EzLounging

Alkasquawlik wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2025 5:53 pm As someone who has sat on the sidelines and watched the discourse go down over the past week or so, just wanted to throw my two cents in.

Do I think current Step-On/fast entry trend is a bit silly? Yes. Do I think the majority of riders need a step in binding? No. Do I have any desire to switch from my Unions to a step in binding? No. Am I the target demographic? Fuck no and I don't think there's many of us that would be who post on this forum.

Fact of the matter is, that shit sells, especially to the 'non-core' market. Faster strap in time to keep up with their skier friends, response, whatever use case they want to tell themselves, they want it. I believe over 50% of Burton's overall sales last year were Step-On related product, which exceeded their target goal. When I help out at local sales here in the Bay Area during the fall, there is a very large percentage of people coming in specifically asking for Step-On/fast entry product. These people are definitely not what I'd consider 'core' riders, but core products don't make money (feel like Doc talking core v non-core lol).

It's not anything I would personally ride or recommend, but the demand is out there (from both a consumer and retailer standpoint) and snowboard companies are pivoting their product lines to meet that market demand. With Union now pumping out their own Step-On branded products and FASE bindings coming online as well, the whole fast entry trend is gaining acceptance and is here to stay, at least for the time being. Whether that dies out in a few years, like the whole reverse camber phase, who knows, but the products are night and day better than what the industry has previously produced. The consumer market dictates product innovation and it's obvious the market wants more fast entry bindings.

This forum has been pretty dead for multiple years, relative to the old BMB/EL days. Here comes a dude who's involved in the industry, who has a wealth of knowledge and clearly has a love for snowboarding and to basically shit on him and potentially drive him away, is goofy as fuck to me.

eleveneightnate wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2025 8:14 pm A new burnt orange colorway for AK? Hopefully it shows up in some of their more affordable pieces.


IMG_7369.jpeg

jota wrote: Sat Jan 25, 2025 2:55 am

Alkasquawlik wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2025 5:53 pm As someone who has sat on the sidelines and watched the discourse go down over the past week or so, just wanted to throw my two cents in.

Do I think current Step-On/fast entry trend is a bit silly? Yes. Do I think the majority of riders need a step in binding? No. Do I have any desire to switch from my Unions to a step in binding? No. Am I the target demographic? Fuck no and I don't think there's many of us that would be who post on this forum.

Fact of the matter is, that shit sells, especially to the 'non-core' market. Faster strap in time to keep up with their skier friends, response, whatever use case they want to tell themselves, they want it. I believe over 50% of Burton's overall sales last year were Step-On related product, which exceeded their target goal. When I help out at local sales here in the Bay Area during the fall, there is a very large percentage of people coming in specifically asking for Step-On/fast entry product. These people are definitely not what I'd consider 'core' riders, but core products don't make money (feel like Doc talking core v non-core lol).

It's not anything I would personally ride or recommend, but the demand is out there (from both a consumer and retailer standpoint) and snowboard companies are pivoting their product lines to meet that market demand. With Union now pumping out their own Step-On branded products and FASE bindings coming online as well, the whole fast entry trend is gaining acceptance and is here to stay, at least for the time being. Whether that dies out in a few years, like the whole reverse camber phase, who knows, but the products are night and day better than what the industry has previously produced. The consumer market dictates product innovation and it's obvious the market wants more fast entry bindings.

This forum has been pretty dead for multiple years, relative to the old BMB/EL days. Here comes a dude who's involved in the industry, who has a wealth of knowledge and clearly has a love for snowboarding and to basically shit on him and potentially drive him away, is goofy as fuck to me.

A friend of mine has a surf shop and also sells snowboards. In the last few years he only sells step ons and not a single custom… He is thinking of stopping selling snowboard because it’s not worth it to sell only step ons (it is not really a lot) and only a few boards and there is still a lot of hardgoods left unsold. But if he didn't have step ons he wouldn't sell anything.
I also think that the customer who buys step ons from him is a casual customer (not a core rider) and doesn't know what he is buying… or in other words, doesn’t know how the binding works but is looking for a quick entry

kimchi wrote: Sat Jan 25, 2025 8:28 am

eleveneightnate wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2025 8:14 pm A new burnt orange colorway for AK? Hopefully it shows up in some of their more affordable pieces.


IMG_7369.jpeg

This is whatever used to be AK457 or whatever they call it now ("AK Japan Guide?"). These colorways don't transfer over, which sucks because that shade of blue is awesome.

jota wrote: Sat Jan 25, 2025 2:55 am A friend of mine has a surf shop and also sells snowboards. In the last few years he only sells step ons and not a single custom… He is thinking of stopping selling snowboard because it’s not worth it to sell only step ons (it is not really a lot) and only a few boards and there is still a lot of hardgoods left unsold. But if he didn't have step ons he wouldn't sell anything.
I also think that the customer who buys step ons from him is a casual customer (not a core rider) and doesn't know what he is buying… or in other words, doesn’t know how the binding works but is looking for a quick entry

eleveneightnate wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2025 6:46 pm Riiiiiiiiiight. He was nothing but a super friendly dude that caught shit from multiple people for literally no reason and we should all just be thankful that he's saving our "dead" forum haha.

Alkasquawlik wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2025 5:53 pm As someone who has sat on the sidelines and watched the discourse go down over the past week or so, just wanted to throw my two cents in.

Do I think current Step-On/fast entry trend is a bit silly? Yes. Do I think the majority of riders need a step in binding? No. Do I have any desire to switch from my Unions to a step in binding? No. Am I the target demographic? Fuck no and I don't think there's many of us that would be who post on this forum.

Fact of the matter is, that shit sells, especially to the 'non-core' market. Faster strap in time to keep up with their skier friends, response, whatever use case they want to tell themselves, they want it. I believe over 50% of Burton's overall sales last year were Step-On related product, which exceeded their target goal. When I help out at local sales here in the Bay Area during the fall, there is a very large percentage of people coming in specifically asking for Step-On/fast entry product. These people are definitely not what I'd consider 'core' riders, but core products don't make money (feel like Doc talking core v non-core lol).

It's not anything I would personally ride or recommend, but the demand is out there (from both a consumer and retailer standpoint) and snowboard companies are pivoting their product lines to meet that market demand. With Union now pumping out their own Step-On branded products and FASE bindings coming online as well, the whole fast entry trend is gaining acceptance and is here to stay, at least for the time being. Whether that dies out in a few years, like the whole reverse camber phase, who knows, but the products are night and day better than what the industry has previously produced. The consumer market dictates product innovation and it's obvious the market wants more fast entry bindings.

This forum has been pretty dead for multiple years, relative to the old BMB/EL days. Here comes a dude who's involved in the industry, who has a wealth of knowledge and clearly has a love for snowboarding and to basically shit on him and potentially drive him away, is goofy as fuck to me.

Msteff wrote: Sat Jan 25, 2025 10:45 am I feel the need to once again state that we’re all just old heads playing with toys. None of this should be taken as seriously as it has been lately. Moreover, it’s over now and we should all just move on. With that said the issue was well stated in the binding forum. There is a general sense that being a mature, respectful adult, and keeping it civil is valued here. The intense and forceful declarative nature was off putting to many (myself included), as was the outright dismissal of people’s opinions, preferences, and
critiques as completely invalid. When it comes to preference and opinion there is no single right answer and people can do what they like. Whatever, it’s snowboarding and it’s not that big a deal, it also done now and everyone seems to be doing much better, which is great.