$129 Beginner All Mountain Freestyle Ride makes good boots and although they don't own the market they do have a good following with some riders. All you can ask for with beginner boots is are they better than renting and are they reliable? The answer is yes to both. In addition they are pretty comfortable for an entry level binding. These will help you get some consistancy when learning how to ride but when you start to progress you'll want to dump these boots.
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.
PRINTABLE FOOT SIZE CHART: Choose your printer size: STYLE: All Mountain
COLORS: Black, Gray
For the progressing rider looking for comfort and user-friendly performance, the 2012 Ride Orion men's snowboard boot is where its at! Featuring heat-moldable Body Active™ Plush Liner Technology for super cush support and a great fit, and the Lock Down™ Turbo Liner lacing makes getting in and out just a quick pull away!
BOOT FLEX-O-METER:
CONSTRUCTION:
BODY ACTIVE™ PLUSH FOAM IN2GRATED™ CONSTRUCTION External J Bars Die Cut EVA Lock Down™ Turbo Traditional Track Sole
SETUP OPTIONS
FEATURED TECH
BODY ACTIVE™ PLUSH FOAM
Body heat activated or immediately thermo-formable on in store heaters, Ride’s durable Body Active™ Foam is one of the lightest, warmest EVA liners around.
IN2GRATED™ CONSTRUCTION
In2grated™ Construction creates the lightest weight, shortest-length performance boots on the market, hands down. The removable liner is factory molded inside the shell to create the most efficient “net fit,” leading to less pack out for better overall comfort.
Ride Orion 2011
STARTER COMFORT IN STYLE
For the progressing rider looking for comfort and user-friendly performance. Featuring heat-moldable Intuition™ Plush Liner Technology for super cush support and a great fit, and the Lock Down™ Liner Speed Lace makes getting in and out just a quick pull away!
MSRP: USD 139.99
STYLE: Foundation
COLORS: Black, White
SIZES: U.S. Men’s 6-15 (8.5, 9.5, 10.5, 11.5)
CONSTRUCTION FEATURES: Liner: Intuition™ Plush Foam Liner Technology, w/ Aegis™ Antimicrobial Coating Liner Fit: External J Bars NEW! Under Foot Support: Diecut EVA Insole NEW! Sole: Cut & Buff w/ Exposed EVA Midsole Liner Lacing: Lock Down™ Speed Lace Shell Lacing: Traditional lace w/ Plastic Speed Hooks Details: Full Height Synthetic Upper
INTUITION™ FOAM LINERS The best custom fit on the market. Intuition™ Liner Technology creates the lightest, best-forming, longest-lasting liners available. Utilizing the in-shop custom heat forming process or your own body heat over the course of a few days riding, this liner custom forms to the shape of your foot. Providing something for every riding style, Intuition™ Foam is available in 4 unique varieties: plush, support, mobile and dream liner. Taking our Intuition™ Liners to the next level, select models feature cored ankle pockets and internal J-bars for added comfort and support, making ours the most advanced liner available.
LOCK DOWN™
A secure, no slack lace mechanism to lock your laces in place. Lock Down has been improved with new support bars for increased closing ability and foot hold.
Wide/Larger Fit--------------------------------------------Narrow/Smaller Fit
32
Celsius
Ride
Flow
Rome
Burton
Forum
DC
Nike
Vans
Salomon
General Mens US/International Sizing
British
5
5.5
6
6.5
7
7.5
8
8.5
9
9.5
10
10.5
11
11.5
12
European
38
38.7
39.3
40
40.5
41
42
42.5
43
44
44.5
45
46
46.5
47
American
5.5
6
6.5
7
7.5
8
8.5
9
9.5
10
10.5
11
11.5
12
12.5
Japanese (CM)
23.5
24
24.5
25
25.5
26
26.5
27
27.5
28
28.5
29
29.5
30
30.5
BOA vs. Speed Lace vs. Traditional Lace A Snowboard Boot Lacing System Comparison by The Good Ride.
The Good Ride Take on BOA Boots- A BOA Boot has a steel cable attached to some sort of plastic Coiler mechanism that tightens the boot instead of laces. There are 2 main types of BOA boots. 1. Single BOA- This uses just one BOA Coiler to adjust the entire boot. 2. Double BOA - This uses 2 BOA Coilers for upper and lower adjusting. Some have 1 for the outside and 1 for the inside but most are for upper and lower. BOA boots are the easiest to get on, get off and adjust out of any boot. Single BOA boots have the least upper/lower adjustability of any boot because the bottom and top is tightened by one coil. If you have a Double BOA (2 Dials for upper and lower) they are closer to other lacing systems but still not as good. Both the upper and lower dials adjust the ankle in the same place. This means you don't have complete separation like you do with Speed Lace and most Traditional Lace Boots. The biggest issue with BOA boots is if they break it requires a shop or the manufacturer to fix them. It’s usually not the cable that breaks but the dials. Out of all the boots you can crank a BOA tighter than any other boot which can be a good or bad thing. There have been some complaints that BOA boots can have some pressure points from the cable system when tightened too tight. The bottom line is BOA tech is a cool technological advancement that will work well with many riders and is super easy to adjust. In the end it comes down to personal preference and BOA could be right for you.
The Good Ride Take on Traditional Lace- Traditional Lace is what most people know. It’s reliable and easy to repair. Lace boots take a lot more effort than BOA or Speed Lace. Also many riders complain about blisters in attempts to get them tight. Some Lacing systems have handles at the top that connect to the laces and we love this. Another thing we like is when the upper lace hooks hold the lace in place so each section can tighten independently. When you have this along with a handle connected to the end of the laces it’s more adjustable than BOA and Speed lace. We really like this but it’s almost not a traditional lace boot. It’s more a hybrid but whatever you call it we like it! However it’s not great in terms of the time it takes to get things dialed out or make minor adjustments on the hill.
The Good Ride Take on Speed Lace- Speed lace is a perfect compromise between BOA and Traditional lace. It’s almost as fast as BOA and more adjustable. Some Traditional Lace is just as adjustable but speed lace is easier to do so. We really like how the upper and lower laces are 100% separate. This is a huge advantage over BOA Boots and some traditional laces that don’t lock at each hook. Speed Lace is super easy to tighten up and dial out. It’s also pretty easy to make small adjustments throughout the course of the day. If the laces break out on the hill it will be a lot more difficult to fix than traditional laces but it can be done without help from a shop or sending it back. If you are a 100 day a year rider then plan on changing out your laces half way through the season. We have been lucky so far and never had one break on the hill because any time they start to get frayed they break. We mainly ride speed lace boots but we aren't that high on ourselves to say that's the way it should be. Everyone is different.
All lacing systems have strengths and weaknesses. It’s up to you to figure out what will work the best.
