Freestyle Gear Safety First!!

[zealos1]

After observing plenty of freestyle skiboarders doing tricks (online videos) I noticed that the preferred bindings used are non-release bindings. I have just transitioned into using non-release after using release bindings for a few years and getting tired of my skiboard flying out when I land a big jump. Problem is that once I started using them, I lost confidence in doing anything crazy knowing that my feet and ankles will be locked into whatever bone breaking position I land into. So far, I've had some really bad spills but haven't had anything serious happen to me.

So my questions goes out to any veteran freestyle skiboarders.
1. Do you prefer non-release bindings?
2. Have you or anyone you know suffered any serious leg injury from using non-release bindings.
3. What skiboard setup (board, boots, and bindings) do you have that you prefer to use doing freestyle (I'm looking into getting better gear myself).

It would be a great help if you could answer these. I'm probably the only skiboarder around my area thats into freestyling. My other buddies are skiers telling me I'm crazy using non-release bindings and I'm starting to believe them .

[kirk]

1. Do you prefer non-release bindings?

Definitely. I grew up riding them, so I am extremely comfortable on them. I've never felt my knees to be at risk in the park, but I'm also good at falling, and I don't do things that would put my body in unnecessary risky situations. That said, if you are nervous and it is on your mind, you should probably just ride release and crank down the DIN so they don't pop off unless things get really bad.


2. Have you or anyone you know suffered any serious leg injury from using non-release bindings.

In the 15 years I've rode, I only know one person who had a leg injury in the park. This was Johnny W at the Wachusett Triple Challenge years ago. I don't know anyone who has had a leg injury on release in the park, but this is also biased because virtually all park riders use non-release.


3. What skiboard setup (board, boots, and bindings) do you have that you prefer to use doing freestyle (I'm looking into getting better gear myself).

How big are you and what features do you hit? The Blunts are my favorite on rails and what I would recommend to most people, but I like my KTPs better when the jumps start to get bigger (>25'). The stiffness makes them more stable on larger landings. I'm biased towards shorter boards because I love the skate-like feeling in the park.

I also ride RVL8 receptors and keep them really tight to eliminate any sloppiness.

[Davelynam]

if you're in the park, non-release bindings are a necessity. and KTP hit the nail on the head when he said that you have to know how to fall. you have to just learn how to slide out. any twisting or rolling will most likely end in some type of injury. aside from Johnny, my brother Adam broke his ankle hitting an urban style rail. his skiboard got stuck in the inside of the rail and his ankle gave.
and for your reference, I ride the DLPs and love the added length for forward and aft stability in landings while still keeping the feel of a skiboard. My boots are salomon spks, but I've risen in plenty of non-freestyle boots that worked just fine. while looking for new boots, just post a couple brands/models on here and we can tell you whether they are good enough. in general, just look for all-mountain/freestyle/freeride.

[jackschmid]

Dont think im crazy, but when it gets to extreme cold temperatures i SWEAR my boot shrinks in the cold causing my bindings to be loose. And trying to find a solution to making my boots fit because my screws were iced over i came up with the idea of this.



I put a piece of cloth (half a sock) in between my binding toe piece and my boot, when doing this i noticed the binding does in fact release in SOME bad situations as long as the cloth isnt a frozen ice chunk.

Now i always set my bindings a little loose and put a sock in them. yet i have still hurt my ankle before due to my foot getting stuck in a rut on a huge jump.

however i also agree with Kirk saying its all about how you fall to avoid an injury and a silly sock most likely will not do anything.

be careful of rails without a board underneath them and huge ruts on jump landings to avoid ankle injury.

have fun and be safe out there!

[shortydude]

I had a major leg injury from using release bindings during a NASTAR run. One set of gates were set real close and I blew timing the gate and rather than skiing on off the course I kept trying to make it and was turning real hard when it felt like I hit a little bump and when I put my foot back down there was no ski there. The force released the binding. It was like stepping out of a car at 60mph and the compression force was strong enough to cleanly snap both bones at the boot cuff and make the ends side slip past each other about 4" with the upper set of bones being driven down into my ankle. The only thing that kept it from being a total compound fracture was the ski boot kept the bones inside the meat sack.

