BINDINGS

Finding that special connection with the snowboard of your dreams is all about effective communication. Luckily, your bindings will do the talking for you. These days they don’t just hold you to the board. Peep the video to check out some of our favorite 2011 bindings and read on to learn more about some vital binding characteristics.

FLEX

Flex is your first consideration when looking for the binding that best suits your riding style. In the end, the right mix comes down to personal preference, but you don’t want to rock a buttery park board with the stiffest freeride bindings you can find. They just don’t play nice together (unless you’re seriously deranged). Most companies have a numbered flex-rating scale that will give you an idea of where particular models rank as compared to others. This scale is a great starting point when it comes to picking the right bindings. Anything at the low end of the scale will be heavily park-oriented. Bindings near the middle of the scale will still slay the park but are better at handling bigger hits, high-speed jib runs, and huge backcountry gaps. At the high end of the scale are the stiffest, most responsive bindings, which are great for gnarly East coast ice and maximum speed.

Construction attributes, including materials used and shape, contribute heavily to the overall flex of a binding. Materials in the highback and baseplate are two of the biggest contributors. If they’re stuffed full of carbon, you’re going to get a stiffer, more responsive feel. If they have some fiberglass blended in, you’ll still get great response, but it’ll come with a smoother, more forgiving flex. Additionally, some baseplate designs for this year have seen the shape of the baseplate itself modified so it meshes better with your board. This way, the flex you’re falling in love with isn’t limited to the binding—your board will follow along. Ankle and toe straps also have a huge influence on the flex of your binding. Freestyle-oriented straps will give you more freedom of lateral movement compared to freeride straps, which don’t flex as much laterally and also transfer every bit of movement into your board immediately.

ADJUSTABILITY

Not being able to change things sucks—especially when it comes to the way your bindings fit. Having the ability to adjust the forward lean and angles of your highbacks, the position of your ankle and toe straps, the fit of the heelcups, and more, is key to dialing in the perfect setup. More and more companies are coming out with tool-less adjustments for all of these features so you don’t have to carry around tools or scramble to find them when you get smacked in the face with a giant light bulb of realization. Your straps aren’t meshing with your boot the way you want them to for the day—so what? Take a few minutes at the top of the lift to tweak them out and get back to the shred right away. Maybe you’re tired that day, and you need to ease up the forward lean settings on your bindings. Again, not a problem if you’ve gotten a pair that has a tool-less adjustment.

Tool-less options make life on the mountain much easier, but they also give you the ability to tweak your setup at home like never before. Instead of screwing and unscrewing everything over and over again until you find the sweet spot, dialing in the perfect fit becomes much easier. Adjust the footbeds, strap positions, heelcup positions, and highback angles to fit your boots without driving yourself crazy.

Compatibility is another crucial factor. Not all bindings play nice with all boards, but there are a select few that do. You want to make sure that your bindings match up with the hole patterns on your board. For example, Union bindings feature a universal disk that even works with Burton’s exclusive Channel system. This means that when you snag Union bindings, you don’t have to worry about anything besides slaying—just sayin’.

CUSHIONING

Cushy features aren’t just a way to hype up a binding—they take the bite out of a long day of riding, provide dampening that enhances the feel of floating across the snow, and wrap your feet in gushy love. EVA-slathered baseplates and pillowy footbeds live at the core of this technology. The shapes of these footbeds and level of padding involved do everything from providing a sweeter ride to increasing your ollie power. Not to mention that when you get excited and launch over a natural hit only to find a flat landing, they’ll save you some of the pain you deserve—kinda like a video game cheat code. Highbacks are also getting a little bit of cushioning these days, which makes perfect sense because you’re wrenching against them all day long, and a thin layer of padding will make your life easier without robbing you of lightning-fast response.

Ankle and toe-straps are another area where you need extra cushion. The straps tie your boots into your baseplate and highback, so most of the force gets transmitted through them first. Using different materials and shapes, every binding company out there is doing something to make sure you stay comfortable without losing any power. Maximum cushion is great for long days in the park where you’re always flexing your bindings in every direction imaginable. Although you don’t need as much cushion for freeriding and all-mountain shredding, there’s no reason to be a masochist. Comfort features should always be high on your list while you look for the right bindings.