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Help mounting wakeboard bindings....


spinxt

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Alright, I got my Hyperlite Motive and bindings today. I have experience wakeboarding (very little) but none mounting bindings. I'm sure how the bindings are mounted is a personal preference thing, but can anyone offer a starting point (which way should they face, should they both be at the same angle or should one be offset?) Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks

Chris

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Lay the board down on the floor in front of you in the living room. Stand back two feet and start jumping up and down over and over. DO NOT LOOK DOWN. After about 5 consecutive jumps look down and mount the bindings in a similar position, location and direction as your feet naturally are.

Go ride.

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From Wakeworld.com on binding placement......

Beginners will place the bindings closer to the rear of the board in order to sink the tail fin deeper in the water for better control. As you improve with stability, balance and control, you can move the bindings closer to the center/front of the board making it easier for surface tricks, fakie, and even in landing bigger wake jumps. It really depends on the board and how it responds to you. As for the angle of the plate on the board- it should at least be somewhere comfortable, not pigeon-toed or duck-feet but what feels good for you.

Usually ~ shoulder width. I'm riding mine at 10` angle on both front and rear (slight duck foot). I've seen guys ride 5` and some ride 0`. All in what seems comfortable to you. Stand comfortably with you feet about shoulder width and note your stance. That would be a good starting point. IMO

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Lay the board down on the floor in front of you in the living room. Stand back two feet and start jumping up and down over and over. DO NOT LOOK DOWN. After about 5 consecutive jumps look down and mount the bindings in a similar position, location and direction as your feet naturally are.

Go ride.

I'm with that, I don't agree with the beginner recommendations of mounting them closer to one end of the board than the other. Now I'm not a coach or anything so take it FWIW, but you should learn to ride correctly from the beginning IMO. You get used to riding it one way, then have to get used to another later on.... The only thing that I'll add to tgaugh's comments is to say that your bindings should be centered from heel to toe sides as much as possible.

After riding for a few minutes, you'll find out pretty fast what's comfortable & what's not in terms of angle & spacing between the bindings.

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Agree w/ W/girl. I believe in keeping everything symetrical, includeing the binding angles. This way when you start doing 180's ect., everything is the same. I would even recommend doing your starts alternately coming out left foot forward (LFF) and RFF. This way you really don't develop an off side. I was taught to do this on slalom to help on the course, also on shortboard. 1960's thinking which to this day I still agree with. Just basic fundamentals, but would like to hear more.

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I'm with that, I don't agree with the beginner recommendations of mounting them closer to one end of the board than the other.

I agree 100% with this from experience. I did that last year when I started and all it does it teach you to rely on the fins instead of the edges of the board. By the time you think you're ready to remove the fin or go smaller, you realize you've been turning with the fin more times than not. So, I would put my bindings in the middle of the board.

I also did the jumping thing and it seemed to work fine as my board is pretty comfortable. Good luck!

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Binding position does two things: stability and comfort.

Stability - do this exercise with a friend. Stand with your feet all the way together while holding a ski rope. Have your friend give the rope a tug while you try and not fall over. Now spread your feet out as wide as you possibly can and repeat. Now stand in a comfortable stance with your feet shoulder width apart and repeat. You will instantly see how this position creates stability.

Comfort - wakeboarding should be fun and that means it shouldn't hurt your feet, ankles, or knees while riding. Proper binding setup will prevent it from hurting the aforementioned body parts. Start with shoulder width apart (from above) and adjust the angle of the bindings symmetrically. Whatever you do to the front you should mirror on the rear. Angle of the bindings is completely personal preference. The jumping thing might help you find a place to start, but ultimately once you mount them and go ride see if it hurts after a few minutes of riding (this will be less obvious to someone just starting out) but slight adjustments can take side or rotational forces off of your leg joints and not only make it more comfortable but reduce the chance of knee or ankle injury.

Side note, I completely disagree with posted comment above about setting it up differently for a beginner. Very bad advise. The negative aspects of doing this so far outweigh the pros that it is not worth doing. If someone is really having a hard time with it they need a new coach or a boom - not binding adjustments.

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Binding position does two things: stability and comfort.

Stability - do this exercise with a friend. Stand with your feet all the way together while holding a ski rope. Have your friend give the rope a tug while you try and not fall over. Now spread your feet out as wide as you possibly can and repeat. Now stand in a comfortable stance with your feet shoulder width apart and repeat. You will instantly see how this position creates stability.

Comfort - wakeboarding should be fun and that means it shouldn't hurt your feet, ankles, or knees while riding. Proper binding setup will prevent it from hurting the aforementioned body parts. Start with shoulder width apart (from above) and adjust the angle of the bindings symmetrically. Whatever you do to the front you should mirror on the rear. Angle of the bindings is completely personal preference. The jumping thing might help you find a place to start, but ultimately once you mount them and go ride see if it hurts after a few minutes of riding (this will be less obvious to someone just starting out) but slight adjustments can take side or rotational forces off of your leg joints and not only make it more comfortable but reduce the chance of knee or ankle injury.

Side note, I completely disagree with posted comment above about setting it up differently for a beginner. Very bad advise. The negative aspects of doing this so far outweigh the pros that it is not worth doing. If someone is really having a hard time with it they need a new coach or a boom - not binding adjustments.

I posted that info from wakeworld as generic advice. Today, while opening my box of Hyperlite bindings I found a Hyperlite Stance Cheat Sheet. It gave 3 different stances for Beg, Int, Advanced similar to what I posted form Wakeworld. Is Hyperlite wrong as well?

For someone like Tony or Tracie who is a veteran boarder and has good balance and stability, hey go with the advanced stance "duck foot" from the get go. And teach your friends that way as well.

