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Flow NX2-TM 2021-2022 Snowboard Bindings Review

Tested and selected for our top 100 snowboard products of the year: the Flow NX2-TM

  • Price: £285 / €350 / £350
  • Sizes: M, L, XL
  • Flex: 7-8/10
  • Entry System: Rear Entry

Why we chose the Flow NX2-TM Snowboard Bindings: They’re a new, pared-down take on a bonafide classic. Cooler-looking, lighter, and just as reliable – with a flex pattern that’s suitable for most riding styles.

No one has more experience with rapid-entry bindings than Flow. While step-in systems have come and gone – and come back again – Flow have been refining their patented reclining highback concept for just shy of three decades. Rear entry binders still divide opinion, but that’s really a hangover from primitive early designs; anyone who’s ridden Flow’s more recent models will know that they’ve worked hard to achieve the same comfort and performance as regular two-strap designs, just more convenient. Heck, they basically look the same now – and nowhere is this more true than with the new NX-TM, which takes the same chassis as their bestselling NX2 and adds a lighter strap and a lighter highback for freestyle-oriented all-terrain shredding.

“No one has more experience with rapid-entry bindings than Flow”

MORE INFO:
flow-bindings.com

Who Is The Flow NX2-TM For?

Intermediate to advanced riders who want to get as many laps as possible in, and who want to get airborne – whether that’s in the park or the backcountry.

Baseplate

The baseplate will look familiar to anyone acquainted with the award-winning NX2. It’s the same aluminium alloy platform, just in different colours. The advantages of using aluminium as opposed to nylon/plastic are that it’s lower profile, super light and extremely rigid, so you can expect lightning fast response when you shift your weight across the base of the board. It looks sick too, like something that fell off the back of a military truck – especially if you opt for the camo version. That rigidity does come at a cost in terms of lateral flex, but the NX2-TM have deployed more supple components elsewhere to ensure a nice balance between carving performance and freestyle tweak. More on those below. The corners of the baseplate are also cushioned and rockered, which helps the board to flex naturally.

Like the Kaon-Plus and other Nidecker bindings (spoiler alert: Nidecker own Flow these days) the chassis has been designed with ‘off-axis powerbeams’ that are positioned to direct energy more efficiently into the edges when your bindings are mounted at an angle.

One feature that the NX2-TM boasts – and which the regular NX2 doesn’t – are ‘SlipnSlide’ footbeds. It’s a slick surface that makes it easier to shove your boot into the binding with the highback reclined. Simple, clever. The footbeds are also canted to 2-degrees, which eases the pressure through your joints – especially if you run a wide stance.

“Intermediate to advanced riders who want to get as many laps as possible in, and who want to get airborne”

Straps and Highbacks

Let’s start with the highback. The NX2-TM does away with the modular, articulated support of the NX2 in favour of a single piece of glass-filled nylon. It’s lighter and more flexible so it’s well suited to hitting park features – when you want to bone stuff out – or just getting a little looser and surfier with your turns. It looks just like a ‘normal’ highback which will encourage a few more Flow sceptics to get with the programme, and we found the asymmetric shape fits most boots really well.

Like most of the range, Flow offer the NX2-TM in two different strap styles. The ‘Fusion’ version is truest to the original rear-entry philosophy. It’s more like a large, single strap which is really easy to slip your boot into, maximising the benefit of that reclining highback – especially once you’ve customised the set-up using the locking slap ratchets. The strap sits more over the top of your boot (there’s no toe cap at all) which gives a unique feel suitable for powerful turns.

The ‘Hybrid’ version of the strap is closer to a classic two-strap design, both in looks and feel. It might require more regular fiddling with the ratchets but – with the aid of a toe strap that sits over the end of your boot – it pulls you more ‘back’ into the binding and gives you a little more lateral movement. This is the one to choose if doing tricks is your priority.

Both straps are made from a minimalist ‘AuxTech’ material. It’s a tough, lightweight mesh that uses hinged cells to expand evenly around your foot. You’ll find it on a bunch of the highest-end binders on the market so its inclusion in this competitively-priced model is a definite bonus.

The straps also feature Flow’s ‘Active Strap Tech’ that moves them out of the way when the highback is reclined for easier access. There’s not much to say here except – hey, it works!

“The straps also feature Flow’s ‘Active Strap Tech’ that moves them out of the way when the highback is reclined for easier access”

Roundup

With the release of the NX2-TM, Flow appear set to convert even more riders to their unique rear-entry system. They offer a compelling blend of premium lightweight materials, excellent build-quality and badass looks – all at a great price. More importantly, we found them to be comfortable, versatile, and of course convenient. Winner winner chicken dinner.

Trade Secrets

Lucien Vink – Industrial Designer & Product Manager, Flow

“For the NX2-TM we basically started with the Camoss colour-way, which, randomly, was inspired by a picture of a green camouflage tee shirt that Tim Humphreys found and sent to us!”

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