Hello and welcome to my Flux CV snowboard bindings review.
In this review, I will take a look at the CV as all-mountain-freeride snowboard bindings.
As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the CV a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and see how they compare with other all-mountain-freeride bindings.
Overall Rating
Binding: Flux CV 2024
Price: $399
Style: All-Mountain-Freeride
Flex Rating: Stiff (4/5)
Flex Feel on Snow: Medium-Stiff (7/10)
Rating Score: 89.4/100
Compared to other Men’s All-Mountain-Freeride Bindings
Out of the 20 men’s all-mountain-freeride bindings that I rated:
Overview of the CV’s Specs
Check out the tables for the CV’s specs and available sizes.
Specs
STYLE:
ALL-MOUNTAIN-FREERIDE
PRICE:
$399 - BUYING OPTIONS
$399 - BUYING OPTIONS
Ability Level:
flex:
weight:
Felt normal
Mounts to:
2x4 | 4x4 | Channel
Sizing
SIZE | US BOOT SIZE | EURO BOOT SIZE | UK BOOT SIZE |
|---|---|---|---|
S | 4.5-7.5 | 36-40.5 | 3.5-6.5 |
M | 7-9.5 | 40-42.5 | 6-8.5 |
L | 9+ | 42+ | 8+ |
Who is the CV Most Suited To?
The CV is best suited to someone looking for a really nice carving binding, but without having to go ultra stiff to get it. There's a decent amount of forgiveness and decent slow speed turning performance as well.
If you're looking for the most shock absorbing bindings out there, they may not be for you, but if you want great ankle support and otherwise quality feeling bindings and you need something around that 7/10 flex range, then the CV are worth checking out, for sure.
Best matched to boards in the 5/10 to 8/10 flex range. And even better suited to 6/10 to 7/10 flexing boards, IMO.
The CV in More Detail
O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the CV are capable of.
Demo Info
Binding: Flux CV 2024, M
Date: March 7, 2023
Conditions
Cloudy but high cloud. Good visibility. Lightly snowing to start but very light. Slightly more than flurries buy not much more.
Temperature was -1°C (30°F) and -4°C (25°F) with wind, both morning and afternoon. SE winds 5kph (3mph) morning . 10kph (6mph) SSE in afternoon.
24 hour snow: 0.4" (1cm)
48 hour snow: 2" (5cm)
7 day snow: 25" (64cm)
On groomer: Nicely groomed with a good layer of soft on top. I'd say medium firm underneath.
Off groomer: A little bit of it being dust on crust, but the crust part underneath wasn't too hard/icy or anyhing, so not too bad overall.
Set Up
Bindings angles: +15/-15
Stance width: 560mm (22″)
Board tested with: Lib Tech Terrain Wrecker
Boots tested with: Adidas Response ADV, size US9.5
Footbed length: 23.8cm (9.4”)
Footbed Length Fully Extended: 25.9cm (10.2”)
Baseplate Length (underside): 22.7cm (8.9")
Highback Height: 18.4cm (7.2”)*
* this seems quite short, but the heel cup is actually higher off the baseplate than most bindings. So where the top of the highback sits is actual more normal. From the top sheet of the board to the top of the highback it's 27.5cm (10.8"), which is right on average (27.2cm (10.7")) for all the bindings I've measured that on.
Weight: 1,000 grams (2lbs, 3oz)
* for one binding, including screws and disc. The average weight of a small sample size of around 80 bindings (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2024 models) I have weighed is 920 grams (2lbs). So the CV is a little heavier than average. I felt that slightly on the lift, but on snow they felt normal.
Flex
In Hand: The CV has a fairly stiff feeling highback, but there is some twist flex, both medially and laterally. With a touch more lateral than medial flex. A touch of give pulling back on the top of the highback, but very little. Compared to the DS it's significantly stiffer. But that's not too hard, as the DS is quite flexy both twisting and pulling back – particularly when pulling back right up the top. Vs the Malavitas (my control bindings), the CV have a touch more pullback flex (Malavita’s basically none), but the CVs are just a touch harder to twist. Though they are very close in the twist flex test.
