BINDINGS

[eleveneightnate]

Fucking Longo and Tribute Lounge got me curious about Union Ultras.



I’ve been predominantly in that NOW Drive / Jones Mercury / Cartel 7-8 flex rating land for 10 years now. I like it here, but I’ve literally never ridden a high quality soft binding and hearing both Longo and Shane rave about it piqued my interest.

Softest bindings I’ve ever owned are probably Burton Genesis, NOW Pilot, Union Forces, and Rome 390s… and all of those are more 6/10 soft and none are particular flexy in the baseplate.

Great discussion. I've never liked overly stiff bindings or feeling super locked in, it just feels unnatural especially since I skate and surf. Probably why I like Shadowfit so much.

[scrub]

The lack of a FLAD weirds me out.

[casjcade]

Should use a Strata highback on it anyways.

[coleslawed]

i’ve got a pair i’m looking forward to running on my Horizon this season. might try them on a stiffer deck too to see how that compares to Longo’s experience.

[eleveneightnate]

i’ve got a pair i’m looking forward to running on my Horizon this season. might try them on a stiffer deck too to see how that compares to Longo’s experience.

Just got a pair from Christy's for $150. Time to see what all the hype's about haha.

[g3greg]

I had the orange first gen ultras and I found it had a pressure point on the lateral part of the ankle strap.. the strata’s are a superior binding for my taste. I also like forward lean and don’t mind the flex on the mini disc.

[Vanni]

I sold my Nitro Squash yesterday, I just used that money to buy Burton straps and ladders to upgrade my Jones Mercury

[NERD POST ALERT. Huge pics gallery and long post]
Ok, Burton box received.
I started to upgrade the straps on a binding, on the other one I left the Jones one.

To me, for the ankle strap: it's all subjective, but, to me, the Hammock straps are better.
They are wider than the Jones one (see the pics), and they are a little bit softer on the edges.
And also, this is a plus for me, it removes the option to flip straps, no more freeride or surf mode, I'm in the mood to have less option, less things to setup, to have a more straight forward binding. To have less adjustability, coming from other bindings, is quite refreshing for me. But again, this is highly subjective.
Nothing wrong with Jones ankle straps, you can live with them just fine, they are worlds better than the pure garbage that I had on the last year Drive.

For the toe strap, the thing is debatable. The Jones one are on par at least with Burton, they can even fit a little bit better without caring too much on the position of the strap. So I think I'll try both on the hill and then decide what is the best for me. But if you want to upgrade the straps on a Jones, the toe strap (at least the current one) is great and if you don't want to spend a lot of money, the Jones one is great.
Both are again world better than the garbage they put on Now bindings, even the 2024 line, because they didn't upgrade the toe strap.
If you buy a new Now or you have an old one, I think the current Jones or Burton toe strap is a GREAT upgrade. A must, to me.

To use Burton DT ratchets on ankle straps, you have to buy the Burton Double Take Ankle Tongue, it seems sturdier than the standard Jones ladder.
Also, you can mount the Hammock straps on the Jones Ankle Slider, but the Burton Ankle Flex Slider seems sturdier too.

For the toe strap I got Burton Double Take EST Snowboard Binding Toe Tongue; for the Toe tongue Slider, i think the standard Jones is better than the Burton Snowboard Binding Toe Slider, because it has a flex point to have the strap out of the way, and with the burton one you don't have this.

Bottom line: if you have a Jones you are 100% fine.
If you want to upgrade the straps, start with the ankle one, and buy also the two Burton tongues.
Then I think the toe straps are fine (if you don't trust Jones ratchets you can buy some spares and you'll be fine).

If you have a 2023 Now, DO IT.
Burton Hammock for the Ankle and Jones or Burton for the toe. You'll have a PERFECT binding.

If you have a 2024 Now, to me you should upgrade at least the toe strap (again Jones or Burton).

My Mercury are size S, I bought toe straps in size S and the same size for the ankle straps. I measured the size M straps on my Drives and on my Mercury, and the length is really close, if not the same (a lot of S and M bindings share the same straps, on a lot of brands or models).

Hope this helps.

[Vanni]

pics

[Vanni]

pics

[HasanPoland]

Real photos of Atlas desert camo from Union