# How To Bend Rossi/Look Brakes



## koreshot (Oct 30, 2007)

So I am not sure how many people on the board will find this interesting or useful but this summer I bent a set of Rossignol Axial brakes to fit wider skis and actually remembered to take some photos. Before I lose the pictures and the information escapes my small brain, I decided to post up a half baked How To on bending Axial and Axial 2 brakes.  I went beyond just bending the brakes and also dismatled the brake assembly into pieces and reassembled them just to see how it all worked.

It's pretty easy and requires intelligence of a 10 year old (or maybe a Marc), but before I did it myself I found the though a bit intimidating.  The following proves its cake and as wide brakes for the older Rossi/Look Axial bindings become harder to find since they are no longer produced more people might start bending than before - not to mention a ludicrous price of 40+ bucks that some internet vendors charge for these things.  Also, the Axial 2 brakes that come standard on most Look/Rossi bindings can barely clear 80mm wide skis.  Anything past that and you have to bend or buy wide brakes.  The following applies to both Axial and Axial 2 brakes as their construction is very similar, plus metal is metal, Newtons laws of physics still apply and Marc is still a big zero.

So here it goes.  I am assuming you can dismatle the binding which isn't very hard to do once you see how its put together and what the various pieces do.

The Various Parts of the Binding





RIGHT:  The actual brakes that pop out to stop your ski from sliding into the woods after you do your imitation of Marc skiing on a bunny slope.
MIDDLE: The pad that you step on to push the brakes up when you click in. The spring that makes the brake popout possible and the shaft that attaches the spring and the pad to the brake housing.  I hope Marc isn't too jealous of the length.
LEFT:  The actual binding housing.  The plastic cover that goes over the housing/spring/shaft assembly.

Step Number 1: Secure the Brake for Bending




You can find various ways to do this, but I had a pretty limited set of tools and the following arrangement worked for me.

Step Number 2: Bend the Brake




Slide a pipe (a bike seat pipe would work) onto the brake and bend up.  This is where some force and caution is required.  The metal used in the brakes are COMPLETE overkill.  Also be careful to bend only as much as you need to.  Clearly my cat was less than impressed with my technique and that light fixture on the left is now hanging in my kitchen in case you are wondering Marc. And no, you can't come over to check my cat out so stop PMing me.

Step Number 3: Place the Spring ino Housing




Make sure you place the spring in there facing in the proper direction.  If you get it wrong it won't pop the brakes out.  This is pretty intuitive and you'd have to be a real Marc to screw it up.

Step Number 4:  Attach the Pad to Housing




The picture should explain things better than I can write.  It also shows the plastic housing cover on the assembly.  You want to put the cover on before insering your awesome bent brakes.

Step Number 5:  Insert the Brakes into Housing




Again, the picture is pretty self explanatory.  Although be careful to insert the brakes facing the right way, they are not symmetric.

Step Number 6:  Push the Brake into Pad




This is where it all comes together as you push the bent brakes into the space between the plastic cover and the metal bottom of the Pad.  It requires some force and might take a while until you get the right amount of force and finesse to get it to pop in.

Step Number 7:  Admire Your Work




Ahh, sweet victory.  You have proven that you are smarter than a 3rd grader.

Step Number 8:  And you thought you were done - send me a check for $10 which isn't much considering I save you $40.

Disclaimer:  If you are Marc, this is probably over your head and you should not attempt this without supervision from neighborhood cub scout.


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## roark (Oct 31, 2007)

koreshot said:


> plus metal is metal, Newtons laws of physics still apply and Marc is still a big zero.


bwwwaaaaaahhhh hhahahahahahah!


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## SkiDog (Oct 31, 2007)

I think its even easier when the skis are mounted....no vise needed and you bend then EXACT to the width of the ski they are mounted to...

Great job and nice step by step too...

M


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## awf170 (Oct 31, 2007)

SkiDog said:


> I think its even easier when the skis are mounted....no vise needed and you bend then EXACT to the width of the ski they are mounted to...



But will any shops mount skis that don't have wide enough brakes?  This is what I wanted to do but my shop wouldn't mount my skis if the brakes didn't fit, and they wouldn't bend them for me.


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## Marc (Oct 31, 2007)

You don't any lower than being mocked by a big stupid, vodka drinking Russian.

He must still be mad about that time at Killington when I shoved him out of the gondola as the doors were closing and then banged his girlfriend the whole way up....

True story.


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## koreshot (Oct 31, 2007)

Marc said:


> You don't any lower than being mocked by a big stupid, vodka drinking Russian.
> 
> He must still be mad about that time at Killington when I shoved him out of the gondola as the doors were closing and then banged his girlfriend the whole way up....
> 
> True story.



