Union Falcor Review: All-Mtn Freeride Bindings Reviews

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

Demo Info

Bindings: Union Falcor 2021, Medium (M)

Date: February 27, 2020

Conditions: Snowing! Quite nice amount of snow especially up higher. Wetter snow in car park which was unpleasant for changing over bindings and taking notes on lift but all good with that pow up high!

8cm in last 24 hours.

-2°C (28.4°F) with wind – didn’t feel overly cold.

Groomers were a little cruddy but with some nice pow on top spots to the sides. Off groomer was nice with that 8cm layer.

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Stance Width: 565mm (22.2”)

Board demoed with: Rossignol One LF 2018

Baseplate Length: 25.2cm (9.9”)*

*but this was measured on the top side of the footbed. Was 22.7cm on the underside of the baseplate

Highback Height: 21.2cm (8.35”)

Weight: 820 grams (1lb, 13oz)*

* for one binding, including screws and disc. The average weight of a small sample size of around 30 bindings (2019, 2020 & 2021 models) I weighed, was 895 grams. The lightest was 760 grams and the heaviest was 1,020grams. So the Falcor is a good bit lighter than the average of those I weighed.  

Flex

Union appear to have changed their ratings for the Falcor to an 8/10 for both baseplate and highback, where they used to rate the baseplate 6/10 and highback 8/10. In any case, it still feels, overall to be around a 7/10 flex as per previous models. 

Responsiveness

The Falcor’s give a dynamic/explosive response to your board. I found that they made my board more lively, but not to the point that it felt twitchy or anything. This is on a 6/10 flex board. Going too much softer and it might start to feel a little twitchy. On a stiffer board, wouldn’t be quite as lively/explosive, perhaps, but to me they just had this feeling like they offered more spring out of turns than my board otherwise would – and worked well whether riding fast or slow.

And more spring/explosiveness versus other similar flexing bindings and stiffer bindings too. If you prefer a more subtle/smoother response, then they may not suit you as well, but for me, they just had me buzzing – made my board feel like it suddenly had more energy.  

But you could still certainly hold a nice deep carve on them too. A little more so than what you can on the Strata (which I also rode the same day), but without sacrificing too much in terms of maneuverability at slow speeds.  

Board Feel/Butterability

Really good board feel, especially for how stiff they are. That mini-disc feel isn’t for everyone, but for me, I love it and that combination of response and board feel, just feels like the perfect combo to me. 

Pop/Ollie Power

The Falcor is one of the few bindings that I actually notice a difference on in terms of pop. Most I don’t really notice the difference, but the Falcor just seemed to give that little bit more pop. Made my board feel slightly more poppy than it does with most other bindings. 

Adjustability

Heel Cup: Yes (which is really nice to have for easy centering of boots)

Stance Width: With the mini-discs you can’t run the disc vertically – but there’s no need to have that, with the adjustable heel cup (you’d typically only run vertically for boot centering). So with the disc running horizontally it gives you some stance width adjustability. However, being a mini-disc it’s somewhat limited.  

Highback Lean: Not tool-less. This is slightly annoying if it’s something you like to change, depending on the conditions that day. But if you keep it in one setting, then you can just set it and forget it. 

Ankle Strap Position: No

Toe Strap Position: Yes

Ankle and toe strap length: Yes tool-less 

Gas pedal/toe ramp extension: No

Highback Rotation: Yes-ish

Compatible with: 2 x 4 | channel (not compatible with 4 x 4, which means doesn’t work on “slam back inserts” “float packs” – anything that has an extra set of holes 4cm behind the main insert pack and not compatible with boards with 4 x 4 insert packs, though those are very rare these days). 

Shock Absorption

The Falcor’s absorb shock really well. The foot bed doesn’t feel particularly plush when you squeeze it, but when riding the bindings do well to absorb chatter and absorb shock from flat landings. 

Entry/Exit

Typical ratchets from Union – in other words very good. Maybe not quite the best in the industry, but not far off either – and as smooth as you’d ever need them (you know maybe in 2040 when your bindings self tighten to the perfect pressure at the push of a button, we might look back and say they were cumbersome, but compared to the earthling tech we currently have, they’re right up there). 

Let’s Break up this text with a Video

Comfort

I found the Strata super comfortable overall. 

Ankle Strap: Really nice ankle strap. One of my favorite ankle straps now. Just conforms really nicely with the boot, with no pressure points, whilst still giving a nice secure feeling. Same as on the Strata. 

Toe Strap: Toes straps are great too, IMO.  

Canted Footbed: Yes

Padded Footbed:  Not overly plush feeling but absorbs shock and chatter really well, which is the main thing, IMO. 

Highback: Some good padding at the top of the highback, which is nice, but the main thing is that I hardly felt the highback. No calfbite or anything like that, and that’s the most important thing. And something that’s not always the case with stiffer highbacks. 

Ankle Support

The Forma Lab strap does a great job supporting the ankle. It’s something that these, and other Union bindings, have really improved on over the past few years, and this is another step up, IMO. 

Changes for the 2021 Model

• New ankle strap
• New toe strap
• New bushings

Changes for the 2020 Model

THe 2020 model gets a new ankle strap and new toe strap in addition to new bushings. So a few upgrades/tweaks there for the 2020 model.

Changes for the 2019 Model

As far as I can tell the 2019 model is very similar to the 2018 model.

They have “Forma Elite” ankle straps whereas the 2018 model had the “ExoFrame/Air” ankle strap. But I didn’t notice any difference, so it feels like it’s just a name change, maybe? They still have the “exoFrame” ankle straps for 2019 but they look a lot different.

The toe straps are different, with the new “Hexgrip” toe strap on the Falcors. The “Ultragrip X” toe strap that it had on it last year was great, but the Hexgrip is a small improvement, IMO. Not a major thing but a subtle improvement.