You should learn about the technicalities involved in snowboarding, especially if you’ve begun to do it often. Understanding the importance of something such as the snowboard’s bindings is a must if you want your snowboard to be supportive in the snow.
The bindings’ size greatly matters as they determine your connection to the snowboard. If it weren’t for your snowboard’s bindings, your muscles’ energy wouldn’t transfer to the snowboard, failing to tell the board what to do. Hence, you need to get the right size if you want your snowboard to be effective.
Let us take you through the different types of binding sizes and how you can choose them.
Different Types of Bindings
Getting the correct binding size is a must if you wish to have an excellent time in the snow. You may not have known this, but bindings significantly contribute to how great your snowboard will be in the snow. Every snowboard is different, so each of them has varying binding sizes. The one you’ll get depends on your snowboarding experience and skill. Here are a few different types of bindings.
Strap-In Bindings
Strap-in bindings are the most common type you will encounter in the bindings market. Also, most snowboarders use these as they’re pretty influential on the snow. As the name suggests, strap-in bindings have two straps. One is the ankle strap that goes over the ankle, while the other is a toe strap that sits below the boot’s toe box.
High-Back
The best part about these straps is that you can adjust the strap’s pressure individually to suit your needs. As far as the high-back is concerned, you’ll be glad to know that it’s fixed. You can constantly adjust it to your liking if you want to make it lean a bit forward. However, you should know you can’t open it right away like with other bindings.
Ease
Getting in and out of strap-in buildings is pretty straightforward. You have to untie the straps to get your boot inside the binding. Depending on your ease, you can do it standing up or sitting down. Most beginners prefer sitting down while getting inside their bindings as they don’t have much practice. Overall, strap-in bindings are pretty convenient to use.
Speed Entry Bindings
Speed entry bindings, also known as rear entry bindings, are less common than strap-in bindings. However, they’re growing more popular due to their entry speed, offering numerous conveniences over strap-in bindings to snowboarders. There’s only one strap present on speed entry bindings that simultaneously cover the ankle and the toe areas.
Straps
The strap will seem like two separate straps because they’re divided into two sections if you look closely. You can adjust the strap’s pressure individually; however, it differs from the strap-in bindings. Since there’s only one strap, the ankle area’s adjustment will influence the toe area’s adjustment and vice versa. So, it can be a little tricky to balance the pressure between both sections.
High-Back
The high-back situation is also different in speed entry bindings. Unlike the strap-in bindings, the high-back can be unlocked, which opens wide. A spend entry binding’s high-back is like a draw bridge. This is what mainly paves the way for speed of entry. Getting in and out of speed entry bindings is more effortless than strap-in bindings.
Ease
You have to draw the high-back open and place your boot inside it. You won’t always have to untie the straps to set your boot. Also, you can put your foot inside the strap more easily standing up. Unlike the strap-in bindings, sitting down to do it will take more time. So, speed entry bindings save a lot of time by offering such convenience.
Choosing the Right Size Bindings
Since you know about the different binding types, it’s also crucial to learn how to choose the appropriate size. If you don’t pick the right size, your bindings will either be too tight or too loose, each situation putting you in a pickle. The wrong binding size can cause you to lose control and stability on your snowboard. So, you must pick the correct size. Here’s how you can choose.
Sizing With Boots
The best way to pick the correct size for your bindings is to measure the size of your boots. Although bindings typically come in small, small/medium, medium/large, large, large/X large, it can be tricky to choose the proper size due to the unclarity of the precise boot size.
For example, you may wear a size 11, which converts to a medium-sized binding for one brand. However, that may not be the case with other brands. So, matching the boot size with the binding size may cause trouble. However, if you’re precise and use a table converter, you might hit the jackpot with the exact size.
Sizing With Your Snowboard
Another way to determine the size of your bindings is to measure the width of your snowboard. If the bindings are too small, you won’t be able to apply the precise pressure on the edge to make a turn. At the same time, if the bindings are too broad and overhang the edges, you’ll get wiped out as your board will dig into the snow, preventing you from making sharp turns.
Also, it all comes down to your boots. If your shoes complement your board and your bindings complement your boots, your bindings will also be adequate for your board. So, when sizing, please be mindful of your boots’ size to match it with the bindings and the snowboard. If the sizing matches, you’ll have no worries about the terrain, allowing you to snowboard as you want.
Our Final Thoughts
Since you know how necessary it is to get the right size for your bindings, please put extra thought into it while purchasing. If you don’t get the proper size, you can injure yourself out in the snow, as the terrain won’t be very forgiving if your bindings don’t match your boots and board. Getting the precise binding size is necessary if you want to snowboard safely.
