K2 Cinch CTX - Snowboarding Forum

KIRKRIDER · 11-25-2010, 02:31 PM

Great binding.

I want from 4 years on a trusty pair of "cartels" to this "Mercedes" like binding. It takes a bit to figure it out at home, but just because I like to have everything down before I use something....otherwise you could just buy the binding set it up strap it and tune it the first 15 minutes of riding. Done.

The are very well built, feel solid and are really not that heavier than any other binding...besides UL ones like the Ride SPI for example, the system works really well, materials feel and look top notch.

I strapped the first one (too tight at first), Once on the lift I could use the closed straps of the other binding to hold the board up. A nice addition.
Pushing the foot a little more would set it up in the binding,itself making you ready to go right off the lift, both feet planted in the bindings...wich is great.
You only have to use the short slide in front of the "sitting crowd" to nonchalantly pull your cam mechanism up your calf, and keep riding...no need to stop at all. On a slope you would go down on a pushup, slide your foot in, lock, go.

They transmit your movements to the board perfectly...my Driver X were welded to the highbacks, I realized my back toe strap was completely open only because I looked down at it...the binding can ride with just the upper strap. One good thing you can do is set up your back foot with the toe strap in front-boot position, tht would make it easier for you when you slip your foot in.

That also is a very easy manouver, especially with a lower / thinner profile boot (I choosed my boots with that in mind). My instinctive way of doing it was to go down on both palms in a sort of extendeed push up, fit my back foot in, shift my weight on the back foot, so that my leg was aligned with the higback, lock it and go.
I'm sure you can do that standing, if not on the chair after a bit of practice.
So for all of you wondering if the back entry is faster and or more practical..It is. Hell yes it is.

Once "locked" in you can fine tune your straps if you need to. I left my front binding untouched all day, and once I found my sweet spot on the other I didn't touch it either.

Long snowboard pants tend to snag under the upper strap once you lock the back in, giving you a weird feeling that someone is trying to pull you off your board as you carve..so check that before you take off!

**Donutz** · 11-25-2010, 03:22 PM

The Cinches that I owned were the bottom-of-the-line model and also the first year (or possibly the second), so there was lots of room for improvement. I've said several times that I like the mechanical design of the thing. Just the implementation was lacking. It's pretty certain that K2 is going to keep working at it and imrpoving the bindings every year. You're now 2 years newer than mine, and I think a step up in model. Another year or two and I think these will compete head to head with anything Flow puts out.

Cavman · 11-25-2010, 05:53 PM

Pawlo,

Interesting that you are using the K2s with the front strap lifted and OVER the boot, rather than set as a Toe Cap. I have mine as a toe cap and there is no need to undo it at all. Just slide the boot in and lock the highback.

To adjust the toe from strap to cap, from over to infront.... 1. lower the highback. 2. Push to end of the front straps (each side) where it goes into the binding. You will feel it drop down. 3. When it is in the lowered positon you can rotate it from strap to cap position. 4. Then pull the straps back out and it locks in the new position.

Watch the video here on how to do it. Just remember to lower the highback first.
As for the extended pushup position to get into the binding!!!!! Thats weird. Seriously, you should be able to bind in standing up, it is not hard. If you have not done it before it is something you could learn in a single day.

Simple tip. Push and glide your board away from the chair lift and find a quiet spot, preferably flat. Face uphill, using your front foot slide/stab your board to create a slighty step that allows your board to stand still and not go sliding down the hill.

Test this by putting your back foot on your stomp pad. If you don't go anywhere then lift it and slide it into your binding. Reach down and raise the highback and you are done.

Enjoy.

KIRKRIDER · 11-26-2010, 09:41 PM

Cavmn it's my secon day on the new setup, today grommets with my wife, and I'm discovering it all quickly. Both in front strap now and stepping in as you said, depending on the slope using a hand down or not, but bottom line the strapping op is a lot faster than before. I'll have to loose some bad habit...but a hand down makes creating the ane you mention, effortless..but yes I'll try it on the fly too..
Most chairs end on a slope in kirkwood.

