Bomber TD3 Sidewinder Bindings

[Thor VonRippington]

My two cents on TD3 Sidewinders...

I got to ride the Sidewinders for several weeks last spring and it took all of two turns to be completely stoked. To me, the Sidewinder is hands down the biggest improvement to carving... EVER. It's even bigger than metal boards and the new school shapes (which I happen to think are amazing improvements).

Keep in mind... the Sidewinder isn't for everyone. I know there are plenty of folks who love their TD3s and would not want any more lateral movement than they offer (some would like even less movement). Like any piece of equipment in this sport it is still all a matter of taste and what you have become accustom to while riding.

As some of you know, I have been riding bindings with 5mil bails for twenty years or so. I tried all the 6mil options (as well as step ins) and just found them to be too stiff for my free carve taste... I NEED lateral movement. After extensive testing of everything I could get my hands on (of both 5&6mil bails), I settled on the Ibex binding. There were other 5mil bail options that had a similar (and in some cases better) ride quality, but I found them difficult to use with my set up. Until the Sidewinder came along, I have always liked the seven degree toe and heel cants (lift, at extreme angles) that come with the Ibex bindings. I realize this is totally old school for cant setup, but just what I have become accustom to... point being... this review is basically TD3 Sidewinder vs. Ibex (which are the same as Burton Race Plates).

For the sake of comparison, I am 200lb aggressive carver. I use the Sidewinder with blue E-Pads and yellow E-Rings.

The first thing I noticed was how damp the Sidewinder rides. The Ibex has little dampening properties and the Sidewinder absorbs much of the shock to make for a comfortable and smooth ride... allowing the edges of the board to track better. This is due mainly to the E-Ring. I run the yellow E-Ring which is the dampest option... but has little to do with the lateral flex. The lateral flex of the Sidewinder (which comes from the E-Pads and hinged toe and heel blocks) is similar if not the same as the Ibex or any 5mil bail binding. I can make any movement and get to any body position necessary to keep the board tracking smoothly in all snow conditions. The big difference here is the power and precision that the Sidewinder produces during a turn. If you clamp a board with an Ibex binding in a tuning vice and pull upward on the toe or heel, you will see there is a lot of play and movement in those directions (different than lateral flex which is side to side). This is not the case for the Sidewinder. There is no movement in the toe and heel in an upward direction and this translates to more power and leverage (torque) in the turn. This lack of movement also allows for a much quicker and precise transition from edge to edge. Add all of this to the beefy construction that Bomber is known for and you have yourself the best alpine binding being offered on the market today for those that want lateral movement. As an added bonus, I can now play with infinite cant and lift angles to find a more powerful stance and setup.

There are only two down sides I can find to the Sidewinder vs. Ibex. First being the weight... going up the lift I want the foot rest down. I don't know the weight difference between the two bindings but it felt significant at first (some would say a little weight can lend to a smoother ride and I certainly didn't notice a problem while riding). The other was getting my back foot locked in... I ride UPZ boots and the angle of the heel bail on the back foot gave me trouble (not the case for other brands of boots). Again, this did not affect the ride in any way... just difficult to engage.

I didn't become a better rider just by throwing a new school shaped metal board under my feet. But... I can say my riding improved quite a lot just by upgrading my bindings... even on the first few turns the Sidewinders were under my feet. The Sidewinders are free carving turny gooey goodness. Thanks Fin!

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Thanks for the review Stan. Good to see a post from you. As much as I love step-ins I had to get a pair just to give them a try. Hard to imaging you riding that much better ;) May I still ride up the chairlift with you?? :p

Thanks for the great review.

[Ray]

Great review. Could you please share what angles you are riding? Thx!

Cheers!

[Thor VonRippington]

Great review. Could you please share what angles you are riding? Thx!

Cheers!

63/60 on a 17 wide Virus Gladiator

60/57 on a 20 wide Coiler Monster

60/57 on a 21 wide Alpine Punk

[Thor VonRippington]

Thanks for the review Stan. Good to see a post from you. As much as I love step-ins I had to get a pair just to give them a try. Hard to imaging you riding that much better ;) May I still ride up the chairlift with you?? :p

Thanks for the great review.

