Gap at heel: F2 Race Titanium and Head Stratos Pro - SOLVED

[Martinito]

Hi guys,

I could not find and thread on this problem that I noticed with my new F2 Race Titanium (size L) when using it with Head Stratos Pro boots (mondo 29):
There is a few (ca. 3-5) Millimeters gap between the heel of the boot and the rear bail (see attached photo).

Is this supposed to be like that ? Somehow I cannot believe this since it gives the boot a lot of room to move around (up and down and also tilting left and right).
I would appreciate some feedback....

[Hans]

That's the result of some wear and tear of your soles and wear and tear of the heel where the bail rests onto. You have to re-adjust the binding to get it tighter, no probs. And/or get yourself some replacement soles.

[Martinito]

Thanks Hans, but boots and bindings are more or less brand new. Boots look used because I walked with them on the street. Replacement soles came with the boots - they are the same size, there is no significant compression of the soles. I cannot imagine the bindings to get out of shape that much, they look ok. There seems to be no adjustment for that degree of freedom on the bindings... maybe they are incompatible with the shoes ?

[Hans]

Okay.

Next questions I think of.

What size are your shoes?

What size are your bindings?

Those bindings comes in two sizes what I know of, Large and Medium.

Overread it: mondo 29 in a Large Binding, must fit then. As I know you can micro adjust the front bail?

Just look if you can make the bails shorter.

[Snegorez]

As I know you can micro adjust the front bail?

the binding is f2 race titanium - no any adjusts the front bail.

try to set hard heel sole to the stratos up, and fit the binding to the boots more tightly. the problem is between new more thick bails and place to the bail in plastic binding heel. the place is the same as early, for old thin bails.

if you will look at the rear bail from above, you will see a gap between bail and rear plastic "bed" to the bail on the binding. just push to the bail - it will lay down to the bed tightly.

[Martinito]

Dear Snegorez,

Thanks for your tip. I tried to push back the rear bail all the way into the plastic bed. The gap gets a little bit smaller but still 2mm gap remains. Furtermore, as soon as I lean forward in the boot it goes back to the big gap.

The length of the binding is already adjusted to the shortest possible. If I make it any shorter I will not be able to step in and out of the binding.

If you guys confirm that there should not be any gap at the heel I will go back to the shop and ask them for a solution.

Martin

[Silber]

There should be no space in between. However, by any chance, do you have front lift and canting on this binding?

[Martinito]

Hi Silber,

yes, there are canting pads in front and back on both bindings (came pre-mounted). You can see the canting pad in the photo above. There is no front lift, i.e. canting is the same on toe and heel side. Since the canting pads are below the bail assembly they do not affect the gap.

I should probalby remove the canting pads according to suggestion of Patrice, but this is not the main concern now.

[Silber]

just checkin...it just seemed from the photo that the gap is bigger on the right side...so I was wondering if there was something wrong with the setup. I will check tonight at home on both m and l size but I suspect there is something wrong. Do u have any other boots to check if the binding is faulty?

[Martinito]

OK, I just came back from the shop (http://www.surfinsel.at in Vienna). They solved the problem!

The trick is to adjust front and heel section of the binding closer to each other. That way in the closed state the front-back compression will automatically slide the boot up into the bail due to the shape of the heel section of the boot. See photo below. Will be a little bit more difficult to step in and out of the binding though. I expect some faceplant action in front of the waiting queues at the ski lifts but more graceful movement on the slope

Of course there is now a gap under the boot but that's no problem. So Hans and Snegorez were probably thinking about this adjustment as well, but I didn't get it. It's pretty obvious once you know it. I feel a little bit stupid now but I hope this thread will help people who face the same problem in future.

[Snegorez]

try to set hard heel sole to the stratos up, and fit the binding to the boots more tightly.

I mean the same solution you have got in the shop tightly - I mean to adjust front and heel section of the binding closer to each other.

sometimes carvers break head stratos at the heel if them have soft heel pad on the boots. with stiff pads - nobody breaks stratos at the heel.

[Hans]

Glad you solved this problem. When you know the trick, it's simple (with most of the things) .

[starikashka]

I mean the same solution you have got in the shop tightly - I mean to adjust front and heel section of the binding closer to each other.

Sometimes you need to be a bit clearer The best way to explain is to tell - take screwdriver and turn counterclockwise those screws

[Martinito]

My problem was that I didn't get the principle how the boots were supposed to be fixed in the bindings / bails, that contact to binding "floor" is not required at the heel. Now that I see it it's obvious and it's also clear now where the canting flexibility comes from.
Can't wait to test it

Another good thing is that I discovered the canting pads when I looked at my own photo. Optimizing canting should make it possible to go to higher angles (which I found difficult to ride initially).

[starikashka]

You removed canting pads?