The (binding) future is NOW! - Now Bindings
Sometimes it makes good business sense to invest in competitors’ products - but NOT when you’re a spokesperson for the product.
Dont get me wrong, i can see 100% where you are coming from and i agree to a certain extent.
But what i was pointing at is that we dont know what the situation is, i was simply putting out a thought on one possability.
And TBH i dont think we will know, There is no way TRice would come out and say “yes i own 50% of NOW” when he is sponsored by Union.
So the mystery continues….
Pelchat’s a crazy guy - but he’s NOT clinically insane. As if he’d relinquish a 50% share anyway - especially for something that’s been a labour of love for many years, resulting in something he considers to be “game changing”!
“Jeremy Jones (mtn)”
Kudos for that, BTW.
To avoid confusion, I just usually to the other one as “Jibber Jones”.
Glad we could agree on something.
I also have to agree that there is no logical sense that Pelchat would give away 50% of his company if Travis wasn’t going to be the spokesperson. Even so 50% is a huge amount though I’m sure anything Travis touches will turn to gold no matter what the product is. I have heard rumors of other companies giving away shares of their company to riders when they can’t afford them. For example Omatic made Todd Richards, Andreas Wigg and Tara Dakides shareholders when they first came out. Andreas sold his shares early and got out and Todd and Tara were screwed when Omatic went down. I also heard a rumor that Signal was going to offer 10-15% of their company to a young buck to to guarantee a five year contract.
Investing in competitor companies works in the real world but lets be honest there just isn’t that much money coming out of snowboarding for anyone to take that risk. No one is getting rich quick. (except maybe energy drinks)
Great to see Pelchat’s taking on board all the useful feedback he’s been getting through the demos he’s been running. He’s currently working on alternative longer highbacks for the 13/14 season.
Setting up at the top of the Whistler Gondola - get on it guys!!!
Gonna try it out tomorrow!
Don’t forget to bring your credit card.
Gonna try it out tomorrow!
Nice, Rico. Will be curious to see what you think of them.
Yeah, we want a full report with pics and video too!!!!! 
I wish I could ride today. Knuckled a jump in the park pretty badly yesterday and my lower back is all jammed up. I went to the chiro yesterday evening and he said to take a couple of days off. I’ll see how it’s feeling tomorrow.
Harden up Kristi, get up that mountain pronto and give us the lowdown NOW!!!!!
We have been waitin, arguin, waitin, arguin, waitin and arguin some more, but mainly waitin, so you have to fight through ya pain for the good of the crew on this beloved site!!!!!
Just remember, there is no “i” in “Boardworld”!!!!! But there is one in “Yamaguchi”!!!!! (Plus its at the end for some unknown reason, but I’m sure its some sort of an omen)
Finney is testing 2013 YES boards and Now bindings as I type this.
Amine is organising some demo stuff for me next week anyway. I will be testing the bindings for sure.
Yeap, had a great day today with tonnes of demo gear on the hill.
Marc and I shot straight to the YES tent which was grouped with NOW bindings and both picked out a board each and had them setup with the NOW bindings.
I rode The Public 151 and marc grabbed the 156 Greats and we both had the medium stiffness NOW bindings put on the boards.
We got a few laps in on the boards and have got to say that the NOW bindings were great. We were riding the prototypes so they will change a bit before they go into mass production. The main thing that will change is the width of the heel cup - at present they are really tight and you almost have to wedge your heel into them. Initially we were a bit put off by this but after a few turns I was almost loving the fact that they were tight as they were super responsive.
We were both a but pessimistic after looking into the bindings on paper as to how much give there would be but honestly the medium stiffness has them feeling just like any other binding.
I’ll let Marc throw in his feedback as he also rode switchback bindings aswell which are another new binding causing a lot of talk around town at the moment.
Heres a photo of the two boards all setup and if you look at the 2nd pic you’ll notice the new asym shape of the Greats board.
151 The Public / 156 The Greats
f*#k i love the look of the greats!
Hey so yeah, where do i start.
