Out of pocket money is being asked for sns monos leaving the market

Living in the Tampere region Olli Salonen cleaned out his garage in January and found two pairs of Salomon sns skating ski boots.

Salos had already switched to the Prolink communication system in the last decade, so there was no use for sns monos.

Salonen put his son’s size 39 overalls up for sale on an online buying and selling marketplace (Tori.fi).

– They used to cost around 350 euros, and no more than 300 kilometers had been skied on them. I set the price at 120 euros. At first I thought it was too much, says Salonen.

– The monos went fast, so in the end I realized that I should have asked for more, he continues.

Iltalehti reported in October that Salomon will stop manufacturing the popular sns binding system for this season.

According to a rough estimate, there are about three million pairs of skis in Finland. Of those, there are 100,000–200,000 pairs of sns binding type skis.

The end of sns production has caused Finns to hoard sns monos.

– At first, I didn’t dare to put my sns skating boots up for sale, because they have been skied for about 2,500 kilometers and they smell bad. They are completely intact, says Salonen.

– But since my son’s overalls sold out immediately, I tried ice with a stick, the man continues.

The size of Olli Salonen’s overalls is 43. He posted a Tori.fi sale ad and the price was 200 euros.

– 41 minutes after submitting the report, I had made the trades.

Lust enthusiast at heart

Pirkkalainen Matti Lahtinen is an avid fitness skier who annually skis around 1,500 kilometers, mainly free. The man’s ski storage has five pairs of skating skis that are 2-6 years old. All of them have sns ties.

– It didn’t make economic sense to replace five pairs of new bindings and buy new monos. I will finish these skis until I change, says Lahtinen.

Ties cost around 50 euros per piece. The price range for ice skates is around 150–700 euros.

Lahtinen claims that transferring the entire equipment to new ties and new monos would have cost a total of 800–1,000 euros.

– I have intact sns monos, but they are seven years old. I thought it’s good to be a backup, he continues.

Since December, Lahtinen has been looking every day at various online stores for size 44 boots that fit his feet, but has not found any. Or if you have found it, the product has already been sold.

– I surfed the internet for a total of about 12 hours in five evenings and looked for sns skates in specialized ski shops around Europe. Finally, I found one store in Savo that had overalls in my size.

Lahtista was annoyed, but he bought Salomon’s racing model sns monos for 399 euros.

The expert was charred

Experienced ski expert Juha Vankka Espoo’s Hiihtocenter is downright heartwarming when you hear the examples mentioned above.

– I wouldn’t pay anything. It’s wasted money, stupidity and stupidity, Vankka growls.

He gets questions every week about whether there are sns monos in the store.

– We have to move from the 1970s to the 2020s. It is Finnish anti-change when you want to stick to the old. Finland was probably the only country that once opposed figure skating, Vankka informs.

– We replace the customer’s skis with new bindings and sell new skis, he continues.

This makes sense for traditional skis, as the vast majority nowadays ski with fur soles. In them, the movable bandage is essential so that the holding area can be varied according to the weather.

The sns communication system cannot be moved.

In skating, transferring the bandage is practically useless.

Better in the old one?

Another experienced ski expert Juha Suosalo Carilainen from Sport Oy reminds me of an old business saying.

– It’s not the fool who asks, but the one who pays. Some clearly use the removal of sns products to their advantage, commented Suosalo.

The brick-and-mortar store located in Ähtäri is asked several times a week for sns monos.

– Mainly the questioners are older people.

Carilainen Sport’s selection no longer has sns monos.

– I know from other stores in Finland that extreme sizes are available. Salomon’s importer probably has more expensive race-level monos for feet of all sizes.

Many Finns consider the sns binding system in skating skis simply better than the new system, and that’s why they don’t want to change.

What does the expert say?

– In the mountains, the ski returns to the leg better. You might think that sns monos are more stable for skiing uphill. On the other hand, an nnn or Prolink mono is closer to the snow, so skiing on a flat surface is more stable, Suosalo answers.

A sparkling exchange

Salomon is discontinuing the popular sns collection for two reasons: the competing system nnn took over the market in the last millennium, and the sns binding, which is attached to the ski with screws, is impractical.

– When skis are lightened, many manufacturers do not allow binding holes to be drilled into the skis. That’s why Salomon is forced to stop production. Today, Salomon’s racing ski is the only one that can have a screw-on binding, Vankka says.

Many sns users are afraid that the ski will break if the sns bond is replaced by nnn or Prolink.

If the fastening of the screws of the sns bindings to the ski has not been done carefully, so to speak plugged, the body of the ski may have shrunk. This is usually only noticed when the bandage is changed. The new bandage does not attach to the ski and the equipment is unusable.

– Changing doesn’t ruin anything, the ski has already been ruined before, Vankka states.

– You should not create the impression that changing the sns link is a risk. In fact, it is a saving grace for many when a wet ski is noticed when changing. Without replacement, the ski would break in 1–2 years, and it is always a place of danger if the skier and the equipment go in different directions on a downhill, he continues.

Although the end of sns production heats up the skiing community, the reform is basically consumer-friendly: new skis from all manufacturers go with new bindings from all manufacturers.