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TightBoards.com Ride Crush Snowboard w/ Ride Deuce Boots Blue & Ride Contraband Bindings Black... $659.85 Check Availability Sun & Ski Sports Ride Women's Bandita Contraband Snowboard Bindings '12... $209.99 Check Availability ProBoardShop.com Ride Ill Eagle Contraband Snowboard Bindings Black - Men's... $167.95 Check Availability ProBoardShop.com Ride Ill Eagle Contraband Snowboard Bindings Yellow - Men's... $167.95 Check Availability The Gear Lounge Ride Contraband Binding 09/10... $154.99 Check Availability Powdertools.com Ride Nitrane Contraband Bindings | 10/11... $149.95 Check Availability Alpinewarehouse.com Ride Nitrane Contraband Bindings | 10/11... $149.95 Check Availability Christy Sports Ride Nitrane Contraband Bindings | 10/11... $149.95 Check Availability Snowboards.net Ride Ill Eagle Contraband Snowboard Bindings 2012... $146.98 Check Availability SummitOnline.com Ride Ill Eagle Contraband Snowboard Bindings... $146.98 Check Availability Skis.com Ride Ill Eagle Contraband Snowboard Bindings... $146.98 Check Availability evo Ride Bandita Contraband Snowboard Bindings - Women's 2012... $146.97 Check Availability Dogfunk.com Ride Bandita Contraband Snowboard Binding - Women's... $146.97 Check Availability Backcountry.com Ride Bandita Contraband Snowboard Binding - Women's... $146.97 Check Availability evo Ride ILL Eagle Contraband Snowboard Bindings 2012... $146.97 Check Availability The Ski Bum Ride Bandita Contraband SNowboard Binding- Black... $125.97 Check Availability Snowboard Connection Ride Bandita Contraband Bindings BLACK... $125.97 Check Availability The Ski Bum Ride Ill Eagle Contraband Snowboard Binding- Black... $125.97 Check Availability Berg's Ski and Snowboard Shop Ride Contraband Snowboard Bindings - Men's Black... $109.95 Check Availability Snowboards.net Ride Contraband LE Snowboard Bindings... $99.95 Check Availability SummitOnline.com Ride Contraband LE Snowboard Bindings... $99.95 Check Availability Skis.com Ride Contraband LE Snowboard Bindings... $99.95 Check Availability Snowboards.net Ride Phenom Contraband Kids Snowboard Bindings 2011... $97.98 Check Availability SummitOnline.com Ride Phenom Contraband Kids Snowboard Bindings... $97.98 Check Availability Skis.com Ride Phenom Contraband Kids Snowboard Bindings... $97.98 Check Availability evo Ride Phenom Contraband Snowboard Bindings - Youth 2011... $54.90 Check Availability

The Good Ride Take

A Good Ride Take on Binding Tech

Metal vs Plastic Bindings

This is a Goodride breakdown for all you that are having a tough time choosing your bindings and what to make of the material you are looking at.  Most bindings are Metal, Plastic or some combo of the 2.

Metal Bindings have a lot of great aspects.  Almost all-metal bindings are made from aluminum.  Aluminum is great when it come to weight to stiffness ratio and also pretty durable.  There is one key issue with metal/aluminum bindings; they transfer all the vibrations from the board right into your feet.  This is the same principle that pelage “bass-less” bindings, your feet got totally tired or fatigued.  The newer generations have much better/damp bases so this problem has been minimized and in some cases eliminated.   There are some companies that make great bindings despite the vibration issue with Aluminum.   Some that come to mind are Ride and Rome.

Plastic Bindings also have many great features but let’s address some technical stuff first.  Most plastic bindings are really hardened glass plastic mix.   The high-end stuff tends to have a more carbon, and carbon fiber added for extra stiffness and weight savings.  Plastic bindings really dominate the market right now and most top bindings these days are mostly or all plastic.  They can be really stiff and react well to your commands.   The new bindings finally dialed in the carbon/ fiber integration to the point that the bindings will perform with the stiffness of metal and absorb more chatter.  Most industry leaders have limited or completely eliminated metal from their bindings and we feel that with the materials used right now this is the future.  Some mostly plastic companies that we feel rock are Burton, Flux and Union.

What kind of binding should you buy?  It’s a tough call.  Both Plastic and Metal bindings offer freestyle, freeride and all mountain styles.  At this point we feel that plastic bindings are edging out metal bindings when it comes to the very high end $300+ category.  However it is a tough call in the below $300 category as to which material has the advantage.

The Good Ride Take on Ride Snowboards
They are from the same parent company as K2 and have many similarities in terms of board design and company policy.  Ride’s customer service is better than K2’s and actually has a # to call on their site instead of just an on-line form.  Ride, like K2 seems almost secretive when it comes to having third party entities like us or end users like you review their gear.  So many companies like Burton, Rome, YES, Arbor ect. are really proud of their gear and try to do everything they can to get you to ride them.  Ride seems to do the bare minimum and despite its large size has very few demo products. Their policy seems to be if you want to try it you have to buy it.  Ride chooses mainly to work with variations of flat/rocker snowboards but has recently started to work with hybrid camber.   Their hybrid camber is different than YES and Rossignol and leans more on the flat camber side of things but we still like to see them go in this direction.  We have found that we like some of their shapes but other boards we weren’t fans of .   Like K2 Ride’s rocker shapes always seem to be pretty flat between the feet and it makes for one of the better rocker set up out there.  Ride makes pretty good bindings and many people swear by them.  They have more parts than most bindings but all in all they do a very good job despite the fact that a lot of the binding is metal.  We are big fans of the canted foot bed but can’t say we are a fan of their Contraband strap system.  They make good boots that last for a long time but boots are so personal all we can speak to is their build and longevity.

Company Info & Specs

Ride Nitrane Contraband 2011

NITRANE CONTRABAND BINDINGS

QUENCHING THAT FREESTYLE THIRST

Filling the void for steezey freestyle riders everywhere, the Nitrane Contraband binding features single strap goodness with the new Freestyle Core ankle strap complete with V-Grip overmolded rubber for super snug boot grip. Combined with the new Stealth highback, the lightweight Contraband Chassis and the Wedgie 2.5 footbed for the ideal freestyle binding with the max in flex and tweak-ability. Get on the Nitrane!

Ride Nitrane Contraband 2010

A fresh take on all-mountain freestyle with the new Nitrane ContraBand, featuring the new CustomFlex ankle strap for limitless flex options and the new V-Grip strap for super snug boot grip. Add the Wedgie 2.5 and 4.0 footbeds for extra drive and pop, creating the ideal custom freestyle binding for all of your riding pleasure.

MSRP: USD 259.99

STYLE: Mobility

COLORS: Black, Acid Yellow

SIZES: 7-9, 9-11, 11-13

CONSTRUCTION FEATURES:
ContraBand™ Chassis System
FreeFlex Highback
NEW! Custom Flex Ankle Strap
NEW! V-Grip Strap
Power UL Ratchets
NEW! Wedgie 2.5 Footbed w/ Smooth Ride Landing Pads & Optional Wedgie 4.0 Footbed In The Box
Urethane Rollbar™ Basepad
Forged Aluminum Response Disc

Pictures

Ride Nitrane Contraband 2011

 

 

Ride Nitrane Contraband 2010

 

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