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flow bindings?

277K views 414 replies 116 participants last post by  Wiredsport 
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#1 ·
Hey guys thinking about getting new flow step in bindings? How do you like them? any positives or negatives? they seem so convenient. thanks. peace.:thumbsup:
 
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#2 ·
dont do it, fella. they so gay. since when is 'convenient' cool? you may get away 2 seconds earlier than anyone else. who cares? you miss out on the whole sitting down with your buds, having a laugh while strapping in ritual. they also a mare getting in/out in the pow. they aint that comfy. and really, you will feel very gay. honest.
 
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#3 ·
I researched bindings when I started riding and read such good things about Flow bindings, that I searched out a place that would rent them to me for the season. I rented them, then bought them. Now I have a few pair, on different boards. I wouldn't ride anything else. I find regular bindings primitive when I am forced to wear them.

Clicking in and out when I hit a flat area is a breeze. And these bindings have plenty of performance, just check out Antti Autti or Scotty Lago, team members if you don't believe me.
Lauren
SnowboardSecrets.com, editor
 
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#4 ·
Regarding "ask's" gay quote above - some snowboarders are way too into fashion and pack mentality, bro, rather than performance and practicality. You can still sit down on the snow with your bros, but you won't be involved in the tedious old-fashioned task of cranking your bindings down while you do it.
 
#220 ·
Love 'em, and I don't care in the slightest that I'm not sitting on my ass in the snow, blocking everyone else, taking up space for ten minutes...as I slide off the lift, strap in while still moving/standing up, and on my way down the mountain before the cool guys have cranked the first ratchet on their Burtons.

Something tells me that "gay" guy was being sarcastic, but sadly to say I've seen a lot of douche bags that actually feel that way. I would never go back to traditional bindings. The only word of advice I can give is don't get cheap Flows! The lower-end models are made of inferior materials and won't hold up. Go big or don't go.
 
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#5 ·
mmmm ok, let me qualify my post a little. it wasn't from some purist-never-try-anything-new perspective. or from some too-cool-for-skool numpty. it's from experience. I bought a pair of flow and hated them, and ended up selling them after a week and buying a nice pair of P1s. here's why:

1. while everyone was sitting around casually strapping in, chatting, throwing snowballs at each other, whatever, I was standing there waiting for everyone to go, getting impatient cos I was already strapped in. or i'd strap in standing up, and then sit back down again. so it didn't make anything quicker, cos since when do you do shoot off on your own? how quickly do you need to get off a lift? even on a powder day? don't underestimate this - at least if you board with a sociable bunch of people. those extra few seconds mean very little unless you're a loner who loves doing everything right now.
2. you can't strap in when sat down (see point 1) unless you're a contortionist. this often makes life difficult - on steeps; on deeps. you hike through knee deep and pow then try and get in your flows. i tell you, you'll be miles behind your buddies by the time you've sorted that out.
3. getting the hood thing filled up with pow turned into hardpack is a nightmare, having to scrape it all out with your gloves, or your tool. horrible.
4. straps are way more comfortable - in my opinion
5. i ended-up spending so much time fiddling and adjusting all those little ratchets and the torque wire thing, and the forward lean, (see point 4) that in the end straps seemed so much less bother
6. yeah, i admit too, i got tons of grief from my 'mates' too about wearing flows (cos of all the above points - faffing, fiddling, being gay) that combined with the above five points put me off them even more.

the plus sides of flows...

1. errrr you can strap in a tiny bit faster... when you're on a flattish slope... woopdee doo...

Ask
 
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#6 ·
ask said:
mmmm ok, let me qualify my post a little. it wasn't from some purist-never-try-anything-new perspective. or from some too-cool-for-skool numpty. it's from experience. I bought a pair of flow and hated them, and ended up selling them after a week and buying a nice pair of P1s. here's why:

