UPDATE: Check out our review of the 2018/2019 NOW Drive here

The Details:

By now you may have heard the story of how Whistler legend JF Pelchat applied ideas from the world of skateboarding to binding design, creating the NOW brand. The NOW Drive binding is popular with some of freeriding’s biggest names, including Jeremy Jones. In fact, Jez has had a lot of input in this year’s version, to the point that he’s put his name to it.

As you might expect, it’s been built to handle high speeds, with a fairly stiff flex and a sturdy build. New for this year is the stitch-free hybrid ‘Flipit’ ankle strap, so called because you can swap the left and right one round to change the properties of the binding.

When the larger bit of material is on the top, you get more support, and when it’s on the bottom it’s better for freestyle. Given the tool-less system, changing it up on the fly is always an option.

Of course, the standout feature is the ‘Skate Tech’; inspired by skateboard trucks, you can gently rock these from edge to edge thanks to the pivot point in the middle and the rubber bushings on either side.

You can change the bushings to fine-tune the amount of dampening, so whether you’re a hell-for-leather charger or a clinical carver, as long as you’ve got the cash then you’ll find what you need with the Drive.