Which of these bindings best for Ride Highlife 2011?
Hello!
level: intermediate/advanced
style: freeride + fast carving on groomed pistes at high speeds, some small basic jumps - I’m not into freestyle at all
boots: northwave apx-5
I’m looking for new bindings suitable for my Highlife from 2011. Can you suggest the best match (quality, durability, stiffness) that will
last for several years?
I like the idea of Ride’s Wedgies (titled/canted footbed to make knees happy) - I have some problems with knees…
Here’s what I’m thinking of:
1. Hardest bindings - but aren’t these too stiff for this board?
1.1. Ride Capo 2011/12 - I can get them in good price, but I’m worried because I’ve heard bad things about quality of the ratchets…
1.2. Ride Capo 2012/13 - are the ratchets better?
1.3. Drake Radar 12/13
1.4. Rome Arsenal 12/13
1.5. What else?
2. Softer bindings - too soft?
2.1 Ride Revolt 12/13 - I don’t like the ankle strap - it looks to wobbly for me…
2.2. Drake Super Sport 12/13
2.3. Something from Rome? 390 Boss? Targa? - both with canting system…
2.4. What else?
3. Soft bindings
3.1. Ride EX 12/13
3.2. Drake Reload 12/13
3.3. Something from Rome?
3.4. What else?
What do you think? Do you have any other suggestions?
Best regards,
Przem
I only have experience with Ride EX from 3 seasons ago. It’s a medium stiffness binding but I don’t really like it that much. Some other bindings you might want to look at:
NOW IPO, these are seriously nice bindings, you can read the reviews of them if you search for it here in the forums
Burton Cartel Re:flex
Union Contact pro
Those are the 3 I have experience with and I love all 3. Contact Pro will be the softest of them all (the highback is still responsive heel-toe but flexible laterally).
Don’t get bindings to match your board, get bindings to match your riding style. Ask yourself; What style of riding am I going to be doing? Do I want flexible and playful, or stiff and responsive? How soft or how stiff would I like them?
After you decide that then think about other features like cap strap style and canting - this will help you narrow down specific brands, such as Rome or Ride for the canting systems.
Nothing is too soft or too stiff for any board, it’s all preference - I ride my Union Contact Pros on both stiff and soft boards.
To be honest I think you’d probably be happy with almost any medium stiffness binding you get such as the Ride Rodeo or Maestro, Rome 390 Boss, or even slightly stiffer like the Ride Capo. Or go for the Rome Targa and have a go at setting your own stiffness.
I’ve been using Ride Meastro for 2 season now and the bindings are great short of a few minor strap issues i recently encountered bindings are built solid very responsive bindings
I also have the NOW IPO bindings that I got this seasons haven’t spent more then a couple days on them I really enjoyed them, they are amazing in POW, and with the differnet bushings you can adjust the response on the bindings from soft to hard great all around but as I said haven’t had too much time on them to give a recommendation..
SamNZ don’t forget about Salomon for canted bindings, just picked up a pair Holograms but haven’t had chance to take em out yet they seem like some solid bindings
Thanks… After reading some more reviews, I’m leaning more and more towards Rome Targa. Please stop me before it’s too late… These are pricey ones :(...
I mean, Targa’s customization possibility is nice although not that much needed. I’m worried that the more things to play = the more things which can be broken 
No durability problems that you guys are aware of?
Anything more to reconsider?
Thank you,
Przem
If you worried about breaking them Ride makes some strong bindings but then again so does Union from what I hear, I personally haven’t owned a pair of Union but Ride are tough aluminum base-plate with a lifetime warranty so the only thing you have to worry about is the straps mostly and those are fairly reasonable price
I owned a 2010 Targa before, it definitely is a solid binding.
SamNZ don’t forget about Salomon for canted bindings, just picked up a pair Holograms but haven’t had chance to take em out yet they seem like some solid bindings
Salomon bindings? No thanks, not yet anyway. I’ll pass on NOW bindings too until they sort their problems out.
Rome make some solid bindings, I can’t comment on the Targa’s specifically but I’ve never been disappointed when looking at old 390’s.
Also, I just broke my Unions today - nothing major, just blew out a screw hole on the highbacks.
@Sam: What problems do the NOW bindings have?
Last I heard, in certain conditions, snow still gets under them - Yes, even despite people who have demoed them saying it doesn’t.
I thought the same thing but surprisingly it doesn’t, the bindings don’t lift as much as you might think they do, I haven’t had too much time on them because I’m keeping these for pow days and for carving I’ve been messing around in the park lately but a handful of days I’ve spent on these I had no issues they feel amazing turn initiation is the one thing I can say it easier with these bindings compared to my Ride Meastros
Thank you guys for your opinions.
In case somebody hit this thread looking for an answer for similar problem, here’s my summary…
After checking my local market (Poland) offers and suggestions from this and other forums I narrowed choice to these two:
1. Rome Targa
2. Ride Capo
I almost decided to run for Targa (absolutely love the features) but then discovered c.a. 3-4 threads on this and other forums in which people complained about some quality issues with brand-new bindings loosing ratchets (being severed out) or simply ratchet’s sliding over belts/ladders(?) after 1-5 days of riding. Sliding was explained by belts(ladders?) catching ice, but there was serious peak around end of 2011/ begging of 2012 in these reports. Something about 6-10 different guys reported this.
Props to Rome support - all affected people were handled perfectly, with replacement part provided, claiming Rome customer support as “best on the world”. But come on, when I’m going for a 5 days intensive-riding-trip last thing I expect from my brand-new binding is a failure. Nevermind the replacement parts. Rome representative: please look into QA process - you have a lot of great features in your bindings, but I guess not only I am worried by the QA. That may be FUD but it looks legit…
Here is an example of such threads. Sorry that it is only 1 example but I’ve lost rest and have no browser history on the machine I’m writing this… No more time for this task, too
http://www.snowboardingforum.com/bindings/45822-rome-targa-fail.html
Going this way, I checked forums for similar reports on Ride Capo and found none. On the other hand - I think that the design of the front strap, the mesh, is shitty. Why they did something that got broken after several sessions on every binding I personally checked around? All user forums around report this issue even after few days of usage. Ok, this is mostly cosmetic, but why do such a mess on a quite expensive binding? And it’s not the first season of this design, so they should know better.
After all I’ve just ordered a pair of sweet black Ride Capos as a safety-focused bet. Hopefully I will be happy with this - if not, I’m going to update this thread.
Thank you all,
Best regards,
Przem
Drakes are bulletproof. I’ve had many sets through the years and barely ever tightened a bolt on ‘em.
Ride EX is not a bad option for a basic binding. But…. those buckles!!! They’re horrible and they will break - could be on day 1 or day 100 but they’ll break. I’m referring to the 2009 and 2010 models. Looks like the new Ride bindings all have upgraded buckles.