Step-In Bindings: Another One Bites the Dust
The other day I took a family friend out for a private lesson. It worked out fine, with numerous top-to-bottom runs. But the session was another example of the changing market in bindings.
Read this blog (or its associated web site) for long, and you’ll know that I’m a vocal fan of the kinds of bindings produced by Flow: one large cap over the foot, secured by four ratchets adjusted in the shop (or at home), and one lever in the highback.
Snap the highback into place, and bam!, you’re sliding. No need for threading ratchets after every run, stopping over for two minutes at a time, or getting wet butt syndrome by threading the ratchets while sitting down.
So today I go to one of the local ski hills. It’s not one that I have been to yet this season, though I always enjoy going there.
I guided my student through the rental shop. First we got the board, and set the bindings (“goofy with a slight duck,” I said.) The bindings were the standard-issue straps.
It made me long for the days of step-in bindings. Not that I prefer those to Flow bindings, but I do prefer them to straps, especially for beginners. I always say that learning to ride is hard enough without having to deal with ornery bindings.
Sure enough, I was right. My student today did very well in sliding and making turns, but had a lot of difficulty with the straps. Since the runs in the Midwest are at the most 2 minutes long, that is a significant sinkhole for time.
Someone in the rental shop told me that they replaced all the step-ins last season. They couldn’t get enough of them, or something.
So that makes two ski hills that I know of that have dropped step-ins in the last two years.
I’ve got a word for the shops: go with the Flow(s).
January 30, 2007 @ 10:00 am
I rode Flows for 4 years and just switched to strap bindings. I tried straps at a a Burton demo day and found I could ride better. I bought a pair this season and I can do everything better. I can do trails that used to dislike me. I can ride faster at any given anxiety level.
It could be that I never learned to adjust my Flow straps well enough, but it’s not for not trying.
I miss my Flows dearly, but not quite enough to dissuade me from my new strap-ins. Strapping-in at the top of the hill has its own learning curve. It was almost unbearable at first, but is slowly getting easier. Several techniques available: Sit down; stand up facing down-hill; stand up facing up-hill. Still a work-in-process for me. If an easier-to-use strap system comes along, I’ll sure give it a try. The K-2 Cinch bindings are getting closer, but not quite there yet. Any ideas, Mr. Burton?