Downhill Performance
Because they don’t have the larger springs and sliding AFDs of traditional DIN bindings, most tech bindings pass a lot of vibration directly through the pins and into the boot of the skier. This lack of elasticity combined with the increased ramp angle and lack of torsional stiffness makes up most of the what some Blister reviewers have called the “tech feel.”
The Radical 2.0’s toe pins are placed on a turntable, and when the lock lever is in ski mode, the boot heel can travel laterally against the resistance of the spring in the binding heelpiece. This elasticity eliminates some of the rigidity and jarring feel found in the rest of the Radical family.
Combined with the spring in the forward adjustment on the heel, the Radical 2.0 offers suspension in both directions of boot travel while skiing. Pardon the pun, but it really does result in a radical upgrade in skiability for a tech binding on rough snow. This means that those coming from everything short of an alpine race setup will find a more familiar feeling with the Radical 2.0 than previous options from the Radical family.
The Radical 2.0 also offered a clear jump in lateral stiffness. There was a noticeable increase in control, especially when skiing 116mm-waisted skis through inbounds bumps and hardpack. Every time I leaned over for a turn, the stiffness felt comparable to the frame bindings I’ve skied of late. (The Radical 2.0 also makes use of a wider mount pattern than the previous Radicals, which might also contribute to this stiffness.)
The Radical 2.0 has the same ski / walk-lock option at the toe common to tech bindings. At 5’ 8” and 190 lbs, my frame is not small, but with the exception of one large booter backflip, I left the toes in ski mode (unlocked) for all of the skiing that I did. Through 40-foot drops, powder skiing, and inbounds bump lines, I stayed in the binding with no prerelease. I was most definitely impressed by this, and I credit the lateral and vertical travel with the difference.
Touring
Alongside its downhill performance, the Radical 2.0 offers an impressive uphill experience.
The lack of extra weight and stack height over current frame bindings is a huge benefit on the up. Also, as those coming from frame bindings will notice, moving that pivot point in closer to the foot adds forefoot feel that aids in walking up steep terrain, narrow skin tracks, and on dicey snow.
The three familiar positions for the heel risers (including a flat mode, which the 840 g per binding Dynafit Beast 14 lacks) add flexibility and comfort on long approaches and when cutting steep switchbacks up narrow ridges. The Radical 2.0 also still features the traditional Dynafit ski crampon mount.
Additional clearance between the heel of the boot and the heel tower means that there is less catching relative to the rest of the Radical line when flexing the ski touring through troughs or depressions.
Weight
Everything I’ve come to love about going uphill on the old Radical series is here, aside from a small weight penalty — stated 630 g for the Radical 2.0; 599 g for the original Radical FT; and 370 g for the Speed — which, as I detailed above, I find to be totally worth it in exchange for the improved downhill performance.
Boot Sole Length Adjustability
Adjusting to a variety of boots is much easier in the Radical 2.0 than with the older Radical bindings. With some careful math while mounting, I’ve been able to bridge the difference between boot sole lengths of 306 mm and 287 mm. The demo version of the Radical 2.0 even offers an adjustable toe, making it far more friendly to maintaining a proper midsole mount point than most of the other tech demo options available.
Rotating Heels & Ease of Entry
If you’re familiar with the rotating heels of the older Radical family, you’ll notice the Radical 2.0’s brake system makes use of a plate that spins ninety degrees to lock the brake, then counterrotates ninety degrees to return to ski mode, instead of rotating all the way around. It takes very little getting used to, and the side-to-side releasability isn’t affected.
Ski tourists who are used to the other members of the Radical family may also find the pivoting toe a little difficult to use when switching from touring to ski mode, particularly when lining up the heel pins to click down into ski mode.
I found that switching the heels with my pole and clicking down before switching the toe lever made sure that things were properly aligned every time. If you’re one of those poor souls taking off your skis to remove skins at the top of every lap, this process means a couple extra steps. (And you might want to re-examine your life, or at least how you transition.)
Icing
Snow / ice buildup remains an occasional issue with the Radical 2.0, as with all other tech binders I’ve used. The addition of the wider lock lever up front makes for one more place for snow to stick, and twice I had difficulty clicking out of the binding. The first time, snow built up in the usual area underneath the toe springs.
The lock system on the brakes can also collect snow, and on a few occasions, I had trouble clicking down into the heel because the brake pedal had snow underneath it. It’s an easy fix with a ski pole, but it’s worth a little Pam spray and some vigilance, especially if you’re skiing in areas that have particularly wet snow.
Durability?
The major limitation of any review is that durability can’t be fully assessed after only twenty five days. My hunch is that the Radical 2.0 will fare better here than the rest of the Radical family—especially where the heel pieces are concerned—but that’s just speculation.
It’s also the binding’s debut year in production, so who knows what the masses will find that Dynafit’s internal testing could not. I’ll keep at it and report back with an Update after I’ve put more time on them.
Bottom Line
So far, the Radical FT 2.0 represents an impressive move by Dynafit in unifying both uphill capability and downhill performance in the same binding.
