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How to Choose the Right Bindings for Snowboarding

Introduction

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If you are new to snowboarding the worst thing you can do is to get on the mountain in the wrong bindings. You could seriously hurt yourself, or have a very uncomfortable ride at the very least.

In this video we are going to go over how to choose the right bindings for your snowboard.

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Choosing the Right Bindings for Snowboarding

Christian: (00:00)
Well a shredder today, you were going to talk about one of the most important decisions you'll make as a new snowboarder. How do you decide between all these beautiful bindings? Don't forget to subscribe, to channel hit notifications and smash that like button let's do it.

Christian: (00:22)
Choosing your gear can make or break your snowboard experience. So today we've got our gear expert sketchy beat, and he's going to break down. How do you decide between all these snowboard bindings?

You walk into a shop, it can be almost overwhelming with how much choice you have in your writing style, your experience level, and even what kind of snowboard you have is going to dictate what binding you should choose for the best riding experience. So Ben, let's kick it off. Is there like three factors that can go on with how to filings? And then we'll just walk through each one.

Ben: (00:52)
One thing that you'll always hear people talking about when it comes to software bindings is the flex of the field of the lining. So that's definitely one important categories of flexible. Got it. Next, you're going to talk about the fit. You want to make sure that you're putting the right size boot into the red size binding.

Most companies will do a small, medium, large, but snowboarding companies as we've talked about, they like to put their own spin on it. So getting the right flexible, feel the right size. And then really just looking at the components, uh, the working components off the floor. So that onboard adjustment.

Snowboard Bindings Flex

Christian: (01:22)
Well, it's like having a feature as these findings have. So let's just jump into number one. We're going to look at the flex. So you want to just walk through this lineup or how do you want to do it? Yeah,

Ben: (01:31)
Yeah. So I kind of set this up. We've got some women's by women by an exam here to talk about. We've got some men's and then we've got kind of some alternative bindings over on the side here. So we'll start with these women's bindings. Um, when we're talking about flex, a lot of times you can kind of do that. Handfield like we've done with the board itself.

And actually we picked that up off the shelf and give that high back a little bit of a hand test and flux field. You know, when you're in the store, you've got the luxury of doing the side by side with all these different bindings. Whereas this Mirage it's going to be a much softer high back. So a little bit more forgiving, uh, binding here in the Mirage versus the Lexa. So that's the first area you can kind of checking into that high back.

Ben: (02:10)
Another area you're kind of checking out is the heel cup. Um, Solomon does some really cool stuff with this shadow fit that runs around the heel for a softer, more natural flex in the heel. Whereas with Alexa here, you can see it some more solid piece. You're not getting a lot of flex and play out of this.

So this is going to be in these two compare side by side, a more responsive by them versus a softer bond. You can keep going along the line. We can look at some of the men's stuff, same thing you got that full polycarbonate tie back. So this is a pretty rigid and forgiving material versus the lean 80, which doesn't nylon blend a little bit more of a natural flex in that high back there. So that's kind of one area you're checking. They spoke, had the set heel cup, so we don't have a lot to compare there.

Ben: (02:53)
And then there's extra stuff you can see if you look at the bottom of these, there's a whole lot of tech going on under foot versus a little bit more of a plan approach. So that's about a a hundred dollars difference environment. When you stare at both of these, side-by-side on the shelf, you say, Hey, they both strap on feet. Um, this is more of like a press point bindings. It'll still do everything you need.

And then you get into some more luxury with the lockout urethane block under the heel with different dampening pads that are all interchangeable. So there's just a lot more to play with. And if you look at strap tech, so this is a completely stimulus and seamless ankle strap. That's never going to get waterlogged or stretch up. And there's also less material with all the technology we put into boots.

Ben: (03:33)
Uh, we kind of can rely on our straps a little bit less, so less is more approach with that. Then we get into some really kind of funky stuff. Uh, just launching this year, uh, in 2020 is the clicker X H being. So K2 has been doing the clicker for years.

They kind of revamped it, uh, did a whole new boot with it and added the high back. So this is obviously where you're going to get into some CA compatibility issues. This is going to be to a specific boot. That's another important thing to remember when you're out there buying, you want to make sure you get stuff that works together.

So you're going to be looking for the specific clicker pool on that. And then just to give you the full spectrum here, we have a split board binding. So this is the K2 far out. Um, this is a split board specific binding. You can ride this inbounds if you want to, but this is more so going to be for your, uh, back country adventures. So that's a little overview on all the bindings we have here in front.

Christian: (04:27)
So wait, so you can see we've got a lot of different flex patterns and we've got findings that are specific to certain snowboards or even boots. So if you're out there in New York beginner right now, I'm going to go ahead and say, we should probably go with a softer bindings or beginner, right. To be a little more forgiving.

If you're charging memoir harder, you can go for more of a performance bonding. It's going to be more responsive. How else can they decide if they work in the shop and they go, okay, we're choosing between something that's a little softer or a little more plastic feeling.

