arnyxp

worked

guess i found that extra brain cell

BurtonAvenger

Never release? Seen more than my fair share of kids fly out of these things.

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Angry Snowboarder Because someone has to call it how they see it!

Gdog42

Yeah, I have a pair and they are a bitch to release. Extremo's right about pressing on the back of the ratchet with your thumb while pulling of on the front- that's what's been working for me. I use the DLX/Flite ratchets- they're much easier to release than the others, as I have a pair of the Force ratchets and they can be difficult to work with.

All Union needs to do is put a friggin release lever on the toe ratchets like they have on the ankle ratchets. That would reduce their #1 complaint by a lot.
It's not complicated, if Union's reading this.

Nivek

Unions toe ratchet being difficult to release does not translate into holding better. The locking teeth are on an independent pin within the ratchet housing. Their ability to hold the ladder has nothing to do with the way the rest of the mechanism pressures it to release. Their is NO benefit to its design and to be completely honest it's a dated racthet mechanism. Do it the way Burton/Flux do it, or use the industry standard, a 3 pin with a release lever. No reason not to.

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Snowboarding Sucks.

Gdog42

That's not the problem. The problem is that there's no release lever on the toe ratchets. So because of a lack of leverage that would be provided by one, more force needs to be applied to release the toe ratchet.

I guess that's why they called it the "Force" binding.

Yes I know, that was a shit joke.

Nivek

I dont understand where I lost you. Many argue that Unions toe ratchet being harder to release means it wont pop as easy. I was assuming that's more or less what Fanboy was getting at by making the comment he did about their funcionality, and giving an explanation as to why it's complete nonsense.

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Snowboarding Sucks.

Gdog42

Sorry about that.
You were saying that the reason the Union ratchets are hard to release is because "The locking teeth are on an independent pin within the ratchet housing." The reason it's like that is so when the ratchet is released, both the lock and the ratchet itself are pulled up to give the ladder more clearance, rather than the lock only moving up like on other bindings.

This design can't be a problem because the heel ratchets work the exact same way but have a release lever, which puts enough leverage on the lock for easy release. The toe ratchets don't have the a lever, so the ratchet has to be pulled up at both ends on the outside and there's less direct leverage on the lock, if you get what I mean.

I think the reason Union doesn't have a release lever on the toe ratchet is because it's smaller and looks cleaner without one, but that just makes difficult to use and backfires on their idea of simplicity.

I hope Union will take more notice of these complaints and will fix this issue next season. All they need to do is add a little more material in the right shape and place to create a new mold for that part (a smaller version of the heel ratchet release lever).

Extremo

I disagree. The 3 piece design of burton and flux results in stripping. Any tweak and it skips ladder steps. I'm not saying it's bad, and can't be averted with careful pressure, but it's just a drawback of this design.

The Union design is perfected. They've profiled it so low there's no room for error. It's superior in hold and ratcheting. And the release is easy when you apply thumb pressure on the top and lift with the index finger simultaneously.

Gdog42

Your right, but only if a person knows specifically to do that. The binding instructions don't have anything about it, and when I first got them I was thinking how the balls do I release this? Of course a second later I realized the easiest way to do it, but there are some people who lack common sense. I've seen several guys in the lift lines who bitch about it but when they try to take off the toe strap, they just try to do it only using their index finger. I have to explain to them to also use their thumb, then they stop bitching about it.

They could release it like that if Union had release levers on their toe ratchets but because of the look, I assume, they don't. This is the only reason I could think of for this- there's definitely enough room to have a lever like there is on the ankle ratchet. I think this is a stupid excuse, if that is the reason. Sacrificing functionality for a better looking product was a mistake here.

jennifer

I have a pair of union flite bindings. I love them, have never had a problem with the release. Guess I am lucky. I am however completely pissed that the pretty pink paint is chipping off in one or two spots already. I have only spent time on the bunny hill. Not like I am tearing down the mountain or anything.