It’s tradeshow season for the snowboard industry, which means it’s time for the brands to reveal their new product line-ups for 2012/13. First came JF Pelchat’s new NOW bindings. Today, having teased us with press releases for the past few weeks, Bataleon’s new binding company Switchback has finally revealed their hand. And as we predicted in the latest issue, it looks like a modular system so riders can customize the colours of their baseplates, highback and straps. According to the mail-out, they also make it easier to make more radical modifications: “it’s now possible for everyone to experience the fun of no-back snowboarding. You can switch out your highbacks for our no-back insert in just a few seconds and switch back again just as fast. Ride some speed laps on the groomers with a highback in the morning, then switch to no-back for some surf pow lines in the afternoon. Hit the big kicker line with highbacks or cruise the jib line without to add some skate flavor to your riding. Or don’t even buy a highback and do it all without. Switch it up, switch it back – its all good!” Other features they’re crowing about include:

– Tool-less foodpad adjustment – get to your disc fast!
– Smart basepad that gives you cushioning where you want it but precision where you need it and reduces the amount of hard plastic in direct contact with your board.
– Tool-less strap position adjustment.
– Tool-less natural pivot forward lean adjustment on the FL Highback.
– 2 way strap adjustment on both straps – get centered with any boot in seconds.

With Halldor and Eiki Helgason already signed up, these new bindings are guaranteed to attract a crowd at the forthcoming ISPO show in Munich. But will they be any good? Let us know what you think…