Binding Review: 09-10 Forum Shakas

Location: Loveland, Colorado

Snow Conditions: Bluebird sunny skies and hardpacked groomed runs.

Setup: I rode the Forum Shakas on the Youngblood & Destroyer with my Bonfire Geo boots size 8.

Time to set up the binding: It was decent amount of time, not quick but not super long to get it dialed up for me.

Fit: I was worried about the highback being an issue with my size 8 boots and the height being too much but once I got on snow I didn’t feel it in the back of my leg so it was not as tall as I thought it would be to impact me.  The width was fine for my boots.  Overall fit was decent on my boots.

First Impression: Visually I thought they looked like a bastardized frankenbinder.  But once I rode it, it felt a lot better than it looked.

Appearance: The whole rasta look is something I don’t get or like, honestly it’s probably one of the ugliest bindings I’ve ridden this year.  I’d definitely prefer the black model of the binding without the ugliness.

Comfort: They weren’t uncomfortable but they didn’t win me over with comfort either.  The ankle strap had a good amount of padding to it and there was some in the highback to help cushion.  The baseplate padding had the most and made for a comfortable below boot feel.

Functionality: Depends on how you like at it, personally I think when you add more parts to a binding it can become an issue if the consumer doesn’t know how to fix/use them.  During riding with the shakas, they were functional just like a normal binding and I didn’t have to do anything different on the slopes.  The ratchets worked and weren’t anything noticeable to rave or hate about.

Flex: The Shakas were the center of the road all mountain freestyle binding, mid-stiff highback that wasn’t soft nor overly stiff and responsive, stiffer lateral flex side to side in the binding.  It felt a lot better when I rode them on the Destroyer Chillydog, than on the softer Youngblood.

Response: The Shakas weren’t overly responsive but you could hold an edge on the monster highback and really carve into the snow.  It was easy to ride them edge to edge and with the stiffer lateral flex you didn’t feel like you had to watch out for your ankle on the slopes.

Toe Strap: Forum uses the throwdown strap which I found had no issues with conforming to my boot.  I didn’t have the toe strap slide or move when riding and felt snug every run.  Easy to unstrap and step out of.  The toe strap was okay on the comfort, it did it’s job and didn’t have any pressure points.

Overall Impression: When I first looked at them it just looked like a variety of extra pieces thrown together to make a binding but once I took it on snow it felt connected and felt like underneath my boot that I was riding a snowboard without a binding there.  As an all mountain binding they did a solid job, decent response and flex for riding everywhere but still just middle of the road.  I wasn’t wowed to the technology but I did feel the flex more noticeably.

Shay’s Honesty Box: I wasn’t sure what to think about these bindings and I reserved judgement till I got on snow with them and felt how they rode.  The first time I took them out with the Youngblood it was a bit too soft for me overall but I liked the bindings, when I paired them with the Destroyer it felt a lot more stable and I got a better feel for the bindings and that it felt very connected.

Ready to buy? Head over to evo for the 2011 version of the Forum Shakas or shop their full line of Forum snowboard bindings

On Snow Photos

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Forum Shaka Description

Review Disclosure: I rode this binding at a demo day.