I no longer ride "chairs" but prefer the heli transport instead

Looking forward to your review Bryan... but what would you compare the SWs to? Like... EVERYTHING (ever)?

BTW - have something to send you or put in your pile at Don's house

Give me a call or email...

[Silver Bullet]

Took the Sidewinders to the hills today and thought I would share my impressions. Here is a little bit of context.

Height 6'2"

Weight 200lbs

Riding since 1983

Hard booting exclusively for 5-6 years.

Boots Deeluxe Track 700

Custom conformable liners (stiff)

BTS red with preload

Angles 60 - 70 deg based on board

Lift 6 front 3 rear

Cant none

Stance 21"

Snow conditions were hard with some Ice - in other words, great conditions for carving. Based on Thor's recommendation I replaced the yellow Sidewinder spacers with the blue ones. - Good call.

I replaced my 6-3 lift base plates with 3-0 thinking that the extra flexibility would allow a comfortable stance without the all of the lift in the front.

This is getting too long, so I'll cut to the chase.......the bindings are, well, AWESOME!!!!!!!!! and I tend to understate.

For the first time on a hard boot setup, I felt connected to the snow. The ride was damper, and I could use my legs in a way I never had before. The added flexibility allows you for float over the board and make nuanced movements to pressure the edges, tweak balance and feather the edge in tight spots. The lateral movement when combined with the BTS flex movement allows your body to adjust to ruts and other sudden changes to terrain without impacting the entire body. They add noticeable comfort, control and dampness.

In other words, you've gotta get a pair of these!

edit - This post just got moved, so I did not see Thor's review until now. I must admit that while riding yesterday I questioned whether or not I should invest in a metal board now. Interesting that the same idea came to Thor. The Sidewinders made THAT much of a difference. I have never experience such an immediate improvement in comfort and control. FYI - I installed the BTS and the Sidewinders at the same time, so my jubilant review takes the combination of both BTS and SW into account.

[Michael Pukas]

I had a set of TD3 SW for demo over the weekend. On a new Donek 185 Metal FC w/ 2010 Deeluxe Track 700T's. Blue e-rings and blue e-pads.

I really like them - I much prefer these to my TD3 SI's. I don't like the play in the step-in system, but I think I've got it dialed out more. I like that the SW have side-to-sdie movement in a controlled manner. Allows for micro adjustments throughout the turn, and also allowed me to position my body differently on the board as needed, to load the nose heavily to initiate a strong turn, or sit back on the tail to put the brakes on.

I can really see it's application in racing, were to goal it to link recoveries and get down hill fast as possible. :) I can also see it very useful for riding varied conditions where a large degree of flexibility is useful for stability by absorbing irregularities (which I encountered a lot over teh weekend). However, carving trenches on perfect hero snow, i think I'd rather be in standard toe clip TD3's - sometimes I don't want excessive movement, either laterally or front-to-back, and I want to the input to go directly to the board. But how often and for how long does hero snow exist? Maybe for ever at Buttermilk...

[Hans]

However, carving trenches on perfect hero snow, i think I'd rather be in standard toe clip TD3's - sometimes I don't want excessive movement, either laterally or front-to-back, and I want to the input to go directly to the board.

Michael, just a question. Are you implying here that there is a split momentum between your (body) movement and the reaction of the board as a result of the extra dampening and movement in the TD3 SW?

[Michael Pukas]

Michael, just a question. Are you implying here that there is a split momentum between your (body) movement and the reaction of the board as a result of the extra dampening and movement in the TD3 SW?

Hi Hans - that's a tough one to describe actually, and maybe I didn't say it right the first time. I don't think there is a split in momentum as you say, it's just that there is extra movement - laterally that is, as that's the way it's designed. The power transfer still goes edge to edge from heel and toe input. The SW add another dimension of flexibility and range of motion - can be useful in some situations, but may not be desirable in others - like in my example of hero snow carving, where every move equals input to the board. Hope that helps, but I doubt it...

