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cwj 
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Post subject: Review: SP core bindings
 Posted: Jul 03, 2011 - 11:11 AM
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First post: Nov 13, 2010
Total posts: 740
Location: Glasgow-ish
Status: Offline
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2011 model, £170rrp £155 is what I got them for, now they are about £120.
Before I got them I tried to look for some reviews on them, not many around just a few videos showing how they work is all so I hope this sheds a little light on what they are like in practise. It was between these and the Apo bindings which are pretty hard to find in the UK, not many places sell them so it was these, the brotherhoods or gnu mutant which looks scary. I was not too fussed about an asymmetric high back so saved some cash for beer money and got the cores.
I waited until I could ride these a bit before doing this review. Had them for 6 months now for a week abroad and maybe 15 indoor sessions.
Setup is easy enough and adjustment when you are on the slope or whatever is pretty easy but the little clasps and ratchets are not the most stable, all plastic tending to free up or drop click or two. They are nice and light, good base to them and the fastec is a nice touch, it doesn't always release when you push down on it but it is a good system to use when you are getting in and out.
The foam footbed is a bit of a pain because it is porous so it grabs snow which builds up and goes solid fast so as much as it would save you time being rear entry you do often still need to lean down and scrape some ice off, I feel rubber would be better for this. The plastic high back is very playful, it is certainly a binding for people who want to jump about boxes and junk but still handled well on and off piste. The disc is one of the universal jobbies, made entirely of metal which does often cause problems with how the washers sit, they are tight enough one time but then they loosen up enough to slide back and forth- luckily this never happend anywhere but indoors. This was probably down to my own fault of not wanting to overtighten the screws and mess up the board, but they were still pretty tight when I did them in the first place doing opposite screws tightening little by little until they are all snug.
On a steep powdery hill, you look like a tool on your knees facing the mountain as you kick your foot in, everyone else can comfortably sit down and buckle in but for these rear entry binding's it's just not possible. When you get in, the toe snugly pushes your foot back and the heel strap doesn't pinch even if you wear it quite tight. More than once however the strap shifted and was across my foot rather than around my toe, which is not ideal but pushing it down again doesn't take long it's just hassle- maybe it was just my boots being squishy.
About a month ago one of the toe strap buckles broke,
it ripped the plastic pretty good just from popping off an indoor kicker, maybe I landed funny or maybe it was too tight or too loose, I dunno. I e-mailed SP and was told to send a picture of the break so they could send me a new part, which arrived a little under 4 weeks later which is a long time to ride just a heel strap on your back foot but whatever, it came from Slovakia with €1.90 worth of stamps on it. They gave me a left and right one which is pretty cool to have a spare.
Pros - Comfy, lightweight, quick.
Cons - Not ideal off piste, plastic doesn't seem too sturdy, discs are not foolproof enough.
Would I recommend SP core bindings? No. They are good enough but I am sure there is something better out there, maybe rear entry just isn't for me. |
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tomfc
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Post subject: Re: Review: SP core bindings
Posted: Jul 03, 2011 - 03:09 PM
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First post: May 08, 2011
Total posts: 87
Status: Offline
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An interesting review, i brought the same SP core binginds (even the same colour) at the beginning of my season in Austria.
I have ridden them for well over 60 days.
I mainly rode them in the park or off piste.
cwj wrote:
Setup is easy enough and adjustment when you are on the slope or whatever is pretty easy but the little clasps and ratchets are not the most stable, all plastic tending to free up or drop click or two.
Personally i didnt experience this once, where as previous years with other bindings (Rome 390, flow m9, etc...) i have had straps regularly breaking or coming loose.
The foam footbed is a bit of a pain because it is porous so it grabs snow which builds up and goes solid fast so as much as it would save you time being rear entry you do often still need to lean down and scrape some ice off, I feel rubber would be better for this.
