Ride Baretta 2016 - 2013 Review by The Good Ride

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The Ride Barretta is a nice board for women who like to straight line and live more of an aggressive lifestyle on the hill. It’s also at a reasonable price point too.

Ethics Statement: We don’t get paid by the manufacturer to write these reviews.  We do make money from the “Where To Buy” links, but this is our best attempt at an honest and objective review from an average riders’ perspective.

Approximate Weight:  Feels normal

On Snow Feel:    Ride makes some pretty damp boards on the Freeride-All Mountain side. Some love this feeling and some don’t like the ultra damp feel. It feels like there is an extra layer in the board compared to most you ride.  It’s a very stable ride between the feet and it’s an aggressive board.  It’s not unforgiving/catchy aggressive but instead allows you to get a bit of a camber feel going without feeling like if you step out of your game for a turn or two you will catch your edge.

The 2014 and 2015 Ride Barretta has a more lively hybrid camber shape. The Barretta has a camber feel but rocker float and forgiveness. It starts with a little rocker in c the tail, then has a mellow camber and then rocker starts a little bit past the front binding. It really changes up the feel and general ride of the board and makes it much more directional than the previous year.

Turn Initiation: Pretty quick edge to edge if you have mastered the fundamentals of good edge to edge transitioning. It can turn when you need it.  Mid to wide radius turns have a good feel to them. And they feel more lively than the older flat to rocker models.

Flex:   Med/Stiff and it’s not really a butter and play around the mountain kind of board.  Still, the rocker in the tail and nose don’t make it impossible but it favors the strong rider when it comes to a butter.

Edge Hold:  Mid-level edge hold.  It can hold in harder snow but it’s not a confident hold like some boards offered. It’s better in medium to powdery conditions.

Powder:   This board can float in powder with the extra rocker in the nose and the set back binding. If you live for the powder you will find that this can float almost as well as a dedicated pow board.

Carving:  When it comes to carving the Barretta prefers that you ride it set back over the camber.  The more centered you get the more you move away from the camber and it doesn’t engage as much. That being said you can carve.  It’s not a springy bowed out camber carve but it’s got some fun under the feet and it makes carving enjoyable.

Speed:  This is one of the more bomber boards out there and it likes a straight line.  That ultra damp feel that some don’t like makes this board handle all the speed you want to throw at it. There is almost no chatter coming from the board to your feet. The base is good but not great. And if you keep it waxed it can easily get you through a long flat cat track.

Uneven Terrain:   It bombs though and still has the ability to deal with uneven snow better than you would think for a board this damp.  It’s a chunder buster for sure.

Switch:   It makes this rather different switch even though the nose and tail are the same widths.  You get used to the directional hybrid camber profile and it can be done.  It’s just not perfect as a twin.

Jumps:  The hybrid camber profile makes for better spring when it comes to ollies. And popping off the tail is easier than the older flat to rocker models.  It’s not really a park jump specialist but it’s not a mountain only board either.

Jibbing:   Not really

Pipe:   It’s a pretty good board for directional pipe riding which most of us do.  If you are someone that can throw it around and pull things off switch look for another board.  Otherwise, it will take your wall to wall really well if you keep the edges sharp.

So all in all this is a pretty fun aggressive all mountain board that can satisfy the rider that likes directional all mountain riding but lives for powder and good soft snow. We’d like to see the UL tech make it to this board but overall it’s got a lot of good characteristics to buy it.