Any binding these days that doesn’t come with ratchet bindings on the instep straps is not worth buying.

By Paul Oberin

Setting up the bindings correctly on your snowboard will noticeably improve the performance of your board.

A few points that may make a difference are:

• Unless your board has recommended setting for the placement for the bindings they should be a distance apart from each other center to center, the same distance as the height of the center of your knee cap to the floor.
• The mid point in between the two bindings should be around 25mm back towards the tail from the center of the board.
• The angles that the base plate rotates vary depending on riding style.

Most new riders start of at around 3 to 5 degrees at the back foot and around 15 to 20 degrees at the front. Most bindings have a left and right foot and the way to tell is the adjusting clips are always on the outside of the stance, that is the right foot will have the clips to the right of the boot and the left will have the clips to the left of the boot.

The high back is the least adjusted part on the binding, which is a pity. By rotating the high back so the top of the high back is as close to parallel to the back edge of the board that you can get, will give better heel side edge control. By adjusting your high back as far forward as your fitness will allow you will improve your overall performance as your center of gravity will be lower, your knees bent more and edge control much greater.

Most bindings allow forward and backward movement of the bindings, these adjustments should be used to center your boot over the width of the board to eliminate heel or toe contact with the snow when edging.

A rubber pad on the base plates of better bindings will prevent the boot moving forward when doing heel side turns.

A spoiler on the front of the base plate gives better edge pressure on the toe side edge.

Any binding these days that doesn’t come with ratchet bindings on the instep straps is not worth buying, this instep strap should also have a wide pressure distribution pad to prevent cutting off the blood circulation.

Visit Paul's Web site www.paulski.com.au