Donuz
Again, from the cartels this things feel like scifi, I saw the GNU technology too, but could not find them...I lie this k2... Besides I know the brand since I was 12 skiing..what do you use now?

**Donutz** · 11-27-2010, 12:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pawlo

Donuz
Again, from the cartels this things feel like scifi, I saw the GNU technology too, but could not find them...I lie this k2... Besides I know the brand since I was 12 skiing..what do you use now?

I've been using Flow Fives for a couple of seasons. They have irritations, but mostly I love'em. I have some NXT-ATs to try out this year. Besides being a higher-end binding, they appear to have fixed the things that bug me about the Fives. I'll know more after this weekend.

The one thing that I can absolutely say about the Cinches was that they were a lot more forgiving about snow in the bindings when you go to put your foot in. The Flows would just compress the snow -- the Cinches seemed to clear it.

KIRKRIDER · 11-27-2010, 02:36 PM

Irritations...you mean pressure points? I think the general tendency is to overtightn this kind of binfings in general. I didn't have snow problems in 3 feet pow yesterday...I had to clear the base up every 2-3 runs..but other than that...everything worked perfectly.

**Donutz** · 11-27-2010, 04:35 PM

No, I meant things that irritate me about them. For one, when you release the highback on the Fives, it falls flat unless you re-latch it. The NXTs will stay up on their own. The angle adjustment on the Fives was a set of small thumbwheels where the cable attaches to the base. Very difficult to use with bare hands, impossible with gloves. The NXTs have the adjuster on the highback. Much more convenient.

One thing the Fives never had was pressure points.

KIRKRIDER · 11-27-2010, 04:55 PM

got it. No, mine work great, the bhighbackk comes down when you open it at about 45 deg. lifting the whole strap section and leaving a lot of room for your foot to slide in. I don't use highback angles...

11-25-2010, 02:31 PM	#1 (permalink)
KIRKRIDER Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Bay Area, CA Posts: 2,212	K2 Cinch CTX Great binding. I want from 4 years on a trusty pair of "cartels" to this "Mercedes" like binding. It takes a bit to figure it out at home, but just because I like to have everything down before I use something....otherwise you could just buy the binding set it up strap it and tune it the first 15 minutes of riding. Done. The are very well built, feel solid and are really not that heavier than any other binding...besides UL ones like the Ride SPI for example, the system works really well, materials feel and look top notch. I strapped the first one (too tight at first), Once on the lift I could use the closed straps of the other binding to hold the board up. A nice addition. Pushing the foot a little more would set it up in the binding,itself making you ready to go right off the lift, both feet planted in the bindings...wich is great. You only have to use the short slide in front of the "sitting crowd" to nonchalantly pull your cam mechanism up your calf, and keep riding...no need to stop at all. On a slope you would go down on a pushup, slide your foot in, lock, go. They transmit your movements to the board perfectly...my Driver X were welded to the highbacks, I realized my back toe strap was completely open only because I looked down at it...the binding can ride with just the upper strap. One good thing you can do is set up your back foot with the toe strap in front-boot position, tht would make it easier for you when you slip your foot in. That also is a very easy manouver, especially with a lower / thinner profile boot (I choosed my boots with that in mind). My instinctive way of doing it was to go down on both palms in a sort of extendeed push up, fit my back foot in, shift my weight on the back foot, so that my leg was aligned with the higback, lock it and go. I'm sure you can do that standing, if not on the chair after a bit of practice. So for all of you wondering if the back entry is faster and or more practical..It is. Hell yes it is. Once "locked" in you can fine tune your straps if you need to. I left my front binding untouched all day, and once I found my sweet spot on the other I didn't touch it either. Long snowboard pants tend to snag under the upper strap once you lock the back in, giving you a weird feeling that someone is trying to pull you off your board as you carve..so check that before you take off! Last edited by KIRKRIDER; 11-25-2010 at 02:34 PM.