Myself and finney headed up today to the demo day here on whistler where i gotta try out the new 2013 Yes boards and also a set of now bindings, as well as the new switchback bindings.
Now with all the hype/press/feedback coming outta the World Wide Web i had alot of pre-existing thoughts on what these things were gonna ride like. I had previously made up my mind that the now bindings were not for me and that i was dead set on the switchbacks.
Oh how a demo day can change my world upsidedown
Ill start with the switchbacks, i am loving the idea of changing the straps/highbacks/baseplates and customization to what works with you and what looks good for you. I loved their ideas of no bolts, so not screws to come undone and leave u stranded on the mountain. But now comes to the change of my mind. Rode the switchbacks on a battaleon which is what all the pros have been combining the switchbacks with. I havent really been super keen on battaleons, found it having to adjust my riding to suit the board not the board riding to how i ride. Firstly they hooked me up with a size medium straps, which is all they had, the straps were super rigid and didnt mold to my boots like i find most bindings do, the straps kept their solid shape and my boot was forced to squeeze into them, which was a major turn off and forced my boots to fold put pressure on my feet. Then comes the highback, their system for this is like a pin/lock system and the highbacks didnt seem to be solid, not to the point where it felt comfortable and without any highback lean adjustment(apparently its an upgrade form the base model) it felt like i was washing out at any and all opportunities. Then we get to the base plate, this is probably gonna be another major turn off, they just didnt not fit my boots, where the toes strap comes outta the base plate this area was not wide enough for my DC boots. My DC boots are only a size 11 which is not oversize but not undersize i’d say its pretty common size, and i had my dc park boots on today which are supposed to be a whole boot foot print size smaller. But strapping in i found that both sides of my boots were sitting lifted on the edges inside the bindings causing a lot of awkwardness and combind with the unforgiving solid toe strap made me do only one run before handing it back to the demo staff and saying “these are not for me”. This is my own personal opinion and they felt like they probably would kill it riding rails and hitting the park, but thats not my riding style, my riding tends to be more “all” mountain and probably only 10-20% of my riding is park.
Now (no pun intended) onto the NOW bindings. Prior impressions to riding with all the tech news and hype about the swivel/hinge system, i thought those things are gonna wash out and be unresponsive, and that their construction would be a bit flimsy. But upon picking up the new Greats 156 Yes combined with a size Medium NOW bindings. This would probably be the best test as my current Yes is based on the greats just different graphics. First strapping in the bindings are very tight in the ankles, the straps had to be adjusted easily with their quick change clips, it may have been slightly on the edge of the settings but thats expected riding a medium(7-10) size bindings with size 11 boots. We started our run down upper whiskey jack which was still fairly icey and hard with a few of the icey grooming still in it. The bindings felt really responsive and not at all lacking with the reaction, but at the same time the cushioning felt like it was actually absorbing the chatter from the icey groomer, it wasnt shattering through the board as much as i usually would get off my K2 bindings. Doing a few of my usual of the toes 180s the bindings felt like the bindings were almost assisting to push my pop a little higher than usual. Almost as if the hinge was loading up and letting loose once i was popping off the ground. So one lap down and i was convinced that the now’s were for me, but a few more laps and then a change of board to finneys 151 Public Yes he was demoing, and i got the same great feel and the same response outta the 151 as i was feeling with the 156 Greats.
In the end i’d say that my personal call is to get my hands on a set of NOW bindings. They seemed a lot more all mountain, more like i can ride them from the park to the steep shots off whistler’s peak chair and not have to adjust my riding/settings/board. After talking to JF (who was working in the demo tent) he told us that these were only the prototypes still, their shipment will be instore in sept in whistler. JF also asked us what negative things finney and i found with them, and we reluctantly said that the only turn off was the heel cup being slightly tight, JF said that yeah they had found that with certain types of boots/size and that with the final production will be 4mm wider in the heel, and that they also have another binding with a softer flex pads, but unfortunately were out being demoed by someone else.
The switchbacks feel alot more park orientated and could work better on a possible park/street/thrash board, but for me they didnt work for what or how i wanted them and this got me down cause i was so set on switchbacks prior to demoing them.