Grays On Trays

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).

(Bindings: One of those perpetual debating points among riders. Here’s my view.)

I have an 3-year old pair of Flow bindings and I love ‘em. One reason is that straps are too complicated for me. I know that sounds like I am an idiot, but there you go. The fact that I was a novice rider when I tried them may have had something to do with it.

The switch to Flows came when, at the end of one run, I spent 5 minutes, without success, trying to unlatch a pair of (cheap, used) strap bindings. I then found a way to pull my feet out of my boots, with straps still buckled in. I walked, in stocking feet, to my car and then drove to my favorite ski shop, where I bought both a pair of Flow FR-11 bindings and some Ride boots.

What do I like about Flows? Obviously, no messing with the tiny notches on the strap bindings. Plus, getting into the binding is quick: slide in foot, push lever from its open position to a closed one, and go. It’s like putting on a pair of loafers compared with lacing up tennis shoes. While other riders are messing with their straps at the top of the hill, I’m already sliding away. Sometimes I even start sliding before I put the lever into place. It’s that easy.

A bonus is that you don’t have as much bending or crouching–good for the aging body.

Some people have praised Flows for eliminating pressure points that they got from straps. As I never stayed on straps long enough for this to be an issue, I can’t speak to it.

There are several raps against Flows. Some of it is style prejudice–the “you’re not a REAL snowboarder unless you do this” nonsense. I’ve read some complaints that they are somehow less secure than straps. I doubt that; the Flow professional team regularly medals at freestyle events, suggesting that the binding style is quite suitable for jumping in the air, if that’s your thing.

The most legitimate knock on Flows is that they tend to be heavier than a strap binding. This is probably true of the older versions such as the ones that I have. But I have also read that the Flow NXT (newer models) are much lighter than the old ones.

I think that Flows would be good for a beginner (and many other riders), since it simplifies time on the snow at a point when so many things are new and different, if not difficult.

During a clinic last week, we pretended to be new students. We took a tow rope (one foot out) halfway up the bunny hill and sat down for a few minutes. Then we had to get the free feet into a binding.

At that point, the lever that slips into the highback can get in the way. If for some reason I have a foot out and the ground isn’t flat, I often find it easier to do a flip (we call it a “turtle roll”) so that I am facing uphill. Then I dig my foot into the binding, slap the lever into place, and stand up toeside. (Obviously if I want to start out heelside, then I have to roll again.) Rolling may not be an easy task for a beginner.

As for the k2 cinch, I tried them one day and wasn’t impressed. It felt awkward getting in, for one thing. In my Flow bindings, my foot goes in flat. In the Cinch, the toes go in, followed by the heel, followed by the heel pushing down an elevator of some sort. That’s an extra step that I found rather weird and inexplicable.

The word I’ve read is that it’s not quite ready for prime time; Flow has their model going for a while now, but the Cinch is still new and the first year presented some problems. I think this may be the third year for the Cinch.

One guy whose judgment I normally trust on snowboarding thinks that both the Flow and the Cinch have too many moving parts, which means that they are susceptible to breaking down. He prefers straps. Obviously, I don’t share his conclusion.

You can find a lot of discussion about bindings at either http://snowboard.colonies.com/forums/forum/21/ or at http://www.graysontrays.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=9

By the way, I wouldn’t recommend driving in snowboard boots, at least based on my one experience. There wasn’t enough give in my boot to make me feel comfortable controlling the pedal(s). Then again, I was using a clutch, too.

It was one of the best eBay transactions I ever made.

The package I bought a while ago included boots, a board, and bindings. The bindings were the strap kind, which I have never liked. My rental boards have been a variety of step-ins, though once out west, I took a lesson with straps. I didn’t care for it then, either.

When I bought the gear, I thought that perhaps I would learn to use and work with the strap bindings. But it was not to be.

Thanks to the marketplace that is eBay, I found someone who actually wants strap bindings. The sale went a small way to recouping my original expenses.

Now I’m riding Flow bindings, which are a bit hard to explain. If you’re familiar with old ski boots, they’re very approximately like rear-entry ski boots. In any case, I find them much easier to use than straps. At this point, I’ll sacrifice any alleged benefit of straps for the ease of use of these Flows.