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Ski Binding Buying Guide - How to Buy Ski Bindings

Ski Bindings are very important in Skiing together with your Ski Boots as they form the link between your body and your Skis. Good Ski Bindings should give you a perfect balance between tightly gripping your Ski Boots and releasing when the pressure exceeds adjustable settings. The quality of your Ski Bindings is a very important safety issue and you should take the time and the money to select the right Ski Bindings for your Skiing needs. In this section, we will look into some guidelines in buying the appropriate Ski Bindings:

Ski Binding Buying Guide - How to Buy Ski Bindings
  • Ski Bindings have important elements that you need to know and understand before you can run off and buy. See our section on the Components of Ski Bindings to give you ideas on the functions of these elements.

  • Ski Boots and Ski Bindings are often a combination where not every Ski Boot is suitable for each type of Ski Binding and the other way around. Especially when you need a heel-free system, you will need to make sure that the binding-boot combination is the correct one.

  • When choosing your Ski Bindings, it is very important to choose those that fit to your level of Skiing skill and you need to be honest about this. Ski Bindings should fit your current level but also offer you the room to grow.

    • Beginners
      Beginners will want low DIN settings where the Skis are released quickly in case of sudden or excess pressure. For your first Bindings, you are well off with lower pressure and general Bindings that do not have to cost you a lot.
    • Intermediate
      Intermediates should have higher and more tolerant DIN Settings. Still, the Skis should release pretty quickly in sudden movements.
    • Advanced
      Need DIN settings that are much less tolerable as they will often be Skiing under high pressures. The Bindings should of course still release in too sudden or too stressful pressures. Advanced Bindings will be able to take a lot of pressure without releasing but they will release when the extreme pressure is followed after an unexpected movement. Very advanced skiers will have even higher DIN settings once they reach a point in their Skiing performance where retention is dangerous but where release could prove fatal. Imagine an 80 km/h descend and one Ski releases...


Ski Bindings are very important in Skiing. As mentioned before, they are Skiing equipment which form the link between your Skis and your body. There are many factors to consider in choosing the Ski Bindings appropriate for you. In general, make sure you know the Components of the Ski Bindings since they play a big part in your Skiing performance. Moreover, bear in mind that your Ski Bindings must correspond to your Skiing skill so that you will be able to Ski effectively.

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Article Comments
jjr2v
Sunday 11th December 2005 at 5:55:31 AM  

actually have more of a question-does height and weight play a role at all in picking correct ski bindings? If so this would be useful info to put in the article. Thanks.

ianh
Monday 7th April 2008 at 7:01:15 AM  

Yes, height and weight definitely play a part, particularly weight.The DIN setting for a skier is taken from a chart, based initially on weight with modifiactions for height, age, ability and skier type (i.e. aggressive skier or not). If you Google ski din calculator or ski din settings you will find plenty of pages to calculate your DIN setting to work out what bindings are suitable. Ideally you want to avoid the extremes of the binding's range, so if you needed a setting of 8, go for a binding with 4-12 rather than 3-9 say. Having said that, most beginners will not need a setting higher than 6, so any cheaper binding would do. I would recommend having the shop's technician set the bindings for you - just use the chart or calculator to help your buying decision. There is an article on this site explaining the DIN settings http://www.abc-of-skiing.com/ski-bindings/release-setting.asp.

random
Tuesday 10th February 2009 at 6:45:54 PM  

what is the difference between brake widths? ex. 100 mm brake width and 80 mm brake width.

Mike Hale
Monday 13th April 2009 at 11:45:08 AM  

I have two pairs of traditional/old fashioned but unused (still in original wrapping) parallel skis (195 and 205). Completely smooth - no fixing points etc. These were bought some years ago without bindings. Our current parallel skis are now worn-out (inc bindings). My local ski shop cannot get bindings for this type of ski anymore - can you help?

Kym
Wednesday 1st July 2009 at 7:56:53 PM  

I''ve just recently recived a 2nd hand pair of skis. The boots were in a bad condition so i''ve brought a new pair the same size. Will they fit the old skis and bindings??? Should i take them in to get re-adjusted to the new boots?


 
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