two_ravens Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 Does anyone know if there is a binding in the "light and flexy" category that matches the Bomber TD2 in the ability to move the boot forward or backward (that is, toward toeside or heelside) on the binding? I have tried SnoPro (the worst so far), Ibex and Nidecker Carbon Comps. I also took a long look at F2's and they did not appear to allow the adjustment that I need. I am in the sad situation of now owning a board that behaves much better with a binding that is more flexible than my trusted and much loved TD2's. The problem I have run into though is that I cannot move my front boot forward enough with other bindings to avoid boot out on heelside turns at my usual 62 degree angle. I have the Nideckers on the board now, and at 72 degrees I only boot out once in awhile. This is still really not acceptable to me - I ride way too close to trees to be risking that kind of nonsense. And I hate angles above 70. And angles this steep are stupid anyway - I have a mile of room in front of my toe, I just can't get the boot there with these bindings. So... what else is out there? I can't afford to buy every binding in the world, so hoping I can get good advice before I throw down any money on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.oldsnowboards.com Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 (edited) Td3 sw ? Photos please? Standard I presume? Edited March 5, 2013 by www.oldsnowboards.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donek Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 TD3 Sidewinder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beckmann AG Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 On the Ibex, you should be able to turn the rear heel pad 180, cut the plastic under 'shim' in half, such that the molded bail channels match the tapered 'slots' in the underside of the heel pad, and that should give significant forward bias. Unless you then run out of mounting holes for the toe pad... In which case find a set of Catek WC short plates. (Yes, I know, not 'flexy' enough, but you've sufficient skill to more than manage such things.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeho730 Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 (edited) A very tough question.... You probably mentioned most if not all light and flexy plastic binding.... If ibex, snowpro or f2 can't help you.... It sounds like you are looking for a light/flexy plastic binding for an all mountain/powder/tree board, I assume? Especially if you worry about hitting trees... There are two binding you might want to consider: 1. ACT gear glide S: soft binding, fits Asian (READ small) feet pretty well, so adjustment range should be good even for small boots... http://www.actgear.jp/catalog/1213/cata_page/1213other/1213cata_glides.htm 2. S5 Race: heel bail allows flexion, fairly light for aluminium (1200g per pair) http://www.s5.co.kr/news5/news5.asp I would probably recommend ACT gear glide S.... Most flexy binding on their catalogue..... Fairly low stack height... Should be fairly light.... Do come with 4-piece 3D cant plate.... Disadvantage...? How are you gonna get that from Japan... Not to mention Japanese are not terribly good English speakers... And you need to buy cant lift wedge separately if you need more and I'm not sure they'll ship to the States.... They do sell spare parts but then again shipping and payment would be a problem... One way is to buy from Rakuten (http://global.rakuten.com/en/) but ACT gear binding doesn't come up that often. They do sell slightly harder Glide Ti, though. BEWARE they're pricey, priced between Ibex and TD3. http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/auc-breakout/item/act-bin-ti/ Lastly you might want to try F2 race ti small size... Edited March 5, 2013 by leeho730 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 two_ravens, the entire purpose of the TD3 SW was to allow for more flexibility in the binding. I think it might give you what you are looking for, while still maintaining the integrity of your "beloved TD2s" :). The TD3 is even a bit more flexible than the TD2, because of the elevated e-ring but the SW has much more movement that is controlled. I can help you with questions if you like. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digger jr Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 (edited) Hey Quacky, I have a set of sidewinders you can try for a while if you want. Surprised if F2s would not adjust enough, but have not seen them in the medium size. Ron Edited March 5, 2013 by digger jr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
energyrail Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 What boots? And what size? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kieran Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 (edited) is your stance and stance width such that you could rotate the centre disc of the binding 90° so it offers sideways adjustment, or have you tried that already? Edited March 5, 2013 by kieran Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pogokoenig Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 second that! Also a photo would be very helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pokkis Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 If you have small boot, like 22Mondo as my wife, that is real pain specially with Intecs. I have modified F2 M's by adding extra holes to get Intec receiver to more forward and now i can adjust her bindings properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allee Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 I was the one who suggested to K that she try the plastic bindings on her board, because I have a board with the same issue. Ride it with F2's, and it's grinning good times. Ride it with TD's, and it's a pig that refuses to flex under the front binding, and has a nasty habit of railing for the trees. And it's not just me - I've had two other people ride the same board with TDs and experience the same thing. It's almost as if the flex point for the nose is right under that front plate, and the stiffness of the Bomber binding won't allow it to bend where it needs to. For that reason, I'm not sure that the Sidewinders will be the fix. The problem isn't on top of the binding - it's where the binding meets the board. Pics would be good. I looked at my F2's last night and I can move the front toe block on a 19cm board back far enough to give my 26 feet room at 55deg (although I am running UPZ's). I know that board is super skinny, but even so, I'd be surprised if you couldn't get enough adjustment out of a set of F2's running the Track boots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
