Share

Bindings

Bataleon Chaos 2022-2023 Snowboard Bindings Review

Tested and selected for our top 100 snowboard products of the year: the Bataleon Chaos

  • Price: FULLWRAP: £270 / €300 / $300 ASYMWRAP: £270 / €300 / $300
  • Sizes: FULLWRAP – M/L, L/XL ASYM WRAP – S/M, M/L
  • Flex: FULLWRAP: 6/10 ASYMWRAP: 5/10
  • Entry System: Classic

Why We Chose The Bataleon Chaos: In a word, the highback. It’s old school tweakability meets new school design; you’ll be styling your tricks out even better than they did in the 90s.

Where 90 percent of binders on the market are basically do-it-all in nature, the Bataleon Chaos seeks to gain a genuine edge for freestyle. Not only does it have a soft flex, but it’s short and lightweight, too, encouraging you to bonk and bone your way down the hill like Noah Salasnek back in the dizay. Look him up, kids. As with all Bataleons, the construction is top notch, pairing strong materials with smart looks including a couple of head-turning colour options.

“The whole goal behind this binding is to give you a feeling of freedom”

Who Is The Bataleon Chaos For?

Riders who are on high five terms with the local park shapers. Heck, they might be one of the local park shapers. Plus anyone who looks at piste poles, tree stumps, staircases or knuckles and thinks, “I could hit that.”

MORE INFO:
BATALEONSNOWBOARDS.COM

 

Baseplate

The Chaos shares the same basic platform as the Bataleon Astro and Bataleon Blaster. The amount of hard plastic in contact with the deck has been kept to a minimum in order to let your board flex as nature – or at least some product engineer – intended. Meanwhile, a full length adjustable footbed ensures you can soak up any landings (and let’s be real, there’ll be plenty of those). Underneath the base, a layer of moulded rubber helps it stay gripped in place and provides a little extra dampening.

There are two flavours of chassis to choose from. The Chaos Full features an aluminium heel hoop that wraps all the way around both sides of the binding, connecting at four points (front and back). It’s the strongest layout with the most efficient front-to-back energy transfer, so if you like to send it over big jumps then it could be a good shout. That said, the whole goal behind this binding is to give you a feeling of freedom, and on that score the Chaos Asym is a purer iteration. Here, the aluminium connects at just three points, letting you tweak more laterally and generally get loosey goosey. Less metal makes the thing lighter, too.

If all this sounds familiar, you’re not wrong; the Fullwrap/Asymwrap concept was pioneered by Rome, so although Bataleon haven’t been making bindings for many seasons you can be confident the technology works really well.

“The amount of hard plastic in contact with the deck has been kept to a minimum in order to let your board flex as nature – or at least some product engineer – intended”

Straps and Highbacks

There’s only one place to start here, and it’s with the highback. Older shredders might dimly recall those stumpy bindings from the early to mid 1990s. Back then, highbacks were still in their infancy and a generation of rippers like Mike Ranquet and Terje Haakonsen were pushing for shorter freestyle-focused designs that let them pull outrageous tweaks straight out of the skatepark. As the jumps got bigger and riders ventured further into the backcountry, taller highbacks that offered greater support began to take over. They were stiffer too, more responsive when you set the board on edge – inviting you to go faster. Somewhere along the way – and in conjunction with more supportive boots – snowboarders gained more of a robotic style.

The Chaos, though, is leading the resistance. Its Quarterback highback is reminiscent of those smaller designs of yore, only with modern materials and better ergonomics. There’s more space to move your lower leg which helps you style out rail slides or yank the crap out of that japan air. Everything moves in cycles, we guess, and of course there are still advantages to a full height highback, but it’s great to be able to enjoy a touch more of that fabled surf/skate freedom without going to the extreme of running nobacks.

The Transfer ankle strap is a low profile design that’s built to withstand plenty of abuse. It’s a bit plasticky, but pre-curved for a good fit, and with all those perforations it’s flexy enough to match the binding’s freestyle ambitions. FastEntry ladders keep the strap out of the way when you’re getting your boot in, saving you a few vital seconds which – added up over a season – equates to five laps and at least one new trick. Fact.

The toe strap is similar in style. It’s more basic than the AuxTech ones seen elsewhere in the Bataleon line, which helps keep the price within the range of dirtbag park rats. There’s nothing budget about the buckles, though, which are made from chunky aluminium for reliable leverage.

Finally, the Chaos comes with Bataleon’s ‘Never Miss a Day’ spares set, so you can get straight back on the lift if you damage or break one of the ladders. Thoughtful guys, aren’t they?

“There’s more space to move your lower leg which helps you style out rail slides or yank the crap out of that japan air”

Roundup

Exciting tech doesn’t have to mean it’s complicated or made from carbon. As the Bataleon Chaos proves, it can be something as simple as shortening the highback – a move that genuinely changes the feel of your whole set-up. Riders who want to hit jumps and rails will love the creative possibilities, and though the straps aren’t exactly luxurious, they’ll be happy with the price, too.

Pros:

  • Tweak-tastic highback
  • Two chassis options

Cons:

  • Straps feel a bit no frills
SHOP ALL SNOWBOARD BINDINGS ON

 

Tester’s Verdict 2022/23

Coming soon…

Trade Secrets

Rubby Kiebert – Sales Director, Bataleon

“The Chaos bindings are built with freestyle progression in mind. The Quarterback highbacks are shorter, allowing for more leg movement, making it easier to tweak grabs and get tech on rails. The wrap chassis system makes 3BT even better by creating a point of leverage under your toes, making it easier to get on edge and more stable once you’re locked in. Bataleon Creative Director Danny Kiebert went all out on the colorways for the Chaos. They are available in three different variations and match boards in the line perfectly for that fresh off the runway feel. Throw a pair of Chaos asyms on your Disaster and tear up the park.”

Share

Newsletter Terms & Conditions

Please enter your email so we can keep you updated with news, features and the latest offers. If you are not interested you can unsubscribe at any time. We will never sell your data and you'll only get messages from us and our partners whose products and services we think you'll enjoy.

Read our full Privacy Policy as well as Terms & Conditions.

production