pairadux

bobthegood,

I almost went up to the hill this weekend, but there was too much new snow. Wait. Did I just say that? For me it would have been heaven, but my wife who's learning isn't ready for 8 inches of powder and my 9 year old son hasn't got his skiing mechanics down to carve in powder up to his knees.

Now that I've solved the "exit" issue I had, I'm jacked to use the bindings. I've found that my main problem was not leaving enough vertical room for my boot to escape.

The quick in and out in my living room has me laughing. Even though Gnu advertises "set the strap once and never again", I find that because of the layout, I'll need to set it each time I go to the mountain because the binding won't lay flat enough for my racks - can't have my bindings dropping my MPG by 50%.

Ok, then. I'll give ya'll a full report probably next Sunday or Monday after I go next weekend.

bobthegood

Lol. Opposite - When I was a newbie, my 16 year old daughter constantly and relentlessly kicked my ass. Great motivator. Looking forward to the update.

__________________
"I didn't do it, and nobody saw me."

lo0p

If you want rear entry bindings, take a look at the 2013 flows, they look very promising.
It may be worth waiting until next year.
Flows aren't cheap though.

__________________
.lo0p

pairadux

Ok, so here's my review of the Mutant after a day riding them.

I went to Loveland today and was dealing with packed powder.

The in/out quickness is just as advertised. With the ankle strap popping up it was easy to get my big @$$ boots in without much if any trouble. The only bummer with the design is the ratchet they use for "micro adjustments" is pretty cumbersome to deal with. So you're best really figuring your setting at the beginning of the day.

The key for me is finding a flat enough area to get them on. When I've got a flat area, it takes seriously 1-2 seconds to get the binding popped in. Slope however, the pressure is on to get them locked in before I slide into someone. Once I actually slid down a slight slope and landed under the the trail map sign. Dropped an F bomb then, but laughing about it tonight. I got the hang of finding good spots though. The release lever being set off to the side is sweet, no problems reaching around and popping it off or pulling it up. At the end of the run there's a big slope, and no flat spot for dismount so I couldn't come out standing; it's totally easy to pop them off even if you have to take a knee.

The one thing that's performance based that you should prepare for is the cable and heel side turns. On my other bindings, there's no give whatsoever when leaning back into the high back. With these, the cable that allows for the rear entry creates a little give. I wasn't ready for this and didn't crank my high back forward enough to compensate, so I wasn't able to get heelside as effectively as I'm used to. Got home, made the adjustments and hopefully resolved the problem. Bobthegood, did you experience this at all?

My recommendation is to spend the extra to get the Choice, Mutant, or Agro. The reason is that the release levers on the models below these are different and straight behind you and not quite as easy to release (stick more to the HB) and they're not as easy to reach because of their placement. I watched my wife with her bindings have a little trouble reaching around for the lever.

All in all, I'm looking forward to using these again. Love the quickness of getting in and out. No more sitting down for me. I'd recommend them as long as you prepared for the heelside give ahead of time.

Now. Who wants to hit Winter Park next week? I'm thinking that's my next stop on my Mutant Tour.

Argo

When I'm on any slope looking down hill, I kick my toe edge down to build a little hump, the i set my heel edge in it and slide my foot in and slap up the high back. Little hop and I'm on the way. If it's crowded I'll just slide my foot in and start heading down the hill and slap it up real quick while cruising.... I wear flows.

bobthegood

What Argo said on the buckle in. Rear entry bindings can be awkward on hills, no doubt. Toe side into the hill for rear entry; heel side in for traditionals. Also, good observation on the cable, although to be honest I've never really noticed w\the GNU’s. Then again, I’ve ridden Flows for awhile, and IMHO there is inherently a bit of play in this kind of set up. I re-set the rear toe strap a half dozen times before I got it right. But once you get it, you’re done.
Let us know how the tweaking worked out. I use very little forward lean, but make sure the highbacks are rotated. I've planned on getting to the Summit since last year, but am holding off for the big pow drop. I wanna believe it's still on the way......

__________________
"I didn't do it, and nobody saw me."

pairadux

bobthegood,

Two questions:

1) With that ankle strap set permanently the highback doesn't drop low for transportation on a roofrack. Have you or anyone driven with that sticking so high? Does it flop around and act unstable up there, or is it still ok? My wife and I would prefer to set once and go. I really like my front strap hammered down because I don't like the feeling of my feet moving at all and resetting each time up there would keep from having that perfect fit each time.

2) How do you have your high back rotated to take advantage of heelside turning? I've never rotated a high back, so I don't know what the benefits of that would be.

bobthegood

Hey Pairadux - 1st question - sorry dude, can't really help. I've been riding about 10 years, and in that time I have never used a car carrier. I've had an SUV, and mostly a pick-em-up. The ass end has carpeted top and bottom shelves. The boards go underneath, and the soft goods on top. I've heard of guys wrapping their bindings to protect them from road salt, etc. Maybe get a set of cross country or snowshoe gaiters if they're big enough to wrap them around the bindings to protect them. Or a Thule enclosed carrier?? For settings, I just use a magic marker or piece of tape so I can go back to the same spot. I've done that on my Flows, and marked the GNU's as well.
The second question - you want your high backs parallel to the back of the board to get the most leverage. Here's a set of videos from GNU showing how to set up their products: GNU Snowboards Videos For me anyhow, making sure the high backs are aligned properly is more important than dialing the forward lean. Good luck!!

__________________
"I didn't do it, and nobody saw me."