Warning: BD 80 mm kicker skins

[Ziggy]

My newly acquired pair are defective. The leading edge of the curved metal plate that holds the skin down at the front sits proud of the base by 2 mm or more. Try to slide the ski on the snow and the plate turns into a scoop. No such problem occurred with the 70 mm kickers I've used.

I'm the 2nd person to have found this in Australia acc to a web search, where the market for kickers has to be small.

BD haven't bothered to reply to my email about this while the retailer is considering the issue (when I asked for kickers that worked after being offered a refund).
In the pics a 2 mm interdental toothbrush is my ad hoc feeler gauge

[Dostie]

Ziggy,
Thanks for the heads up. Is that an aluminum piece of metal, or steel? If steel, maybe a lil' bending in a vise might fix it?

[Yoyo]

Flossing won't help.
As Dostie notes, only bending the little stainless steel plate more is going to fix the problem. I know this because I had to do the same on a 50mm pair I bought on closeout in the US 2 years ago.
Annoying, but worth it for a pair of pocketable skins that are usually enough!

[Ziggy99]

Flossing gives me that 'ring of confidence' If the kickers don't work a smile has to do.

Sorry about the late reply; haven't been getting notifications.

Upshot is that once I got BD's attention they liaised with the local distributor who had a go at bending a new pair for me. And that worked.

My guess is that BD went to the thinner mohair/nylon material but didn't change the curve of the plate. Perhaps not surprising as there's probably a global market of ten or twenty a year!

Yeah Yoyo, I think kickers are under-rated. Compact and cheap and emulate a pattern base well enough. They do make for wobbly descents though in mixed snow conditions.