atr3yu

So here is the deal... I already have my board (NS 160 Heritage), boots (Ride RFL's) and bindings (Burton Cartels) on lay away at my local shop. Though I know they would have no issue if I switched up which bindings I want. The 3 binding companies they sell are Ride, Burton, and Flux. I demo'd some Flux last year and did not like them so I am leaving them out of the picture. My first bindings ever were used old Ride SPI's, but I never had any issue with them. I have not ridden Burton bindings yet, but their track record seems to speak for it's self. I believe the Capo was new last year and the only complaint I heard was the ratchet chewing up the teeth on the straps. I am assuming they would have this resolved this year. Anyone have any opinions on this choice? The differences between the plastic vs metal binding? One of the issues I had with the Flux is that the toe cap dug into my boot and hurt my toes, but I did prefer the locked in feel of having it in front of the toe. The Burton toe cap looks similar, where the ride has the rubber net, which I assume is quite comfy. Anyone with any experience or opinions it would be greatly appreciated. The Ride's just hit the shelf on Saturday so I probably have a few days to figure this out before size and colour become limited. Thank you every!

Stats below as they always seem to get asked,

30yrs, 5'11", 165lbs ish, size 9 boot, second year riding (30days), all mountain, no park.

david_z

probably comes down to the plastic vs. metal debate... does the alu chassis on the Ride bindings give the same flex & feel that a composite or plastic chassis on the Cartels? Probably not. Will you notice the difference? Probably not. Cartels are solid, solid bindings I had a pair for 2 seasons and still like them when I demo. That said, I really like my Ride Deltas (now known as the Rodeo) and for what it's worth I think Ride's toe-straps are among the best in the biz in terms of comfort & fit.

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Nivek

I'd say switch it for the Capo's. I don't care what Burton says that new highback is noticeably softer and I can't see it not effecting the ride. I am convinced the Cartels are going to be more of a park binding than all mountain binding this year. I'm pushing people into Malavita's instead of Cartels this year for all mountain use. The highback is just stiffer.

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Snowboarding Sucks.

atr3yu

Wow, sweet guys thanks for the info and honestly not what I expected to hear. I have heard the the Cartels high backs were a little softer, but being new to all this I had nothing to compare it too. I'll hit them up on Tuesday, since tomorrow is a holiday here in Canada and switch to the Capo's. Thanks for the feed back, much appreciated!

jdang307

i almost bought some Ride's last year but two things:

I kept hearing about ratchets sticking. I can deal with that, but after having butter (burton and raiden) I kind of got turned off.

Toe straps tearing. The one I was looking at was the neoprene/rubber mesh toe straps. Look like they would mold perfectly to the boot, but I heard about durability problems.

Don't know if these two concerns were warranted.

david_z

Haven't had any issues with my ratchets. My right toe strap some of the webbing has come undone but that's after 1.5 seasons of use and it hasn't affected performance yet. I did have some problems with the hardware on several pair of 2013 Ride bindings that I rode this year though, not staying fastened to the board. Not a good problem to have. I haven't heard anyone else mention it really so hopefully it was just drunk/hungover/stoned reps not doing their job or chalk it up to pre-production maybe.

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snowklinger

FWIW I haven't ridden enough bindings enough days but I very much prefer the feeling of plastic over metal bindings.

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is it late october yet?

sangsters

Absolutely this.

I've had some issues with screws backing out with my Rides (maybe it is something to do with aluminum?) but a little loctite solved that.

atr3yu

So I just got back from the local store and the girl pulled out the Cartels and Capos. I played with them each for about 15 minutes to get a feel for them. Torsion wise the cartels are way softer than the Capos. Straight back though I was unable to really tell a difference. I preferred the wedgie to the auto-cant, and I also preferred the Rides toe cap. Ratchets on both were really smooth, can't complain about either really. On the Rides though the ankle strap is designed to just flop open and stay open, basically out of the way to step in your boot. This is minor I know, but still was nice. Overall I think I am switching to the Capo.

david_z

I also thought maybe it was because the boards I was pairing had been sitting in the sun, but the bindings were in a box in the shade under the table, figured the temp difference would be enough to cause backing out as the materials expand at different rates, but it was a pain in the ass I had to tighten them each time up the lift. Loc-tite would work to fix that, hopefully!

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