Again i didnt find this happen to me very often, well nowhere near as bad as most other bindings
The disc is one of the universal jobbies, made entirely of metal which does often cause problems with how the washers sit, they are tight enough one time but then they loosen up enough to slide back and forth- luckily this never happend anywhere but indoors. This was probably down to my own fault of not wanting to overtighten the screws and mess up the board, but they were still pretty tight when I did them in the first place doing opposite screws tightening little by little until they are all snug.
I would guess this was just down to you not doing them up tight enough, i didnt have any bolts one the whole binding come loose the whole season
On a steep powdery hill, you look like a tool on your knees facing the mountain as you kick your foot in, everyone else can comfortably sit down and buckle in but for these rear entry binding's it's just not possible.
This is the same with all rear entry bindings, and if anything these are better than most as the main strap pops open to give more room.
More than once however the strap shifted and was across my foot rather than around my toe, which is not ideal but pushing it down again doesn't take long it's just hassle- maybe it was just my boots being squishy.
This did also happen with me, but i did find it was only when it wasnt positioned correctly when putting your foot in...
Overall for a rear entry binding i did find it very good.
Pros: Lightweight, flexibly high back, Quick to get in and out of, take abuse without breaking.
Cons: the top strap that release when the highback is pushed down starts to become worn over time and you have to wiggle your boot for it to click free.
Would i buy them again? Probably not only due to the fact im wanting some ratchet bindings.
Would i recommend them to someone else? Yes, if someone is after a rear entry binding then these are a very good option, as they give the support of a ratchet binding but the speed of a rear entry binding. |
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cwj
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Post subject: RE: Re: Review: SP core bindings
Posted: Jul 03, 2011 - 10:59 PM
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First post: Nov 13, 2010
Total posts: 740
Location: Glasgow-ish
Status: Offline
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The bolts coming loose only happened once indoors for me, but like I said it was my own fault and I feel plastic discs or ones with individual holes are a little more foolproof. On a steep hill I was meaning you cannot use them like normal bindings with ratchets like you could with cinches or apo bindings.
Would have liked to read what you have to say before buying them, but like I said there is not much in the way of user reviews as far as I could find, would agree fully about the worn heelstrap statement too. |
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exile
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Post subject: RE: Re: Review: SP core bindings
Posted: Aug 16, 2011 - 07:57 AM
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First post: Mar 16, 2005
Total posts: 238
Location: emmerdement
Status: Offline
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| Does anyone know if you can get discs to fit these bindings to a Burton board? the discs that came with it have the two straight lines of holes and can't be lined up with any more than one of the holes on my board. (bought them off a pal) |
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Johnoefc
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Post subject: RE: Re: Review: SP core bindings
Posted: Aug 21, 2011 - 12:16 PM
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First post: May 14, 2011
Total posts: 98
Status: Offline
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| You can get converter discs. |
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cwj
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Post subject: RE: Re: Review: SP core bindings
Posted: Jan 22, 2012 - 06:51 PM
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First post: Nov 13, 2010
Total posts: 740
Location: Glasgow-ish
Status: Offline
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F*ck these bindings man, just broke the toe strap again but a different part so I never had a spare. Half a day without it until I got to a snowboard shop that stocked gnu bindings and they sold me a spare for 5 euros, fair enough but it was from a girls model so it's a fair bit smaller, works fine mind you. One place that had SP bindings said it was their first season stocking them and they had no spares so I thanked them for their time and left, however I kept my mouth shut about there being spares in the box when my gf bought her SP Loca's. I did get a cloes up look of this seasons bindings and all that looked different was the toe strap now has a little rubber skirt at the bottom, most likely to help stop slippage. I hope they beefed up the durability of it too.
The toe straps just seem super flimsy, it's the plastic that doglegs so pressure gets put on it in a seemingly akward way, hinged at the bottom but gets pushed forward.
My other gripe was the base plates slipping last holiday and at the start of this season, never had a problem with that at all last week. A proper phillips No.3 screwdriver helps a lot it seems. |
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tangers
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Post subject:
Posted: Feb 11, 2012 - 11:52 AM
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First post: Feb 02, 2010
Total posts: 5
Status: Offline
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I just got back from a week in France and rode the 2012 version of the core bindings.
