Well, the grand faux pas of Salomon a few weeks ago with their bad tech inserts has opened the door to all sorts of classic marketing positioning by other companies. Garmont in particular has really gone after it, with press about making their own fittings they say are superior to others on the market.
Garmont boot heel tech insert, showing improved screw and tight fitting attachment posts.
In particular regarding tech fittings, while the toe fittings tend to be very reliable, we have indeed noticed that on rare occasions boot heel fittings loosen or fall off. As a result, for hard core users we’ve been recommending you remove the fittings, then re-install with JB-Weld to take up any slack and resulting micro-movement in the fit of the fitting to the milled out slot in the boot. Instructions here.
Pouncing on that small weakness like a bird of prey, some time ago Garmont switched to a longer screw with a thread pitch specific to plastic (less likely to back itself out). More importantly, they reduced the diameter of the holes where the inserts attachment posts insert into the boot plastic. As a result the insert has to be hammered into place with a rubber mallet — a tight fit that eliminates almost all shear force on the screw.
Small improvements such as these reap big rewards in reliability for consumers — and make good PR for the company. Win win.
12 comments
If using a plastic specific screw is a bid deal, then what are the other boot manufacturers using? Whatever screws they found at the bottom of their tool box?
Well, perhaps some of them will chime in and let us know…
Coarse thread is not “plastic” specific.
It is a good choice for plastic and other
materials without a certain level of pullout
strength.
I would think that a dab of true polyurethane
“caulk” applied to the screw hole would be
good as a “locking” measure.
Funny info… screws are not supplied with Dynafit inserts… it’s a choice of the boot manufacturers … also the hole diameter on the shell it’s not supplied by Dynafit..
Second if maybe 0,001% of Dynafit compatible boots lose heel insert I would not consider it a problem of the system but a user lack of care of his equipment…
Who of you is a mountain biker? how many seasons do you ride your MTB without checkin your bar/stem screws? or withouth cleaning and oiling your chain?…
In a pair of ski touring boot there is only one screw to check, that one… so plese just check it once at the end of the season, and nothinig will happen.
The pitch on that Garmont screw sure looks very similar to the pitch on a Dynafit screw I’m holding right now. (And no, the screw didn’t fail, but rather it was salvaged from a pair of boots damaged in another way.)
The Garmont screw does have more threads though: 7 vs Dynafit’s 5.
Why not carry an extra heel piece and screw in your field repair kit? I’ve done plenty of miles on bailing wire, back when I was a t-geek, but real parts are always good. Does Dynafit sell extras?
“In a pair of ski touring boot there is only one screw to check, that one… so plese just check it once at the end of the season, and nothinig will happen.”
the hinge,the buckles,the forwardlean/walkmode mech have fasteners that IME also come loose add to that all the screws on whichever ski & binding you own … I check ALL mine monthly
IMO people who tour should check ALL those screws often AND carry a driver with bits to fit each fastener into the BC
and I do own bikes on which I do all the checks & maintenance on a regular basis …more than once a season
You guys are great. Yeah, perhaps a bit of “positioning” PR from Garmont, but they do make some points, especially the pins on the heel unit that are press fit. That’s really good to be doing in my experience.
Is there any reason why the heel piece cannot be a burly metal plate molded into the shell like the toe piece is? It seems like it could be molded it and then a machine could router away the plastic grooves. Having it pinned and screwed in seems kind of flimsy to me, but it has worked for years.
Gloor, I’m pretty sure that’s the way BD does it, very nice.
those extra threads sure do look heavy! :biggrin:
Looks Good! I am glad the Garmont hardware is so beefy! That’s why my Radiums are so solid. I have thrashed my first pair of Radiums skiing off piste (chamonix, Zermatt, Italy, etc), heli (Switzerland and Italy), Steeps (Cosmique couloir, Marbree, etc), on piste (all over the Alps) and 2.5 seasons of 4-5 weeklong ski tours in the Alps(Orlter, Haute Route, Berner,etc) with plenty of rock scrambling and cramponning.
So, they are pretty thrashed after all that, especially the rock climbing part, and I have never had a problem with the hardware. The heel piece is totally solid and the toe is always easy to get in and out of.
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