Snowboard toe strap placement / A solution to think about!

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Video description / background:
Where should I place my snowboard binding toe strap? Over the toes or as a cap strap? The cap strap is always sliding off and doesn't fit my boot's shape properly....
All these issues are unnecessary! Just keep it old school!!

00:00 Invitation to a discussion
00:57 Cap Strap vs. Over The Toe Strap
03:35 „Cap straps pull the boots into the heel cup!“?
06:00 Which strap to close first?
06:20 How to step into a snowboard binding
06:50 Intelligent boot design
08:00 Friction to be overcome
08:35 Why over the toe?
09:52 Flex hinge and convenience
10:54 The greatest downside of step in convenience
12:33 Solving a problem that didn’t exist and creating four new ones
14:15 Adding to boot length
15:20 Pain from the toe strap / bad boot design
16:30 Be nice and comment!

[nickschneider]

Totally looking forward to a boot rant.

[frankstringfellow]

I shared the design office with the binding designer at Tech Nine when the toe caps came out. I engineered the boards and was always arguing how the toe caps were a waste of time and were useless. Especially because the toe caps back then were using too much excess materials, so it added so much more length past the boots. I would show them the way it hung over when the board was tilted over and how it would drag on the ground or could even kick you off your edge when going up a half pipe. They got what I was saying but the buyers wanted that junk and now it's all there is. I kept a stack of the supposed "low end" straps that were made for my bindings and made my own custom ones in the sample room. The other good part of the over the top strap is the lateral movement, bending my knee inwards was easier for grabs. Great topic. Binding companies should really offer both.

[mattabell]

Both hold your toes down, both can have compatibility issues with boots. Neither is going to change your riding significantly. To ensure fit, take your boots to the shop when you buy bindings.

[leotigano]

The force when toe cap is over the toes does actually pull down and backwards. The diagonal force when positioned over the toes is composed of a horizontal force (towards highback) and perpendicular force (downwards).
Therefore, technically it does help to pull boots backwards, however is a small force as it is just a component of the force depending on the angle of the strap. 🙃

[powsnob]

I like what Rome did with the toe caps. They don’t flop over and they pull straight up with the extra strapping.

[martinbailly]

Well, once again you make total sense ! The force vector applied to the binding are in line with your logic. Sorry no arguments from me. I ride the Now Drive and I do put the toe strap on the front of my boot on my front foot, but on top of my boot on my back foot to reduce drag on the snow ! ( size 12 Ride Insano, F: +27, B: +9 ) .

[jogyodr]

toe caps are for comfort, not for performance. thats why i always ride them, thats why i always liked em. as for a "step in convenience" its also great, not all of us are so clumsy that would stand on the straps all the time :) its not that those problems didnt exist its just that they made some things easier..

on the other hand, there is one BIG problem with all new/expensive burton bindings.. and that is double take buckles (and ladder with teeth on both sides), which is often filled in with fresh snow esp. in low temp and very dry snow.. and then the buckle can jam and you cannot take your boot out. that was a real "fixing a problem that does not exist".

[SnakebitSTI]

I've had combos of very stiff boots and lots of forward lean where I couldn't get my heels back in the bindings without the assistance of straps, and the heel strap couldn't reach the ratchet. So in that case, closing the toe strap over the edge of the boot did help seat my boots back far enough to close the heel strap. But in most cases I'd agree with you that the toe strap doesn't need to hold your boots back, just down.

That said, no plastic strap will ever transfer force as effectively as steel bails. Plate bindings best bindings! Bring on the boot rants!

[dlabmobiledetailing]

I put Rome Aux toe straps on my Drive Pros. I really didn’t like the stock ones at all. They wouldn’t stay on my foot and were too bulky. Rome Aux straps are my favorites. They form to the boot so well and are very low profile. I wear mine 80% over the top of my toes and just a bit over the cap. Your logic does make total sense having it over the toe and especially the leverage on heelsides. I just really love the feel of the Rome straps this way.

