# Freestyle/freeride choices



## lonerider (Apr 10, 2009)

geolemon said:


> I'm back to looking at traditional bindings.
> 
> 
> *BURTON*
> ...


Funny you should mention Burton hardware as being indestructable.

Burton P1









Burton C60s









Burton Cartels









The first two pairs were my own (I only weighed 140 lbs at the time) and the last one was a friend of mine (he's like 170-180 lbs, a bit of a hucker... shattered the heelcup trying to ride down a frozen waterfall back in 2007). In all cases Burton was cool and replaced everything for no charge (not even shipping). If you want bombproof... check out Rome 390s (tough aluminum baseplate with wrapped heelcup), that's what I have on my park board.

That being said, I have ridden a couple of EST bindings (which like the Re:flex are almost baseless minus some flimsy padding) and I am actually rocking a pair of CO2 with Re:flex on my freeride/powder board right now and I like them. I'm not really worried about the heel/toe component being flimsy or falling off - and if they do compress. I trust Burton to just replace them for me. I like the ankle strap and I like the rachets.

I am interested in trying out Union and Flux one of these days.


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## geolemon (Oct 6, 2012)

Well... by "hardware" I meant more like the ratchets... but I definitely wouldn't have expected that damage from a Burton binding either. I thought they used decent quality plastics in their bases.

If anyone is old enough to remember Elfgen, I had a set of their bindings back in the late 80's or early 90's, and on a particularly cold day, they actually shattered... worse than a crack like that, I actually ended up with bindings that were 4 or 5 pieces each!

Those pics do have me leaning away from them a bit... they were in my list mainly as my nothing-too-exciting-but-at-least-reliable choices. Thanks.

I'm aware there's a bit of a catch-22 here, as I am looking for a flexible freestyle binding. Aluminum bases may be more durable in the long run, but I don't want something too rigid. 
The Unions may be a decent compromise, as they have what I think is a urethane layer of different durometer beneath the baseplate, that would absorb shock both to the binding and rider, which might provide flexibility and ultimately durability. Mainly just not totally psyched on such a rigid highback, but I suppose I'll have it dialed back anyway, and that might not be so bad on my Colorado trip.

On the other hand, I've got a line on last year's DS30's for $160... anyone comment on the apparent lack of heel padding?


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## linvillegorge (Jul 6, 2009)

Anything can break. I snapped the frame on my Flux Titans (now the TT30s) after about 50 days. Landed pretty badly in the back seat and torqued the shit out of it. They held together though. I took another run before I finally stopped to check it out because it just felt loose and sloppy.


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## geolemon (Oct 6, 2012)

linvillegorge said:


> Anything can break. I snapped the frame on my Flux Titans (now the TT30s) after about 50 days. Landed pretty badly in the back seat and torqued the shit out of it. They held together though. I took another run before I finally stopped to check it out because it just felt loose and sloppy.


Yeah, I'm more concerned with the functionality and comfort of these bindings, to make my choice.

Breakage is something you have to have some faith in the manufacturer for. That being said, I'm interested if any of these are fundamentally flawed - if not, I won't worry about it much.


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## linvillegorge (Jul 6, 2009)

Flux are very comfortable and they replaced mine after the failure despite the fact that the warranty had already expired. They had a one year warranty and I was at about one year and four months. :thumbsup:


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## lonerider (Apr 10, 2009)

geolemon said:


> Yeah, I'm more concerned with the functionality and comfort of these bindings, to make my choice.
> 
> Breakage is something you have to have some faith in the manufacturer for. That being said, I'm interested if any of these are fundamentally flawed - if not, I won't worry about it much.


I actually agree not to worry about breakage even though I'm the one who posted the photos. I just wanted point out that Burton bindings can break... even after that I still think Burton bindimgd are pretty decent.


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## geolemon (Oct 6, 2012)

linvillegorge said:


> Flux are very comfortable and they replaced mine after the failure despite the fact that the warranty had already expired. They had a one year warranty and I was at about one year and four months. :thumbsup:


That's something to consider if I bought the DS30's online. 
Great price, but effectively in exchange for "no warranty" - not only because they are last year's model, but because it would be through a shop who is likely not authorized to sell online.

On the other hand, I can probably pick up RK30s for close to the same price.

An interesting consideration. I probably will never need a warranty, but:
$160 for last year's $260 binding is a great deal, even with no warranty.
$180 for this year's $180 binding is no particular deal, but would a warranty.


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