1. while everyone was sitting around casually strapping in, chatting, throwing snowballs at each other, whatever, I was standing there waiting for everyone to go, getting impatient cos I was already strapped in. or i'd strap in standing up, and then sit back down again. so it didn't make anything quicker, cos since when do you do shoot off on your own? how quickly do you need to get off a lift? even on a powder day? don't underestimate this - at least if you board with a sociable bunch of people. those extra few seconds mean very little unless you're a loner who loves doing everything right now.
2. you can't strap in when sat down (see point 1) unless you're a contortionist. this often makes life difficult - on steeps; on deeps. you hike through knee deep and pow then try and get in your flows. i tell you, you'll be miles behind your buddies by the time you've sorted that out.
3. getting the hood thing filled up with pow turned into hardpack is a nightmare, having to scrape it all out with your gloves, or your tool. horrible.
4. straps are way more comfortable - in my opinion
5. i ended-up spending so much time fiddling and adjusting all those little ratchets and the torque wire thing, and the forward lean, (see point 4) that in the end straps seemed so much less bother
6. yeah, i admit too, i got tons of grief from my 'mates' too about wearing flows (cos of all the above points - faffing, fiddling, being gay) that combined with the above five points put me off them even more.

the plus sides of flows...

1. errrr you can strap in a tiny bit faster... when you're on a flattish slope... woopdee doo...

Ask
Wow...nice...lol i love the saying at the last part:laugh:
 
#9 ·
Ok, I've used them and I have enough of an I.Q. to formulate an actual intelligent, cohesive sentence that describes my feelings about step-ins. They're gay...no wait, that's not what I meant. I honestly didn't care for them. Maybe it was a mental thing. I felt like I wasn't really strapped in. Not to mention my boots weren't stiff enough to make up for the feeling real bindings give me. I felt really loosey goosey going down the slopes. I had a heck of a time on hard turns.

On the positive side, they were very convenient. I could even step right into them off the lift instead of riding with a foot on the stomp pads.

Still, I didn't care for them simply because of the way they performed. I snowboard with my fiance and not a group of friends. She skis so she usually has to wait on me to strap in. It was nice to go right off the lift, but I just didn't have as much fun during the ride.

It's completely personal preference, though. You'll have to try both to really figure it out.
 
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#10 ·
don't get the flows unless you're just gonna go cruising. my boyfriend had burton cartels then transferred to flows and after about half the season, (4 months) they became really loose and he was having badddd ankle problemss.
 
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#11 · (Edited)
I have a pair of Flow bindings but I'm going to switch back this season. Getting in them is awesome - I could start riding down the hill and strap in at the same time but they are pretty difficult to get as tight as I like them.

I also had to un-do the sock part so I was able to fold down the highback to fit my board into my board bag. This is a royal pain because you have to re-adjust the bindings each time out.

___________________________________________________________

Snowboard Binding Reviews
 
#12 ·
I picked up a pair of NXT AT's last season on SAClast season. I decided to put them on my resort setup vs my splitboard. Funny enough I ended up with a Flow Solitude board that I used the bindings with.

Performance wise. They were just fine. It does take a bit to dial them in. You don't need them as tight as regular straps to get the same performance. Much more comfortable than regular straps when set right. Still, I would get foot pain from time to time. At least they were nice and quick to get out of.

It is pretty hard to them on sitting down. For sure. If you flip around and put them on while on your knees it was simple.

Deep pow, there are a few slackcountry runs at my resort I frequent. A few times I found the need to take my board off in knee to waste deep snow. Putting them back on was problematic a couple of times. They are hard to put on while on your knees in deep snow, the best solution was to pound out a platform get one on, and pound again to get the other. Straps are not much easier in that situation, but they are easier.

I am thinking about moving the NXT's to my bc set up for this year as I believe I figured out how to use them without causing me a major hassle out there. For switching from split to solid mode and back, every little second saved helps. Especially when you are out with a bunch of AT and Tele skiers.
 
#13 ·
"This is what I have heard" I'v pretty much heard about 85-90% of snowboarders bash flow bindings, It seems as if, if you have them you will not be excepted in the snowboarding world. Minus the retarded garbage this is what else I have heard, there uncomfy, they have less control, you can never get them as tight as you want. These arn't just people on this forum or forums, there also from many reviews written on them from pro's who rate products & from user reviews on websites selling flows. Give them a shot, if they work for you go for it, if not buy strap in's :thumbsup:
 
#14 ·
You do realize Flow is the second largest binding manufacturer in the world? Second only to Burton. I believe they are number 1 in Europe.

I agree that people tend to be polarized on Flows. At least in the Colorado scene I don't see it being 85-90% of riders bashing them. Maybe 50%. A lot of Flow's image problems stemmed from durability issues they had in the 90's. The flip lock was constantly breaking on riders. They seem to addressed that problem, so I gave them a try this year. I was pleasantly surprised with them. Mind you I bought a pair of their high end bindings. I have heard their budget bindings are not very good, then again I have never demo'd them either.
 
