Jason Medeiros wrote:
"Nunya Biz" wrote in message
...
Not sure exactly, but I kinda felt they may be a bit advanced for
my
abilities. I am into my second season or riding. Last season I had
a
pair of bindings that broke near the end of the season which is why
I
bought the Cateks. I remember last season it took me a long time to
get
my stance angles and foward lean set just right. With the Cateks it
felt
like maybe the lift and cant features may be useless for the
current
riding level I am at. Also I don't get a chance to ride much. With
all
the ways you can set the Catek's, I don't want to spend the few
days I
get to ride testing different settings.


ok, yeah that sounds reasonable.

jmed

Sounds like some very good reasons. I just got a pair of Catek
Freerides and they are a very nice pair of bindings although very
pricey as you mentioned. While I would love to support Catek more, I
still suggest people try to buy them used. I got mine for 50% off the
regular price - they were used a bit more than this pair in question
here - but they are built like a rock and durability isn't a question
in my mind at all... plus I scratched the binding more trying to set
the stance angles than Ken (the guy I bought them from) did the whole
time using them.

Ironically, I personally hate fiddling with my bindings, but I feel
sometimes it is a necessary evil to get good fit and performance (I
have funky knees and feet). I spent a good dozen days my first season
playing with my Clicker bindings - and you can only adjust stance width
and angles with them (no highback) and had to suffer days and days of
tweaked ankles/kness until I got what I felt normal to me. I'm still
going throw that whole pain for alpine plate bindings and now Catek
Freeride (gah). Definitely, if you don't want to think about your
bindings, any Catek binding is not for you - ESPECIALLY if you haven't
already decided a "base" stance setting you like and are just going to
modify. I'm currently riding almost the exact same stance setting I had
before, but with 0.5*/0.5* in front and 1*/1* cant/lift in back (very
minor changes). I'm going to slowly change the settings once every 2-3
so I have a lot of time to "feel" the differences (I can different
notice cant differences... but I can't changed my lift much so I'm not
sure about that yet).

That being said... the Cateks at 0/0 cant/lift are a excellent set of
freeride bindings. Although if you aren't going to play with cant/lift,
might as well get some other models like Salomon SP6/SPX or Nidecker
900s or even something like the Flow FL-19 (I've ridden the Salomons,
but for the last I'm repeating recommendations someone else gave to
me).

--Arvin