Nidecker Flow Fuse Fusion Review

Hello and welcome to my Nidecker Flow Fuse Fusion snowboard bindings review.

In this review I will take a look at the Fuse Fusion as all-mountain-freeride snowboard bindings.

As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Fuse Fusion a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and see how they compare with other all-mountain-freeride bindings.

Overall Rating

Bindings: Nidecker (Flow Style) Fuse Fusion 2025

Price: $299 (USD recommended retail)

Style: All-Mountain-Freeride

Flex Rating: Mid-Stiff

Flex Feel: Mid-Stiff (6.5/10)

Rating Score: 81.4/100

Compared to other Men’s All-Mountain-Freeride Bindings

Overview of the Fuse Fusion’s Specs

Check out the tables for the Fuse Fusion’s specs and available sizes.

Specs

Who are the Fuse Fusion Most Suited To?

The Fuse Fusion are best suited to riders who want a binding that's just a little stiffer than medium and want a slightly faster than normal, slightly easier "strap in" process. 

Best matched to boards in the 4.5/10 to 7.5/10 flex range and even more optimal for that 5.5/10 to 6.5/10 flex range. 

For ability, good for intermediate and up. A little too stiff for beginners, IMO. 

Test/review details for the Fuse Fusion

O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Fuse Fusion are capable of.

Demo Info

Binding: Nidecker Flow Fuse Fusion, L

Date: May 8, 2024

Mounting

Pretty standard. There's a screw on the footbed, so you need a screwdriver to take that off. But you'll need that to screw in the screws anyway. Most other things are tool-less. 

Then it's just a matter of setting your angles on the disc and screwing them in. The angles and everything are easy to see and set. 

The strap, being one piece can be a little annoying getting in the way and only a minor annoyance when mounting. Once you have them setup, there'll be no issues with the strap getting in the way, because it will stay strapped up and you put your foot in the back (if you're not familiar with Flow speed entry/rear entry bindings, your foot enters from the back, going in over the high-back). 

Fitting to Boot

All the adjustments that I needed were tool-less, which is good because I found that I needed to make a couple of tweeks after getting to the mountain. I find this is typically the case with Flow bindings, to get that sweet spot of having the straps fit snug enough, but also having it so that it's quick and easy to get your foot in and out - which is after all the point in getting Flow bindings. 

But with a few tweaks and a bit of patience and trial and error I can usually always find that right balance between fit and ease. And you can lock the straps. 

Flex

In hand the Fuse is much stiffer than how it feels on snow. If you based your flex analysis on the stiffness of the highback and didn't take ride feel into account, then you'd probably say the Fuse is an 8.5/10 to 9/10, such is how stiff the highback feels. But overall feel on snow feels closer to medium. Just brushing up against mid-stiff. 

Responsiveness

I found I could rail a good carve with these bindings, but nothing that made carving noticeably better than my board would typically carve. For quick slower speed turns, it did well - above average I would say, but again, nothing that was game changing or anything. But all round solid enough support for good carves and good slow speed turning response. 

Board Feel/Butterability

Not top tier for board feel, but still really decent. 

Pop/Ollie Power

I found it a touch easier to initiate ollies/pop with these vs the Flow NX-2 that I also rode that day. Not quite as easy as my control bindings (Burton Malavita) but pretty close. In terms of overall power for popping, it felt pretty normal. 

Adjustability

Heel Cup: No. But also maybe? There's technically no heel cup on the Fuse due to the way flow bindings work. But it looks like there's a way you can move the whole high-back forward. But I didn't figure it out in the time I had them (was in a good position for me). Don't quote me on that and get confirmation before you start messing them, but it did look like you could, which would act as a kind of heel cup adjustment (if it is in fact meant to move!).

Stance Width: You can run the disc horizontally or vertically - if run horizontal then there is lots of stance width adjustability. 

Highback Lean: Yes and tool-less.

