marker kingpin toe pieces that broke (not ones that were attatched to the recall) and marker just replaced the toe piece. So companies do have single componets floating around.

It may be quicker to just buy a new set, and try and sell the components you currently have to help offset the cost of new ones.

I would double check and make sure it wasnt under any recall (I HIGHLY doubt that they are).

Good luck, hope it all works out.
 
Thanks supersquid! This is all really helpful info. Couple questions

- "Did you go over forward pressure and toe height at the shop?" - I didn't do this... just gave them my boots, skis, bindings and told them how i ski. They didn't ask any questions around that stuff - if you wouldn't mind, what's involved there?

- I checked w/ Salomon and they're not under recall.

- I'm leaning towards going w/ the Atomics. They're cheaper and fit the existing holes, but I'll kick myself if I get launched out of those suckers too. What are your thoughts on re-drilling for the more expensive Pivot 18s? It seems like those are the golden standard around here for durability. I guess I'd have a 2 year warranty on the Atomics buying them new...
 
I'm the same size as you and will ONLY ski pivots. Broke the heel piece on a pair of Jesters in half at the metal base.. tore a set of STH 16's out of the ski (albeit probably not the bindings fault) but also shattered an STH toe piece as well. Switched to pivot 18's 4 years ago and never happier. Yeah, stepping in them with deep snow is sometimes annoying but it's worth it. TBH i'm on the Pivot 14's this year cause the 18's didnt come with gripwalk yet, and have had 0 issues at a 12 din. I like how they feel.
 
14008124:RossF said:
Thanks supersquid! This is all really helpful info. Couple questions

- "Did you go over forward pressure and toe height at the shop?" - I didn't do this... just gave them my boots, skis, bindings and told them how i ski. They didn't ask any questions around that stuff - if you wouldn't mind, what's involved there?

- I checked w/ Salomon and they're not under recall.

- I'm leaning towards going w/ the Atomics. They're cheaper and fit the existing holes, but I'll kick myself if I get launched out of those suckers too. What are your thoughts on re-drilling for the more expensive Pivot 18s? It seems like those are the golden standard around here for durability. I guess I'd have a 2 year warranty on the Atomics buying them new...
Click to expand...

This is most likely not the case because setting up a ski is basically the first thing you learn working in a ski shop. I know your familiar with din, but there are two other things you need to check for as well. Toe height refers to how tight your boot is in the binding vertically. The lip of your boot that gets put in the toe piece does not have a standardized size in the ski industry. Some boots are bigger in that area and so you need to adjust the binding so that your toe has the correct amount of pressure on top and the underside of the boot.

Forward pressure is basically the same thing but for the length of the boots. It makes sure that its properly "Squeezed" and locked in.

The binding will not release properly if those are not set correctly.

Like I said before, its pretty basic knowledge so Im sure it was correct. However if those are not setup correctly, its very possible that was the cause of what happened. You can check it your self if you really want to. Forward pressure on the sth16 is checked by looking at the screw that allows you to move your binding back and forth on the track. With nothing in the binding it should stick out of the housing a little bit, when you click the boot in, it should retract in and become flush with the housing. If it goes in more than that, its to tight, if it still sticks out its to loose.

Toe height is adjusted with the giant phillips head on the top of the toe piece, put a business card on the white afd plate and click your boot in. You should be able to move the business card back and forth, but with a bit of friction. If you cant move the card at all, then its squeezing to tight. If the card moves freely, then its to loose.

Going with atomics would work, they are the exact same binding just different branding. Personally I love my sth 16's, never had any problem releasing with them and I always feel locked in when I step in. If your uneasy about them (understandable given what happened) then going for pivot 18 would be an awesome option, although cracking the half moon piece on them is fairly common if you ski em for a long time. Your also gonna have to put a second set of holes in the ski, dosent affect performance but it drives the resale value way down. Thats up to you to weigh out.
 
I know the pivots are expensive but they are so worth it and are usually decent about warranties. I have 3 pairs of them and haven't had any issues so far
 
Pivots aren’t magic bulletproof bindings. Yes they’re arguably the nicest bindings out but STHs are what they’re competing with (Attacks are right up there too). This could happen with any binding and it’s just a freak incident if everything was set up correctly (unless you had a lemon).

I’d just stuck with STHs so you don’t have to redrill.
 
14008455:Woos said:
Pivots aren’t magic bulletproof bindings. Yes they’re arguably the nicest bindings out but STHs are what they’re competing with (Attacks are right up there too). This could happen with any binding and it’s just a freak incident if everything was set up correctly (unless you had a lemon).

I’d just stuck with STHs so you don’t have to redrill.
Click to expand...

im glad someone actually understands this. pivots do have problems too. i.e. baseplate, half moons, brakes
 
If I were the op I would go with the sth2 16’s. I have jesters, pivot 18’s and sth2 16’s on my skis this season and my fav would be a combo of them. I like the pivot toe the best but the pivot heel is the only one I have broken. I would take a jester of sth heel over a pivot any day but I do like the pivot toe.

The sth is probably the best of the bunch by they are all good at that level.

Op I would check toe height adjustment. Looking at it it looks like you pulled the boot up as you feel and this is how the toe broke. You can see the toe height adjuster is perfect so the force has gone to the binding rather then having chance to release first. Weird one and probably just a freak fall but may be worth having the boot soles checked as if you are over cranking the toe height this could happen. I have season Sean P have the issue as he sets his sth’s up really weirdly.
 
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