Ankle and toe strap flex: The CV's ankle strap flex is very comparable to the Malavita's. Not overly stiff, have a good bit of flex to them. Ditto toe strap.
On Snow: They were certainly stiffer than the Malavita on snow, overall. But not by massive amounts. Noticeable but not hugely. Based on all the bindings I've tested, I would say mid-stiff, right on 7/10 is how they felt to me.
Responsiveness
For slower speed response for short/sharp turns, they didn't feel quite as good as my control bindings (Burton Malavita) but weren't far off.
But when it came to carving, particularly with a bit of speed under you, the CVs came into their own. They felt considerably better on a carve and made my control board feel like a better carver than it typically is.
Board Feel/Butterability
I found the CV had really decent board feel. Not quite to the level of my control bindings, but they are really good. Given there's no mini-disc or anything like that, it's somewhat surprising how this feels board-feel-wise. But I think the lack of padding in the footbed contributes to it (see shock absorption section below).
Pop/Ollie Power
Felt the same as my control bindings both in terms of initiating pop and in terms of total pop potential.
Adjustability
Super adjustable. Only the heel cup isn’t adjustable. Which I do like to have (and I'd have it over the heel ramp adjustment, in an ideal world), so it’s a relatively big missing piece, but it’s not essential – and with the rest of the adjustability, you should be able to get a really good binding to boot and binding to board fit with these bindings.
Heel Cup: No
Stance Width: Full size disc that you can run horizontal, so good micro stance width adjustbility.
Highback Lean: Yes and tool-less.
Ankle Strap Position: Yes – 2 positions.
Toe Strap Position: Yes – 2 positions.
Ankle and toe strap length: Tool-less.
Gas pedal/toe ramp extension: Yes - and it also has heel ramp adjustment too, which is uncommon to have both, so it makes centering your boots on the footbed really easy.
Highback Rotation: Yes – 5 different positions and it's also tool-less, which is something that's not usually tool-less, so that's a bonus.
Compatible with:
Shock Absorption
There is pretty much non-existent padding in the footbed of these bindings, which is typical of flux. There is maybe a little more (because it has the new boost footon footbed) than other models, but it's still very minimal. The footbed does, however, sit a little higher off the baseplate than typical, but it feels hollow inside. This does, probably, allow for a bit of an air cushion.
On snow I did feel like they were a touch better than the DS I also rode that day, so they've done something to make that a little better, without affecting board feel. But still noticeably less shock absorbing than my control bindings.
Entry/Exit
Nice and smooth ratchets and this made unstrapping on the go, when approaching the chairlift, nice and easy. And easy to strap in one-handed when needed.
Comfort
Overall not quite to the same comfort level of my control bindings, but those are hard to beat. Overall, really nice and comfortable.
Ankle Strap: They fit so nicely to my boots. No pressure points, just a nice snug fit and perfectly formed. The ratchet ladder sitting on the inside of the heel cup really helps with how well this strap fits, IMO. Which also really helps with ankle support (see below).
Toe Strap: Toe strap fits perfect. Best toe straps in business, I reckon.
Canted Footbed: Not that I could tell. When I measured, it was flat across and the eye test didn't see any canting. And they don't mention it in their specs. Short answer - no.
Padded Footbed: Very minimal padding (see shock absorption section above for more). The reason I couldn't give it any more for comfort, but man did those straps feel nice!
Highback: There's a little padding on the lower half of the highback. Whether that makes any difference, I'm not sure. What I am sure of though, is that I didn't experience any calf bite, which is the main thing.
Ankle Support
The Ankle support on these bindings (and other Flux bindings too) is the best in the business, IMO. As mentioned above the ankle strap and ladder sit on the inside of the heel cup. With most bindings they sit on the outside of the heel cup. This allows for a really nice snug fit and they typically, in my experience, have the best ankle support I've felt.
They also have two ankle strap position options. So, you can sit it lower for less support and more freedom of movement or higher for more support.
