SG Performance Bindings

[yamifumi]

Here is my take on it. I had it for 2 seasons now and I have 2 pairs now:

Just FYI: CNC milled Al7075 plate and disk is used for SG binding (only plastic is the bails. All the craftsmanship is top notch). Please refer to SG snowboard’s website for more info.

 

It functions very very similar to the F2 but has more advantage than F2:

- All the nut/bolt utilize 4mm hex drive and it is easier to manage than Pozi drive that F2 uses. Also less likeliness of stripping it with hex drive.

- It comes with 2 lift blocks unlike F2's just 1. Also it comes with multiple cant wedges so the set up is pretty adjustable for lift/cant.

- Changing lift/cant is easier on SG bindings. In F2, you have to slide the toe or heel block al the way out to access screws to change lift/cant but in SG, the bolts are accessible from under the bindings without moving the toe/heel blocks. All you have to do is remove the binding from the board.

- SG is stiffer than F2 unless you buy the CNC version of F2 (I have no experience with CNC version of F2) but not overly stiff.

One downside is the cost, SG is more expensive than F2. It cost as much as Bomber TD3 SW.  it was hefty price with shipping but I wanted to have a binding that I can change the block easily as I wanted to try different set ups (cant, lift, stance, set back). I tried with F2 and it was just a nightmare. I can carry very small L-hexagonal key in my pocket and adjust small amount while on the mountain but there is no way I can carry pozi drive in my pocket. To me, it was worth extra $$ and try diffrent set ups that I really liked. And the rubber on the F2 is not so good and the metal part that holds the bolts for toe/heel block dug into the board ( >_<).

 

I liked Bomber TD3 SW but it was difficult to center my new boots with SW. I've had burton (ibex), F2, bomber (TD3 SW, TD2) and SG, and so far I like the SG the best. I have 2 sets of SG binding on 2 different board

I have experience with F2, ibex, TD2, SG, td3sw too. I felt ibex and f2 was not rigid enough. (I have not tried f2 cnc binding so that is my next bucket list). Td3 sw was good, i really liked it. The rigidity was good but not too much like td2. But downside for me was that it was hard to change the cant/lift and there is infinite amount of them in td3 as it has much finer adjustment. I have mondo 26.5 boots and i had to slip heel block on SW. i also had hard time centering the boot on binding. I like SG binding because it had finer adjustment for boot centering and simple to change the lift and cants. 

It all comes down to personal taste in the end!!

 

***The binding is not centered in the picture***

Edited April 8, 2018 by yamifumi

[Corey]

Neat! SG fixed a number of things I didn't like on the F2, so I'm interested. 

What are relative weights? 

[yamifumi]

11 hours ago, Corey said:

Neat! SG fixed a number of things I didn't like on the F2, so I'm interested. 

What are relative weights? 

Weight is heavier than F2 but much lighter than TD3's: F2 < SG <<TD3's. I will weigh on the kitchen scale and see how much it is (hopefully it is not too much for mini scale.. LOL). 

UPDATE: my kitchen scale (small scale) and it says 915g (~2lbs) - not sure how accurate it is as it was one of those mini kitchen scale.

Edited April 8, 2018 by yamifumi

[daveo]

@yamifumi may i ask how these fit the .951 compared to the f2? i kno there are some f32 which have longer rear bails and cause some gap.

[yamifumi]

49 minutes ago, daveo said:

@yamifumi may i ask how these fit the .951 compared to the f2? i kno there are some f32 which have longer rear bails and cause some gap.

SG binding specifically make bail for .951 so the fit is perfect. This is one of the issue that Sigi wanted to fix in F2 from what I heard in one of his meet up in Japan while back. No gap at all and very snug fit.

When I bought the SG binding last season, I had UPZ boots so I had to get new bails this season when I got my .951. 

Edited April 8, 2018 by yamifumi

[yamifumi]

Here is info regarding changing sizes on SG binding:

These are the tools I used. Spanner fits (10mm) and 4mm hex key. I have both 4mm and 5mm from Klein tools because those are convenient than just L-shape hex key.

set it up, just like I have it on the picture above and turn it counter-clockwise. Make sure to go slowly to not strip the hex area.  Before you put it back with locktite, make sure the size is what you want. I would set it up and fit the boots before you locktite it!!!!

now when the nuts loosens, remove the nuts and washer. The long bolt (4mm hex) can be removed as you turn counter clockwise then you have these parts below:

The plastic pieces can be hard to slide but it will slide out. It was hard to get it off but it will move either side. Then you can move the screw inserts you see in the picture to make it smaller or bigger. Mine is currently set as smaller on the picture.

***please do this at your own risk, I am not responsible of any damage/injuries!!! Put the loctite before you go riding!!!

Edited April 8, 2018 by yamifumi

[daveo]

Thanks for the info. I think i'll get SG bindings when I get MS. What a great binding!

[daveo]

They seem like an upgraded/updated F2 to me.

[Carvin' Marvin]

Those look really sweet. I'd for sure get some when I wear through my five odd pairs of f2s. I will agree that fine tuning f2s is a TON of wrenching at first but now that I've got them set it's not an issue except to break them down and check screw torque. How much was shipping? 

[yamifumi]

9 hours ago, Carvin' Marvin said:

Those look really sweet. I'd for sure get some when I wear through my five odd pairs of f2s. I will agree that fine tuning f2s is a TON of wrenching at first but now that I've got them set it's not an issue except to break them down and check screw torque. How much was shipping? 

The shipping was 65 euro. 

Yea, I feel my bindings are dialed in so I dont touch it anymore. 

[Colozeus]

what is the max toe/heel lift you can get out of them? Is 6 degrees toe lift an option with these?

