Somewhere in the other thread (board reviews) there was info that it will be atomic-binding only. It’s funny, cause right now that’s sort of the way we’re going with Will’s binding, but people are (generally) psyched cause they’ve seen the downsides of having a separate binder and slider plate. I bet they’ll get a lot of calls to offer a slider plate for their board as well, but then, assuming it’s successful, I bet most people go back to the basic atomic binding.

Shep

Going to OR in about 30 minutes. I’ll go through the breakdown and reassembly and let you know what’s up. No camera, but I’ll take notes.

UB

UB, interesting viddy. No slider plate, eh? Very extended binding mount screws that remain in place after removal of the binding. Crampon used to release the binding from ride mode, latch mechanism, fasten the baseplate riser block and then connect beneath the binding. The sliding door latch mechanism looks to be spring loaded with the insertion of one end then the other. Nothing to protect the deck from the bottom of the binding/riser block in skin mode? No ability to use any other binding than that specific type? (I’m riding mountain plates and AT boots).

Thanks for the video, now I have even more interest in seeing this thing up close.

What did you think? I assume you were the one filming as it was separated.

as for everyone wondering why this just came out of the blue, don’t forget there is a big euro split scene, and i bet it was all developed over there.

while this is a bit of armchair QB of a small video, that interface sure looks like a lot of work. putting bindings down onto the board (like burton), instead of sliding them on is just asking for a clogging disaster.

too bad atomic doesn’t just make a voile compatible split, i would probably buy one. 😕

interesting, seems like a lot of loose parts to loose or break. Looks like a pretty lightweight setup though. What happens if you loose or forget the crampons? Can you imagine messing with that in the snow?

The heel lifter would fuck up your board topsheet pretty quickly and what if they got bent? It looks like that it a possibility too. If you bent them on the way up then you are screwed for the way down. Can lock the board together.

Board shape also looks like you are sacrificing performance just so you can skin the board backwards. I’ve never liked the feel of a swallowtail and this isn’t even that really. Lame.

Being restricted to using their bindings only sucks. Atomic has never been known in the industry for making good snowboard bindings. I like to have the choice to upgrade.

At least the vid solves the question of why this looks like it does:

Looks inevitable, especially with cold, brittle plastic.

It’s good to see more designs and split products coming out! Unfortunately, I’m not convinced with this. Is this just a halo product for publicity and to make Atomic look cool?

I actually designed an interface too, mostly for fun, and just on paper, to get it to be simple, strong, quick and easy, as well as very actively hold the two board halves together. I had one board half be male, and the other be female, with a tool to scrape out ice really quickly before the transition.

It’s actually pretty cool, but problems I ran into were weight, height, and cost. Voile with Ignitions is pretty damn good. Only thing that could possibly improve would be perfect continous flex pattern in the board which maintains torsional unity along the entire length, which means one male ski, and one female ski.

With this Atomic design, unless there is a male and female part to the pieces that replace the chinese hooks, then I don’t even understand why they would be actively loading in the first place. If there isn’t a male and female plastic piece, then I can’t see the metal rod pulling on the plastic to possibly stay on with aggressive riding, especially on anything that’s not powder.
Neat how the metal pieces that replace the chinese hooks become the heel lifters of the binding… efficiency of weight and design? But really, there’s a lot to go wrong in the transition… A lot of time fiddling.

The purpose of chinese hooks is not so much to hold the board together, but to unify the flex at that point (right between the bindings and nose, right where you need it most)
so that if one ski wants to flex more than the other, like on heelside or toeside turns… the other ski is forced to flex along with it and work together

i am diggin on a new design, even though it looks to have some areas that could be improved. Needing a tool to assemble and disassemble is a problem i think. I have owned crampons for years and have never used them. Brought them on two trips and would not bring them out just as a tool for splitting my board. The room in my bag would be better suited with two beers

I do like the shape of the board and the reverse skin idea. The curved vs straight edge does mess with your stride.

What i am most stoked about is that it looks like a releasable binding could be made with that interface, which is what snowboards are missing and is a reason why skiing is appealing. Especially with a snowpack like this year.

Another manufacturer in the market just means more competition, which will benefit us – the consumer, in many ways.

keep em coming!!

ughh, my brain hurts after watching that video. I know Atomic makes nice boards, what happened here?