The Step On thread

[C.Fuzzy]

I probably misspoke when I said est. My Nows aren't est... they just have the channel holes in the disk. Just like I keep saying 4x4 when its 2x4. But my brain just has adhd associations and I say the wrong thing frequently even though I know what I mean in my mind and it's not always how it comes out of my mouth... let me tell you... to the surprise of likely no one, I have inadvertently made an ass out of myself a lot.

Every board, all things being equal, Still I think I'd pick it in a channel over inserts.

Maybe it's because I haven't ridden the same board with both options so I don't really know the full flavor difference, and if I did I'd see the light and be an insert maximalist... but at the moment, I've not found channel boards to ride much of any different but offer upsides that I think would be worth the small price of admission.

[C.Fuzzy]

mostly manufacturing/implementation. the tech might be free, but the tooling and changes to building the boards wouldn’t be.
and there are still folks out there that don’t trust and/or believe in The Channel/its functionality/benefits, both on the consumer and industry side.

hmmm... have they never had to adjust their bindings at the top of JHMR while the 25 mph wind is whipping sprays of icy snow in their face and their fingers are too cold to feel the screw driver (much less try to fit 4 binding screws back into snow clogged inserts) simultaneously trying to hold onto a board that's trying to run away down the mountain as they scour the snow for the bolts that dropped when the wind flipped the whole binding over?

Between the ease of adjustments on est (or even disc) by just being able to loosen them (vs full removal from the inserts) and the ability to adjust the stance with more flexibility that the 4x4 inserts... channel is imo better and adherence to the 4x4 insert pack if the tech is free to use, just seems, lazy.

I don't hate the 4x4 inserts. But given the choice of inserts OR channel ...on any given board, I'd choose channel every time.

How many guys on the mountain are adjusting their stance frequently, though. Or even occasionally. I'll wager good money that most bindings stay bolted to their respective boards for years without a bolt ever getting even touched.

Those guys drink rail mixers and put ketchup on their steak

[Kevington]

What about those double channel things that were around for a while? Forum and Capita had them. Seem like the best of both worlds.

[jota]

What about those double channel things that were around for a while? Forum and Capita had them. Seem like the best of both worlds.

B bought Forum when Forum took out the double channel to get that rail system and then converted it to a single channel. He also took John Jackson in the pack

[sunokeru]

I may be misremembering this but I think Donna Carpenter admitted on the bombhole that keeping Channel/EST as proprietary to Burton was a big mistake.

But B clearly did not keep it proprietary - seeing that other board manufacturers (Endeavor, Signal) have been usingit.

And there was this:

[AyAyRon]

The channel was borrowed/repurposed from wakeboards.

[YukonCornelius]

i've never had the channel get loose on me mid day, but i'm pretty diligent about checking my hardware before riding. have loved EST and the connected feeling with the board, but not sure how much it matters compared to how the feedback on my Drives are.

the old 2x2 pattern though, i ripped bolts on my RDM uninc a few times...

[AyAyRon]

i've never had the channel get loose on me mid day, but i'm pretty diligent about checking my hardware before riding. have loved EST and the connected feeling with the board, but not sure how much it matters compared to how the feedback on my Drives are.

the old 2x2 pattern though, i ripped bolts on my RDM uninc a few times...

The first version of it where the male end of the screw was in the channel got loose all the time, you had to be pretty diligent about checking it.

[YukonCornelius]

pretty sure i had v1 of the channel on my last uninc (baby animal series) and the premier of the "EST binding" (Black and white binding), unless there was a prior channel to that, never had any issues

[eleveneightnate]