Who Has the Burliest Dynafit Setup?

[Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo]

Just fyi, toes locked down doesn't mean will not release. I figure with the toes locked it's probably equal to about din 12.

You're right. I'm about 6'4, 210lb and I have had the toes on my dynafits release when fully locked down. Granted it was awkward crash and I was lucky to have not torn up my knee, which it felt like was happening for a split second before the toe released. But the with them locked down the toes can still release.

[Jonathan S.]

The vertical heel release is of course unaffected by putting the toe into tour mode, but after that -- or if we're talking about a lateral heel release -- what happens depends in large part on which of the five tour positions you're using.

Here's what my (very informal) testing has found (focusing on the touring context, but can be extrapolated to skiing too):

http://www.nerandorace.com/dynafit_touring.html

Dynafit is the only binding that significantly separates the release mechanism for skinning from that for skiing. While skiing, the toe unit is designed to release only after the heel unit releases (either laterally or vertically). For skinning, the toe unit has a lever that allows for five different levels (“clicks”) of increasing resistance. The spring tension remains the same, but for the springs to release, the bottom end of the toe lever presses up against the toe plate. Each toe lever position increases the release resistance by changing the position of the bottom end of the toe lever against the toe plate.
- The first position doesn’t do very much, since the toe lever bottom still starts off fairly far away from the toe plate.
- The second position also has only a slightly more pronounced effect.
- The third position increase the effect significantly, since the first little cog at the end of the toe lever now sits tightly on top of the little raised bump on the toe plate. But I can twist out with an effort that seems roughly comparable (probably somewhat harder) to when I test my alpine downhill race bindings or Diamirs at a 7 release setting.
- The fourth position noticeably tightens up the toe pincers when twisting the boot. I have not attempted to twist out in this position, since my tests in position #3 seem to indicate sufficient retention for skinning in potential avalanche terrain. (Furthermore, I noticed some very slight scoring on the outside of the boot’s toe sockets after twisting out of position #3 - but these might have been there before.)
- The fifth position is the same as before except more so: now the third cog is engaged with the toe plate bump.