I still have the rod and pins in my leg which makes an excellent weather forecasting tool and hot tub war wound story.

I guess my point is that there's drawbacks to releasable bindings too.

[zealos1]

Thanks for the quick response guys! You all pretty much restored my confidence in hitting the park.

Guys, good advice learning to fall. I have been using release bindings for the longest time and never had to worry about falling the right way. When I first tried non-release I twisted my knee falling the wrong way (good thing nothing serious). After that, I sacrificed an hour (on top of a few aches and bruises) learning to fall the right way simulating possible crashes. I found that keeping the legs in air and away from ground after the fall would prevent from tangling and twisting, after that everything else came trial and error. It looks like anything that may catch your board such as pickets in between unboxed rails or ruts mentioned by jackshmid I need to stay away from.

kirk - I'm 5'8 and prefer jumps, but I do try rails. I currently use Revolts. The KTPs you mentioned for big jumps. Do you prefer them for approaching speed? or for smoother landings?
jackshmid - LOL at your improvised binding support. I noticed that you used Full Tilt boots in the picture. I was thinking about getting those. How do they perform with skiboards?
shortydude - your war story will forever haunt me......... May we never meet in a hot tub. I'm only glad that you were using Release bindings . Were you using skiis when this happened? or skiboards?

[shortydude]

shortydude - your war story will forever haunt me......... May we never meet in a hot tub. I'm only glad that you were using Release bindings . Were you using skiis when this happened? or skiboards?

I was on 190 something K2-Four's (great skis at the time). The problem was the DIN's didn't go high enough for what I was doing.

[bhd1223]

The Blunts are that good Kirk? I thought they sounded neat due to the shortness and still ability to ride basically anywhere. I like the idea of shorter with my ice skating background, I think the new KTPs might be close the my length limit.

I have no intention to hijack the thread but this title seems perfectly fitting. For those of you with a lot of freestyle experience, do you prefer the boots "designed" for this which incorporate some "cushion" for landing and in general maybe not cause the shin pain "normal" boots might. Having jumped to this from snowboarding last year I'm on my first pair of ski boots. I was fitted for them and they've been great, I just notice as I'm now hitting jumps and boxes and working on backwards I end the day with sore shins. I'm currently on Tecnica Phoenix Max 8s which seem like a mid road boot at the intermediate level, maybe a bit more flex than most. I've been considering picking up something more freestyle oriented next year if they actually make a difference. It just seems like there's a lot of impact and I'm only hitting small jumps.

Thanks!

[kirk]

kirk - I'm 5'8 and prefer jumps, but I do try rails. I currently use Revolts. The KTPs you mentioned for big jumps. Do you prefer them for approaching speed? or for smoother landings?

It is a little bit of both. If snow conditions are good, the Blunts carry enough speed for all the jumps I've hit. When conditions are crappier, the KTPs seem to give a bit more speed. I mainly choose the KTPs for the extra stability on landings. If the jump is < 20' take off to landing, there really isn't much difference at all.

[kirk]

The Blunts are that good Kirk? I thought they sounded neat due to the shortness and still ability to ride basically anywhere. I like the idea of shorter with my ice skating background, I think the new KTPs might be close the my length limit.

Yeah, I love them. The KTPs are as long as I go, and the Blunts are a great size. The only trouble I've had on the Blunts has been the softer flex, but as my riding has adjusted to it, I have noticed it less and less. They're pretty much the most fun skiboards around in my opinion.

[Roussel]

Fact is, you are more likely to blow out your knees using skis and releasable bindings than suffer a leg injury because of non-releasables on skiboards.

French study the alps done when skiboards were selling like hot cakes 10ish years ago.

[jasonstevens21]

Fact is, you are more likely to blow out your knees using skis and releasable bindings than suffer a leg injury because of non-releasables on skiboards.

French study the alps done when skiboards were selling like hot cakes 10ish years ago.

Never trust those frenchies :P