Broken Binding - G3 base plate

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shopvac
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Broken Binding - G3 base plate

Post by shopvac »

Has anyone had a G3 fail like this? The guys at the shop I went to get a new plate said that they had never seen this happen before. I am wondering if it was something I did when I mounted it (screws too tight, etc)? I did see a little bit of the tight bond II glue we use to mount below the front two screws when I took the rest of the red plate off the ski. I wonder if that was lifting the plate up a little on the front and when I would flex the binding the plastic just broke. None of the 4 screws ripped out of the ski. the plastic did break around the 4 screws so that makes me wonder. I skied on them 20+ times last year without any problems. The bindings are very old and I think it was just time...

Image

I replaced the broken red plate with a black one and they worked fine for me over the weekend. I have 3 other pairs of G3's that I haven't had any problems with. A lot of people tell me stories about their bindings breaking. I did just purchase a pair of HH's so I am eager to build a new pair of skis to put them on and test.

Also, on a side note, has anyone here skied on the new Garmont Voodoo's or the BD custom's? I am curious about these two boots as I am currently looking for a new boot. I have Garmont Gara's that I love with a moldable intuition liners. I just got a hole in the bellows after 8 years. I think I got my monies worth!
doughboyshredder
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Post by doughboyshredder »

did you use loctite?
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shopvac
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Post by shopvac »

nope, just a drip of tight bond III in each hole. Do you use Loctite?
doughboyshredder
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Post by doughboyshredder »

No! Loctite is horrible. A tiny amount will weaken plastic in a surprisingly large area. I know of a few different boarders that destroyed binding baseplates by using loctite. Something must have weakened the material, I just wonder what.
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shopvac
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Post by shopvac »

I broke the other plastic plate on the other ski this weekend. I always stuck up for G3's but now I am scared to ski fast on these bindings. The next pair of skis I build (hopefully soon) will have the hammerheads on them.
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falls
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Post by falls »

It sounds like either the plastic was defective or something weakened it if you have broken both now. Maybe a bad batch of plastic? They should last more than 20 days. Replace the second broken piece and see if they both break again in 20 days? Then I'd say design flaw.
I had never broken anything until this year I snapped the titanium plate in some salomon bindings and almost lost a ski off the edge of treble cone into lake wanaka. Scary to think of what might have happened if it chose to break at any other point in the previous 25 days of use going fast and in terrain parks. Whether fair or not it put me off salomon bindings!
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shopvac
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Post by shopvac »

I really shouldn't be that surprised. I bought them in 2000 and have skied on them a lot (probably 100-250 times). They are just old and very fatigued. I should have replaced the other plastic piece when the first one snapped. I will definitely bring an extra one in the car until I switch to hh's.

That would have been something to see your ski fly into lake wanaka. At least it would have been a scenic departure for your ski...
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MontuckyMadman
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Post by MontuckyMadman »

Sounds like a brittleness of plastic over time and maybe some uv exposure causing fatigue? Or just expansion and contraction breaking down the polymer?

Total speculation as I have no idea what I am saying.

I had a few pairs of g-3's on different skis and it seemed to me that I could see a color change in certain areas of the plastic that would have appeared to experience more force or torque.

You know like when you bend colored plastic and it changes to a milky white? It was very subtle however.

Never liked g-3's for the dead spot but I used to drop lower.

Falls are you in nz?
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falls
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Post by falls »

No, Australia. Was in NZ for 3 weeks this year. The ski almost took a ski instructor with it. It disapperaed over the edge and luckily the nose hit something and it catapaulted about 5m in the air and fell to a stop rather than just diasappearing into thin air. I managed to ski away from it on 1 ski thinking I'd just popped out of my binding until I saw the ski rocketing away.
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MontuckyMadman
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Post by MontuckyMadman »

funny, had a friend have a break not deploy in aspen years ago and a patroller found it 30 ft up in a tree near the bottom of ajax.

I just spend 1 month on the s island and went by wanaka and that area driving from qweertown to haste.
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