Binding Model: K2 Formula C

Binding Size: Large

Stance and Angles: 21.5 15 negative 12 and 22.5 15 negative 12 (more on the wider one later)

Boot Used: K2 Thraxis

Boot Size: 10

Board Used: Dinosaurs Will Die Brewster

Rider Weight: 195

Location: Arapahoe Basin and Copper Mountain

Conditions: A Basin was a bit brisk with fresh corduroy, sunny skies, and a bit of fresh snow here and there. Copper was cold as balls, sticky snow, with pockets of fresh snow.

Binding Adjustability: There are a lot of options and flip cams on this thing. First lets start with the straps there’s a flip cam on the heel and toe to adjust the length, the toe to be specific has a longer section to really allow you to dial in how it will sit on your boot. Along with that ability they are also set so you can push them down and put them into a different groove to further dial them in. Now when it comes to forward lean and highback adjustment, this is all rolled into one on the sides of the chassis. Flip the tabs, spin them, and voila you can get your forward lean and rotation all set. The toe ramp is adjustable as well but I found that the tabs as well as the locking clip were a bit weak and didn’t stay locked in as well.

Straps: The heel strap is that new age variety of firmer minimalistic material that contours more to the boot and doesn’t stretch or break down as easily. They were a bit rigid but this is the Formula C not the regular Formula so that is to be expected. The toe strap as I already mentioned has that longer section on the bottom so you can set it up to cup the toebox better. I found this takes a bit more time to dial in but once you do it sits a lot better than most standard toe caps.

Ratchets: These were brand new out of the box so I had them stick occasionally, as the day progressed they got better, but it was something that would still happen from time to time. Are they smooth? Yes, when they don’t stick and they release quickly enough.

Highbacks: These actually had a fair amount of play to them which was nice to counter balance the rigidity of the chassis. You could push into them but it wasn’t like slamming your leg into a torture device and praying that it would work.

Binding Flex: These are on the stiffer side and geared more towards freeriding. You don’t notice a lot of lateral play in them which is what you would expect. I did notice that driving into the straps and highback there is rebound which was nice for transitioning from edge to edge.

Ride: The overall ride of these is definitely more for someone that’s into the all mountain freeride than the freestyle. There just isn’t enough give to make them fun for playing around on the hill. What I did notice was that the rebound and snap out of them drastically alters how fast you transition from edge to edge which was nice.

Rider in Mind: Someone that is charging hard almost all the time.

Personal Thoughts: Here’s where this binding has some issues. The canting on these bindings is so god damn annoying. Canting exists to correct the placement of your legs so you don’t blow your knees out, but if you have a footbed that corrects this already then it becomes overkill. Well at least this binding is overkill it has 3 degrees of it when most other companies offer more of a 1 to 1.5 degree of it. Yeah you can pop a little harder off the outside of the binding because of the dynamic of how it changes the leverage, but is it worth it? No! The other thing with canting is that it’s used to relieve stress on the knees if you have a wide stance, at 21.5 wide that is not drastic and there’s no need for canting. When I was with this stance I noticed it made me knock-kneed which was not fun, so I had to widen it to 22.5 which is what I rode a few years ago. It felt better in terms of the pressure on my knees but it changes how you ride and where you flex the board. That wasn’t fun. Overall it’s not a bad binding and if you want to charge with it then go for it as that’s what it’s made for. The new straps are nice and the upgraded ratchets do their job once they break in after multiple uses. I will say though this is no where near a binding for me and it really pisses me off that all K2 bindings now have 3 degrees of canting in them.

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