To stepin or not to stepin...

[NateW]

I haven't tried the intec system...but the old burton systems scared me so much with ill-timed releases that I changed back to bails and haven't gone back...but I guess that was 20 odd years ago so maybe I'll revisit it again soon...

I switched to step-ins for the same reason. I'm convinced that bail bindings will let go if enough force is applied in the right direction. Lots of force gets applied in funny directions when I fall. I had too many scary ejections with the whole range of bail-to-bail measurements, on too many bindings. I really wanted toe levers to work, too, because for years I was riding boots that weren't compatible. But I gave up and switched to Intec, even though it took new boots and new bindings to do so.

With uber-stiff soles and a heel bail that exactly matches the heel of the boot (across the entire heel ledge) I could maybe be convinced to try toe levers again, but I haven't seen anything yet that would give me enough confidence. And I'd only try it with a leash on each foot for the first several days.

Stepins aren't perfect yet, but I trust them. At least, I trust them after I've used each new set of heels for a few days - during which time I wear a leash on each foot just in case. And I always give my foot a pull and a wiggle after stepping in.

Nothing is perfect, but until Bomber starts making heels (oh please oh please oh please), Intec + TD is as safe as it gets.

[Allee]

I've been using step-ins for a about 8 years or so. Burton rat traps kind of sucked, and the Burton Carrier's were not that bad. Then went to F2 Intech comp (blue plastic and a bit flexy). Superb.

Yep, I've got Carve RS step ins, and they're my absolute faves. (I'm only a lightweight, so that helps). I find Bombers as stiff as hell, they're great on a race stick but way too unforgiving for an AM board - so the RS's are a great compromise.

[Keenan]

-If I set my boots up with intec heels will I be able to use those boots with standard TD2's and TD1's or will the pins interfere? If not I would have to convert 3 sets of bindings and sell the TD1.

-Another question: I would be taking virtually unbreakable bindings and replacing a bail with a plastic part, has anyone ever cracked or broken an intec heel piece?

[NateW]

I have broken one of the pins, and I know of at least one other person who has also. Both of us experienced this on the first day with a brand new set of heels. Note that when this happened to me, the other pin still held my boot in, and I didn't notice the problem right away. I just noticed more flex as I was entering the lift line. But I still wear two leashes on the first couple days with a new pair of heels.

I have yet to break the plastic frame of the heel piece. I think if it was possible I would have found out by now, so it's not something I really worry about. (But if someone were to start making metal framed heel pieces, I'd switch immediately. Fin? Are you reading this? :) )

[Allee]

-If I set my boots up with intec heels will I be able to use those boots with standard TD2's and TD1's or will the pins interfere? If not I would have to convert 3 sets of bindings and sell the TD1.

I still ride standards when I have to. The only problem I've found is that the Intec heel is a couple mm higher than a standard heel, so sometimes I have to fiddle with the back bail to make sure that it loops on to the boot properly. Apart from that, it's no problem.

[nekdut]

Bails on the front foot, Intec on the back.. :)

[Neil Gendzwill]

Yep, I've got Carve RS step ins

+3 on the Intec RS. I run that on my Tanker 2K, and Titanflexes on my Coiler AM72. Nobody has yet mentioned how great they are when stuck on long flat roads. Come to a slight uphill section? Pull the cable, skate until it's downhill again, step in and go. I'm already running a pretty soft boot so the whole system has plenty of flex for me.

[colintkemp]

Standard bails for me. But that is not because I have tried Intec and don't like them. Personally, falling all over the place because I have only one foot in when getting off the lift and then spending 20 minutes fighting with locking in my back boot is just way too much fun; I simply can't give that up. Come on, fess up people.

[Keenan]

Please correct me if I'm wrong on this:

You need a relatively flat surface to "step in". I am often buckling in on a hillside where if I don't sit down the board slides out from under me, this would defeat the purpose of the Intec, right?

Also, I ride mainly in the NW where we enjoy mashed potato like snow. I have seen people with Intecs having problems with the heel piece packing full of snow. Is this a common problem? (people from Colorado need not respond to that one)

[Gecko]

I've never had an issue with snow I PAM and Bomber Butter my receivers...most of what I ride is Packed Powder.

I only need a gentle slope to step in I rarely need to stop to get into my binding

[D.T.]

Please correct me if I'm wrong on this:

You need a relatively flat surface to "step in". I am often buckling in on a hillside where if I don't sit down the board slides out from under me, this would defeat the purpose of the Intec, right?

