flow binding warning
 

let me begin by saying i'm a huge fan of the flow binding, but with a
asterisk. I'm a fan of the old design, not the new one.
I wore my old ones until the base plate literaly fell apart, so this
year i went out and bought a new pair. I really splurged and bought
the carbon fiber hi-back model and was excited about getting on the
mountain with it, until i actually got on the mountain.
On the old design the cable was attached a little higher on the high
back so when you flipped it up the pressure would keep the highback
up. on the new one they lowered where the cable connects and added a
slot on the high back that the plastic piece fits into and then is
held in place with two small strips of metal. When you go to the shop
take a good look at those strips of metal, push them in and imagine
how much force it would take to bend either one or both of them.
On my first day out on a black diamond run on an icy east coast hill,
i suddenly felt my back foot go loose when i looked down my back
highback had flopped down, my foot was out of the binding and i was
getting ready for a spill of epic proportions. At first I didn't
realize what was going on, but i couldn't get the highback to stay up.
luckily i was snowboarding with my friend who is a lot like Mcguyver
and he immedietly saw why the highback wasn't staying up took his car
keys out and bent the metal strips out enough so they caught the
highback. that worked for a run or two, but again the force from
turning (I'm no pro, but I do like to go hard, fast and steep) made
the metal strips bend and my highback dropped down again. Now I was
scared, I didn't want to get hurt, so I bent it out again with my keys
and carefully made my way to the lodge where i rented a pair of
convential bindings.
Looking back at the design it's striking to think that Flow would put
such cheap elements into such an important part of the binding. I
don't know what they were thinking, and yes i'm sure they tested the
hell out of this thing before they put it on the market, but still,
these skinny, cheap, pieces of metal are not what i want standing
between me and a bad fall. The one really intresting thing is that on
Flow's most expensive, hardest to find binding, the pro model, they
are still using the old design and not those metal strips.
And to add injury to insult, the new cable is not long enough, so the
highback doens't flop down when you release the highback, which is the
whole point of the flow design. if it doesn't flop down when you
release you can't step in or step out, so what exactly is the point in
having a step-in binding that you can't step into?

tom

flow binding warning
 

schrieb im Newsbeitrag
om...
(new flow binding sucks) /snip
tom

Hey all,

I was thinking about getting a pair of flow bindings for myself but after
hearing that story I am a little scared. Can anyone confirm that kind of
behavior or would you think that all that was just bad luck and flow
bindings are still the way to go?

Thanks,
Simon

flow binding warning
 

"Simon B." wrote:
I was thinking about getting a pair of flow bindings for myself but after
hearing that story I am a little scared. Can anyone confirm that kind of
behavior or would you think that all that was just bad luck and flow
bindings are still the way to go?


Which Flow binding are you interested in? There are multiple models.
The person who posted the original message said:

"I really splurged and bought the carbon fiber hi-back model"

I have not seen that model.

I have the 2002/2003 F4 and have had zero problems.

Hopefully Tom will contact Flow, discuss the situation, and post a
followup. Until then I do not see any need for panic.

Dean

flow binding warning
 

My sister bought a set of this years AMP-5 FS/FX Lady
and has had no problems with them.

She is not a hardcore boarder, but they have worked well.

I would still trust FLOW (my three year old set (F-11s) still work great)
but I would definitely look at the exact set that you are going to buy and
keep in mind the above post.

Ed


"Simon B." wrote in message
...

schrieb im Newsbeitrag
om...
(new flow binding sucks) /snip
tom

Hey all,

I was thinking about getting a pair of flow bindings for myself but after
hearing that story I am a little scared. Can anyone confirm that kind of
behavior or would you think that all that was just bad luck and flow
bindings are still the way to go?

