Days: 4
Riders: James, Peter, Jimbo,
Boots:Burton SLX, Salomon F3.0, Burton Fiend LTD,   Burton Ion, Burton Imperial
Boards: Jones Mountain Twin, Rossignol One Magtek

Flex: It felt to me like the high back was a little stiffer than it’s flex rating.  It looked like other urethane bindings in Ride’s line until I flexed it.

Adjustability: Ride has a nice tooless set up that allows you to quickly dial in your straps to your boot.  Also the rest of the binding doesn’t take too much effort and all you really need the tool for is the mini disc.

Comfort: Although the ankle strap is smaller than the El Hefe it’s very comfortable and so is the rest of the binding. We didn’t like how the toe strap pinched the sides of our boots and we’d like to see a design that fit’s our boots better.

Heel-Toe Response: Very responsive in a smooth way. Although I wasn’t on the most aggressive of boards you could feel the Capo was easily turning these moderate turning boards edge to edge with lot’s of turning power to spare.  Love the mini disc’s ability to help further power the Capo’s ability to turn the board.

Tip-Tail Response: Pretty good but it doesn’t feel super easy to butter and press.  There is a lot of reduced contact with the binding which is great but it seems like it’s more useful edge to edge than tip to tail.  Still it’s wasn’t difficult to butter and it’s not terrible by any means.

Boot Support: I personally like a little more support but I was surprised how much more supportive it was riding than it looked in the shop.  Not bad and I felt pretty secure edge to edge.

Ratchet System: Pretty good.  Not the best I have experienced but I like the higher end ratchet system better than the entry level ratchet system.

Shock Absorption: Great shock absorption. Ride covers almost the whole base plate with thick shock absorbent canted EVA foam.

The El Hefe spoiled me in the responsive binding department and I’d much rather have that.  The El Hefe didn’t stoke me but it also came very far from disappointing me as well. This is a well made binding that I think could make a lot of riders happy.

2013 and Below Ride Capo Review

The Ride Capo is another new binding from ride for 2012. Almost all is new with this binding except for the foot bed and toe strap.  The High back is new pretty stiff and very well made.  We love the asymmetrical angle to allow for more freestyle movement. Also there is a new ultra thin ankle strap that is some where between the thickness of the average Burton ankle strap and the average Union Ankle strap.  This will allow for a lot of movement. The foot bed is canted like much of the 2011 bindings and we are big fans of this. It’s easier on the body and has better leverage on the hybrid shapes out there these days. The chassis is new tech for this year as well and allows the rider to bend the board easier and it also allows the board to flex under foot better than the old boards.  All we have to say is well done Ride. Ride also has a 2 hole disc to accommodate Burton’s 2 Channel system boards. For 2013 Ride changed up the base plate so it accommodates a mini disc aka smaller disc. This further reduces the dead spot with the board to make for better response torsionally as well as longitudinally.  It makes the 2013 the call over the 2012.