EzLounging

McK21 wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 11:25 am There's an Italian YouTube photographer that did a video with a local burton pro about why pro's didn't use step on if not only for filming commercials and he showed, like many others did, that you can go big in the park and on the rails ( I guessing works out good also in the pipe) like a normal bindings but.....you have to relearn al the muscle memory because of the different feelings and reactions, so nobody that it's used to film or compete with normal bindings have the time and the will to do so, that's what he said, you can find the video on YouTube, it's in Italian, Roby Bragotto.

C.Fuzzy wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 1:26 pm

eleveneightnate wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 11:45 am

C.Fuzzy wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 10:24 am I've also watched the Good Rides takes on step on, and pros talk about how step on 'aren't for them' and then of course fawcetts video. I've heard Billy Anderson talk about riding them, Downing, etc. We're seeing most major boot and binding brands adopt the platform.

It seems to me that there's an underlying resistance to step ons that they're not for 'real' snowboarders. But also, few can really say why, outside of some pretty flimsy criticism and or worrying about missing ritual ratchet clicks n such. But some other guys aren't worried about being seen as a 'real' snowboarder and so they're just evaluating the performance and don't find it lacking.

And I think that's kind of where my head is on it. Like I said before, to me it's kind of like the difference between tight trucks and loose trucks on a skateboard... But maybe even less so. If I remove my own bias of what I already own (a shitload of strap bindings) and dispel myself of the step on = jerry bias, what I'm left with is the idea that if snowboarding had started with step ons to begin with and then someone invented straps... I think we'd be having the opposite conversation and most would think them a step backwards. I can already hear the criticisms about adding straps and all the things that could possibly go wrong with them, now.

And so the fact that the industry seems to be embracing them, and the next generation of consumer will probably not have the same old school bias, it seems to me that step ons will likely, over time, just become the norm. But maybe not. I don't know I care either way.

Generally agree with this, even as someone who doesn't like them. Though, the inverse is also happening on every post across the internet about them (even here) where if you dislike them you're told you just can't handle the "performance" of them or whatever.

I put "performance" in quotes because, with Step On, it's often framed around just one metric: hair trigger heel/toe response. They don't "perform" for me personally because I lose 95% of the lateral mobility that I want out of my bindings and riding style. Plus the known heel lift issues, lack of adjustability for boot centering, hard plastic bases with the little board-breaker wings that B won't get rid of, etc (I realize Union just fixed that with theirs). For other people, response could be that end-all-be-all metric and there's nothing wrong with that at all, but there are more metrics that are often ignored when talking about them and snowboarding is simply not that one-dimensional for everyone.

Hopefully we get some more freestyle/surfy brahhh friendly iterations as time goes on. Maybe wider heel cleats or something?

I think I prefer a more surfy binding interface as well. My preferred highback is the OG now ipo... short; flexible, loose feeling. In general I don't like tall/stiff highbacks.

But with stepons, I don't really notice the highback. The interface almost neutralizes the highback as a lever, so it seems almost redundant to a degree.

I also find I run my boots looser with stepons, giving me more of the lateral movement I'm use to, but wo sacrifices to response. Basically giving me back some of that flexible loose ride I'm use to.

The grom stepon just has a high heelcup. No highback. I bet I may like that on an adult size.

Add to that skate tech, dampening... idk, could be pretty good.

I think the question a lot of folk may have is, if you already have something you like, why even bother with reinventing the whole system. Seems like a lot of messing about to solve a problem that isn't that big of a deal. And I think ifbits not a big deal one way, it's fair to say it's not a big deal the other... meaning, it's probably going to happen anyhow, so why fight the process.

Along the way something even better may be born just by the reimagining.

dpartridge7 wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 4:09 pm

C.Fuzzy wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 1:26 pm

eleveneightnate wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 11:45 am

Generally agree with this, even as someone who doesn't like them. Though, the inverse is also happening on every post across the internet about them (even here) where if you dislike them you're told you just can't handle the "performance" of them or whatever.

I put "performance" in quotes because, with Step On, it's often framed around just one metric: hair trigger heel/toe response. They don't "perform" for me personally because I lose 95% of the lateral mobility that I want out of my bindings and riding style. Plus the known heel lift issues, lack of adjustability for boot centering, hard plastic bases with the little board-breaker wings that B won't get rid of, etc (I realize Union just fixed that with theirs). For other people, response could be that end-all-be-all metric and there's nothing wrong with that at all, but there are more metrics that are often ignored when talking about them and snowboarding is simply not that one-dimensional for everyone.

Hopefully we get some more freestyle/surfy brahhh friendly iterations as time goes on. Maybe wider heel cleats or something?

I think I prefer a more surfy binding interface as well. My preferred highback is the OG now ipo... short; flexible, loose feeling. In general I don't like tall/stiff highbacks.

But with stepons, I don't really notice the highback. The interface almost neutralizes the highback as a lever, so it seems almost redundant to a degree.

I also find I run my boots looser with stepons, giving me more of the lateral movement I'm use to, but wo sacrifices to response. Basically giving me back some of that flexible loose ride I'm use to.

The grom stepon just has a high heelcup. No highback. I bet I may like that on an adult size.

Add to that skate tech, dampening... idk, could be pretty good.

I think the question a lot of folk may have is, if you already have something you like, why even bother with reinventing the whole system. Seems like a lot of messing about to solve a problem that isn't that big of a deal. And I think ifbits not a big deal one way, it's fair to say it's not a big deal the other... meaning, it's probably going to happen anyhow, so why fight the process.

Along the way something even better may be born just by the reimagining.

i do beg to differ on why snowboarder stop riding hardboots. i was part of that early 90’s scene that rode soft boots on a freestyle/freeriding boards as well as alpine boots and boards. i feel snowboarding alpine died because we reach a point where we felt it couldn’t advance any more and for a lot of riders, it was not as fun as softboots and as comfortable. mark fawcett said he only rides his alpine setup at the most, once a year. and i am sure that is because he doesn’t find it as much fun anymore.

Spenser wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 6:05 pm I can't see that the reason we moved away from repurposed ski boots was for the sake of rejecting skiing. Same reason we moved on from Sorels - boots designed specifically for snowboarding are… better for snowboarding.

A proper hardboot setup absolutely has its place & benefits for certain scenarios, but that's not what old repurposed ski boots in ancient snowboard bindings were.

C.Fuzzy wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 8:58 pm ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Idk. I'm just talking.

alex wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 11:01 pm Here hardboot snowboarding did not die or disappear anywhere. And no one riding ski boots, snowboard hardboots evolved from ski boots just as much, as softboots evolved from Sorels. Well, monoski riders do wear ski boots (both boots mounted at 90°, parallelly to ski).

dpartridge7 wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 11:16 pm

alex wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 11:01 pm Here hardboot snowboarding did not die or disappear anywhere. And no one riding ski boots, snowboard hardboots evolved from ski boots just as much, as softboots evolved from Sorels. Well, monoski riders do wear ski boots (both boots mounted at 90°, parallelly to ski).

are they mostly hardbooters on alpine board, or do some hardbooters ride freestyle boards? it was interesting watching a snowboard FIS alpine race recently, as there were no non-Europeans in the finals. especially as there were something like 5 north americans medalists in the first 5 olympics.