[yamifumi]

On 4/9/2018 at 8:30 AM, Colozeus said:

what is the max toe/heel lift you can get out of them? Is 6 degrees toe lift an option with these?

6 deg is not possible. Max I can get is ~5.1 deg and probably similar to f2?

Edited April 19, 2018 by yamifumi

[Colozeus]

5 minutes ago, yamifumi said:

6 deg is not possible. Max I can get is ~4.1deg and probably same as F2 lifts.

Bummer, that's a deal breaker for me. I need 6 of toe lift. Surprised they don't offer more cants/shims to get more lift. 

[Corey]

More shims and longer bolts should make almost anything possible.  

Not having 6 degrees is a deal-breaker for me as well though.  Many racers seem to use much more than 6 degrees heel lift on their rear foot!  

[philw]

Aye but those yellow boots already have a fair ramp in them, do they not?

[yamifumi]

1 hour ago, philw said:

Aye but those yellow boots already have a fair ramp in them, do they not?

Yeap! I don't know how much inclination I have with forward lean but I can have more forward lean with .951 than UPZ RC-10 I used to have with DGSS springs. Same goes with rearward lean (if thats what you call it on the front boots) and I can get it to where I am comfortable.

1 hour ago, Corey said:

More shims and longer bolts should make almost anything possible.  

Not having 6 degrees is a deal-breaker for me as well though.  Many racers seem to use much more than 6 degrees heel lift on their rear foot!  

Do they make their own shims? they also have quite a bit of forward lean on the boot as well. But many racers ride flat at the front from what I noticed.

*******

When people ask me if SG would work, I tell them: "if F2 works for you then SG will definitely work". If F2 does not work for you then I would be cautious.

Edited April 9, 2018 by yamifumi

[yamifumi]

On 4/9/2018 at 8:30 AM, Colozeus said:

what is the max toe/heel lift you can get out of them? Is 6 degrees toe lift an option with these?

 

On 4/9/2018 at 11:10 AM, Corey said:

More shims and longer bolts should make almost anything possible.  

Not having 6 degrees is a deal-breaker for me as well though.  Many racers seem to use much more than 6 degrees heel lift on their rear foot!  

I was measuring the lift angle with my phone app and it was not really accurate. I did inverse tan calculation and it actually came out to be roughly 5.1 deg at the max possible. This was done with lift shims and also adding 2 canting shims in opposite dorection to create more lift.

 

[Colozeus]

14 hours ago, yamifumi said:

 

I was measuring the lift angle with my phone app and it was not really accurate. I did inverse tan calculation and it actually came out to be roughly 5.1 deg at the max possible. This was done with lift shims and also adding 2 canting shims in opposite dorection to create more lift.

 

Oh, that's good to know. 

[bigwavedave]

On 4/9/2018 at 2:04 PM, yamifumi said:

On 4/9/2018 at 12:10 PM, Corey said:

More shims and longer bolts should make almost anything possible.  

Not having 6 degrees is a deal-breaker for me as well though.  Many racers seem to use much more than 6 degrees heel lift on their rear foot!  

Do they make their own shims? they also have quite a bit of forward lean on the boot as well. But many racers ride flat at the front from what I noticed.

My first bindings were F2's with a RadAir label. Made my own shims out of tropical hardwood, but I think one could also use some kind of plastic material. I cut to the rough shape and thickness and used a belt sander to fine tune cant and slant. Actually much better than the level shims that come with the bindings as you can make the toe and heel blocks line up in the same plane (like you get with your plate on top of TD3 cant ring) so you end up with a much better contact between boots and blocks. I did the same when I had SnowPros. The pain is you have to have exactly the right length screw for each hole in each block, so I got a bag of long SS bolts and cut to size for each block.

Edited April 19, 2018 by bigwavedave

[pow4ever]

Thank you for the great review!

Any US/NA distributor?

On the last pair of used F2 I bought.  my arms dead tired adjust the F2 binding so I can add some lift only to find out the screw/tnut holding is sled is stripped/free moving 

[daveo]

16 minutes ago, pow4ever said:

Thank you for the great review!

Any US/NA distributor?

On the last pair of used F2 I bought.  my arms dead tired adjust the F2 binding so I can add some lift only to find out the screw/tnut holding is sled is stripped/free moving 

Dan Yoja www.upzboots.com

[pow4ever]

3 hours ago, daveo said:

Dan Yoja www.upzboots.com

Thank you!  My piggy bank must have block it from my view lol...  I do have a brand new in box Td3 std sitting some where.

[yamifumi]

7 hours ago, pow4ever said:

Thank you for the great review!

Any US/NA distributor?

On the last pair of used F2 I bought.  my arms dead tired adjust the F2 binding so I can add some lift only to find out the screw/tnut holding is sled is stripped/free moving 

I have 2 pairs of SG binding and I have been happy with them. I am glad someone is distributing for SG in North America. The only downside is that when it is very very cold, the pads you have to attach comes off sometimes. 

I have been using them for 2 seasons now. If you have any questions, let me know!

[pow4ever]

21 hours ago, yamifumi said:

The only downside is that when it is very very cold, the pads you have to attach comes off sometimes. I have been using them for 2 seasons now. If you have any questions, let me know!

Thank you very much for the offer!  Attached show the pads Yamifumi mentioned.  

Here is the video from SG that show how to setup; as a current F2 user I can definitely see how this is a better mouse trap  

https://player.vimeo.com/video/263303347

[Randy Kight]

Rode these last year.  First time in an F2 style binding, where all my previous years were in Burton vari's, burton race, TD1's, TD3 SW's.

I like these...very simple to setup and tweak...very well built.  I bought mine from Bola (All Board Sports), as he was, at the time, the only US distributer to my knowledge.  Now it looks like Dan is doing so as well.