energyrail Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 Must be running UPZ's? My upz size 27. I Almost max out the heal adjustment centering my snopros but it works. My understanding is turning around the heal blocks on td's fixes the problem. Haven't done it myself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
two_ravens Posted March 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 What Allee said - I would love to try some Sidewinders (Rocket Man, I'll be in touch!) but I think it is the metal base on the binding that interferes with the board flex. I think Cateks wouldn't help for the same reason. I've owned Cateks - awesome bindings and they do allow the adjustment I seek, but I won't buy them again because of complete lack of customer service. I actually find the flex in the boot/binding interface on the Nideckers very disturbing, but I'll get used to it. Michelle, I'm wondering if TD3s might be better than the SW just because of the thicker e-ring. Would have to try 'em though to know..... Beckmann - the Ibex project sounds like fun, but the bindings I tried were just borrowed.... If I owned a pair right now I would cut them up in a heartbeat. Hate to buy them just to butcher them though. I will try to post some pics tonight for you visual types, but for now - I am riding Deeluxe mondo 23 boots, sole length 261mm. The TD2s are standard. The board is 18.2 wide. As others have noted, with many bindings you run out of adjustment by the time you just get the bindings snugged up enough to fit small boots. leeho - the Japanese bindings look interesting. Sadly, my Japanese ain't so good, so researching those will take a bit of work, but I'll keep them in mind. I have a squirt boating friend who may be able to translate, buy and transport for me.... keiran - doh! I used to know about rotating the center disc, but forgot. I'll take a look at it later today to see if that would work... Thanks all! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
two_ravens Posted March 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 Must be running UPZ's?My upz size 27. I Almost max out the heal adjustment centering my snopros but it works. My understanding is turning around the heal blocks on td's fixes the problem. Haven't done it myself Not UPZ, just mondo 23 Deeluxe... Yes, turning the heel or toe block around on TD2s gives you lots of room to adjust for small boots. Bombers totally rock! Wish my newest board liked them better... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
two_ravens Posted March 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 TD2 allows me to adjust the bias this much toward toeside. Here I have my boot shifted as far toward toeside as possible, but you can see the Nidecker comes up a bit short of the adjustment that I need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
two_ravens Posted March 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 is your stance and stance width such that you could rotate the centre disc of the binding 90° so it offers sideways adjustment, or have you tried that already? Gave it a go (in really hideous conditions - lasted 2 runs! :() It does work, sort of - it's now somewhat better than it was. The other thing I did to get this board to behave was move my bindings all the way forward. Turning the center disc 90 deg means I lose some of that tip to tail adjustment and had to move the bindings back a bit. So, I've eliminated the boot out, but the board is back to being a little harder for me to ride. This will work for now, but if I find a binding that just allows all the adjustment I want, I'll be all over it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donek Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 Based on these results, it sounds to me like you really just want to narrow your stance a bit by moving your back foot forward. If a board is too stiff, you can always make it feel softer by narrowing up your stance. The bias on your Bomber is effectively doing this already. Your photos also do a great deal to illustrate what is really happening in these systems. The bomber binding has a much smaller footprint or contact area than the Nidecker binding in this photo. The Bomber binding is definitely going to allow the board to bend more naturally as a result. The Nidecker binding has a bigger footprint and more of the leverage from your boot can, as a result, be transfered to the board. This enables you to bend or manipulate the board more than with the Bomber binding. The easiest way of accomplishing the same goal with the Bomber is to narrow your stance a bit. If it feels too narrow, just reduce your cants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonbordin Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 Do you have 8 screws in each TD2? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 F2s should give you plenty of adjustment... but only if you are in the middle of the size range. I can get a good amount of toeside or heelside bias out of size M's with a size 25 boot, but my wife gets almost no adjustment with her size 22's b/c she's used up that range just by getting them to fit her hooves. The sidewinders (my binding of choice) are reasonably flexy-feeling but NOT LIGHT in any sense of the word. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarvingScooby Posted March 6, 2013 Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 Does anyone know if there is a binding in the "light and flexy" category that matches the Bomber TD2 in the ability to move the boot forward or backward (that is, toward toeside or heelside) on the binding? I have tried SnoPro (the worst so far), Ibex and Nidecker Carbon Comps. I also took a long look at F2's and they did not appear to allow the adjustment that I need.I am in the sad situation of now owning a board that behaves much better with a binding that is more flexible than my trusted and much loved TD2's. The problem I have run into though is that I cannot move my front boot forward enough with other bindings to avoid boot out on heelside turns at my usual 62 degree angle. I have the Nideckers on the board now, and at 72 degrees I only boot out once in awhile. This is still really not acceptable to me - I ride way too close to trees to be risking that kind of nonsense. And I hate angles above 70. And angles this steep are stupid anyway - I have a mile of room in front of my toe, I just can't get the boot there with these bindings. So... what else is out there? I can't afford to buy every binding in the world, so hoping I can get good advice before I throw down any money on this. Use your TD2 with AIR SUSPENSION It's not light but it's FLEXEY :rolleyes: On my POW decks I combine with TD3SW to get more flex out of stiff TDs This combination add height tho... but it gives you free steeper angle to turn before boot drag Hope this can help, RT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
two_ravens Posted March 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 Based on these results, it sounds to me like you really just want to narrow your stance a bit by moving your back foot forward. If a board is too stiff, you can always make it feel softer by narrowing up your stance. The bias on your Bomber is effectively doing this already. I have had the bindings all over the board with little positive effect, but have not tried a narrower stance. I did try narrowing the stance on the previous version of this board (also too stiff) but it didn't help. I can't move the rear binding forward as it's already maxed out that direction, so will have to move the front foot back. Will give it a try, but not putting too much hope in this. And not that it matters much for this discussion, but my bias on the Bombers actually increases my stance width, because this is my front foot, moved at an angle forward on the binding. The rear foot is moved slightly backward in the binding. My stance measured center to center on the discs is 18.5", but measured center to center on the boots is 19.25". Your photos also do a great deal to illustrate what is really happening in these systems. The bomber binding has a much smaller footprint or contact area than the Nidecker binding in this photo. The Bomber binding is definitely going to allow the board to bend more naturally as a result. The Nidecker binding has a bigger footprint and more of the leverage from your boot can, as a result, be transfered to the board. This enables you to bend or manipulate the board more than with the Bomber binding. The easiest way of accomplishing the same goal with the Bomber is to narrow your stance a bit. If it feels too narrow, just reduce your cants. Sean, I certainly know that you know boards and how they behave, and from looking at the bindings I would say the same thing - that the smaller footprint of the Bombers should allow the board to flex more naturally. However, the feeling is exactly the opposite. With the TD2s, the board feels like it just refuses to bend. It's just a 12 meter board that does a 12 meter turn no matter what I do and no matter what speed. With the Nideckers, the board feels like it bends easily with little effort, even at slow speeds. The blue board is also a 12 meter board, but with a very flexible nose and with a little pressure on the nose it can do almost any turn radius that I ask of it. With the Nideckers on, the red board will match it exactly in all but the tightest turns. So - I will give the narrower stance width a try, and we'll see what happens. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
two_ravens Posted March 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 lonbordin - yes, 8 screws each binding, just on the blue board. Two years ago it started to show damage around the 4 inserts I use on each binding, so I added screws to try to stop the progress of that damage. CarvingScooby - your crazy air suspension makes me go "Hmmmmmm...... might just be crazy enough to work." Think I'll put this on the list of things to try... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted March 6, 2013 Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 Get some F2 Carve Rs / Proflex / Blax, plastic-fantastic. Plenty flexy, but really adjustable bias. They have 2 sets of holes under the toe/heel blocks. Do the bias by using front holes under both toe and heel, then fine tune and adjust length by using the block slider screw. However, I don't know what would be the smallest boot that this configuration can hold... Other then that, maybe the Snowpro SMAL size would do the trick? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donek Posted March 6, 2013 Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 Sean, I certainly know that you know boards and how they behave, and from looking at the bindings I would say the same thing - that the smaller footprint of the Bombers should allow the board to flex more naturally. However, the feeling is exactly the opposite. With the TD2s, the board feels like it just refuses to bend. It's just a 12 meter board that does a 12 meter turn no matter what I do and no matter what speed. With the Nideckers, the board feels like it bends easily with little effort, even at slow speeds. The blue board is also a 12 meter board, but with a very flexible nose and with a little pressure on the nose it can do almost any turn radius that I ask of it. With the Nideckers on, the red board will match it exactly in all but the tightest turns. So - I will give the narrower stance width a try, and we'll see what happens. :) The reason the board refuses to bend is because the bomber's small footprint does not allow you to transfer as much leverage to the board, so it bends as it would naturally. The larger footprint and greater transfer of leverage permits you to bend the board more with the Nidecker binding. What you are feeling I'm sure is very real, I am just trying to explain why you feel it. The light and flexy perception of the Nidecker binding is, in reality, not why you can bend the board more. You are able to bend it more because of the difference in how it transfers your input to the board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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