Data bindings

Mike Says: In our store, we had great success last season with the Union Data Bindings. For 2007, Union flossed the Data Bindings out with a crocodile-skin outer. The coolest features on Union Bindings are the adjustable heelcup and stiff flex. Unlike other bindings on the market, as you slide out the heelcup to make the binding larger, the heelcup also gets taller, which helps guys with big feet gain more support. Furthermore, Union creates different flex patterns for different sizes. This means a medium binding is softer than an XL binding. No matter what size boot you wear, you will be accompanied by tailor-fitted flexes with Union.

I have a pair of datas as well....They are soooo awesome...the only negative thing i can possibly say about them is that they are slightly narrow in the baseplates so my hulking size 13 boot sometimes gets pinched slightly...but other than that theyre awesome...ohh and the white leather doesnt look that good when it gets super wet...

After four days of riding these around Mt. Rose and Northstar:
In terms of design they're pretty straight forward... toolless forward lean, adjustable aluminum heelcup on plastic binding, extendable toe ramp, rotatable highbacks.  Just good solid construction, not a lot of bells and whistles.

In terms of performance, they were topnotch.  They were definitely better than the old Flow Pro FS and Salomon SPX 45s I'd ridden previously... and I actually liked the Salomons quite a bit.  Stiff front-to-back response with just enough lateral forgiveness.  I don't know that I'd take them into the park, but for my style of riding (freeride/backcountry FS) they were perfect.

However, I do have some complaints.  First and foremost is that they seem to put style over substance in certain aspects.  On the Forces (which I had played around with) there are numerical markers that tell you what your forward lean is set to.  On the Datas, you just have to eyeball and feel for it, which is a pain when you're constantly tweaking your stance and trying to go back to a previous set-up.  And the white leather, while totally bad ass looking, doesn't seem like the best choice of materials for something that's going to go through that kind of punishment.

Second is that I have some minor pressure points on my Dialogues along the inside of the ankle straps.  However they seem to pop up and disappear at random, so that may depend on how I orient my boots on a given day.  I'm still tweaking around with them to find that perfect set-up.

While the SPX 45s were inferior in terms of response and performance, they were painless right out of the box and definitely not shabby bindings.  If I hadn't gotten a defective pair (cracked the left heelcup after one day of riding), I would have been perfectly happy with them.  Kind of makes me wish I'd kept that Salomon/Salomon brand integration... guess I can wait until I pick up something new at the end of the season.

As it is, I'd give them a good 8.5 out of 10... if I tweak them a bit and get rid of those minor pressure points, I'd upgrade that to a 9.  If these were a bit less extravagant and more functional in design, then I'd up to a 9.5.  They have a few flaws, but they're excellent bindings.

Edit:
After playing around with them at home, I decided I had my stance a touch too wide, which was why my insteps (especially the left/front one) were hurting.  After narrowing my stance a few cm, the pressure point is still there, but it doesn't seem like it'd be anywhere near enough to numb my foot like it did previously.  I'll write up further after next weekend at Northstar.


Edited by kimchijajonshim - Jan/13/2007 at 2:57am

Further thoughts... I've had no issues with heelcup slippage when using a ratchet and torquing down all as hard as possible.  Of course that results in me being a little scared of breaking off the screw (I actually managed that).

The highbacks on these break in a LOT.  They turned out to be a lot softer than I would have expected after about 15 times using them.

It makes for a very versatile binding, but I got them with the expectation that they'd be fairly stiff in the highback.  They're still very responsive, but I probably wouldn't have bought them if I'd known they would break in so much (I like the feedback of highbacks).

Toe cap could use some R&D.  Foam piece is useless and it seems like it deteriorates a bit.  Conforms well as a toe cap though, at least in my experience.

In short, great bindings, but not so great that I wouldn't consider replacing them (Rome 390s, 08 Burton CO2's, and possibly Burton Triads are next on the list).