Straps and Highbacks

The big selling point on the Mayon Plus is the aforementioned ‘ExoKush’ strap. It’s a dual layer affair made from expanded EVA with an exo-skeleton (hence ExoKush, duh!). The chunky EVA foam gives you a ton of cushioning and is pretty much bombproof.

Like most of the Flow range, you’ve got two strap flavours to choose from before hitting the buy button. The Fusion version has a more substantial connection between the heel and toe sections; it’s essentially one big strap. It spreads the pressure over more of your foot and it’s a little easier to slip into via the reclining highback. When tightened, the Fusion design gives more of a ‘top down’ pressure that’s awesome for locked-in turns.

By contrast, the Hybrid version has a distinct toe and heel strap, with a thinner connecting piece. It’s designed to feel more like a regular two-strap binding, with a little more freestyle tweakability. The expanding ‘AuxTech’ toe cap covers the end of your boot, helping to pull you back into the binding rather than the top-down pressure you get from the Fusion. Choose your poison.

Both strap styles come with chunky ratchets that are easy to operate and can be locked in place so you don’t need to crank them every time – just step in and out from the rear. ‘Active Strap Tech’ lifts the strap automatically when you recline the highback to give you more space to shove your foot in, then moves it down again when you flick the highback up. Genius.

Speaking of the highback, it’s a single piece of glass-filled nylon with a strong central spine (providing instant toe-to-heel response) and holes on each side to reduce weight and give you more lateral flex. This is definitely an all-mountain binding that can carve with the best of them but also lets you bone out tricks and bring a more relaxed style to your turns.

“The chunky EVA foam gives you a ton of cushioning and is pretty much bombproof”

Roundup

If you’re in the market for a premium all-terrain binding that’s not frighteningly stiff, the Mayon Plus is a great shout. Of course, you’ll need to get on board with the whole reclining highback system, but with two strap styles on offer they’ve made choosing Flow as appealing as possible to every kind of rider. What are you waiting for?