bigwavedave Posted February 5, 2021 Report Share Posted February 5, 2021 I've been having issues with my bindings going out of adjustment. Sometimes they're too tight and I can't close the bail and sometimes they're too loose. In the past with UPZ's if I set them up inside, I would often have to tweak the adjustment for outside temperature, but then they were fine for the rest of the season. Seems I've had way more issues getting it right since I started using MS boots. I've had times where everything is fine on the first run and then things gradually get looser or tighter each time I clip in at the top, until finally I have to stop and re-adjust them. After that they are usually okay for the rest of the day. And it's not that the screws holding the blocks are loose. It's driving me crazy! As far as I can tell it's not ice or snow on the bottom of my boots. Today I thought maybe the heel groove was getting iced up so the bail wasn't seating properly. But, I'm not sure if that's it because it doesn't seem to happen with the F2 Race Titaniums. Just wondering if anyone else has had similar issues? Or could it be that I have an unmanageable quiver of boards and bindings and can't keep track of which bindings have been re-adjusted? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonny Posted February 5, 2021 Report Share Posted February 5, 2021 Sounds like the problem we had back in the '70s with certain thermoplastic ski boots. They shrank in the cold, and then re-expanded at uneven rates depending on the thickness of the material and other factors. With those boots the low-forward-pressure bindings like the Salomon 505 would often just flat out release without reason. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drschwartz Posted February 5, 2021 Report Share Posted February 5, 2021 Gotta be an issue with boot shrink/expansion due to temperature, because no way does the TD3 actually change length during the day, just can’t. Or maybe it is that huge quiver combined with CRS syndrome thing Paul One other thought...keep your boots in the freezer and drive to the hill with them on the top of your car. Should make it so they don’t shrink during the day 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonbordin Posted February 5, 2021 Report Share Posted February 5, 2021 Sharpie. The answer is to mark the bindings with a sharpie. Different colors for different setups. You'll be certain to adjust them to the marks and will easily see if they moved off of the marks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted February 5, 2021 Report Share Posted February 5, 2021 I hear ya. These boots do seem to change size with temperature more than others. But also sometimes I think the rubber sole is preventing the heel from seating all the way back into the bail. I will pick up my boot and start over if I think that’s happening. I haven’t had to readjust yet. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted February 5, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2021 Pretty sure my toe and heel blocks aren't moving. I usually get that "crack" when I break a screw loose to re-adjust. In the past, once set I haven't had to touch them again. When I got the MS boots last year I had to do a lot of fiddling around to get get the heel/toe placement the way I wanted. They were different enough from the UPZ's to make it a pain. It's one reason I have a set of bindings for each board. I do think it has something to do with temperature related contraction and expansion and suspect that there's something about the Bomber/MS combination? I have several pairs of sidewinders and 2 pair of Race Titaniums and it only seems to be a problem with the Sidewinders. (I have a lot of boards, I ride them all, sometimes several on the same day it's called a quiver) My boots are warm when I put them on. Ahhh, I was hoping Jack might chime in. I figured you were using SW with your MS. The combination seems to allow little margin for error. Whereas the F2's can be a little loose or tight and still work fine. Maybe since F2's are plastic, they shrink and contract the same or similar to the boots? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted February 5, 2021 Report Share Posted February 5, 2021 Oh sorry, I'm not using Sidewinders. Just standard TD3s. I guess I missed that late last night. I feel the TD's can also be a little loose or tight with the changing boot size and still work. Keep at it. These boots are worth the effort to get everything just right. I don't touch them all day. At lunch I leave them buckled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted February 6, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2021 I had the same thing happen again today. I rode 3 hours yesterday with no problems, didn't touch any settings. Today, it was -8°F, a bit colder than yesterday, everything was fine at the start, 2 fingers to close the bail, but by my third run I could close the bail lever with one pinky finger. On the verge of being unsafe. I was ready to quit for the day partly because of the cold, but also because the longest wire strap (over the forefoot) broke on my rear boot when I was buckling up before leaving the house this morning. I got to ride using the souls of my feet. I have the .951, not the WC, so supposedly a softer plastic formulation. Maybe they expand and contract more than the WC model. I start out with heated boots, ZipFit style, which shouldn't make a difference once the boots have cooled to outside temps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordmetroland Posted February 6, 2021 Report Share Posted February 6, 2021 26 minutes ago, bigwavedave said: I have the .951, not the WC, so supposedly a softer plastic formulation. Maybe they expand and contract more than the WC model. I had a similar experience with UPZ ATBs (softest shells) and TD3s on their maiden voyage. Everything was tight in my warm basement. Got off the first chair and the lever was floppy. Not pinky-level closure, but no pressure at all. Scared the bejeezus out of me at first. Then pissed me off as I had to scramble to find a screwdriver and do the adjustment on the hill in the same cold weather that shrunk the boots. After a run or two, switched to a softie set-up and haven't revisited the TD3s since; they're reposing in my basement in the climate they seem to prefer. In the one day I've used them, the F2/ATB combo did not behave similarly. The cost of broken trust... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted February 6, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2021 56 minutes ago, lordmetroland said: I had a similar experience with UPZ ATBs (softest shells) and TD3s on their maiden voyage. Everything was tight in my warm basement. Got off the first chair and the lever was floppy. Not pinky-level closure, but no pressure at all. Scared the bejeezus out of me at first. Then pissed me off as I had to scramble to find a screwdriver and do the adjustment on the hill in the same cold weather that shrunk the boots. After a run or two, switched to a softie set-up and haven't revisited the TD3s since; they're reposing in my basement in the climate they seem to prefer. In the one day I've used them, the F2/ATB combo did not behave similarly. The cost of broken trust... In the past I discovered (with other boots like UPZ's etc) that I might have to re-adjust bindings (especially Bombers) after trying them in the cold. Then everything was fine for the rest of the season. I remembered another thing that helped start this off again this year. I loosen the 4 center disc screws during summer storage to prevent base suck. With Sidewinders the heel or toe block is often blocking one of those screws so I have to move the block out of the way which means I have to start over again next season with my settings. Guess I should start marking them as @lonbordin recommended to aid replicating the previous year's settings. I have sidewinders from all the iterations going back to a pair of prototypes from my daughter. They are all a little different and one can't simply measure the distance between toe & heel blocks between different generations and have the same fit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grip Posted February 6, 2021 Report Share Posted February 6, 2021 I think I’m getting this with my SG bindings too. Seems I can never get the right tension on the bails, so I carry the Allen wrench in my pocket. The little rubber pads in the binding blocks cause some extra friction with the .951s rubber soles which gets a little grabby sometimes too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted February 15, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2021 It's been a little cold here. Last week when the hill was closed due to subzero temps I decided to recheck and re-adjust everything outside for maximum boot contraction. So, put my boots and boards outside for about 15-20 minutes and then went to work. I set everything so the toe bail would close with solid two finger pressure, opened & closed them several times and wiggled the boots around. Everything has been working well so far since then. After starting with warm boots and a tight fit in the bindings at the top of the hill, the fit has remained fairly consistent through the day. The fit does get slightly looser as the boots cool and shrink, but it's still an acceptable 1 finger pressure to close the toe bail. Hope it continues to work when it warms up. I suppose I could check the fit with everything warm and inside... btw, the MS .951 maintain a consistent flex in the cold, whereas my old boots would get really stiff. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drschwartz Posted February 15, 2021 Report Share Posted February 15, 2021 Grip, Are your SG bindings new? My experience has been that when new they take a lot of adjusting - get loose through the day. Then they seem to “settle in” after a while and quit doing that. Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grip Posted February 15, 2021 Report Share Posted February 15, 2021 Thanks for the note. They have less than 30 days on them so I guess still settling in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aracan Posted February 15, 2021 Report Share Posted February 15, 2021 I have never had this issue. Then again, as long as I need no fewer than two and no more than three fingers to close the bail, any tension is fine with me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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