Score Breakdown and Final Verdict
Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.
RATING | SCORE WEIGHTING | |
|---|---|---|
CARVING | 4.5 | 22.5/25 |
SLOW SPEED RESPONSE | 3.5 | 7/10 |
ADJUSTABILITY | 4.5 | 13.5/15 |
ANKLE SUPPORT | 5.0 | 15/15 |
BOARD FEEL | 4.0 | 8/10 |
SHOCK ABSORPTION | 3.0 | 6/10 |
COMFORT | 4.0 | 8/10 |
ENTRY/EXIT | 4.0 | 4/5 |
TOTAL after normalizing | 89.4/100 |
Overall, the Flux CV are really nice bindings that made my board feel like a better carver than it should be and was just super nice to lay carves with - without only a very minimal loss of slow speed performance.
Their straps fit so perfectly to my boots and felt super comfortable, along with providing the best ankle support in the business.
They may lack in shock absorption, though these were a little better than some other Flux models I've tried, with the new boost footon, but they make up for it in every other area, even with good board feel, that if you can take that on the chin, you get some really high performance bindings that feel great to ride in.
More Info, Current Prices and Where to Buy Online
If you’re interested in Flux’s CV bindings, are ready to buy or want to research current prices or availability, check out the links below.
If you want to check out some other all-mountain-freeride type bindings or want to compare the CV to others, check out the next link.
Nate, is the highback adjustable by pushing it forward as a whole (not highback lean) without rotation?
I am trying to see if a L would fit my US 9-10 boots range (e.g, Ride 9, Thirtytwo 9.5, Nitro 10)…I dunno why but that’s how my feet fit different brands…
Hey Richie
There’s no way to push the heel cup/highback forward, outside of high back rotation with the CV, unfortunately. Yeah, feet often fit different brands differently – and different for different people. Feet are weird!
I don’t have a lot of experience in Nitro boots (have only tried the Sentinel BOA), but I measured the Sentinel BOA to be around 3.1cm longer on outsole vs it’s Mondo (31.1cm outersole on a US10 (mondo 28cm) boot). (note that we measure the actual sole length and not from the longest part of the heel of the boot).
So they’re not overly bulky, but not super low profile either. I’m thinking you’d get the ThirtyTwo 9.5 in the M, most likely. I ride my Tactical Response ADV in M Flux bindings (which is what I rode the CV in) and they fit well and was able to get good centering. The Response are a little more low profile than any ThirtyTwo boot that I’ve measured, but ThirtyTwo don’t tend to be overly bulky or anything in my experience. For the ankle strap on the CV I was in the 7th of 11 holes, in terms of strap length and on the toe strap was in the 6th of 9 holes. So it could go longer. I imagine in terms of straps that it could take pretty much any 9.5 and likely a lot of 10s as well. So in that sense your ThirtyTwo is very likely to get in and potentially the Nitro 10 as well – though that would be cutting it finer.
The only thing with your ThirtyTwo 9.5 might be boot centering (i.e. having too much difference between toe overhang and heel overhang), but you can run Flux’s discs vertically, so you can adjust your centering that way, assuming you don’t need to run it horizontally for fine tuning your stance width. So I think you’d be fine. The biggest question mark would be the Nitro 10. If you went Large, you’d be able to move forward using the disc forward vertically and there’s a good chance you’d get the 9.5 ThirtyTwo centered in it that way. For the 9, the biggest question would be your Ride 9 and whether you’d be able to move the disc forward enough to get good boot centering. Hard to say for sure, but you may be able to.
Hope this gives you more to go off
Nate, this is very helpful, now the issue is that, I could only find L on the market….would L be ok for my sizing? it seems working on the lower end of the size chart.
Hey Richie
I think it should work all good for the Nitro 10 and ThirtyTwo 9.5. The Ride 9 would be the only question mark. Likely it will fit OK – as in straps shouldn’t be so long that you can’t adjust them to be tight enough. But it might just be that centering becomes difficult with them. But I think you’d get away with it.