So what about the comparison to the Marker Kingpin? A lot of the general statements are similar in that review.
Slim,
We’ve been making this comparison a bunch ourselves, and we’re sorting out the details of how to make that happen.
Cheers,
David
Will you demonstrate this Rad 2.0 transition you speak of with no removing of your skis?
Hey Dorian,
Worth noting that the no-ski-removal option only works when going from uphill to downhill.
Here’s a video that covers the basic skin ripping technique.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4COxe-miIJs&ebc=ANyPxKr44-rTqbTqy983xt3toUN1J9vzte_4iRzdO707accv5cHGgQHfX5P9tk0AoDZYTTblr91YRKNxX5Dyp59oAVbUvMxOvw&nohtml5=False
Note that they actually skip switching from uphill to downhill binding modes in the video. With the Radical 2.0, here are a couple of specifics:
-To engage the tour mode and lock the brake up, the heel piece makes a quarter turn clockwise and then stops. So it follows that to disengage tour mode for ski mode, you push it back a quarter turn counterclockwise. This is counterintuitive if you’ve used the other Radical family bindings, but I assure you that it makes far more sense with the Radical 2.0.
-To flip the heel from tour to ski mode, some people reach down and do it by hand. Personally, I put my first climbing riser down, then insert my ski pole tip into the hole of the highest riser, and use that leverage to rotate the heel piece. Be careful while learning this, as you can break your pole if you’re not gentle with it. One tip: it’s very helpful to push the ski back, as if you were striding, to give yourself some clearance to work.
-I do this process with my toe still locked in ski mode on the Radical 2.0. Because of the turntable up front, getting good pin alignment in the heel proves difficult when the toe is not locked in ski mode. Once I click the heel down, then I switch the toe to ski (unlocked) mode.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
David
Great review David. Was looking for comments on icing up under the toe piece and on top of the brake as I had experienced those issues often during last winter and spring. I have never had these problems on my other set-ups (Radical FTs; and ATK RTs which are undoubtedly my favoured ski-mountaineering binding). The build up of wet snow and ice between the boot heel and the brake plate can be frustrating, but I wondered what your thoughts are about the ability of the boot to release at the toe should there be so much snow under the locking lever that you cannot depress it to step out from the ski. Like you, I have had this problem. I contacted Dynafit at the end of the spring, but they never responded. Just emailed them again as my armchair dreaming turns from summer-time kitesurfing to ski touring and mountaineering. Thank you
David,
In the few times I’ve had ice up problems with my Dynafit toes (including my Radical FT and Speed Radicals), it’s been all about transitioning from warmer to colder snow conditions. Examples: a skin track up a solar aspect that’s getting cooked, then switching to a north aspect that’s still cool, or ascending far enough in elevation that winds froze snow that had traveled from down lower on a given peak.
As I mentioned in the review, I had a couple minor issues with the Radical 2.0 icing up. I’d bet that it does affect the releasability of the binding in the toe, but don’t have any conclusive proof to offer for that hunch. I could see testing it with a DIN tester between non-iced and iced up versions at the same temperatures to get a feel for measurable results, but I don’t have access to that kind of equipment.
Mechanical apparati with small tolerances in the real world are always going to have their small problems, and I think that some vigilance and a pocket knife are the best ways to ensure that you’re getting a proper release when the conditions that brew ice-up appear.
Cheers,
David
For what it’s worth, I’ve had a pretty scary pre-release due to buildup underneath the toe springs (not ice, but frozen mud buildup). It appeared that I had stepped in correctly, no problem, but when I dropped in and made my second turn in pretty gnarly refrozen conditions, the ski popped off very easily. This was a pretty steep no-fall line and I luckily managed to self-arrest. It was quite scary. Now, if I remove my skis before transitioning to downhill, I clear underneath the toe piece every time.
At the time, I didn’t really know why the release had happened and didn’t trust the bindings for the rest of the run and skied extremely conservatively (mostly sideslipping). After playing with the binding, I was able to figure out why the pre-release occurred.
I actually caught it on video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUDYvLKckBk
What about doing 360, cliff jumps and similiar stuff with this FT 2.0? Is it really stable enough, even mounted on wide skis – like 110 mm (or higher) under foot?
I’m wondering if anyone else can wiggle the carbon baseplate underneath the toe piece. There’s maybe 1 or 2 mm of play. The toe piece itself is secure and doesn’t move. The shop said it’s not a safety issue but it’s annoying because now it just feels gimicky.
are there major differences between the beast toe and this one?
So after 2016 is every dynafit radical a 2.0?
Wondering about screw patterns. I have inserts for my 2013 radical ft. If I have to replace them – can I use a 2017 dynafit radical speed?
JJR,
Unfortunately, there are some confusing things going on with Dynafit and nomenclature.
When this binding came out, it was called the Radical 2.0, but has since transitioned to being called the Rotation. Radical 2.0s and Rotations use a very different mount pattern from the other Radical family bindings (Speed Radical, or Radical ST and FT). To your question more specifically, a 2013 Radical FT and 2017 Speed Radical should be the same pattern.
-David