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Soft Board Bindings


Toodles

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FWIW, I love the O-Drives and got a chance to put some quality time in them this season before the shit hit the fan. But what I DON'T like about them are the ratchets.  Straps and padding are fine, but they just don't allow that one extra click to really snug in that foot over the arch.  Still a snug fit, but I want them to go to 11.  That's really my only gripe.

Now that I have a little bit of the softie bug I picked up 19/20 Flow NX2-GT Fusions for a stupid price with the Labor Day sales going on. Hoping it will cut down on the time getting out of way of my belly when I strap in.  👍

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I rode the Targa's for 2 years and really liked them. The highback is alot softer than say the carbon highback on O-Drive but it offers a pretty good amount of support and response. The Ankle strap on the other hand is probably one of the best ive used on any binding it is very stiff and responsive with zero padding. The only real downsides with the targa is that they are super adjustable so can take a little bit of time to dial in perfectly. They are also fairly heavy but ive never noticed the weight with exception of my airplane baggage allowance.

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  • 1 year later...
On 3/13/2020 at 9:37 AM, curvy said:

Coming from k2cinch, I tried flow nx2, but the flow system drove me nuts.

F2 emiminator carve fastec was nice regarding heelstrap and baseplate, though the highback was a joke for a carving binding. The overall build quality looked puristic, not to say poor. But it's a cheap binding, what can I say.

Reading through this it looks like there's hardly a value for money tip around? I don't get to board much anymore sadly, so putting down 500 bucks for bindings doesn't seem reasonable.

I'd love a canted footbed - and some angled gas pedal toe section, don't know what to call it.

I'm riding an Oxess BX board with ride Insano boots.

Any other bindings to point to?

Thx!

New season, old search as last season way basically not existing and I didn't pull the trigger for anything. 

Anything new to have a close look at?

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2022 Flux CV bindings have been working well for me.

I tested it out on two types of heelsides, one with a straighter leg (more apt to make the heelcup hit the snow), and the typical bent legs heelsides. I also tried purposely throwing my butt over to make it hit the snow and drag, no bootout.

Yeah they don't hit. In fact I'm surprised how much overhang one could have without it hitting. Reminds me of some thread describing how much one actually tilts the board over; I think it had gilmour commenting in it.

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2 hours ago, lordmetroland said:

Any feedback on the CV stiffness? Considering the allegedly stiffer XV but…

@svrtells me it's softer than the XV.

I don't notice anything on the highback, but I also just adjust the forward lean so it just matches the natural angle of the boot (almost none).

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Quick note on the Flux XV: 

Excellent binding, noticeably stiffer than anything else I've tried, and I've tried quite a few of the "stiffest" soft boot bindings available. 

Turns out this was the missing link in my interface.  I've been able to drop some of the boot stiffening accessories and keep my boots looser too, all the while driving harder than ever into my way-too-stiff JJAs.   I still have one additional plastic tongue and one booster strap on my Driver Xs, but now I also have blood flowing all the way to my toes!

Good adjustability, very fast in and out, plenty comfortable too.  Highly recommended. 

I also like that there's no footbed canting, that doesn't work well with a forward stance anyway, and I don't miss the foam padding either.  

Get some!

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13 minutes ago, crackaddict said:

Good adjustability, very fast in and out, plenty comfortable too.  Highly recommended. 

I also like that there's no footbed canting, that doesn't work well with a forward stance anyway, and I don't miss the foam padding either. 

I'll get to test out my CV's tomorrow but you largely echo my thoughts. Id heard Flux bindings had little padding but i wasnt expecting it to be pretty much nothing 😅.

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So after this mornings quick two hour snowboarding session Ill say the Flux CV is probably one of the best carving bindings ive ridden, maybe not quite as good as my karakorams but there very close with a atleast one thing that is better. The base and highback are very stiff. There is little to no flex in the base and a little bit of tortional flex in the highback but pretty much zero if you try to push back into the highback. This results in a very responsive binding you move and the board will move there in lag or padding to squish down before your movement is transferred to the board. The downside is if you need padding in the binding there is pretty much none here. The straps are very good especially the toe strap which has a part that will protect the ladder during toe edge turns to stop it getting caught and bent rearwards, I will probably switch this over to my karakorams for future use. Ankle strap is very similar to that of the karakoram providing a very snug secure hold. I have one small anoyance that being the ladders due to the design of binding cant be laid flat at the side of the binding so your foot wont catch and stand on it while strapping in. the ankle one can go behind the highback but the same cant be done for the toe strap. Very minor ill admit and on a mountain where your not strapping in and out as often as me at an indoor snow dome it will be even less of an issue. I have one little worry and that is the strength of the binding disk due to the way its desgined centering the binding is done via the disk and as result the holes are offset also. This leads to there being less material at the heel edge of the disk which is where they generally fail for me... But the base of the binding is so stiff it might not be an issue because if the base doesnt flex the leverage and resulting force applied to disk will be significantly less.

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Sounds mixed to me. I feel I'm getting older and more tired easily, meaning with a morning of shredding in my legs already and an afternoon with less well groomed slopes I don't have that much tension and power left to buffer every little bump and think I'd like a bit of padding.

Plus with my Oxess BX and the rides insano which are already pretty stiff I'd be worried to overdue it ...

Have some Nitro phantom carver in the mail for 230€. Seemed like an ok Deal. Will check them out, bit sadly only in the livingroom for now. Let's see if I keep them out of they already fail there.

What's your take on the machine Vs. Phantom carver? Saw a 2020 machine model for the same price - better deal?