But for some of my friends who we tried to get up on boards (with little if any skateboard, snowboard or watersports experience) they couldn't do it, until we gave them a board with different stance. Then they got up and were actually having fun. I progressed my nephews at age 9 the same way. When people are just going out for the day, you get them up as quickly as possible so they can enjoy riding. My sister rides once a year, should I get her a coach? Or maybe I should jsut drag her a few dozen times unitl she is too tired to get up. Or, maybe I could give her a board with a beginner style stance and give her a shot? Hire a coach or get a boom, GMAFB.

Anyways, to the OP, the jumping up and down idea seems ok. I'm sure the OP is not a novice so I will quote what Hyperlite says as far as setup: Advanced/Expert Rider: "Ride the board centered, forward plate 9` and the tail -9`. This duckfoot stance will help you diversify your riding for a new bag of tricks. At this level your binding stance should be roughly shoulder width apart".

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I didn't mean to make it sound like I thought that you were off base, I just assumed that my remark would be equated with what Wakeworld said & I think that they made a blanket recommendation on something that's impossible to generalize. I think that tgaugh is spot on, ride it the way that it's comfortable for you. I do tend to believe that going to a symmetrical stance is best for the person learning to ride that plans on riding a lot because it will help them in their progression. But for that person that rides once per year, setting it up so that it's easier to get up & ride around on makes perfect sense.

Maybe I said it badly, but stance is highly subjective & something that each person needs to figure out for themselves. I ride much more duck footed with a much more narrow stance than most do & I've done it that way from the beginning because it wasn't comfortable any other way. To each his (or her) own. Where the OP falls in all of this, I don't know. Hopefully he's gotten some good ideas on where to start & what to try.

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Is Hyperlite wrong as well?

Yes, Hyperlite is wrong.

Hire a coach or get a boom, GMAFB.

Why don't you reread the part you highlighted. I didn't say hire them a coach or buy them a boom and let them take it home with them. I've been around MANY first time wakeboarders and have never had a problem getting people up with some simple techniques. I've seen countless times when people fail to get up because they have 8 people in the boat yelling at them to try this or try that, or because the boat driver doesn't understand how to pull a new rider up, or because the self apointed coach is clueless, but rarely, and in my experience rarely is never - has it been because of binding setup.

I also clearly said that the negative aspects of doing it outweight the positives. If you are happy with the results you are getting then by all means keep doing it. If your once a year rider never has the ambition or desire to do anything other than ride behind the boat around the lake in one big circle then it probably doesn't matter what you do and this thread is not really intended to address you. But if you or the person you intend to pull wants to do more than "ride a tube" behind the boat then I stick by my first statement.

GMAFB??? That's a little childish don't you think?

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Thats why I like the Sky ski, I can just sit down on the the job. Standing is highly overated. :lol:

Seriously, I like the jumping up and down, I think I'll check my newly repaired bindings this weekend.

Edited by LS-One
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The jumping up and down has always worked for me. I use this technique for all my new ones and everyone I have helped. But I do agree with some of what's above, all except the different stance; I think that'll bite you in the end.

I also recommend soaking your bindings in the tub with your feet inserted and/or wearing them in the hottub as long as you can tolerate. This will help shape/form the bindings and eliminate any pressure points after you get out of the tun and onto the water.

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Now, now guys....aren't we getting a little bristly there on a Friday!!!! I say - whatever works!!! Biggrin.gifBiggrin.gif

Hey, that was posted on Thursday so :biteme:

Tongue.gif

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My first time out wakeboarding, I began with the above "beginners stance", and to say the least, it was extremely awkward. When I set the bindings more symetrical on the board and with a duck footed stance, it was much more natural. When you uthink about it, your feet shoulder width and duck footed, iit is a much more athletic stance, and you are very strong in that position.

But as what everyone says, do whatever is comfortable to you and have fun!

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Thanks, the family just got a wakeboard, our first, so we are looking at all the tips that pop up the forum. We all tried our cousins last year, and now we are venturing to the dark side.

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Is Hyperlite wrong as well?

Yes, Hyperlite is wrong.

Hire a coach or get a boom, GMAFB.

Why don't you reread the part you highlighted. I didn't say hire them a coach or buy them a boom and let them take it home with them. I've been around MANY first time wakeboarders and have never had a problem getting people up with some simple techniques. I've seen countless times when people fail to get up because they have 8 people in the boat yelling at them to try this or try that, or because the boat driver doesn't understand how to pull a new rider up, or because the self apointed coach is clueless, but rarely, and in my experience rarely is never - has it been because of binding setup.

I also clearly said that the negative aspects of doing it outweight the positives. If you are happy with the results you are getting then by all means keep doing it. If your once a year rider never has the ambition or desire to do anything other than ride behind the boat around the lake in one big circle then it probably doesn't matter what you do and this thread is not really intended to address you. But if you or the person you intend to pull wants to do more than "ride a tube" behind the boat then I stick by my first statement.

GMAFB??? That's a little childish don't you think?

Hey man,

You have some good points. It is better to learn in the duck stance from the get go and learn form that way. But for a person with little to no experience, the variations in stances do make it easier to get up and learn. I don't think Hyperlite, etc. just pulled that out of there.....

And even if you start someone in a beginner stance, and then move them to a intermediate than advanced stance..... I wasn't talkin one season or a set skill set, then advancement. It is more like, get started. Learn to turn, etc. go to next setup and so on. Maybe over jsut a few sessions NOT seasons.

This thread was about setting up a board and mounting bindings. Without knowing the skill sets of the OP I put out the generic stances. Maybe someone, in the future will have problems getting someone up and will think hey maybe we could make an adjustment in stance to help this person. Believe me, it works. In fact, it worked again on Sunday.......

GMAFB, childish... yes. Sorry.

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