Flux DS

Flux DS review

The Flux DS are some mix flexing, all-mountain/park bindings.

They are rated as having a mid flex, which Flux rate as a 3/5.

Features on the Flux DS:

• Ultima Wing Highback – They are winged highbacks, similar to the more extreme Burton Malavita and Switchback Halldors, they are made to give you a little extra grip and support on the edge of your boots, to help with ollies and presses. Although they don’t look like they wrap around a long way, there is a little grippy rubber patch which actually does grab on to your boot quite well.
• Ultima baseplate – light and strong.
• EVA Footbed, with deck sensors – The footbed has different sections of EVA padding, which is harder on the outside of the bindings, and softer on the inside. What this does is let the bindings adjust to give you natural canting angle.
• Adjustable toe and heel ramps – Lets you adjust the ramps to better suit your boot size, and give you more leverage if you need it.
• Urethane stabilizers in two densities let you change the support on the footbeds, so you can get a looser feel by removing the stabilizers, or just keep them in for a more stable ride.

How they ride:

I was able to ride the DS with the ThirtyTwo TM-TWO boots, which are a medium/stiffish flex. I was able to ride on a hardpacked groomed runs, through powder in the trees and through the park.

The first thing that you would notice about the DS is how little they weigh. They are super light, even though there is the lighter again Flux DL model.

They fit very nicely with the TM-Twos, which are a wider boot. The winged highback wraps around the boot really well, and the actual wing part does a good job at grabbing the side of the boot and sticking.

The ankle strap is a nice upgrade from the lower model TT, which is a bit wider on the outside of the binding (ratchet side) and thinner on the inside. It is made to give you good support for ollies, but not so much that you can’t tweak it. On top of that it is cored out to give you some extra flex.

Like all Flux ratchets, they are nice and easy, and being an open design they do a good job at stopping snow and ice from building up in them.

The toe cap is also apparently a convertible one, so that it can be worn over the toes in the old fashioned style, or in the newer cap way. It has a good fit over the toes, so I have no idea why anyone would want to wear it straight over the top. Although it is not super flexible or rubbery, like Burton toe caps, it never slipped off.

Almost everything on the bindings has tool less adjustments, which actually is handy, as you can easily make changes to the straps without even having to take off your gloves. Although it is something you will probably only have to do once, it’s nice and easy.

Even when doing up the bindings really tight, they didn’t make any pressure points on my boots on either the ankle or toes.

They aren’t super soft or super stiff bindings, they did a good job at riding everywhere. Once they are on it is really easy to forget that they are even there, being so light it hardly feels like they add any weight at all to the board.

They would be a good choice for someone who wants one pair of bindings that is going to handle everything, soft enough to have a bit of flexibility in the park, but still enough response for big jumps and hard carving. They aren’t super cheap, but you are paying for a really nice feel and light weight.

Also in the 2015 models it looks like they have a newly designed toe cap, that has a larger and softer more grippy toe cap.

https://vimeo.com/71445796