[Hans]

May be I have to ride those SW's first to experience the feel and ride. I ride TD3 SI myself with no slop at all and like the directness of the binding and also the comfort in it. But every review I have read here about the SW is that people are raving about the comfort and that their riding gets a blast up. I am hesitating if I have to leave my SI's to go to SW's standard.

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

May be I have to ride those SW's first to experience the feel and ride. I ride TD3 SI myself with no slop at all and like the directness of the binding and also the comfort in it. But every review I have read here about the SW is that people are raving about the comfort and that their riding gets a blast up. I am hesitating if I have to leave my SI's to go to SW's standard.

Hans, I agree. Mine should arrive in the next few days. I will set them up exactly like my TD3-SI bindings. I too don't like giving up the SI. I will know pretty soon if it is worth the trade-off.

[Hans]

Thanks, man. Looking forward to read your review on those 'Dampers'.

[Buell]

Sidewinder review:

Context: I am a competent 145 pound rider on this year's 165 Coiler SL. My angles are 52 / 48. On the two days I tested, the groomers were firm hero to hero to poorly groomed and rough with soft groomer track pockets of marbles. I have been riding F2 Titanium Race standard bindings for three seasons. Before that, I had a year and a half on TD2s. The Sidewinders were tested back to back with F2 Titanium Race over two days.

Impressions: The first thing I noticed out of the box is Bomber attention to detail and quality. Coming from F2s, I also notice the weight. Assembly is effectively the same as the TD2s I owned and was straight forward for me, if a bit time consuming. They are supposed to go down to 24 mondo without any mods, but I found that to fit my 24 mondo Track 700s I had to flip the toe block around and reverse the bail (thanks for the help Fin). Easy enough done. I love the access to the mounting bolts (a TD3 improvement) verses the TD2s. I was able to put the whole binding together with binding angles and lift / cant before mounting it on the board. This also made it wonderfully easy to change bindings during the day. I set them up with yellow E-rings and yellow E-pads.

Ride: The yellow elastomers provided about the same lateral flex as my F2 bindings in riding temperatures. Kicking into the heel bail to bind in was always smooth and easy. The weight of the SWs was not an issue while riding. The SW may be a touch more damp than the F2, but it is not significant. Obviously, the SW provides much more lateral flex than the TD2 (and TD3 I assume). As Thor mentioned in his review, the SW is very solid in all other directions. For Thor (200 pounds), this was a good thing. For me (145 pounds), it wasn't, and I learned that I need flex in multiple directions, including the diagonal (long axis of the board). Riding the SWs I had a harder time initiating and finishing turns and recovering from being out of position than on the F2s. The SW did offer a precision in the middle of a carve on good groom that the F2s do not quite have, but in anything less than perfect, their stiffness made absorbing bumps more difficult for me.

Conclusion: I believe that flex in the binding system helps most riders adjust their weight and absorb terrain imperfections. While I plan to continue riding the F2s, I know that they are not for everyone. I have found that weight has a huge effect on what works for one rider or another in the hardboot world. What is too stiff for me is just right for heavier riders and vice versa.

I strongly recommend that anyone of average weight or heavier try these bindings, especially if you are concerned about failure in other brands. I also hope that all light weight riders on rigid TDs or Cateks who want to ride solid metal bindings will try the SWs. I do not expect the SWs are for everyone, but I do think that many people will experience a significant improvement in their riding.

Regarding the SI vs standard, kick the heel into the heel bail, lock the toe bail and go. For most, the ride quality will make up for the small added effort many times over.

Buell

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Great review Buell!! I wondered about the flex laterially without more fore-aft flex. I also wonder about the effects of steep angles? It may just allow the board to pivot "off edge" to some degree. Good or bad?

Unfortunately mine did not arrive today either. Starting to wonder. Perhaps time to make a call to the Bomber office?

I hope to ride them this week in between the rain. Today probably would have been that day. :(

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

They arrived today!! Late. Some quick adjustments and changed the yellow pads out to the blue ones. "C" clamp is your friend (and another tool in the bag)

Video of me changing out the pads. Blue tape 3 layers thick on the C clamps to prevent scratches. I suppose you could use any number of tools. It takes a fair amount of compression.

