Also available in ninja black and all-white.

For our latest Product of the Week, we’ve stuck close to home and taken a look at the bindings we’ve been riding with all last season – the Union Force. They are awesome.

We were lucky enough for the crew at Union Bindings to let us give their Force bindings a special lick of the Onboard steeze and have as such tested these bad boys as concisely as anything ever. After 100+ days, they’re still ticking and still rad.

UNION

FORCE BINDINGS

If you’re only focussing on producing one type of product you’d better get it right. Union do, and do. The Force comes in around the lower mid-range of their pricing scheme but that should not cause you to turn your nose up as they’re a hell of a lot of binding for your 200 soon-to-be-worthless eurodoller. It’s no coincidence they’re Union’s best-selling model.

As ever, they’ve upgraded components this year to give you more bang for your buck. The cushioning and dampening are both spot on thanks to the injected EVA bushings and disc-covering/gas pedal. The baseplate is glass-infused Zytel for strength and responsiveness (they’re so confident in the base that it has a lifetime warranty on it) and an anodised Aluminium heelcups to keep ‘em bombproof. They have a flex erring on the side of stiff, yet the highback manages to be bendable enough to allow all the poke you need and still be comfortable.

The straps are new too, with improved pressure distribution and autofit EVA on the ankle to up your comfort and a new toe strap that can be rocked traditional or capped. The ratchets work how they should too – you don’t notice ‘em. Summed up in a sentence, the Force is super comfortable, super adjustable yet super responsive at the same time. The only criticism we could find was the screws holding the straps in loosen off after a while, so make sure you give ‘em a tighten every couple of days. But all in all these are a stonking set of binders.

€199.00

www.unionbindingcompany.com

And here’s more from the horse’s mouth.

If there were ever companies that spoke the slang of radness it would be Capita, Union and Coal. Their veins pulse with the rage of youth and their products are used by the cool kids in backyard parks of fun the world over. If you needed proof the just check out Capita’s team movie from a few years back, First Kiss. In non-product related news we’re stoked to hear they’re filming a follow up film as we speak for release this autumn, too.

So here is a brief insight into their cream and sugar products, like the Totally FK. In Awesome - an all round fun board with plenty of pop-a-doodle-do. It comes with camber between the feet and becoming raised outside the inserts. Also featured from Capita are the Ultrafear, which comes replete with freeride FK chassis (a form of flat banana) and a rubber dampening system (so you don’t get niggling shin-splints when you have been banging flat landings all spring), and the all-mountain upgraded Horrorscope, in whose future you will find you and a bunch of pow pow.

From Union’s universe of binder goodness we bring you the high-end Atlas binding, which has cut out bushings that allow for true rider to board response and is light and strong. What more do you want from a binding?

And last but not least there is Coal headwear. Stick some Coal on your head and you will not only be saving body heat while being unquestionably cool but you can also be safe in the knowledge that you aren’t screwing the planet as all hats are made from recycled eco cotton.

As you may have noticed from our earlier guttural post, we are deep in the bowls of the snowboard tradeshow ISPO, feasting our eyes on that latest, freshest product that the brands will be offering you up come fall. Check out some of the highlights from our first day of snooping, with the Ride, Dragon, K2, Capita, Union, Analog, APO, DC, Rome, Bataleon, Rip Curl, Volcom and more in snappycam’s eager viewfinder…

Union are pretty much our favourite binding company – they make our bindings for chrissake, of course we love em.

So when we got mailed by our buddy Joni Mäkinen saying, “I would appreciate it if you could spread the word that the Union website for 2010/2011 has now been launched!” well, we did just that. If you wanna find out anything about their killer line of binders, check out their team’s haps or try to date one of the guys and gals, then click over and get involved.

www.unionbindingcompany.com