It’s surprising how much of a difference even very loose bindings make. I don’t feel like I’m really pulling or pushing on them, but you get a lot more control over the board with them on.
I felt naked when I took the bindings off. The downside is that I’m pretty scared to touch 25mph with my feet held onto the board.
Man I can’t describe it any better if I tried. I keep them loose as well and just having them there is such a confidence boost that I can throw it out so much farther on carves. I poop myself every time I hit a hard turn without bindings and forget to prepare mentally.
As shitty as it sounds, slamming at speed with or without bindings is going to be similar. You really can’t run off a crash above 25 safely. I don’t know anyone that locks themself in for street riding. Every fast crash I’ve had I’ve popped out of, heelside. Heel straps and speed would be a death wish.
Glad you’re loving this board so far! It’s been great to follow your rapid progress.
I’ve had four decent falls in loose front bindings. 3 of them i just came out and handled the fall no problem. so I used to say it was never a problem. a fourth one, however, was from a motor lockup, and i didn’t get my foot out of the binding well enough. got a little whip to helmet smack. i think that’s the worse case scenario.
yeah i think i’d rather slide it out after 15ish mph
I personally don’t feel much of a difference slamming with the board vs without. I hardly roll with gear on, its all slide above 20mph. Board slows me down more if anything.
Regardless, shit hurts!
hmm. interesting.
I feel like i hit the ground better without the board. but then i was only partially attached. can sort of old skater reflexes control the landing.
also feel like I would slide away better without the board. but that’s more projection as I haven’t fallen and stayed attached much.
That’s a good point. I come from a mtb background and hardly ever street skated growing up so I probably am just used to it. It can get awkward at the jump park for sure. I lost a shoe in the binding once when I transferred a jump line badly. Ended up sliding halfway down the ramp doing the splits with my back leg in the binding still 
Me personally, I’m trying REALLY HARD not to crash these days. Riding looser bushings at slower speeds and just having a good time cruising and carving.
Obviously my approach doesn’t work too well for racing though 
I loosened the hell out of my proto. and I try keep it below 20. can’t believe I was stupid enough to regularly be hitting 35 on that little thing with those angles. 
and yeah, the loose mtb carver setup is super fun. i feel like I get what you’re saying.
One leg stuck in a binding seems worst case. Leverage on the knee could be brutal
20-30 is a nice cruising speed for most days imo
crap i’m a god damn skiier. 
This is the unique thing about 3-links in my experience - you can run them super loose with a lot of lean and they still feel stable at speed. I’ve always found channel trucks to be a compromise between lean and stability at speed. I don’t have enough experience on PKPs to say how they behave.
once you try 3links, you understand why the majority of race boards are on them
This is what I chase.
I am waiting anxiously for clear weather to put more miles on mine.
i wish i lived somewhere down south so i could do some more riding during the winter months.
I’m hoping for some snow to ride on soon.
it snowed a week ago up here and now all the snow is finally melting but that means the parking garages are wet
Another quick build update.
The @poastoast tpu stomp pads ended up causing some foot pain in my arches pretty fast on the first rides. The nazare deck is too flat to use just the stomp pads.
I picked up some 6mm high density EVA sheet and double sided carpet tape to even put the standing platform. This stuff adheres extremely strongly - think VHB level bond.
This stuff is higher density than your normal EVA weather stripping. This foam is intended for cosplay and is much harder to compress.
I used double sided carpet tape on the grip tape side as well to ensure strong adhesion. I think it will also extend the life of the grip tape, being bonded to this stupid strong carpet tape instead of the foam directly.
I took this out for a quick ride and I’m stoked - it feels amazing to have a totally flat footbed again.
In terms of squish, this stuff is firmer than regular foam grip tape. I expected the foam to dampen board feel, but I really don’t notice a difference. The foam doesn’t really compress at all under the full surface area of my foot, and the tpu pad probably takes most of my weight.
I also added a couple inches of grip to the tips of the deck, so that my toes won’t ever hang off grip tape. I’m regular but I didn’t this on both sides of the deck for symmetry. It looks OK - I’d like to clean up the ends and add some curve with a razor.