Also, I ride mainly in the NW where we enjoy mashed potato like snow. I have seen people with Intecs having problems with the heel piece packing full of snow. Is this a common problem? (people from Colorado need not respond to that one)

Consider yourself corrected. No, you do not need a flat surface. Set one edge into the snow and step-in. It may require more/different balance, but rarely do I step-in with the board flat. I may put a hand down if the run is really steep.

I always clean-out the heal receiver after stepping out and before stepping in. Typically I can just stomp the board, but if the snow is sticky, I'll reach down and clean it out by hand.

[bumpyride]

You really ought to try the plastic F2 intec. Very flexible and forgiving. Mud, if you're up in Duluth at Spirit during the Christmas season, I can hook you up to try a set. Have 3 pair stationed there, and I can bring a pair of spare heels.

I wear a 9 to 9 1/2 shoe, and maybe we can talk Russ into it if you have a larger foot, and don't want to go through the hassle of changing heels.

Allee is absolutely correct, they're a great AM plate binding.

[pokkis]

I have yet to break the plastic frame of the heel piece. I think if it was possible I would have found out by now, so it's not something I really worry about. (But if someone were to start making metal framed heel pieces, I'd switch immediately. Fin? Are you reading this? :) )

On bad day anything can happen, here was lucky day.

But i still prefer Intecs over bails for comfy and safety

[Jack M]

People "trusting" their hardbooting safety to bails over step-ins is statistically like trusting your life to street travel over air travel. With over-center cam type bails, there IS a way out. Anyone who's landed a jump too hard knows this. With step-ins, the only way out is via catastrophic failure of the boot or heel, which unfortunately one such case has been extensively publicized. And on that note...

Nothing is perfect, but until Bomber starts making heels (oh please oh please oh please), Intec + TD is as safe as it gets.

stay tuned.

[Jack M]

Eh, not a big fan of step ins. Way too stiff for me.

I don't think this is valid anymore, with the advent of soft e-rings and the extra suspension kit.

I think if you still need more flex than that, something else is going on.

[nils]

why are the WC riders on majority not using SI then?

N

[Dr D]

I gotta side with the to stiff crowd although I use the step ins. I would love to see more work done on making a suspension kit that is even more flexy. I ride burtons way better but they scare me now that I am officially a horse. so I ride the stiff stuff and its not as much fun. Boots aren't the answer either since its lateral flex that's most missed.

on the topic at hand step ins are absolutely necessary since bending over and buckling in aren't any where near as easy as they were 15 yrs ago. plus I can step in on the lift and cruise right off without stopping at all. one of our lifts is so high on the exit that you are really moving by the time you get to the bottom of the ramp plus it takes a hard left. near suicide on one leg depending on who is riding with you.

as for softie stepins there is only one SWITCH the rest truly sucked as far as I am concerned. the four point contact of switch out does the two point on the others by miles. the k2 front and rear vs the burton side to side made one way or the other sloppy. switches four point makes the interface tight. not all the boots were necessarily good though just because they were switch.

[Jack M]

why are the WC riders on majority not using SI then?

N

They're dealing with shin-snapping ruts that freecarvers are not.

[Mike T]

Depends o the binding for me. I use TD2 step-ins and F2 race titanium with bails. I honestly have trouble getting the TD2 bails to open. The F2 bails I find quite user-friendly.

[Chris Karol]

"step-ins suck." - former Burton engineer I know on softboot stepi-ns.

Dude,

Thanks for pointing out where that Burton propaganda comes from. Boardski hit the nail on the head, Burton's step-ins did suck. But then again, Burton never wanted step-in technology to succeed in the first place.

Making a kick ass step in system is not difficult, but why bother when you're Burton and can easily convince the herd that "step-in's suck" Burton purposely killed the step-in market by making a crappy product and coming up with that mantra for their employees and legions of followers to spout.

You think with Burtons resources that was the best they could come up with? Maybe they just needed better "engineers".

Last time I heard that was from some 4 year old kid who was incapable of forming his own opinion. He was a little young to understand concepts like "disruptive technology" A term your friend surely learned about if he went to engineering school. If your friend had anything to do with Burton's ratchet systems he's no doubt familiar with other phrases like "planned obsolescence"

To put in terms a 4 year old can understand let me point out that snowboards used to suck too. Good thing we kept working on them eh? Of course that was before there was any serious money at stake.

