Another one of Mervin Manufacturing's magnificent marvels, (God I love alliteration) is their Bent Metal Bindings. After a long period of wanting, I finally got my hands on a pair of these last season after my much used Tech Nines exploded. See, bindings to me are a little like skate trucks... once you finally get a pair dialed and you get used to them, it's hard to ride anything else.

The Bent Metal Binders however, were instantly amazing... Eh, well actually they took a couple days of breaking in but then they were amazing. I had to make a couple adjustments on the "World's Most Adjustable Bindings" to compensate for my bigger feet, but the biggest adjustment for me was how the bindings sat on the board. The Tech Nines mounted almost flush, meaning that my foot was sitting on the binding only about a 1/4 inch off the board. In contrast, the Bent Metals are raised and mount about 3/4 inch off the board so you stand a little higher on your board. It might be a little hard to picture this, with out pictures, so I hope you can get the picture. This definitely took a few runs to get used to but once I did they were schweeeet. The board is way more responsive with the raised bindings and it also helps eliminate toe or heal drag.

The Step-In model is what I rode last season and I have no plans to get another pair this season, you know the whole skate truck analogy. Unless of course the fine folks at Bent Metal want to give me a few pairs to test out.

Step-In?... More like strap in

Since I'm all about riding pow and jumping off things and not as much into the jibbing, I like my binders like I like my drinks.... Stiff. The Step-Ins are made from melted down alien space craft aluminum so you get a nice durable, stiff binding with a response level of 10... or 11. I need my jungle cat like reflexes to be on point at all times and with the stiffer binder, that's exactly what you get. Plus I'm in the 215-220 lb range and I don't want the super flexy plastic binders to break while I'm gettin my steez on.

The leather ankle strap is plush and super comfy and the toe strap hugs your boots tight. The Step-In rules

Another awesomely innovative feature of Bent Metal Binders is their forward lean adjustment system.

It's hip to be a... Cube

The Cube has got to be the fastest, easiest method of adjusting forward lean in the history of snowboarding. All you have to do is turn it! I don't ever use any forward lean but for all you pipe riders out there, this is a tasty little feature

So if you can't tell by now, I'm pretty stoked on Bent Metal. They are definitely the best binders I have ridden and would recommend them to anybody, except gapers. Screw em to a Mervin board and you're likely to annihilate the entire mountain.

Check out Bent Metals new catalog featuring their 08/09 line up.

Go peep Hybridsessions.com for more shred happenings and raddness.

And Brain, I already know what you're going to say... and I don't want to hear it