Forward lean on Bindings

[ITALIAN_MARC]

Does anyone have there forward lean on there bindings set differently on each foot? I'm sure I read some where but can't find the article to have one on slightly more than the other will help carving and the initiation of turns..

Edited June 8, 2017 by ITALIAN_MARC
Tt

[Mig]

3 hours ago, ITALIAN_MARC said:

Does anyone have there forward lean on there bindings set differently on each foot? I'm sure I read some where but can't find the article to have one on slightly more than the other will help carving and the initiation of turns..

I always add one more notch of forward lean on my rear binding. It fits my position and stance better.

[ITALIAN_MARC]

Thanks I'll give that a go next time im on my board.

[Corey]

Are we talking bindings or boots?  

Unless you run flat bindings, most people run asymmetric setups for toe and heel lift.  Usually a bit of toe lift on front foot and a bit of heel lift on rear foot.  Or one flat.  Try something and adjust to taste.  

Boots are all over the map.  It's so easy to adjust that some people tweak it by the day and how they feel.  

[ITALIAN_MARC]

The bindings I was about.

[BlueB]

What Corey said... 

I know only one person that claimed her front binding was set with heal lift, just like the rear. But then... she didn't ride the hard boots for long time, it could easily be that she got mixed up. 

[slopestar]

In softies, I ride with more forward lean on the front foot. I am dominant on the front foot and usually break parts on the front binding first. 

[svr]

On softies for me I ride with a lot of forward lean. For a cambered board I have more forward lean on my front binding, but on a rockered board I have more forward lean on my back binding to compensate for lack of board response due to the rocker.

[Eric Brammer aka PSR]

Taken from Freecarve; There's more like this in there, just gotta use the 'search' function to find them!

On 10/28/2015 PSR wrote in from United States  (65.96.xxx.xxx)

It's been awhile since I got a call from Gilmore, at night.. But, I do recall one conversation we had, him on the hill somewhere near Boston, me cooking dinner in Perkinsville. He had this problem, riding softboots, where he was skipping out of his carves. What I told him to do, after going thru a quick checklist of 'how+when' as well as "what are U on", was adjust his highbacks, asymmetrically. After his first call, he adjusted his highbacks, called me back, amazed at the 'remote' fix! (you're welcome, JG!)

In binding angles above 15*, the front heel edge pressure gets a bit miss-placedtoo far aft. In the old days, when three-strappers, and locked highbacks were the norm, all you had to do was make the front top-strap more snug than the rear. Easy. But with more modern bindings, the highbacks are made to deflect energy, not direct it. They're also made to work mostly with a "duck", low angle stance. So, how can you get these things to work at higher angles, and get some chatter-free carves?

Well, first, pick a stiff binding. Be sure it's well padded underfoot, with a lifting Toe-ramp.Stay away from a 'baseless' platform as well.
Secondly, if possible, get a wrap-around or 'Winged' highback. Both Burton and TechNine offer highbacks like this currently. Note the range of forward lean adjustment, too. You'll want to use two different angles, with the rear up to +12 more lean in adjustment available. Thirdly, check and see if the hinge-points can be moved to 'rotate' the highback around the 'horse-shoe', letting you run a higher stance angle while keeping the highback close to parallel to the board's edge. This is important if you ride angles up past the 21* mark, as otherwise, your leg-pressure going into a heelside turn will always be Behind your hip, making for a bit of a timing mis-cue, and likely an over-pressure in the later part of your arc.

So, got those things? Stiff binders, adjustment range in lean, and hopefully the 'winged' highbacks? Good. Now, put the board on (on carpet, and move that glass coffe table outa the way,too!), with your boots, facing a full-length mirror. Make the moves you'd do for medium-deep heelside turn. Note just 'when' each calf engages the highback for tilting in. If the front hits first, then that highback needs to be a bit more 'upright' than the rear. Which one you adjust is up to You, but Don't Make It 'TIPPY', but rather let your legs 'ease' into putting nearly equal tilt inputs, with ability to 'relax' the edging, and, hopefully also still allow fore-aft moves without banging into the highbacks.

If your highbacks can adjust in 'rotation' within the 'horseshoe', consider moving the lead hinge-screw forward a few clicks (or hole-set on T-9's), and/or the rear hinge-screw back towards the heel. I tend to do this on the front binding first, as my angles up Front are usually a good 12*-18* more aggressive (yeah, I walk slightly 'duck-footed'), but Everyone is built a bit differently, so you may find that a smaller tweak is all you need here.
[Keep in mind, this will feel a bit odd If you ride Fakie at all, as the 'symmetry' is not there anymore going into heelside turns.]
The idea here is to let your hip move a bit more further forward Before you get on-edge too hard in deep heelside turns, and also keep the edge pressure more even mid-carve between your feet. Note that too much forward lean at the rear binding will make for a tendency to wash-out (or 'Pop' off of) the board's tail late in the turn.

[Lurch]

Eric you touched on a good point with the positioning of the binding in regard to the edge - I run my front binder on the inside holes to move it a little toward the heelside and find this gives me a little better leverage. 

Agree with SVR regarding the need to consider the board press too - each shape will ride a little differently and some really respond well to a change of stance. I deal with it a little differently than Sandy,rather than changing hghiback angles, I re-center my stance (either fwd or back) until I'm happy with the feel of initial bite (if that makes sense).

[ITALIAN_MARC]

A few things to try from all the comments back nice 1, 

Edited June 9, 2017 by ITALIAN_MARC
Tt

[Eric Brammer aka PSR]

21 minutes ago, Lurch said:

Eric you touched on a good point with the positioning of the binding in regard to the edge - I run my front binder on the inside holes to move it a little toward the heelside and find this gives me a little better leverage. 

Yeah, it works though, dependent on 3 things;1st} Binding construction. If the highback is purposely 'weak' [flexes easily, has big voids, or no rotation at the hinge], it won't be much better. 2nd} Your Stance angles. If you're under 21*F, you can still use the front calf to leverage more to the board edge, and,HeY!, Lift the Toes, too! 3rd} Hip-Placement, early in the turn. If you're full-on AASI brainwashed, your hip stays very centered (between the bindings, ie, fore/aft), so, rotating the highback to be closer to be in-line-with-the-edge won't matter much. But, then, likely, you are running blunt angles compared with how I ride.

Torsional twist of a board matters, too. Some boards respond in this input range more than I'm comfy with, and my better-feeling boards are NOT flimsy here! If you're running Really Cranked Softie angles, you might not see/feel much difference. As I've noted many times, Softboot angles above 39*, without a top-strap (3rd strap system, highback Locked to the binding) don't really do much for heelside turns, as there's No Leverage from the highback until after the turn is almost done. The 3-strap at least translates the front leg's move towards the heelside into moderate leverage, but the highback isn't being pushed upon until mid-turn, once the hip has gotten just over the front heel. Putting MORE forward lean at high angles does mitigate this a tad, though. Good for steeps in softer snow, imho. Lastly, boot choice, and how well a boot suits the binding will matter (as in, what boot works with Flows?!), some boots do well at transmitting force heelside, while still being usable to walk in...

 

[Lurch]

+1 to lifting the toes; its usually the first thing I forget (in the looong list). I used to dive into turns, but as my carving speeds got up to sllghtly more than snail pace, I found it really hard to transition my weight from front to rear effectively, so I made a conscious decision to try and stay more centered. Now you are telling me I've be brainwashed Eric  - noooooo!! those pesky AASI infiltrators must have spiked my brewski!!