Snowboard Bindings Fit

Ben: (04:54)
Yeah. So as you go up in price, you generally go up in materials. You know, you're going to start to see some carbon and the nylons and stuff at the higher price points, whereas the lower kind of just to get you started, it's going to be more of a polycarbonate. Right?

Christian: (05:08)
Awesome. Yeah. So if you're a beginner, you probably don't need the most expensive finding on the shelf and you can go a little softer and again, just upgrade that binding as your riding style and your performance upgrades next, we have the fit. And so we pretty much just need to decide between what medium, large extra.

Ben: (05:23)
Yeah, like I said, every snowboard company kind of puts their own little twist on it. I've seen companies that go down to an extra small, you have like youth sizing, um, the most helpful thing here is always going to be on the box itself.

Or if you're shopping online, there'll be a really helpful tool to make sure you're getting the right size binding for your size. And that's like a lot of times you'll see a medium between seven and a nine. Large is going to go nine up to 11, extra large. It's going to go 11 plus again, this is a little bit generalized, but that's typically what you do.

Christian: (05:52)
Yeah. These findings are all adjustable. And so you don't need to hit the exact right, but try to be in the right category if you can. And then we can always adjust our straps to make sure that binding fits perfectly. Go ahead and check out our video on that. If you want to learn how to adjust your binding. So that one's pretty easy. Just go to the manufacturer's website, we're walking the shop with your boots on you, go and try on those bindings and see what fits for your size.

Snowboard Bindings Features

Ben: (06:18)
So that leaves us with our last category, which is really just your feature set. What makes that binding what it is. So we can kind of compare these two just because they're from the same brand. We've got your K2, Andy versus your K2 lean T uh, these bindings. Again, we can talk about how they, they look similar, but there's a lot more going on here. Uh, we can start with the disc under foot lean. It is going to use a universal micro disc.

So that's less surface area on your foot. You're getting more for fuel out of that. A lot of people prefer that, but that's the, uh, that's your mini disc versus the full disc in the indie here. Now, again, both of these findings do have universal announcing. You can see the holes on the end, we'll work with an ESD board. Um, that's always a good thing to check out depending on what you're getting to make sure that you're compatible with whatever board you get. Yeah.

Christian: (07:06)
So what Ben's talking about EST and the hurt and proprietary system. And so you need to make sure you have a body and that will work with the burden board. It's kind of locked you in. They want you to use their brand, but the other bindings always adapt. And they say, you can't walk this out forever. And they just create new base plates that allow you to use the bird board.

Um, and I think, you know, with a splitboard obviously you're going to need a specific binding for that, but other than burden, is there anyone who really has proprietary systems that don't work with other buttons? Not that I know of. Yeah. So you should be just, if you have a burden board, make sure you have these plates that work with a burden board,

Ben: (07:42)
Pretty much every binding brand out there right now has adapted to burdens with. So just make sure you're talking to your shop or if you're shopping online, look for that reference for EST compatibility.

Christian: (07:54)
Yeah. So that's it. So if we're looking at feature sets and we want to make a decision and we're new to snowboarding, or maybe we ride rails or park, is there anything people should look out for if they're going out there and shopping, providing stuff.

Ben: (08:07)
So the way I kind of rank your bind order of things is I always put boots first, your feet gotta be happy. They, it takes the most amount of time to get that food. So take your time, get a boot that works, and then you can kind of get your board and then your binding. It's really the least important part. It is just strapping your feet to the board, but that's not to say that they're not variable in their offering. So you want to just, um, if you're a new snowboarder, you don't need to break the bank on the name. I would say, spend some more money on your food. Um, I've been riding for 20 years. I did a full season on the Hindi years, which retails at one 89 and this binding did everything I needed to do. Uh, since then I've transitioned or lean it a little bit more premium, feel again with that stimulus, uh, ankle strap. There just a lot more comfort in the lean T versus

Christian: (08:52)
Yeah. And if all else fails, just go find a demo or local mountain, go out there with your own boots and then just try little binds and just see what feels good. It's really oftentimes when it comes down to right, absolutely. You got to get out there, you gotta try it. So that's it. How to choose your snowboard binding. We have number one, flex flex, how soft or stiff is that finding? Depends on your riding style. If you're only riding the rails or you're a complete beginner, probably don't get the stiff is binding on the market. If you're only charging big lines in Alaska, we need a little more support. Number two, we've got bitten size. Uh, it's gonna be listed on the website. It's gonna be listed on the box, but again, just walk into the shop, try it on with your boots. Make sure it fits.

Christian: (09:33)
You can adjust the straps. And then we've got number three, feature set, feature set again, get the right body tree board. These are split board bindings. Don't buy these for your freestyle board, but really it comes down to personal preference. What kind of style do you want to have out there on the mountain? You want to be loose. You want to be performance driven, but if all else fails, go try out a bunch of different bindings in a demo date. See what feels good for you? Any last words of wisdom? I think that's all for today. Peace out.