"Ace" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 4 Feb 2008 22:15:22 -0000, in
, "PSmith"
paulDOTsmith_UK@tiscaliDOTcoDOTuk wrote:

When my skis are in summer storage I always un-tension the bindings (which
I
recall reading some years ago as being good practice).

I really don't thin it's necessary. I've never done this, and most
years they bindings are re-tested (free, a servoce offered by our
employer, presumably to reduce accidents and lost time) and are fine.


I must say I have not realy looked into what constitutes a binding design. I
always have a mental picture of a piece of rubber under tension. I would
then suspect that rubber would deteriorate.

For all the years that I lived in Munich I never bothered de-tensioning my
bindings. Afterall the skis were never stored for that long anyway. Before
Munich I always de-tensioned and now that we are back in the UK with skis
stored in what can be a hot garden shed I did it as a matter of course.
Maybe I needn't bother in future - just have a pre-season service.


My wife has not skied (mainly because of the kids) for several years. Now
on
preparing her skis for our forthcoming trip to Kitzbühel I cannot find the
sheet of paper where I recorded her DIN settings. I think my wife's
bindings
where set to 7. She remembers them as being set to 7.

This could be correct, but only if she's a very fit, aggressive skier,
and not on the short and thin side. But the tone of your post seems to
suggest otherwise.

Alas not anymore. If only she were a thin and fit and aggressive skier! Then
she could keep up with me!


I have found several
websites with DIN guides, and I have downloaded DIN calculators: they
return
a value of 5.25/5.5 for my wife (based on age, height, weight, ability and
boot sole length)?

Sounds about right for an int-adv female of normal size, so I'd go
with it. Try skiing a couple of normal runs, then increase difficulty.
If they don't pre-release they should be fine.

Our local ski shop today calculated 5. My wife and I are somewhat confused
by our recollection of the 7. She does plan a couple of "shakedown" runs to
ensure they perform as expected.

When she bought her skis (in Munich), the technician
measured the width of her leg / bone as part of binding setup. Is there a
reason for this discrepancy?

Doubtful. More likely the ski-tech was using some ancient
approximation, possibly based on the longer skis of yore.

Her skis/bindings (Salomon) are probably five
years old (but she is very happy with them): is this a factor?

No.


Thanks very much for the useful advise. There are certainly some
interesting things coming out of this thread.

Paul