If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
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 |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Strap binding durability? | Paul | Snowboarding | 9 | January 27th 04 10:11 PM |
flow bindings | jakob | Snowboarding | 1 | January 15th 04 03:24 AM |
Flow Forward Lean... | toddjb | Snowboarding | 8 | December 25th 03 03:32 PM |
can only ride with my back binding loose - why? | Dmitry | Snowboarding | 8 | December 12th 03 01:25 AM |
Flow Bindings - Mounting discs | mr E | Snowboarding | 0 | November 23rd 03 04:08 AM |