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I have the ignition 2's and the karakorams in hand. I'm in the middle of mounting the karakorams and the forward lean on the highback seems too much. That's with the setting for the least forward lean.
I hate burton bindings for that very reason.
For those who have been skinning and riding karakorams, how do you feel about the lean in both modes. I like to stand up straight while stopped on a skinning route, it looks like I'll be constantly bending me knees with these/leaning forward. Am I wrong here? I don't want actually try them or I won't be able to return them, nor can I try them even if I wanted to where I'm at. The initial day was supposed to be this Saturday.

I bought a pair of split30's last year and also had issues with the minimum lean angles they allowed. I tried cutting down the highbacks and riding without, but ended up putting some union hb's on that work much better for me, and fit the karakoram mounting holes (although the bindings would be pretty easy to drill if needed).

Karakoram is very responsive to questions if you email them. They might have a better solution.

I love lots of forward lean so I haven't had any problems with the minimum setting but I usually look for a place where I'm facing a little bit uphill to stop so I can rest my knees.

Where did you find the Union Hb's? Were they on old bindings of yours? That might be an option, if you could let me know the model, I might be able to find them on ebay or something.

I do like the karakoram connection to the board in both modes, it's simply down to the highback angle.

The highbacks I used were from a pair of union flite bindings that I got a good deal on in late winter/early spring of last year. The toe and ankle straps also bolted right on to the karakorams, although I did remove a little bit of material from the toe straps to get them to fit down good over the toe of my boots (less than an 1/8"). You might want to check the bindings out in a shop before committing to purchasing them though, because the highbacks aren't very stiff.

Have you tried to see if the Restraint highbacks from your Iggy2s fit the Karakorams? Stick with the cube!

Based on weighing them (literally) and by the cost... I'm returning my karakorams and going with my old ignitions. The straps seem a little nicer and I have no problems with the highback. Plus I own them which is the biggest + of them all I am going to get the LT pins tonight to go with them.

really? surprising. Highbacks for splits have to release and give you some backward angle so you don't burn a lot of energy standing with a bent knee or limiting you to short strides on lower angle tracks. Have a look if any of the older K2 highbacks that came with the clicker HBs, regular magmas, etc. will fit, they are a smaller radius than most heel loops so they drop back more than most highbacks and have an easy to release and reset clasp.

i do find my karakorams have too much forward lean with no real options to reduce it

Hmm, never ridden the Spit30 highbacks but the SL carbon highbacks go waaay back for touring. My ride DIY highbacks don't go back very far at all (prob the same or less than Split30's) for touring but it's never bothered me even on very long tours. Lol, is this really that big of a deal for people?

I rode the Karakoram Split 30's all last season and didn't notice any issues with the forward lean, and I had some long tours. This year I'm on the SL's and the highbacks go waaay back, so no issues there either......the only time I notice my forward lean is when I forget to dial it back after switching to skin mode, cause I ride with a lot of it.

I think the people bitching are the ones that haven't been touring for more than 2 years. I've toured 15 years+ with high backs that didn't go back 'far enough'. Find something significant about a product to whine about.

I did 2 days of testing on the Split30 for the distributor here in Norway, and the forward lean is pretty much the only gripe I have with this binding. The SL version goes way back, but the "regular" Split30 all the way back is about at the same angle as a Spark Burner set to 2,5 on the hiback adjuster. The Karakoram gave me blisters on long approaches, something I haven't experienced before during my 3 years of splitboarding. Bomb-proof downhill, but the hiback angle is just wrong for me. Bitching or not, I was so happy when I got back on my Spark Burners...