Thanks,
Simon

flow binding warning
 

i know flow have spring loaded the hi backs this year to stay in the upright
position. i think this was to avoid catching the hi back in lift queues etc
....



wrote in message
om...
let me begin by saying i'm a huge fan of the flow binding, but with a
asterisk. I'm a fan of the old design, not the new one.
I wore my old ones until the base plate literaly fell apart, so this
year i went out and bought a new pair. I really splurged and bought
the carbon fiber hi-back model and was excited about getting on the
mountain with it, until i actually got on the mountain.
On the old design the cable was attached a little higher on the high
back so when you flipped it up the pressure would keep the highback
up. on the new one they lowered where the cable connects and added a
slot on the high back that the plastic piece fits into and then is
held in place with two small strips of metal. When you go to the shop
take a good look at those strips of metal, push them in and imagine
how much force it would take to bend either one or both of them.
On my first day out on a black diamond run on an icy east coast hill,
i suddenly felt my back foot go loose when i looked down my back
highback had flopped down, my foot was out of the binding and i was
getting ready for a spill of epic proportions. At first I didn't
realize what was going on, but i couldn't get the highback to stay up.
luckily i was snowboarding with my friend who is a lot like Mcguyver
and he immedietly saw why the highback wasn't staying up took his car
keys out and bent the metal strips out enough so they caught the
highback. that worked for a run or two, but again the force from
turning (I'm no pro, but I do like to go hard, fast and steep) made
the metal strips bend and my highback dropped down again. Now I was
scared, I didn't want to get hurt, so I bent it out again with my keys
and carefully made my way to the lodge where i rented a pair of
convential bindings.
Looking back at the design it's striking to think that Flow would put
such cheap elements into such an important part of the binding. I
don't know what they were thinking, and yes i'm sure they tested the
hell out of this thing before they put it on the market, but still,
these skinny, cheap, pieces of metal are not what i want standing
between me and a bad fall. The one really intresting thing is that on
Flow's most expensive, hardest to find binding, the pro model, they
are still using the old design and not those metal strips.
And to add injury to insult, the new cable is not long enough, so the
highback doens't flop down when you release the highback, which is the
whole point of the flow design. if it doesn't flop down when you
release you can't step in or step out, so what exactly is the point in
having a step-in binding that you can't step into?

tom

flow binding warning
 

"Simon B." wrote in message ...

Hey all,

I was thinking about getting a pair of flow bindings for myself but after
hearing that story I am a little scared. Can anyone confirm that kind of
behavior or would you think that all that was just bad luck and flow
bindings are still the way to go?

Thanks,
Simon

If you buy flow bindings, strongly consider flow boots as well.

I rode a pair of Pro-S flows for 10 days with my "32" boots.
First off, the bindings fit awful with those boots and I could never
get them snug without foot pain...however, since I sold the flows I
also noticed a lot of damage to my rear boot at the heel. The friction
of the flow highback coming up and scraping the side of the boot each time
broke through some seams on the boot and scraped the heel up pretty
good.

If you can wait a year I heard a rumor that Ride is coming out with
a very cool flow like system next year. I haven't seen it but it is
supposed to have straps, but a highback that drops down. So, you get
the quick easy-in/easy-out, but the on-slope adjustments of straps...
and the top strap would rise up when you drop the highback so it is
easy to get your foot in and out. That's what i heard, who knows if
its true. Since I didn't like the flows, i think its worth waiting
to see what's out next season. If you don't like anything, you can
always buy a 03/04 model cheap on ebay.

-t

flow binding warning
 

Just to be entirely clear, I still believe in Flow. I've tried every
step-in system and Flow is the only company that has figured out how
give you a strap binding feel with the ease of a step-in. I'm probably
going to go see if I can find a pair of F-11's on EBAY (that would be
the old design).
If you bought the new ones and all of the models from this year,
excluding the Team Model, have the metal strips, you are riding the
design that I encountered problems with. That doesn't mean that you
will have problems, and in fact I truly hope you only have a great
experience with Flow.

If you are thinking about buying a pair of flows go to the store and
look at those metal strips, push them in and imagine how hard it would
for one of them to bend, because if they do bend then they will not be
able to hold the highback up.

Also, I have contacted the company and was told that my incident was a
very isolated incident and they have had very few calls like mine.
All the same I still stand by my original criticism that Flow is
asking a lot of two skinny metal strips.
If the new design is so great, then why aren't they using it on their
team model?

Tomtom

flow binding warning
 

flow binding warning
 

the guy at Flow was pretty cool, he offered me a new pair of the same
flows I had bought.
I declined.

tomtom