K2 Cinch CTX bindings

Originally posted by JMSM512 Besides making easier to strap in, are there any other benefits to these bindings?  Are they responsive, or as responsive as a normal binding? I guess I don't see the benefit of saving a few seconds and the possible trouble of sitting down if it compromises the effectiveness of the binding.

to be honest hears my opinon of the flows, and i have my own pair so yea

1. i got the 07/08s, and let me tell you, who ever says weight doesn't matter obviously has no idea how much these things way. One of my bindings alone weight 1.5x times my board, so puttings two on, keeps you reallll heavy, and makes jumps real difficult.

2. Like i said i had this since 07, so i've gotten pretty used to them but in the beginning strapping issues were major annoyances. Your first time around the block it might take you roughly 20 seconds to a minitue to get used to it, but now im locked in within 5 seconds of the lift, just boot in, and pull the backlatch up. the toe straps are gonna be major annoyances as they ALWAYS ride up and rest on the top of you foot

3. Back to weight issues, i kinda grew up on these bindings so when i demo'ed out a pair of cartels i got the full meaning of when people say "you may loose some response". still to be completly honest, if i never rode the cartels, i may have never really realized, and i got the sickest ollies on the park either way :P

In my opinon about em, if i had the choice to buy again, i would not, there just way to damn heavy, and there basically created to latch in a bit quicker, but at what cost. stick with the good ol' fashion strap ins buddy

I tried these out for a day last week... I like the design and I think they are definately made and designed well but I couldn't get used to them. I kept unstrapping them when I didn't need to. I'm sure if i had more days on them I'd get used to it. I have a friend who uses cinch's and he's in and out very quickly. The backs are a little low and stiff. I prefer softer feeling straps and flexier hibacks, so these weren't for me. 

i wouldn't trust a complicated k2 bindings as far as i could throw it. their entire auto line had to be recalled last year, no other snowboard company has had to recall an entire product line before. this happened because the jarden bean counters wanted them to cut corners in the production costs. avoid at all costs.

My friend had the flow styled K2 bindings and hates them because is foot fell out twice before because the wire thing came loose.

i have flows and regular bindings but im thinking of picking up the autos now to see if they are a better combination of both

Autos strap the toe strap down as you do the ankle strap. Like...the toe one will automatically come down as you do the ankle strap

Kimchi has got it down.   He knows his shat.

Personally though, i stick with burton and union bindings

My beef with them is two fold.

First, they jump through a lot of hoops in order to get you into the binding.  One of the problems with Flows is that if the straps are loose enough for you to easily remove and insert your foot via the rear-entry mechanism, there is no way you are getting the response and support of traditional straps.  It's just not happening.  With Cinches, to get around that, they have a hinge system on the binding that cases the straps to lift upwards when you lower the highback, so can still crank down on the straps.  It's great in theory, but it adds a ton of cost (so you get a lot less binding for your money), has a lot of parts to potentially break, and looks like it would get iced and jammed extremely easily.  Plus it adds weight (although I don't think that matters too much personally).

Second, if you have a quality binding and have any sense of balance and coordination, it's not that shtooking difficult to strap in quickly (and if you lack the second element, you probably shouldn't be snowboarding).  On average I say it takes me 15-20 seconds to strap in.  When I had Flows, it probably took me maybe 5-10... the compromise was not worth 10 seconds.

Flows you at least have the element of potentially more comfort if you have problems with traditional straps, due to the 1-piece strap distributing pressure over a larger surface area.  With Cinches, you don't even get that benefit.  If you like Flows, stick with the Flows.  If you want to try a more traditional convenience binder, again, AUTOS.

From what i can tell about Cinches from looking at my Boss's is that they actually have a heel cup and a high back that rest on the heel cup.   So, IMO the possibility of loss of response because there isn't a heel cuz is gone.

I haven't ridden them, but here is what i think about them, they look like a hybrid between regular bindings because they have straps that you crank down and a heelcup and Flow type bindings because they have the reclining hiback that allows easy boot entry from the back

Anybody had experience with K2 Cinch CTX , or any Cinch, bindings? I have Flows and thought about trying these too. Thanks.