First impression, not a full review.
150lbs
YES Asym 154
K2 Enders Size 8
I rode the IPO's last year and really liked them. The pivot concept is awesome and really works to direct your board control under your feet. From my information the Drives are an IPO with a stiffer more laterally supportive highback. Yep. That pretty much covers it.
A note, the heelcup is very narrow. I got a good amount of pinching in my K2's and I was on the small side of size range.
Overall impression: If you already know NOW's fit your boot and were hoping for a stiffer version of the IPO, boom. This is it. For boots with a narrower heel area these are the tits on a stiffer all mountain or freeride deck.
I have a pair of the Selects and I won't ride them without the flush cups. It just feels so right to me. I get a solid response with them on while giving me a much more natural, surfy transfer from heels to toes. I feel they require a little more energy, but it's worth it and my style has improved greatly from riding that way. I do miss a little from the highjacks, but only if I wanted to spin pretty hard. I like to throw the hard bushings in on my pow deck and the medium ones in for a park day. I've been playing around with them too and putting the soft bushings on the inside of my feet and the medium on the outside and I've been digging' that too.:thumbsup::thumbsup::yahoo::yahoo:
I got some drives today from my wife. Took em up to the hill this afternoon. Wow. Went from contact pro to the drives and my life was changed today. Just riding groomers, but straight out of the box, 11.5 malamutes on the size large, and riding those guys was like nothing I have ever experienced on a snowboard. :yahoo:
Can anyone tell me how big a difference the harder bushings make in this binding?
I just spent a couple days on a demo pair, but only had the medium bushings. I found that while I really liked a lot of what the pivot system does, the more aggressively I rode the less confidence I had in them. Basically as the terrain got steeper and edges pressured harder, I never felt like I knew when the edge was going to really engage, or really let go. The stiffer the board, the more I felt like this was a problem. Would going for the stiffer bushings make a significant difference in edge control and feel? I'm 6'5", around 210 lbs. Boards used were a 166 NS Heritage-X and 169 NS Raptor-X, my sz 11 Ride Insano boots fit with plenty of room all around.
I'm planning on another demo with the other bushings next time I ride, mostly because I really liked some aspects of these and would like to give them their best shot to earn my complete trust. But also a little bit becuase the girl who I talked to about all this when I returned them was really cute and I haven't had a restraining order imposed on me in a while...
But also a little bit becuase the girl who I talked to about all this when I returned them was really cute and I haven't had a restraining order imposed on me in a while...
I tried these for a day with the hardest bushings in and didn't notice anything different about them. Felt like a normal binding. Should I have used the soft ones to get the skate-like effect? Or am I just not very perceptive?
The effect is subtle - you shouldn't feel like you're on a skateboard.... But you should feel like your turns are a bit snappier, and you should notice a big difference in your knees and ankles at the end of the day, thanks to the bushings taking a bit of the edge off the chop.
I'm looking forward to experimenting with the bushings on my new Selects. JF suggested the following for boosting pop out of the tail (great customer service):
"Thanks for reaching out, yes try the orange (medium) on the outside and the white (soft) in the inside. Let me know how she rips.
The design seems weird at first, but the way it works is by re-focusing the power in your turns from your baseplate (the middle of the board) to the edges where it belongs. This lets you stack your edges better and results in smoother, snappier turns. It's brilliant and definitely one of the biggest revolutions in binding design in a long time. Plus I love that they're core dudes who are locals here :thumbsup:
I wound up using them as my Park Bindings. They are a touch heavy but they destroyed my Malavitas, Contact Pros, and Holograms. They really boost, the extra pop is noticeable and they are super cush and damp on landings, pretty rad in the pipe too. They took some getting used to at first because they aren't as flexy and forgiving as the aforementioned bindings but once you've adjusted your game, they absolutely slay it.
Seems like what I'm hearing the current Now Drive bindings for freeriding one should wait till next years model. This years Now Select bindings could be bought and used for park or freestyle all mountain….
I'm riding this years Selects on a 2014 Lib Tech Darker 158. It's my park setup And it seeeeeeends it. Great setup on bigger booters and in the pipe. Not to mention its a blast to carve on. Such a fun board all over the mountain. Real close to traditional camber. Not sure you would want to race against guys on traditional border cross sticks.
Saw that Colorado Ski & Golf had the IPOs on sale for $185 so I went down this evening to grab me a pair. Just got home all stoked to set them up, open the box and... there's only one fucking binding in the box.
I watched the cashier open the box to check them and figured it was well within his capacity to ensure there were two bindings in the box. Nope. Fuck me. I should've checked, but I was in a hurry. Goddamn it.
I really think it lives up to the hype. I'm coming from K2 Formulas, and the difference back to back in similar snow conditions was immediate. First run I was carving 10 mph faster and totally comfortable, very smooth feeling underfoot. It's strange because at the same time it feels almost loose and damp but completely responsive and always in control. I felt like as soon as I thought about being on edge, I was there. And edge pressure was great, didn't have to lean into it as much as normal. Best thing was at the end of the day, feet and legs felt fresh. Almost zero foot fatigue, when normally I get a bit of foot strain/foot cramps after the first few hard runs. Not in the NOWs. Overall I felt I could comfortably go faster, easier, longer, and with hardly any fatigue or pain.
Btw: advanced freerider, 18 yrs riding, 210 lbs, riding a Lib Darker (also amazing), riding in Tahoe.
The only thing I don't like about my Selects is that they are a pain in the ass to strap into. The heel straps don't swing back far enough to tuck behind the highback when strapping in. So it's a big pain in the ass to strap in quickly while standing up. Every other binding I own lets you swing that heel strap well out of the way to step in to the binding.
I'm liking what I'm reading about these bindings! Which one do you guys think would fit my style best:
50% Park (mostly jumps with the occasional box/rail)
30% Groomers
20% Glades
Boards: Rossignol Jibsaw and Rome Artifact 1985
I use the Jibsaw on days I want to do bigger jumps/go fast and the Artifact on days that I just want to play around and do stupid shit. If I were to get NOW bindings would you get one pair of bindings for both, or would you get two different ones?
You'd be fine with IPOs or selects. Prob would say selects, as the new ankle straps are like a ballcuzzi for your feet. You can even swap out the high backs for softer ones, or get the heelcups if you want to go extra steezy.
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