Customer Reviews

O2 Binding by Black Diamond

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought these bindings in January 2004. They are mounted to BD Crossbow skis and I use Scarpa T2 boots with them. I've only skied about a dozen days at ski areas in them, but I have been on several long tours. I bought them because the underfoot design doesn't allow a ski edge to wear or cut the binding cable.

The first problem I encountered was that I bent over two of the climbing wires. My bindings have a tall wire and a short wire on each side and of course I bent the tall one on one side and the short one on the other. I think newer versions of this binding only have the short wires since they are not as easy to squash, but they need to be beefed up regardless. Also these wires are VERY difficult to erect and snap down when they are brand new. After much use the sharp plastic egdes in the heel riser wear down and the climbing wires get easier to use.

The second problem I had with these bindings is that they loosen. Every time I put them on I have to tighten the spring tension in each cartridge. I will try to alleviate this problem by putting some Lock-Tite on the threads inside the cartridge. If the cables had color stripes on them it would be easy to tell if they were loose or if they needed to be tightened (and how much) before you put them on. Perhaps BD will fix in the future.

One last problem I had was that one of the cartridges once unscrewed in the front and came completely off... luckily the threads were not stripped and I just screwed it back on. But this was a bit unnerving since it could be disastrous if it happened on a steep or dangerous slope.

Overall, I like the underfoot design but I'd buy G3 Targas if I had to do it all over.