# Bindings with best cushioning



## ThunderChunky (Oct 1, 2011)

Try to get one with canting. It will reduce the strain on your hips and knees.


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## CalvaryCougar (Nov 3, 2009)

check out the ride contraband or ride deltas, they both come with canting and alot of cushioning. I have the contrabands and I really like them.


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## jdang307 (Feb 6, 2011)

stimyg said:


> I'm a bit over 40, and have some meniscus damage from old injuries... yet I'm trying to advance my skills on jumps and the rails. Whatever, you only live once.
> 
> My question is: are there bindings that are notable for having extra cushioning, to help when I screw up and land a jump too flat? And/or when I hit those mid-hill invisible chattery bumps at high speed? (I definitely feel it in my bad knee when either of those happen, and it's a cumulative thing. By the end of the season I'm definitely hurting.)
> 
> ...


Raiden Phantoms.
BA maybe can chime in.

Nitro: Phantom Binding 2011/2012 - YouTube

Check it out. Dual airbags and a bushing.


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## Hodgepodge (Dec 9, 2010)

Rome 390 Boss. I ride them and they absorb bumps like none other. I tore my ACL playing soccer 2 years ago so I want to keep my knees nice a healthy and pain-free, and the canting you can apply to the footbed really does work.


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## sm0ke (Mar 21, 2011)

check out the new Ride Rodeos - they're pretty sick


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## ThunderChunky (Oct 1, 2011)

jdang307 said:


> Raiden Phantoms.
> BA maybe can chime in.
> 
> Nitro: Phantom Binding 2011/2012 - YouTube
> ...


That two screw thing so the board can flex better is an interesting idea. I think it would be better to have a really soft and rubbery material around the sides of the bindings that would bend when the board does. That way it could still flex and you could have a stable binding plate.


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## zk0ot (Nov 9, 2009)

raidens are pretty nice. cant think of anything to give more cushion than air.


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## Nivek (Jan 24, 2008)

Your best bet will be something from K2 with canting and Harshmellow. Check out their line.


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## stimyg (Nov 10, 2011)

Thanks this is all great info. 

So is the canting more about good knee positioning, or that the canting material has extra cushioning itself?


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## stimyg (Nov 10, 2011)

Also, any thoughts on the Flow bindings for shock absorption / canting, vs some of the ones you're listing here? I ask only because I like the easy-in concept, and it sounds like they're decent bindings nowadays... but I'll take knee-preservation over everything else.


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## ThunderChunky (Oct 1, 2011)

The canting make it so that you knees don't have strain from your feet being spread apart. This video should explain it better...

Wedgie Footbed Tech | RCTV Videos | Ride Snowboards 2011-2012

I would go with canting over Flows. Wedgie, canting, whatever it's called. It is the best tech that's came along in a while for bindings. You'll love them. Can't wait to get them my self.


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## BigmountainVMD (Oct 9, 2011)

stimyg said:


> Thanks this is all great info.
> 
> So is the canting more about good knee positioning, or that the canting material has extra cushioning itself?


Canting is all about positioning the angle of the foot to properly align the skeleton in the leg and associated joints. Canting options will allow the medial side of the foot (inner side... the side with your big toe) to be slightly lower than the lateral side (pinky toe side). This doesn't make sense if you were standing with your feet directly under you, but on a snowboard, your feet are wider than your shoulders. 

If your feet stay flat in the bindings, it puts strain on all of the lateral (outer) ligaments of your ankle and knee, and can even strain your hips if they are sensitive... anyone riding with a replacement hip? The canting angles your feet so that the skeleton in your legs lines up better, putting less strain on your joints. Imagine an arrow going up through your heel perpendicularly. Without canting, this arrow would pass straight up, somewhere outside of your shoulders, because your heels are flat. With canting, this arrow (still perpendicular to the heel, but the heel is angled now) will point straight up the skeleton of the leg and to the hip joints... Voila! No strained ligaments... 

The wider your stance, the more canting will benefit you, because you need a steeper angle to align your joints. Some bindings come with specific options (0, 1.5, or 3 degrees of canting) other bindings like Burton AUTOCant (like the 2012 Cartel) have a softer foam on the medial (inner) side of the binding and a firmer foam on the lateral side, so that your foot can naturally sink and find a better angle based on the amount of pressure you body puts on it. This is fairly new tech though, and I haven't heard too much on how well it works. 

A good (and cheap) way to see if you might like canted bindings, is to fold up a trail map once or twice, so it is a bit thicker and only an inch or two wide (you might have to cut it) and slide it in-between your binding and you boot along the outside of each binding, running toe to heel. This will angle your foot the same way a canted binding will. Make sure you ride with it like that for the *WHOLE* day (which can be a pain replacing the map every time you remove your back foot...) but if you don't ride the whole day with the homemade canting, you can't be sure if it will really benefit you or not. It will make everything feel a little weird, so giving it a good day or two is really important.

