Preorder on Karakoram 2011-2012 Bindings

DrownedRat · **Posted:** Mon Aug 01, 2011 6:27 pm

PedroDelfuego wrote:

Consider a hypothetical situation where Company A and Company B have very cool, similar competing products. Only that Company B delivers on time (or early). Which would you carry? Retailer loyalty is more import than WE schmucks on the internet buying 1 at a time items, and could potentially help a company through a hard time or a hard couple of seasons.

The only way to get Karakoram bindings is directly from the manufacturer, no retailers are involved, so your situation doesn't apply here. I like the fact they are being realistic about their production abilities. Much better to know up front how long the wait is so you can choose to go another way or buy them and wait.

At this point they don't seem to be having any problems selling everything they can produce, heck, they even sell out their pre-orders. Smart businesses start small to see the demand before doing major capital investments.

tiltedworld · **Posted:** Mon Aug 01, 2011 9:45 pm

If their aim is to remain a niche player that is fine, but I'd expect they'd want to make this their full-time gig.

The do have retailers, at least starting to, as it says as much on their FB page. They have plenty of industry contacts, given their relationship with Jones and Mervin to start. it's more of a matter of having the capital to reinvest in the business, for raw materials, tooling and most importantly manpower.

I do think it's reasonable to assume that a lot of potential customers will be more interested in the 2nd gen desig. Making it a limited production (how many units?) seems to be counterproductive to growing the business.

The other thing that investing in ramping the business does is reduce both cost of capital and cost of manufacturing on a per unit basis. This will become important as volumes grow, because unit price will become an issue. They are already very pricey, the $L's more so. How do you grow volumes if the price grows incrementally from generation to generation when you're already at the top of the market?

Pedro's right, a shit-ton of cool products don't last long on the market because of things a lot less than delivery timing.

I have supported and will support again in the future. The whole system is very slick. If one minor issue was sorted, I'd be on them again next season. But its not, at least today, so I'll be on something else for 11-12.

AZsnowsurfer · **Joined:** Tue Aug 09, 2011 1:57 pm **Posts:** 10

I was looking to preorder the SL version, but it looks like
They won't be available for a while, does anyone know if just the weight and materials are the difference between the SL and standard model? Are the highbacks very stiff on the standard? Doesn't look like they are carbon fiber. Does the standard have the same negative forward lean options? Is there any word on when the SL model will will be available for preorder again?

tiltedworld · **Posted:** Thu Aug 11, 2011 3:03 pm

AZsnowsurfer wrote:

I was looking to preorder the SL version, but it looks like
They won't be available for a while, does anyone know if just the weight and materials are the difference between the SL and standard model? Are the highbacks very stiff on the standard? Doesn't look like they are carbon fiber. Does the standard have the same negative forward lean options? Is there any word on when the SL model will will be available for preorder again?

Standard highbacks are not carbon and still quite stiff. No negative lean option as the SL as the mechanism is different.

Nachoconqueso · **Posted:** Sat Aug 13, 2011 11:40 am

AZsnowsurfer wrote:

I was looking to preorder the SL version, but it looks like
They won't be available for a while, does anyone know if just the weight and materials are the difference between the SL and standard model? Are the highbacks very stiff on the standard? Doesn't look like they are carbon fiber. Does the standard have the same negative forward lean options? Is there any word on when the SL model will will be available for preorder again?

If I was looking to get the SL's then I would stay tuned to their Facebook page. They've been giving little updates here and there on it. Also, I'd look to contact them at the beginning of October as they'll be getting closer to shipping the SL's and they might have a better idea of what they're doing for the rest of the season. I was fortunate to have the money laying around when they first did preorders.

IrishGav · **Posted:** Tue Aug 23, 2011 10:59 am

I am trying to decide now whether to pre order a pair of Split30 or just wait it out and hopefully the boys will have more Split30SL available for this season :scratch:

wjb · **Joined:** Thu Feb 17, 2011 2:12 pm **Posts:** 98

Got email conformation that Karakoram just sent me a package! Hmmm... is winter coming early this year??

Nachoconqueso · **Posted:** Fri Sep 16, 2011 3:51 pm

wjb wrote:

Got email conformation that Karakoram just sent me a package! Hmmm... is winter coming early this year??

SL's????

Freighttrain48 · **Posted:** Fri Sep 16, 2011 8:46 pm

Mine Showed up today I got the email on monday and I live on the opposite side of the country. the are split30s not sl's. must say they are pretty damn sweet!

wjb · **Joined:** Thu Feb 17, 2011 2:12 pm **Posts:** 98

Yea just the standard split 30's. Solved the difference in weight by losing 8 lbs over the summer :mrgreen:

Freighttrain48 · **Posted:** Sat Sep 17, 2011 7:08 am

wjb wrote:

Yea just the standard split 30's. Solved the difference in weight by losing 8 lbs over the summer :mrgreen:

I dont understand what the fuss over the sl's are they weigh 6oz lighter after talking with tyler and bryce i went with the split30s, I didnt see the benifit vs the extra money

Nachoconqueso · **Posted:** Sat Sep 17, 2011 11:02 am

Freighttrain48 wrote:

wjb wrote:

Yea just the standard split 30's. Solved the difference in weight by losing 8 lbs over the summer :mrgreen:

I dont understand what the fuss over the sl's are they weigh 6oz lighter after talking with tyler and bryce i went with the split30s, I didnt see the benifit vs the extra money

Who's making fuss? It makes sense for some people to go with the reggies, but if you're a guy who's going the distance then it's never a bad thing to cut weight out where you can. If I can go light for every single piece of my gear then I might be saving a few lbs overall. Sleeping bags, tents, cooking, tools, etc...I'd love to be able to chop off 20% of all that weight.

Freighttrain48 · **Posted:** Sat Sep 17, 2011 12:25 pm

[/quote]

Who's making fuss? It makes sense for some people to go with the reggies, but if you're a guy who's going the distance then it's never a bad thing to cut weight out where you can. If I can go light for every single piece of my gear then I might be saving a few lbs overall. Sleeping bags, tents, cooking, tools, etc...I'd love to be able to chop off 20% of all that weight.[/quote]

I hear what your saying. every lb in the backcountry does count and I am very weight concious when it comes to my gear but 200grams isnt enough for me to get on a list and chance not having them in time

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