Have you ever wanted to be hugged by a soft, gooey marshmallow that slowly tightens its arms around you, never letting you go? And as that marshmallow tightens its gelatinous self around you, it whispers sweet nothings into your ear giving you the confidence you needed to chuck your carcass off a chest high double up.
You haven’t? Well you’re going to have that longing feel for a marshmallows touch shortly after reading this review of the ALL NEW Ronix Brain Frame Technologies.
So what is Ronix Brain Frame Technology? Well let’s take a few steps back in time before we explain. Wakeboard bindings have made a huge leap in technology since the inception of wakeboarding. From the straps that covered your feet on the original Skurfer to sandal bindings on the first Hyperlite Pro to the closed-toe bindings that are the norm today. Needless to say wakeboard bindings have come a long way. But for 2015, Ronix decided to step binding tech up another notch with their ALL NEW Brain Frame Technology.
The whole WakeHouse staff was drooling when these bad boys made their cross country trip from Seattle to our grubby hands here in Michigan. I ripped into the first pair of Parks bindings and marveled at what was now in my hand. At first glance, Ronix bindings with BFT (Let’s call it BFT from now on, because I’m sick of typing it out) look no different than a typical closed-toe binding…but looks can be deceiving. I pulled the stuffing out of the bindings, grabbed the hardware and mounted them to my board. My next destination, the lake!
After a couple minutes of driving we made it to the lake and proceeded to drop the boat in. Before I knew it I was standing on the back of the swim platform getting ready to make my first few turns. I dropped by board on the swim platform and stepped into my new Parks bindings. Per the usual, they had the same soft, marshmallow comfort of past Ronix bindings that we’ve all come to love. As I tightened the dual lacing zones I noticed one HUGE difference though. No longer did the bindings just tighten over the top of my feet, compressing my foot down. Instead they seemed to hug my whole foot. I could feel the BFT skeleton wrapping around my entire foot, leaving me with no pressure points. This simple change left me feeling more confident than normal when I jumped in the water. I knew my board would react even quicker being that I was connected more securely. As the boat accelerated and pulled me out of the water, I made my first carve out into the flats. I proceeded to make a couple slashes back and forth and as I predicted the board did seem to react even quicker. One additional reason for the quick reactions was the installation of the aluminum lock beams that sit under your foot. The aluminum lock beams not only keep the skeleton of the BFT system secure, but they also stiffen the baseplate eliminating heel and toe lift, thus increasing the reaction time. Again, my confidence began to increase knowing I had a solid foundation under my feet. Finally I pulled out to the side of the boat and came screaming in for a big ‘heelside hero’ approach. I popped into the air and landed on the other side of the wake smoothly. As I continued edging out on my heelside from the wake, I noticed there was a little bit of choppy water ahead of me. My board went flat through the chop, but I didn’t notice nearly as much vibration as I would’ve expected. One more perk of BFT. A rubber gasket mounted under the baseplate helps limit the amount of vibration you feel. I took a couple more laps around the lake and was totally impressed with the performance of these bindings.
So you’re wondering, “What didn’t you like about the binding?” As I jumped back in the boat, I did have one minor complaint. I would’ve preferred a slightly stiffer upper in my binding. But when I was picking out my new pair of bindings, I couldn’t turn down the look of the Parks so I purchased the boot regardless knowing it would be a little softer than I like. However, Ronix even has a solution for that. All BFT equipped bindings are completely interchangeable. That means if you like the look of the Parks, but want the stiffness of a One boot, you can put a One liner in a Parks boot or vice versa. Ronix really out did themselves with their BFT line-up of boots. There are so many changes with BFT bindings that I couldn’t even explain them all in this post, so watch the video below and let Ronix fill you in with what I left out.
Like what you heard so much that you need a pair of your own? Well then check them out HERE.