And what about some 2020 union forced forge? I believe they're also like zero padding?

So yeah - keep the ideas coming 🙂

P.s. like the idea of frankensteining the binding of your choice - if one only knew up front what was compatible.

In theory one could check for the best cheap chassis (what would that be?) and add the rest from others as spare parts.

 

Edited by curvy
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11 hours ago, curvy said:

And what about some 2020 union forced forge? I believe they're also like zero padding?

It does look pretty minimal looking at there website, My biggest issue with unions were there disks are pretty much made of swiss cheese theyd always fail around the burton 2 hole mount all the time, ironically my solution was to switch to old 4 hole burton disks which dont have that weak spot.

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I just read through this thread. Seems the consensus is for stiffer bindings and highbacks. How do y'all feel about lateral flex?

I like riding bindings that really let me get my weight out over the nose and tail. I've been riding K2 Liens and Rome Vice/Katana. This thread has me thinking I should break out my older Flux TM to see what rigidity feels like again.

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45 minutes ago, Wigmar said:

I just read through this thread. Seems the consensus is for stiffer bindings and highbacks. How do y'all feel about lateral flex?

I like riding bindings that really let me get my weight out over the nose and tail. I've been riding K2 Liens and Rome Vice/Katana. This thread has me thinking I should break out my older Flux TM to see what rigidity feels like again.

lateral flex is pretty much what i look to avoid on a binding for how i ride and was one of the reasons i found the burton stepon bindings down right terrifying to ride in choppy snow 😕 . I want very little for a couple reason namely i tend to pull and push the board fore and aft rather than do it by weight change while carving (I have a fairly unconventional riding style). Also i want to be able to center flex the board effectively and have a binding with less lateral flex allows more leverage to be applied and therefore the turning radius reduced. For example i can my donek down to a sub 2m(possibly 1.5m) radius carved turn even though its smallest radius is 9m on the vsr. The other is if i ride into slow soft snow i want to slow with the board and not get thrown forward and possibly wreck my ankles. I have a fairly odd riding style though so what i like in a binding in terms of flex and play might not be to other peoples liking.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 12/12/2021 at 2:18 PM, scottishsurfer said:

lateral flex is pretty much what i look to avoid on a binding for how i ride and was one of the reasons i found the burton stepon bindings down right terrifying to ride in choppy snow 😕 . I want very little for a couple reason namely i tend to pull and push the board fore and aft rather than do it by weight change while carving (I have a fairly unconventional riding style). Also i want to be able to center flex the board effectively and have a binding with less lateral flex allows more leverage to be applied and therefore the turning radius reduced. For example i can my donek down to a sub 2m(possibly 1.5m) radius carved turn even though its smallest radius is 9m on the vsr. The other is if i ride into slow soft snow i want to slow with the board and not get thrown forward and possibly wreck my ankles. I have a fairly odd riding style though so what i like in a binding in terms of flex and play might not be to other peoples liking.

Can the mounting discs get warped? Mine no longer lay "flat" into the binding; only on the rear binding is this happening, front binding feels flat into the grooves.

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^ I am going to give a hefty weight to me being hyper aware of acceptable manufacturer/wear tolerances due to actually paying attention to how the mounting disc sits on the binding, and assume there is nothing wrong with the binding.

I gotta stop reading stuff on this forum. 😛

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52 minutes ago, Neil Gendzwill said:

Question for those of you running Flux bindings: can you reverse the straps? I need the buckles on the inside for my back foot. Also can you do them up one-handed?

just home from work i'm pretty sure you can but ill double check in a bit for you.

[EDIT] Just checked its completely tooless and takes under two mins to switch 🙂 [EDIT]

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2 hours ago, scottishsurfer said:

just home from work i'm pretty sure you can but ill double check in a bit for you.

[EDIT] Just checked its completely tooless and takes under two mins to switch 🙂 [EDIT]

Thanks but the real question is are they designed to do so? On my Burtons the main strap is symmetrical so the switch is ok but the toe strap is not. If you flip the toe strap it no longer fits properly on the boot. 
 

The main issue I have with the Burtons is getting the ladder fed in. It is really a two handed job but due to mobility issues I need to do it one handed. I’m considering step ons but the release lever is impossible for me to reach, I’d need to jury rig an extension. 

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3 hours ago, Neil Gendzwill said:

Thanks but the real question is are they designed to do so? On my Burtons the main strap is symmetrical so the switch is ok but the toe strap is not. If you flip the toe strap it no longer fits properly on the boot. 
 

The main issue I have with the Burtons is getting the ladder fed in. It is really a two handed job but due to mobility issues I need to do it one handed. I’m considering step ons but the release lever is impossible for me to reach, I’d need to jury rig an extension. 

Yes @Neil Gendzwill they are quite symmetrical, no problems reversing the straps.  I did the toe on my rear foot so the buckle doesn't cause drag, fits great.

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11 minutes ago, Neil Gendzwill said:

Thanks. Any opinion on fastening them single-handed? What size binding/boot are you running?

Just did a little one handed testing in the boardroom for you @Neil Gendzwill.  Of the three bindings I tested, the XVs were by far the easiest to fasten with one hand.  It's a stiffer strap without any curling on the end, and it stays in place better when the boot is out.

I like the toe strap reversed too so I can undo both straps at the same time (that takes two hands though).  

What's your mobility issue?  You can't touch your toes with both hands at the same time?  No even sitting down?  How do you put your boots on?

I'm riding medium Flux XV bindings with size 9 Driver X.  It's a good fit.

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