#16 ·
Flow bindings are great if its what you're looking for. Saying you saw reviews from "pro" reviewers I have to point out that those people are tards. Seriously 90% of all reviews are pure crap and by people that couldn't tell you any difference in the product at all. The problem with America is that they aren't open to new ideas or smaller companies like Europe is. I'd actually be interested in seeing these reviews or who these "pro's" are.

There are no control issues with them, comfort is all personal opinion and severly biased its like boots you can't tell someone how its going to feel. Flow puts a lot of R and D into the bindings far more than a lot of other companies.
 
#17 ·
I had a pair of flows... hated the damn things, they had a manufacturing defect in the I-lock latch (which Flow never took care of, bah). However, I may have just had a bad model or a bad boot/binding fit. I would give them another shot. They would be good for hiking the same feature over and over again and if you ride alone a lot they do actually save you some time. However if you ride with friends (which most of us do), it doesn't save squat since you have to wait for your friends to strap in anyway.
 
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#18 ·
i got next years nxt fx's right now. i like them for just cruising around the resort but in the bc or deep pow i hate them, too hard to get in and out of. i also broke a buckle on a pair of fx a had before, then striped the threaded insert for the heal piece on my new ones. now i will say the first pair i had was a proto type lent to me, so they werent as well put together as the manufactured ones and i also broke it on my split board in ski mode, the inside buckles bashed together a few times and one snaped off. the heal peice problem was probably me over tightening, but i still wasnt impressed. as far as getting in and out quicker then straps....i call bullshit on that, i havent found them any faster. the major benifit i like with flows is there comfy, no presure points, and respond nice they have a lot of adjustabelity.

something else that i like is when i broke the buckle on one i was in the bc, because of the suport in the strap i was able to ride out no problem. if i had the buckle break on strap in bindings it would have been alot harder to ride out.
 
#19 ·
i would suggest not getting them, just because ive tried a few out,
and their ratings are not far up. its better to have some gear that
takes 30 more seconds to strap in and have better performance than
to have something that doesnt perform well. but thats for me. they
might work great for you, and save you time.
 
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#21 ·
I switched from Drakes to Flows about 3 years ago. The reason for switching was NOT in fact the speed of getting in (while we are on the subject I shall note that while the speed of getting in with Flows is faster than straps, the speed of getting out is slightly higher). The reason for switch was the fact that I didn't like how my pressure would change from ride to ride on straps. I'd strap in, ride a few hundred yards, then realize I need more stiffness and add a couple of clicks. I'm sure this happened to everyone who rode straps for any significant period of time. The model I picked was Pro FS. My initial impression was this: very easy to get used to but I couldn't get the stiffness I wanted. With time I realized that A) Flows generally give you more control for less pressurized feel than regular straps, and B) Flows require a LOT of adjustment to get dialed in just right. In other words if you try your buddies Flows it's like you are trying your buddies heat molded boots - not gonna work. Once B) is solved they are very enjoyable. The latest generation (NXT) solved B for most cases I've encountered.

One other problem I've encountered during use was with my wife's Amp 5's - the lock handle would sometimes go off after the jumps. While this would not open the binding (as you push out the highback it locks it further) it was extremely annoying. Adjustment with a screw driver would solve it but only temporarily. In 2006 they've redesigned all the locks and solved it entirely.

Bottom line is: it's a matter of preference what you ride - I'm still OK with conventional straps and I like the feel of them. I just prefer Flows for consistency.
 
#84 · (Edited)
i would believe that for sure. my nxts are pretty light i would say.
i have ridden flows for the last 8 years. I like them & just got some of the NXT AT's which are nice, but they do require more effort to ride which can become tiring on long runs. However in So. Cal, where you have to wait 20 mins to go down a 3 min run, getting in & out very frequently since the runs are so short, its nice to have the quick access...

On long runs, it would be nice to conserve some energy with a set of stiff responsive strap ins. I am going to get a set of strap ins for big mountain riding, and use my flows for the small So. Cal. mtns.
something is wrong with your nxts then. i have FS's which are less responsive and it isnt tiring at all on any runs..
 
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#24 ·
Older flows (like my Pro FS-es) are heavier than regular straps. NXTs and all newer generations are comparable to light straps. Weight never concerned me, but I suppose if every ounce matters..
 
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