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[Thor VonRippington]

Like the vid Bryan... nice touch on the music

Looking forward to your review of the Sidewinder

Call me when you get a sec... have something to send you

sorry... the post-it note with your info fell off my fridge ;)

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Like the vid Bryan... nice touch on the music

Looking forward to your review of the Sidewinder

Call me when you get a sec... have something to send you

sorry... the post-it note with your info fell off my fridge ;)

Thanks Stan, I had planned to go up today , conditions looked like low vis and high winds. Probably wasn't too bad looking backwards.

Yes, it was the first tune that seemed to fit ;) PS. The boot adjustment, well , there wasn't any?? Fit my boots PERFECT. Kind of spooky ....... does BOL know my size? :)

The video? Sort of Monkey doing something to a football ? The workmanship on the bindings is "Most Excellent". Hats off once again to Bomber and the Fin!!! Seems like I am going to have to find a trick CNC'd "C" clamp that has trick yellow pads and red anodizing!! Calibrated "Vise Grip" . A "T" handle with 4 AND 5 mm. A new line of "Bomber" tools in the future??

Call you soon.

[Silver Bullet]

I wondered about the flex laterially without more fore-aft flex. I also wonder about the effects of steep angles? It may just allow the board to pivot "off edge" to some degree. Good or bad?

:(

I run 65 & 70 deg angles with red BTS and weight 200 lbs. Before SW, all I had was fore-aft flex. Now I can flex along any axis.

[James Ong]

Just got home from my 2nd day on these beauties.

I weigh in at 170 lbs. Stance is 19.5 inches with 55 degrees front and 50 degrees back. Board is a 188 coiler monster 23 cm waist width.

I have been riding F2 titanium standards for the past 2 seasons and had Td1 Si's before that.

As everyone had mentioned the binding construction and finish lives up to the standards we have come to expect from bomber. Installation was easy and i started out with the yellow elastomers.

The ride was buttery smooth, conditons here have been pretty good so i can't tell very well if the dampening is better than the F2's. Anyone who likes the flexiblity of the F2's is not going to be disappointed with the sidewinders. The SW's were also quite a bit taller than anything else i have ridden but it did not seem to matter when i started riding.

This version delivers , kudos to Fin

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Following stats format borrowed from Silverbullets post and are all approx.

Height 5-11

Weight 240lbs +

Riding since 1984

Hard booting for along time

Boots Raichle 600

Conformable liners

BTS red in front blue in back

Angles 70/65

Lift 3/3

Stance 20"

First day (half on Tinkler TNT "Aris" 184cm with blue base elastomer , my current favorite alpine board and half on Coiler "Headhunter" 200cm with yellow base elastomer )

Based on Thor's recommendation I replaced the yellow Sidewinder spacers with the blue ones. See movie above.

Visibility was very flat light and this set a cautious tone. In addition, I have not used anything but an Intec/Fintec step in for YEARS!! I wanted to experience these bad. Bad enough to pay full price. I don't do that much

Snow was "rained on Cascade concrete" with a touch of new snow ground in. OK grooming. Excellent in some areas, not so good in others.

My greatest concern is they would have TOO much movement expecially with such steep angles. After the first couple turns and some high speed approaches to reach the breakover point to another chair. I was relieved and pleased that they felt quite similar overall to my TD3 SI's. Note: All I did was take off my TD3 Intec plates and replace them with the SW plates, everything else was identical on both boards.

The first notable difference was when I would "speed check". Typically this sends a pretty harsh vibration and pressure to the lower leg and joints. (particularly noticeable on my back leg that was broken 2 years ago) Even with the plate I could tell it was quieter.

When I did find openings and conditions to push harder I could feel the slightly softer edging. I would compare it perhaps to riding your mountain bike with slightly less air in the tires. Softer ride, yet stays on track. Something I am almost reluctant to mention.:o It may have been conditions, or perhaps some mental illusion, however, I swear I could sense a ever so slight timing difference? As in a small delay upon initiation of edge set and release. This in addition to a small yet detectable amount of compression/ rebound. I.E. Entering the turn and setting the edge the point at which the resistance is felt and or expected is milliseconds off? Then upon releasing into the transition there was a micro delay. Yep, that is what I thought, silly me. :o Now I sound like a fat head that thinks he can feel micro seconds.