Ankle Strap Position: No

Toe Strap Position: Yes – 2 positions

Ankle and toe strap length:  Tool-less

Gas pedal/toe ramp extension: Yes. The whole footbed can move. There is a screw holding it in place. Opening the screw gives you access to the disc and also allows you to adjust the footbed position forward or back.  

Highback Rotation: No (or at least I don’t think so, but there is a hole on each side under the screws that hold on the ankle strap and the one that holds on the highback. But there seems to be no way to use it to adjust the highback or ankle strap that I can see and Flow doesn’t mention it on their site or in the instruction booklet that came with them).

Compatible with: 2 x 4 | The Channel | 4 x 4

Extra: They also use an offset disc – so you can adjust boot centering, depending on which way up you put the disc. Or you can run vertically if you want as well. The offset gives you about 4mm (⁵/₃₂") of difference. Running vertically gives you around 13mm (¹/₂") of difference – so still more toe/heel centering adjustability running vertically, but if you need just a little bit of an adjustment and still want that stance width adjustability of running the disc horizontally, then that offset disc is a great option to have. 

Shock Absorption

Shock absorption felt really decent landing off jumps and for absorbing general chatter. Not too surprising with the footbed having ome good cush to it and particularly in the heel and toe.

Entry/Exit

Ankle/Toe Ratchet Smoothness: Once you lift up the lock they pretty smoothly push on and they ratchet pretty smoothly too – at both toe and ankle. Not the ultimate in smooth, but still really nice. And releasing is pretty smooth too. If you can set and forget them, then this isn’t a biggie anyway, if you’re predominantly using the speed entry. But because of this smoothness, you wouldn’t have any issues getting in and out via traditional unstrapping. They feel a touch less smooth than NX-2 (which I also testing at the same time) but really subtly less so.

Process:  To get in you pull back the high-back, which at the same time lifts the baseplate at an angle that allows you to get your boot in more easily (Nidecker call it Active-Strap. You push your boot in and then pull the high-back up and lock the lever in place. Like with all Flow bindings, there’s a sweet spot you need to find to make sure the binding is tight enough for security and response but loose enough to get your boot in and out easily. Once finding that sweet spot, I find the system works well. But I find it tends to take a bit of trial and error.  

Comfort

I had no issues with the comfort of these bindings - overall worked really well. 

Ankle Strap: The ankle strap conformed well to my boots and there was no strap-bite. 

Toe Strap: These are the Flow Fusion straps, so the ankle and toe strap are essentially one. They do narrow between the straps, but essentially one big strap - felt fine around the toes though. 

Toe/ankle strap has padding under the honey comb plastic top of strap. Quite flexy on the upper part of the ankle part of the strap and then stiffer on the lower part of the ankle part. Stiffer again through the midsection. Looks like you can remove the padding fairly easily, if you didn’t want it, though I’m not sure if the pieces holding the padding on would be an issue in terms of causing pressure (though those bits are pretty soft) or if they wouldn't conform properly. 

Canted Footbed: Yes.

Padded Footbed: Well padded - see shock absorption section for more. 

Highback: ¾ of it (from top) is padded. Decent thickness of padding too. But the main thing was I didn't get any calf bite from the high-back.

Ankle Support 

Felt about normal. Could get more support by cranking the ankle strap more, but I found I lost the balance between easy in and strap fit when I did that. 

Score Breakdown and Final Verdict

Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.

The Fuse Fusion strike a good balance between riding faster and slower, more casual and more aggressive and offer a slightly faster/easier entry, once you've found that sweet spot. They are versatile in what riding styles and different boards they can accommodate and have a good amount of adjustability, so you can get that fit nice and customized to your board and boots. 

If you're weighing up between these and the NX2, the Fuse are quite similar overall, but I found them to be a little softer flexing, a little more agile at slower speeds, a little easier to initiate turns and initiate ollies and not quite as good for carving and speed.