SI technology is a threat to the dominant position Burton holds in the strap binding market. It's much more profitable for them to put lipstick on their pigs, coming up with "new" things like Lo-backs and cap straps, rather than invest in making a BETTER step-in. A better step-in will make Burtons strap-bindings obsolete, and that puts their dominant market position at risk.

The real goal for SI is to improve ride performance. Convenience should just be a by-product. Of course if you're Burton, the real goal is to make money and maintain market share, which is why they came up with the mantra that you are still spouting.

I figure you to be a smart dude Jack, and I suppose you may not have had any reason to give this much thought., You may also know that I've personally invested years and lots of money developing SI systems that ride way better than anything on the market today. I still hold several patents on the technology. Needless to say I have a personal stake in the subject.

It's kind of interesting to see this thread actually. It was just pointed out to me along with a recent update that appeared on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowboard. Leave it to hardbooters to shun public opinion and think for themselves. The thing that surprises me more than anything in our so called "progressive" sport is that strap bindings still exist at all.

So don't take it too personally Jack but please understand that I had to set the record straight, plus I know you're a stud and can handle the truth.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Boots aren't the answer either since its lateral flex that's most missed.

I ride old Raichle 224s, I have all the lateral flex I need.

[Dr D]

got a set in 30 for sale? some of the best gear is no longer made its very frustrating. we didn't worry about burton bindings back when they were the newest and greatest. sometimes I wonder if its all sky is falling mentality.

[Dr D]

Dude,

Thanks for pointing out where that Burton propaganda comes from. Boardski hit the nail on the head, Burton's step-ins did suck. But then again, Burton never wanted step-in technology to succeed in the first place.

Making a kick ass step in system is not difficult, but why bother when you're Burton and can easily convince the herd that "step-in's suck" Burton purposely killed the step-in market by making a crappy product and coming up with that mantra for their employees and legions of followers to spout.

You think with Burtons resources that was the best they could come up with? Maybe they just needed better "engineers".

Last time I heard that was from some 4 year old kid who was incapable of forming his own opinion. He was a little young to understand concepts like "disruptive technology" A term your friend surely learned about if he went to engineering school. If your friend had anything to do with Burton's ratchet systems he's no doubt familiar with other phrases like "planned obsolescence"

To put in terms a 4 year old can understand let me point out that snowboards used to suck too. Good thing we kept working on them eh? Of course that was before there was any serious money at stake.

SI technology is a threat to the dominant position Burton holds in the strap binding market. It's much more profitable for them to put lipstick on their pigs, coming up with "new" things like Lo-backs and cap straps, rather than invest in making a BETTER step-in. A better step-in will make Burtons strap-bindings obsolete, and that puts their dominant market position at risk.

The real goal for SI is to improve ride performance. Convenience should just be a by-product. Of course if you're Burton, the real goal is to make money and maintain market share, which is why they came up with the mantra that you are still spouting.

I figure you to be a smart dude Jack, and I suppose you may not have had any reason to give this much thought., You may also know that I've personally invested years and lots of money developing SI systems that ride way better than anything on the market today. I still hold several patents on the technology. Needless to say I have a personal stake in the subject.

It's kind of interesting to see this thread actually. It was just pointed out to me along with a recent update that appeared on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowboard. Leave it to hardbooters to shun public opinion and think for themselves. The thing that surprises me more than anything in our so called "progressive" sport is that strap bindings still exist at all.

So don't take it too personally Jack but please understand that I had to set the record straight, plus I know you're a stud and can handle the truth.

Burtons current business model seems to be turn out as much cheap **** as possible and flood the market with it.

Good step ins have been made. the only reason I can think for their demise is manufacturing expense and smaller profit margin. that said I am sure the vans switch patent is up for grabs if someone wanted to start making them again.

[Bullwings]

TD2 bails. After hearing about that one guy, i was scared to try step-ins. And, honestly, i'm happy with with the way everything feels on my current bail setup. Plus, at 140 pounds, i doubt i need a stiffer interface. hell, i probably don't even need TD2s.

For my softies - FR2, straps all the way. I had switch bindings before, and liked them, but the boots i had were crap. Now i just can't find any good switch compatible boots. That, and nothing can compete with the adjustability options of the FR2s - cant/lift is a must for me now, ever since riding hardboots.

[crucible]

If I were to buy a step-in, I'd only buy half a set to use on my rear boot.

Any goofy Intec riders out there that would like to split the cost on a pair of Intec heels?

Geo