Definitely getting too long. I will try to make Day 2 shorter.

Day Two - Thursday. Went out first thing on the Headhunter. Change? Yep. Simply could not do the bending over, balancing, scraping snow thing again. So I did the unthinkable, replaced the back binding with my TD3 SI binding.

Again flat light, like so flat you could not see the surface 10' in front of you. It was frustrating because I could tell the surface was good. We had had a couple more inches and it was softer groomers. The wider board with a softer nose definitely made it more pronounced (the movement laterally) Then the sun came out!!! Woo Hoo!! I could see the surface and it was GOOD :) Really started pushing the set up. It was good times! The bindings took out some of the harshness of ruts and transitions. Adding a small yet important bit of forgiveness. Keep in mind the snow on this day was soft and probably not as noticeable.

Bottom-Line. This is probably the single greatest improvement in Bomber Industries product line in all the years I have ridden Trench Diggers. They rock!! and they are rock solid. I look forward for more opportunities to try them with different combinations. ( I want to try them with TD2 elastomers on plate boards, lowering the overall height )

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Small details I noted in the transition from TD3 SI to TD2 SW Std.

Toe and heel blocks are centered.

Found that the mounting bolt near the toe block was actually partially covered by the bottom part of the toe block assembly. This only required that I leave the other two bolts loose and rotate the plate a 1/8th turn. No biggy. In addition, I have noticed there are a couple slightly different versions of the bolts. One is not quite as flat, it is ever so slightly taller and it actually present a clearance problem when rotating the bindings as described above. Again, not a big deal, just use the flatter bolt.

[Hans]

Thanks Bryan, this is a very nice review with those pictures. Hmmmm, hope it's gonna give an Intec SW next season.

When I did find openings and conditions to push harder I could feel the slightly softer edging. I would compare it perhaps to riding your mountain bike with slightly less air in the tires. Softer ride, yet stays on track. Something I am almost reluctant to mention.:o It may have been conditions, or perhaps some mental illusion, however, I swear I could sense a ever so slight timing difference? As in a small delay upon initiation of edge set and release. This in addition to a small yet detectable amount of compression/ rebound. I.E. Entering the turn and setting the edge the point at which the resistance is felt and or expected is milliseconds off? Then upon releasing into the transition there was a micro delay. Yep, that is what I thought, silly me. :o Now I sound like a fat head that thinks he can feel micro seconds.

I have Asked Fin and have put it here before. Is there a momentum when you initiate the turn because you first have to load the elastomere of the SW's before the board reacts? I think it's true. Especially when you first have ridden the Intec version. Than the step would be more noticable in comparison to switch from the standard version to the SW due to the existence of lateral movement of the standard version.

Like the hearing of the comfort zone to our (older) legs. Especially those who have had (several) injuries before, could gain from this.

[James Ong]

I have Asked Fin and have put it here before. Is there a momentum when you initiate the turn because you first have to load the elastomere of the SW's before the board reacts? I think it's true. Especially when you first have ridden the Intec version. Than the step would be more noticable in comparison to switch from the standard version to the SW due to the existence of lateral movement of the standard version.

I think the effect you describe is real, the question i think is does it matter that much ? A parallel issue would be riding skinny Vs. wider boards. If edge to edge speed was all important racers would be riding the skinniest boards possible. Seems with the boards getting fatter they have either found ways to compensate or maybe it didn't matter much in the first place.

I like it soft, you might feel otherwise.

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

I think the effect you describe is real, the question i think is does it matter that much ? A parallel issue would be riding skinny Vs. wider boards. If edge to edge speed was all important racers would be riding the skinniest boards possible. Seems with the boards getting fatter they have either found ways to compensate or maybe it didn't matter much in the first place.

I like it soft, you might feel otherwise.

I agree, if you let it, the mind/body can adjust or compensate a great deal.

You just adjust and ride on.

[Hans]

I think the effect you describe is real, the question i think is does it matter that much ?

No, it doesn't. But I was just curious about the riding characteristics of those bindings and how they react in a certain way. Not saying it is good or bad.