Flow snowboarding
| Flow snowboarding
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|---|---|
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| legal form | Incorporated |
| founding | 1992 |
| Seat | San Clemente (California) , United States |
| Website | flow.com |
The company Flow Snowboarding is a manufacturer of snowboard bindings, snowboard boots, snowboards and accessories. Flow became known as the inventor of an innovative concept for bindings that established the category of so-called speed entry bindings .
Company history
In 1992 the sailor Neil Pryde and Reinhardt Hansen teamed up to develop a binding that should be more comfortable to buckle than the widespread ratchet bindings , for which they hired the product designer Werner Jettmar. In addition, it should offer better power transmission and convey the feeling of driving " barefoot ".
The first flow binding was presented in 1995 at the ISPO (international trade fair for sporting goods and sportswear) in Munich . There was great interest in the new system and in 1996 the first collection of bindings and boots was available in stores.
The company gradually expanded its product range and has been manufacturing snowboards since 2002 . Flow is also successful on the market with snowboards and has already won numerous GoodWood Awards and Future Snowboarding Awards for its board development. In addition, Flow was the first company to work with Titanal in freestyle / freeride boards . Two years ago the so-called WhiskeyX construction was registered for a patent. It should be noted that there is no independent company "Flow - Snowboarding", but the brand name "Flow" is a brand of the Pryde Group. The Pryde Group, founded by sailor Neil Pryde, is the manufacturer and owner of the brands Flow Snowboarding, Icetools, Cabrinha Kiteboarding, JP Australia Surfboards and Neil Pryde Sail / Neoprene. In addition, the Pryde Group, whose headquarters are in Hong Kong, also has various branches around the world that sell the products.
In 2002 the company relocated its headquarters from Austria to San Francisco in order to achieve similar success in the American market as in Europe. In 2005 the head quarter was relocated to San Clemente, California. The German branch of the Pryde Group is located in Taufkirchen near Munich.
Sponsorship
The Flow brand is currently sponsoring its own snowboard team, which among other things contributes to the further development of the products. With Antti Autti , Flow has one of the best snowboarders in the world on his team, who was the first European to win the X-Games in the USA in the superpipe . All Flow team riders use Flow boots, boards and bindings.
range
Flow established the category of "speed entry bindings", which is the second category on the soft binding market alongside standard 2-buckle bindings. The category of "speed entry bindings" is becoming more and more important, which can be seen in the growing number of similar products.
According to Flow, it is the world's second largest manufacturer of snowboard bindings. In addition to the well-known bindings, Flow also makes snowboards, shoes and accessories.
Binding system
Flow bindings have a fixed foot strap (power strap) and a foldable shaft (highback), the so-called reclining hiback. Entry is from behind and by folding up the highback. Fine adjustments on the power strap and the highback forward angle can be adjusted without tools. There are now a number of similar loyalty models from competing companies. However, flow has some key elements, such as: B. patent the power triangle or the power strap. Flow is currently the only brand that offers a complete line of bindings with different models (women, men, materials, freeride or freestyle).
advantages
- Identical hold every time you buckle up, much faster than with conventional bindings
- For beginners easier entry into the binding
- The even pressure absorption of the large-area Powerstrap avoids punctual pressure on the instep, which prevents possible pressure points and cold feet
- The tensioned cable of the patented Power Triangle directs the power to the rear edge with less loss than a flex highback during the backside turn
- The Powerstrap gives you more control when doing the frontside turn, power is reduced much earlier on the boat
- Many models have so-called MINIRatchet Buckles, which allow fine adjustment of the strap on the slopes without any problems
disadvantage
- Due to the design, the highback must have a forward angle of at least 5 °
- Flow bindings require a relatively large amount of space during transport
- In contrast to the ratchet binding, which is automatically and individually adjusted to the planned skiing style and the slope before each descent by varying the straps, the adjustment process on the flow binding must be carried out consciously. Due to the four buckles of the power strap, it is relatively more complex to center, which takes time to adjust