11-25-2010, 03:22 PM	#2 (permalink)
Donutz Drunk with power...er beer. Join Date: May 2010 Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada Posts: 3,669 Blog Entries: 176	The Cinches that I owned were the bottom-of-the-line model and also the first year (or possibly the second), so there was lots of room for improvement. I've said several times that I like the mechanical design of the thing. Just the implementation was lacking. It's pretty certain that K2 is going to keep working at it and imrpoving the bindings every year. You're now 2 years newer than mine, and I think a step up in model. Another year or two and I think these will compete head to head with anything Flow puts out. __________________ Illegitimi non carborundum Mountain Days: 30

11-25-2010, 05:53 PM	#3 (permalink)
Cavman Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Australia Posts: 281	Pawlo, Interesting that you are using the K2s with the front strap lifted and OVER the boot, rather than set as a Toe Cap. I have mine as a toe cap and there is no need to undo it at all. Just slide the boot in and lock the highback. To adjust the toe from strap to cap, from over to infront.... 1. lower the highback. 2. Push to end of the front straps (each side) where it goes into the binding. You will feel it drop down. 3. When it is in the lowered positon you can rotate it from strap to cap position. 4. Then pull the straps back out and it locks in the new position. Watch the video here on how to do it. Just remember to lower the highback first. As for the extended pushup position to get into the binding!!!!! Thats weird. Seriously, you should be able to bind in standing up, it is not hard. If you have not done it before it is something you could learn in a single day. Simple tip. Push and glide your board away from the chair lift and find a quiet spot, preferably flat. Face uphill, using your front foot slide/stab your board to create a slighty step that allows your board to stand still and not go sliding down the hill. Test this by putting your back foot on your stomp pad. If you don't go anywhere then lift it and slide it into your binding. Reach down and raise the highback and you are done. Enjoy. __________________ Ride Highlife 168 2011 \| K2 CTX 2010 Hammer Broadline 163W 2008 \| SP Fastec Trooper 2010 Hammer PCM C+ 161 2011 \| SP Fastec Brotherhood 2011 http://www.myfastec.com/videos/fastec-setup/ http://www.sp-united.com/bindings/ Last edited by Cavman; 11-25-2010 at 06:09 PM.

11-27-2010, 04:35 PM	#7 (permalink)
Donutz Drunk with power...er beer. Join Date: May 2010 Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada Posts: 3,669 Blog Entries: 176	No, I meant things that irritate me about them. For one, when you release the highback on the Fives, it falls flat unless you re-latch it. The NXTs will stay up on their own. The angle adjustment on the Fives was a set of small thumbwheels where the cable attaches to the base. Very difficult to use with bare hands, impossible with gloves. The NXTs have the adjuster on the highback. Much more convenient. One thing the Fives never had was pressure points. __________________ Illegitimi non carborundum Mountain Days: 30

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11-26-2010, 09:41 PM	#4 (permalink)
KIRKRIDER Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Bay Area, CA Posts: 2,212	Cavmn it's my secon day on the new setup, today grommets with my wife, and I'm discovering it all quickly. Both in front strap now and stepping in as you said, depending on the slope using a hand down or not, but bottom line the strapping op is a lot faster than before. I'll have to loose some bad habit...but a hand down makes creating the ane you mention, effortless..but yes I'll try it on the fly too.. Most chairs end on a slope in kirkwood. Donuz Again, from the cartels this things feel like scifi, I saw the GNU technology too, but could not find them...I lie this k2... Besides I know the brand since I was 12 skiing..what do you use now?

11-27-2010, 02:36 PM	#6 (permalink)
KIRKRIDER Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Bay Area, CA Posts: 2,212	Irritations...you mean pressure points? I think the general tendency is to overtightn this kind of binfings in general. I didn't have snow problems in 3 feet pow yesterday...I had to clear the base up every 2-3 runs..but other than that...everything worked perfectly.

11-27-2010, 04:55 PM	#8 (permalink)
KIRKRIDER Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Bay Area, CA Posts: 2,212	got it. No, mine work great, the bhighbackk comes down when you open it at about 45 deg. lifting the whole strap section and leaving a lot of room for your foot to slide in. I don't use highback angles...