Good one... except Roark isn't my girlfriend.


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## koreshot (Oct 31, 2007)

SkiDog said:


> I think its even easier when the skis are mounted....no vise needed and you bend then EXACT to the width of the ski they are mounted to...
> 
> M



To be honest I haven't tried doing the bend on the skis because I don't think that I want to put that much pressure on the binding and the mounting screws.  I have seen it done that way and it is quite a bit quicker that way.  Although i have seen it done on Salomon brakes, I think those brakes are not as burly as the Look/Rossis.  The Axial 2 brakes especially seem to be real beasts.  But yes, totally doable, but I prefer taking a bit more time and doing it off the ski.  You don't need to dismantle the whole brake assembly, I did that for fun , you can just pop the brakes out of the housing, bend and pop them back in.




awf170 said:


> But will any shops mount skis that don't have wide enough brakes?  This is what I wanted to do but my shop wouldn't mount my skis if the brakes didn't fit, and they wouldn't bend them for me.



Shops should mount anything.  You can just take the brakes off the heel piece first before dropping the bindings off at the shop.  Let them mount the bindings without the brakes, then bring them home and do an off the ski or on the ski bending job.  The Axial 2 brakes especially are very easy to put on and pull off.

Here I am unscrewing the single screw that holds the brake system to the binding (that is why I don't like the idea of bending with the brake on the ski - lots of force on a single small screw in directions it wasn't designed to withstand).





Here is the brake on its own.


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## SkiDog (Oct 31, 2007)

awf170 said:


> But will any shops mount skis that don't have wide enough brakes?  This is what I wanted to do but my shop wouldn't mount my skis if the brakes didn't fit, and they wouldn't bend them for me.




Ahh see you need a friend in the buisness...but yeah some shops will be flaky about that...not so much out here, but back east maybe so.

M


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## Hawkshot99 (Oct 31, 2007)

awf170 said:


> But will any shops mount skis that don't have wide enough brakes?  This is what I wanted to do but my shop wouldn't mount my skis if the brakes didn't fit, and they wouldn't bend them for me.


I have mounted and bent brakes for customers many times.  They were always times when it was just a little bit of bending was needed, but I have done it.

I keep a cut down pole on the bench.  Just slide the tube over the brake, when there is a boot in the binding, and gently tug it outward.  

I have done marker and soloman this way, never needed to try on a pair of axials, so dont know how it would work with a stronger piece as Koreshot says.



koreshot said:


> Shops should mount anything.  You can just take the brakes off the heel piece first before dropping the bindings off at the shop.  Let them mount the bindings without the brakes, then bring them home and do an off the ski or on the ski bending job.  The Axial 2 brakes especially are very easy to put on and pull off.



Does the plate that you step on affect release at all if it is not there?  If it did I dont see a shop mounting them without it.  I have to function test every binding after I work on it, and if that plate being gone made a difference I wouldnt be able to work on it.


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## Marc (Oct 31, 2007)

Every alpine binding I've seen has a small plastic protrusion that the edge of the boot heel contacts and pushes down to engage the binding when you step in.  The brake plate is completely separate.


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## Marc (Oct 31, 2007)

By the way, there's no reason to drag Roark into this.  After all, I didn't drag your mom into this.










No dragging required, she willingly followed me into my bedroom.....


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## koreshot (Oct 31, 2007)

Wow... another conversation with Marc going into the gutter... big surprise.  You are no better than snowman, stupid!


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## Marc (Oct 31, 2007)

I make no promises.  You start a conversation with me, chances are you'll end up dumber than you started.  Speak at your own risk.  :dunce:


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## roark (Oct 31, 2007)

koreshot said:


> Good one... except Roark isn't my girlfriend.


You just lost an ally, buddy.


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## roark (Oct 31, 2007)

Marc said:


> By the way, there's no reason to drag Roark into this. After all, I didn't drag your mom into this.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I am now in the Marc camp and let me say, koreshot's mom and Marc put on quite a show!


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## koreshot (Oct 31, 2007)

Sorry, it was a tossup between you, bigo and trailboss.  Trailboss is a moderator and bigo is a football player and could punt me so I had to pick you.  A pretty tough day at Hunter is shaping up for me...

By the way, in my culture moms are off limits so you guys are going down in December.


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## roark (Oct 31, 2007)

Jersey has culture?


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## koreshot (Oct 31, 2007)

roark said:


> Jersey has culture?



Damn right!

- Big Hair
- Bruce
- Go Right to Go Left
- Camden
- The Turnpike
- Absence of Marc
- Presence of McGreevey

...man, so much for a How To.  This thread is total trash now.


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