As for cushioning, bindings that are more freestyle oriented will have more cushioning, however this can decrease the sensitivity of the binding. Check out the Burton Malavita bindings (sorry to the Burton haters, but I just really like their bindings). It is a nice freestyle binding (more cushion in baseplates and straps) and has the AutoCant feature with the variable foam density.


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## john doe (Nov 6, 2009)

Because my local resort is a tiny 310ft hill and I do alot of park hiking I got some Flow NXT-ATSE. If I was at a real resort I would have some Rome 390 Boss' because of the canting and the V-rod tech. Seems to make the most sense of any base tech. K2's with harshmellow would be number 2 pick.


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## jpb3 (Nov 29, 2009)

Flows offer very little cushioning and no canting options unless they just came out with something. Not hating, I rode flows for over 15 years but last year had a chance to demo Ride Delta's with the Wedgie footbeds and then proceeded to go buy a pair on close out after riding them for one day. The Delta's have some serious cushioning, which having old knees myself I really, really liked. The Wedgie 2.0 footbeds were a big difference too so I'm not sure whether it was the cushioning or canted beds but my legs (kness) flet alot better at the end of the day than they did in Flows. 

Not sure what Ride would compare in their 2011 lineup as they came out with all new models this year, and since I have what I want (Delta's) I haven't really paid attention but I recommend you check out Ride bindings.


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## sm0ke (Mar 21, 2011)

jpb3 said:


> Flows offer very little cushioning and no canting options unless they just came out with something. Not hating, I rode flows for over 15 years but last year had a chance to demo Ride Delta's with the Wedgie footbeds and then proceeded to go buy a pair on close out after riding them for one day. The Delta's have some serious cushioning, which having old knees myself I really, really liked. The Wedgie 2.0 footbeds were a big difference too so I'm not sure whether it was the cushioning or canted beds but my legs (kness) flet alot better at the end of the day than they did in Flows.
> 
> Not sure what Ride would compare in their 2011 lineup as they came out with all new models this year, and since I have what I want (Delta's) I haven't really paid attention but I recommend you check out Ride bindings.


you should check out the wedgie 2.5 footbeds this year...they're sick!


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## zk0ot (Nov 9, 2009)

this quickly went from cushioning to canting....


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## BigmountainVMD (Oct 9, 2011)

zk0ot said:


> this quickly went from cushioning to canting....


The man has knee problems... canting will probably help more than cushioning...


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## BigmountainVMD (Oct 9, 2011)

stimyg said:


> I'm a bit over 40, and have some meniscus damage from old injuries... yet I'm trying to advance my skills on jumps and the rails. Whatever, you only live once.
> 
> My question is: are there bindings that are notable for having extra cushioning, to help when I screw up and land a jump too flat? And/or when I hit those mid-hill invisible chattery bumps at high speed? (I definitely feel it in my bad knee when either of those happen, and it's a cumulative thing. By the end of the season I'm definitely hurting.)
> 
> ...


Do you use any type of a knee brace? You don't need all the metal bars and stuff, but a little neoprene around your knee will go a long way.


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## stimyg (Nov 10, 2011)

Hey - thanks again for the replies.

I like the idea of canting and I think it'll help. And yes, I do wear big braces on both knees. I'm more machine than man by the time I get all geared up. And they help too, a lot.

The reason I'm specifically asking about cushioning: the times I really tweak my (right, rear) knee, are when I land hard on it - and when that happens, it feels to me like I'm feeling it directly where the meniscus used to be, but isn't so much anymore. (Imagine landing totally straight legged, and where the force would hit in the knee, right inside - it feels like that.)

Now, look, I understand if I'm doing it right that should never happen. But it does happen, sometimes, and I think the only thing that can maybe help me a bit in those situations is just straight up cushioning (in addition to any canting, say.)

So... I've heard a lot of good suggestions, but do we have any consensus on which models have more cushioning than others? I doubt people have done any comparative analysis like some of us do with snowboards... but so far I'm hearing basically Rides, Nitro Phantom Raiden, K2 with Harshmellow, Burton Malavita, Rome 390 boss... don't suppose anyone can narrow it for me... or just any further votes or seconds from anyone else...?


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## readimag (Aug 10, 2011)

I am guessing that you are more of an all MTN rider then freestyle so I would say the k2 auto uprise, has both of what you are looking for. As a plus the front toe strap auto tightens with the other strap.


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