Indemnification does not come into play. Bindings are not being sold to consumers. No need to “protect” anybody.
Funny how this seems to come up every year, often every month of the race season.
The Marker “Comp 30.0 EPS” is the binding that is still preferred by virtually every guy who needs to be on Marker product on the WC. Very few exceptions. The Xcell just does not cut it with them. Look at everybody on a Nordica, a Volkl, the few on Blizzard. And others, who want to be on a piston plate, and have had the bindings cosmetically altered to pass them off as whatever binding they are under contract to use. Ski companies are more relaxed about it than they once were, and more so when the older generation stuff is just better.
Hirscher was obviously the most visible. And at first his Markers were painted, pretty much with model paint to not be red/white Marker and to vaguely look like an Atomic product.
Then we began to see the plastic covers and such. As Primoz says, some look pretty lousy! Not sure they fool anybody, at all.
Then again, at one point in Hircher’s career it was pretty humorous to discuss just what parts of his total equipment setup, if ANY, were made by Atomic. He pretty much could demand to use whatever could be built, by anybody, to make him consistently fast and dominant.
Marker bindings, properly adjusted, with boots that have the toe lugs perfectly routed are a great race set up. Those who used to complain about issues, almost guaranteed, were not dialed in the right way. Many a shop was clueless.
Then again, real race product almost never enters a retail shop.
Last few months everyone on Atomic/Salomon are collecting all available old Marker bindings (not current ones, as they suck, but old ones), sending them to Atomic/Salomon, where they make them look like Atomic/Salomon and send them back to servicemen to mount them.