Before these I had some Ride bindings and then Salomon Relay Pros.
I purchased these for mainly Snowdome use but though I'd give them a go on the mountain.
I must say I'm impressed and will probably stick with them. I rode them on and off piste for the week.
No problems with the heal strap you can get it nice and tight. the toe strap did slip slightly on occasion but I find that will all toe cap type straps (and it did't bother me enough for me to try and get the fit tighter)
After a couple of days I found that I preferred to face the mountain, board up on the toe edge, put my right hand down on the slope (I ride goofy), kick my boot into the binding and use my left to secure the binding. It was the quickest way, the board doesn't slide about and it gets your boot right to the front of the binding. I could get my boot in and get going in less than 5 seconds no matter what type of slope I was on.
On the down side the ratchets do look a little flimsy and so I wouldn't be tempted to fiddle with them all the time but I've had no problems.
I hope that helps anyone considering these. |
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bong69uk
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Post subject:
Posted: Mar 08, 2012 - 07:42 AM
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First post: Nov 27, 2007
Total posts: 618
Location: edinburgh,scotland.
Status: Offline
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Interesting Read this, im about to buy a set of the 2012 Gnu choices,which are the equiv to the Brotherhoods. Hope i dont get any breakages then.
However,just a quick note to those who mentioned the Flexy highbacks, the SP cores are focused mostly on Freestyle (the Gnu ones are named Park) , so i would expect them to be flexy, Maybe the brotherhoods would have been a better choice if you wanted less flex? just a thought. |
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tangers
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Post subject:
Posted: Mar 08, 2012 - 09:18 AM
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First post: Feb 02, 2010
Total posts: 5
Status: Offline
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| @bong69uk - All the Fastec apart from the Mountain are freestyle focused. I did look at the Brotherhoods however they were quite a bit more money than the Cores. It could be that theyre stiffer but the only differences I can see are the highback being Asymetric, rotating and having tooless lean adjustment. |
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bong69uk
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Post subject:
Posted: Mar 11, 2012 - 05:30 AM
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First post: Nov 27, 2007
Total posts: 618
Location: edinburgh,scotland.
Status: Offline
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| If the SP Brotherhoods are the same as the Gnu choices (i was told they were but that could be inaccurate,however they look identical) then the Gnu choices are dubbed as high performance all mountain freestyle bindings, with the balance swaying towards all mountian though, they have a flex rating of 8, where the Gnu parks(sp cores) have a flex rating of 7 and are dubbed as park bindings, i reckon however that there is more of a difference than just the 1 in the flex. |
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paulmc
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Post subject: SP DISCS
Posted: Jun 21, 2012 - 10:03 AM
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First post: Oct 13, 2004
Total posts: 191
Status: Offline
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| If the binding discs you have come with two channels, all you need to do is rotate them 90 degrees. They will then fit the Burton 3 hole insert pattern. You will lose the ability to push the bindings closer or further from the edge of the board but you gain the ability to slide them closer or further from the front or back of the board. |
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Rome | Union Bindings | Never Summer | Flow Bindings | Endeavour
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Pseudonym
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Post subject: Suffered the same problem
Posted: Sep 24, 2012 - 02:30 PM
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First post: Sep 24, 2012
Total posts: 2
Status: Offline
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I bought the 2012 SP Teams- in the smurf colour way I guess.
I'm sorry to report I've suffered many of the same problems. On day 2 of usage, the teeth in the ladder rack started slipping, causing my foot to be loose, and ultimately the quick release to sping open. For the rest of the usage it kept happening.
So much so view lost faith in these bindings. Sure the faster in out is great, but not good enough to keep the straps tight with the ratchets or the teeth heigh on the ladder rack.
I'm hoping I can get this resolved or kiss goodbye to 234quid.
Lets hope the good guys over at Absolute Snow can get this resolved by SP.
In my opinion, the teeth need to be deeper and the ratchets more sturdy like the SLAB series for these bindings to really work... If not I'll Be going back to "traditional" ratchets.
P. |
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