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Riding Level Advanced - Expert
Quick Release No
Manufactured in
Canted Footbed Yes
Burton Channel Compatible Yes
Mini disc No
Approx. Weight Feels Normal
Flex

Stiff

Boot Support

Medium

Turn Initiation

Fast

Buttering

Medium

Binding Adjustability Good
Stance Adjustability Great
Comfort Great
Ratchet System Great
Shock Absorption Excellent

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Ride El Hefe 2015 - 2012 Review by The Good Ride

The Ride El Hefe keeps adding a little new tech to their line every year and it’s a pretty solid binding.

Ethics Statement: We don’t get paid by the manufacturer to write these reviews.  No one is perfect and we do make money from the “Where To Buy” links below, but this is our best attempt at an honest and objective review from an average riders’ perspective.

2014 Ride El Hefe Changes. 

1. It has a new high back and new chassis. They kept the canted footbed tech called wedgie from last year and we like this tech.  It keeps your hips, kees, etc. more in line and also helps to create more leverage on the outer parts of these rocker or hybrid shaped boards. 2. The Ride El Hefe has a new ankle strap that is bigger on the sides. This adds a little more support but doesn’t have the 2012 tech that allows you to adjust the flex. It was a cool feature but the 2013 Ankle strap is far more comfortable. We prefer the new ankle strap.
3. The coolest thing is Ride created a mini disc mount. Now there is a reduced dead spot underfoot and as a result, there is more responsive. Most of the binding doesn’t touch the board now which makes for great edge to edge as well as tip to tail response.

Days: 2
RidersJames and Jimbo
Boots: Burton Ion, Burton SLX, Burton Imperial
Boards: Jones Mountain TwinYes Greats, Rossignol One Magtek

Flex: Pretty stiff and not very giving. 2014 in some ways makes the flex feel stiffer and more snappy thanks to the Carbon Fiber but the Urethane also makes it feel less ultra mega stiff like 100% carbon fiber high backs often feel.

Adjustability: Ride does a great job with adjustability and it’s very easy to dial out most of your binding without a tool.

Comfort: The ankle strap is bigger than most of the ride bindings but it’s also one of the more comfortable we have tried with Ride. Also the rest of the binding surrounds your boot without causing pressure points for most riders.

Turn Initiation: Pretty quick.  Not super snappy or smooth but in between and it can handle any board you throw at it.  It felt like the boards I tried with this were more responsive than they were before putting these bindings on.  The minimal contact with the board and mini disc do a great job getting the board edge to edge.

Buttering: Not bad but I felt the best part about it was the edge to edge response. To me its right on the border of great and as usual Jimbo had no problem getting any board he was on with these things to butter.  Well except for the Greats. That board is stubborn with anything. The mini disc and having the rest of the bindings contact minimized it makes for a pretty easy binding to butter and press most boards.

Boot Support: Very good support that locks in the boot pretty well.

Ratchet System: Pretty good but It didn’t feel as strong and perfect as other bindings did at this price level.  Still, it didn’t seem like they would break.

Shock Absorption: Super cush and combined with the cant the Ride El Hefe offers up good fatigue reducing ride for most people.

 
Ride El Hefe Specs

 
Ride El Hefe Images

We try to get as many images of the Ride El Hefe, but forgive us if they're not all there.

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Ride El Hefe User Reviews

Ride El Hefe Review And Buying Advice SKU UPC Model

150 dollar quality for the low price of 400 bucks

Jan 09, 2019 by Jon Brown
Ability Level: Advanced/expert • 
Riding Style: Freeride • 
Days You Ride A Year: 50+ • 
Height, Weight And Boot Size (for Boards, Boots & Bindings): 6' 200lb size 12 

First off the good:

The straps are great, super comfortable and solid.

Now the bad( or just meh):

For 400 bucks I expected the chassis to be anodized aluminum, what I got was painted. The paint started to chip off on day 1( on the back bindings).

The hardware is cheap. I striped a screw in the baseplate just trying to adjust it when setting them up for the first time. I used the proper size Phillips head and a hand tool( not a screw gun). I had to use a tap to get it out and replace it.

The footbed is sloppy....the way it mounts to the binding is very similar to a flow binding, but not tight and you can feel it slip around under your foot.

The forward lean requires a tool ( not a big deal but for 400 bucks I expect better) and the highbacks don't rotate.

The disk is aluminum as is the baseplate, which caused the back binding hardware to loosen and gave me disco foot after 2 runs.

All in all the ride they offer is pretty good and they are extremely light, but the bottom line is that for them money I'd look elsewhere. Burton, Bent Metal, and Union all offer better features , better build quality and the same or lower prices.

My suggestion... if you want aluminum bindings, buy a set of sparks,burton hitchikers or Karakoram bindings and solid board pucks...they're all made in the USA and are waaay better quality and you can splitboard with them.

Thanks.


Jan 05, 2018 by Nick
Ability Level: Advanced • 
Riding Style: All mountain • 
Days You Ride A Year: 30 • 
Height, Weight And Boot Size (for Boards, Boots & Bindings): 5' 10" 215lbs 12 boot 

Ill start with the good. I like the binding i was having problems with my feet with my old binding but with these i could ride all day without stoping which is nice. super resonsive binding it rails out turns.

Now the bad. Dont buy these if you have multiple boards and want to switch back and forth cause at first its almost like the hardware isnt long enough. if you want to take the binding off losen all 4 screws a half turn before losening one completely cause if you dont that last screw becomes almost impossible to take out. The wedgie foot bed after the third time I changed it, the washer thats connected to it came out. The washer makes sure the screw cant fall out, not a huge deal but could be if you loose the screw.

Now this could me my fault but my burton bindings lasted a bit longer, on the el hefe's the ladders for the rachets started to strip after the first day. i tighten my binding till it cant go any more so might just be me but like i said before my burton ladders seem to last longer.

Overall, I dont dislike the bindings but there are things I really don't like about them


Long term update

Jul 30, 2014 by Jorge
Ability Level: Advanced • 
Riding Style: Freeride - All Mountain Freestyle • 
Days You Ride A Year: 30-ish 

So I've gained a bit of weight since my last entry, probably equal parts muscle and fat - hey I like to eat and train. On to the update.

Reading my review back from a year ago I feel it is spot on still and one of the weaknesses has proven really troubling, the Wedgie footbed. It is held onto the binding with a single, fiddly screw and during riding it seemed to shear some thread from the top of the screw hole, making the footbeds unusable on that binding.
I can probably have the aluminium screw hole rewelded and tapped but in the meantime I have purchased some 2014 Burton Malavitas and 2014 Burton LTD bindings to use while I figure out who can do this repair for me.
I hope Ride address the Wedgie system with something more elegant and less vulnerable to an issue like this, these are top of the line bindings that let me down big time while I was riding.


3.4 4.0 5 5 First off the good: The straps are great, super comfortable and solid. Now the bad( or just meh): For 400 bucks I expected the chassis to be anodized aluminum, what I got Ride El Hefe Review And Buying Advice

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