[martinseanhunt]

I literally couldn't agree more with this. Mine are always slipping off the front of my boot from dragging in the snow while carving, it genuinely drives me crazy. I would say at least 60% of my runs they've slipped off by the time I reach the chairlift. I don't even have a great deal of overhang, they just seem to catch on any patches of variable terrain. You just gave me the push I needed to buy some OTT straps for my bataleon atoms, thanks Lars!

P.s. I also had a pair of Drives last season and the floppy straps are indeed more trouble than they're worth. The worst is if the toe strap manages to get underneath the board as you're getting off the lift!

[jo.b]

This! The leverage gain was a game changer for me. It seems subtle, but once I moved back to OTT my carving stepped up a level. One can really feel the difference. Add to that the toe drag issue, and it's just a no brainer. I have almost the same binding setup (Now ODrive, and OTT straps)

[_tom_p]

Started riding in 89 and agree with your gripes. Getting the toe caps to fit correctly take forever to get just right on a new set of bindings or boots.

Regarding the floppy straps, I've found that pushing the highback down over the straps tends to keep them in place in the lift line. I agree, it's a stupid design that solves a non issue.

Thanks for the heads up on the Burton OTB straps!

[gboates]

On a twin tip kiteboard I use my curled up toes to lever down my heals but on a snowboard I am standing on the ball of my feet to drive a toe side and pretty much stand on my heels when I switch edges at speed. For a lip slide style side hit I do lever off my toe to modulate the pressure on the heel but it is a gross action not a subtle one - the front strap over the top of the toes may be necessary for the tentative riders (as opposed to aggressive riders) but I switch weighting very quickly so doubt I will notice a difference - will pay more attention this season and even try a run with front straps looser and tighter/ over and front capped. I enjoy your fun posts...

[evsportsman]

Great point about the floppy straps when getting off a lift!

[jolyolivier]

Thanks for your good videos. I started to ride in1993. Was a true pleasure to cruize on snow with soft boots. But during years and years i often have a pain on feet particularly on long heelside "traversées". I felt oblige to apply a lot of pression on toe strat and thats squeeze m'y feet. I change several Times boots and bindings and it was Always the same...And last season After 20 years of riding i changed for unions with cap straps, keeping my k2 boots. And no more pain with same control. My opinion is that cap strap apply pressure on the most solid part of the boot ( even for bad boots) so cap strap can compensate a bad boot design or at least a bad boot fitting with toes flyi g in the boot. But fully agree with you regarding the drawbacks particularly on chairlifts.

[casey]

It dawned on me last year to give this a go and I haven't looked back. I do ride the Ride Fuse(same toe cap & heel spine as you) though, so maybe thats why it works so well for me as well. I wanna add that I ride Union & their toe straps still work pretty well over the top. I noticed Arthur Longo switched back to over the top as well & he rides Union. I swear that I read somewhere that union tried to make a toe strap that works for both ways. Another thing you didn't complain about is that when worn over the front of the toe, the excess ladder(especially the toe side) length dig into the snow on carves when in soft snow or slush.

[brohammer]

I think you're 100% right on this about the toe cap

[LeftCat]

Thanks to you I’m going to try over the toe set up this weekend. I was super into toe caps when they first came out but I’ve found that my back foot toe cap strap often rides up. It’s happened with many different combinations of boots and bindings.

[vitodamianofabellini]

I agree with you on this one, each and every time I go carving hard, my back foot's toe ratchet gets clogged with snow because it sticks out and collects snow. So many times I had to hit it hard or free it from conpressed snow to unstrap and get back to the lifts. I hope those OTT straps are still available around

[meldmachine]

All good points. For me I started using the toe cap style back in the day mainly because with the strap over my toes, it would squash my toes, as back then I had much softer boots. It was much more comfortable to have them away from my toes and digging into the toe cap.