Salomon 40 Binding

[Bill Talbot]

So these are something I haven't seen before. They look like a 444ish Toe Piece and a pre 502 Heel. From around 1968 give or take.
They are the original mount on my hart javelin slalom skis I recently acquired. No advertisements in the Salomon section. Anyone remember these?

 

[Philpug]

It wasn't uncommon to offer a SMU option to a retailer (or buying group) that bought X amount of product, giving them the advantage of having their own product that made it difficult to comparison shop.

 

[Bad Bob]

It wasn't uncommon to offer a SMU option to a retailer (or buying group) that bought X amount of product, giving them the advantage of having their own product that made it difficult to comparison shop.

Think that you hit it. Was selling and skiing the 404 around 68 and that sure does look like the same system less the screw cover on the heel pieces.

 

[Philpug]

I remember seeing this even up to the 444, there was one that didn't say 444 but has a blue background and just a silver S

 

[rpk4dotcom]

I'm no authority, but here's what I have on the S-40 toe.

From the SKIING September 1969: "Another major French manufacturer, Salomon, has come up with a lower- priced version of its Anti-Shock toe. It is called the S-40, and sells for $12. Although it operates on only one spring, it is said to have as much shock absorption as the double-spring Anti-Shock. Also, like the Anti-Shock, it requires no boot notching."

1970-1971 was a big year for Salomon bindings with the introduction of 3 new bindings - all matching toes and heels - S-505, S-502 and the S-404. The September 1970 issue of SKIING reported that the S-404 replaced the S-40 - looks like it was only around for 1 season.

I believe the the binding Phil mentions with the blue background and the silver S was the new S introduced in 1975-1976, reported by SKI to be "generally be sold in combination with skis and boots in package buys." I have an ad for that binding somewhere but have not been able to locate it at this point.

While I probably shouldn't post this here, does anyone have any insight on this little gem?

JB

 

[rpk4dotcom]

I remember seeing this even up to the 444, there was one that didn't say 444 but has a blue background and just a silver S

 

[Philpug]

View attachment 56664

That’s the one

 

[Uncle-A]

View attachment 56664

The "S" was a package binding used by some of the big box sports stores for their ski packages. I seem to remember that it was newer than the S 40 and in the time frame of the 404 - 444 but the "S" binding has more blue paint on the heel than the 444.

 

[dchri2]

So these are something I haven't seen before. They look like a 444ish Toe Piece and a pre 502 Heel. From around 1968 give or take.
They are the original mount on my hart javelin slalom skis I recently acquired. No advertisements in the Salomon section. Anyone remember these?

View attachment 54649

I remember these binding as they were the first step in bindings I had. I avoided the cubkos and the main debate was whether the Look nevadas were better. Sorry about spelling. Also, debate was whether harts were better than head skis. Heads were definitely cooler until the red, white, and blue K2s came around. There were no big box stores when these were sold. Mine came from the original Lang's ski and Sport in Trenton NJ.Most notable about the binding was the unique safety straps. You hit the mother lode on these bindings. They still have the original black cheapo slide plate. When taken back to the ski shop for yearly service the plates where removed and replaced with much better I think teflon plates. These are originals. These bindings were a big transitional safety step up and the black plates are part of the evolution. I was going nuts as I knew I had the 40s for bindings. Deep internet dive brought me here.

 

[Bill Talbot]

I wanted to repost these here to close the loop. This post was from our friend Mack.

"Here are little more in the line up of the Salomon early ski bindings. Toe and Heel!
MACK.
The 40 is smaller than 404 and the heel is almost the same as the 5oo black Salomon. Stamped metal.
The middle is a Junior set."