Snowboard bindings

History

Started with the fact that I wanted a snowboard binding that was flexible laterally but stable forward and backward. The first version was a kind of cradle that could turn to the sides, it worked very well but became heavy and complicated. The next version was with a heel cap with a joint behind the shoe and cables from front to back for stability, it also worked well but held poorly and made the shoe longer.

The next version was with flexible battens on the sides and wires to make them rigid at the back. This solution worked very well and also gave the shoe an improved heel grip. Have made a number of variations on it over the years with different bottom plates and materials, but there has never been a finished product from them. It probably wouldn’t have been that difficult to make them, but I didn’t have the knowledge and the will then and now the other bindings on the market have caught up.

The latest prototype was a step-in shoe with the batten system instead of a back cap. Had also made quick tension of the wires so you could release to go and drive your car with the shoe. It would have been interesting to build the batten into the shoe, then you would have had a really flexible and nice step-in shoe. But now they seem to have moved away from step-in again, probably because they never got any flexible and good shoes!!