Ride Insano + Ride Capo

[nuisanceIV]

Alrightly, let's get into it. Between January and Feburary I purchased a set of Ride Insano's and about a month later Ride Capos. Almost all riding was done at Stevens Pass in WA in all conditions from ice to wet pow, with some in Tahoe at Heavenly and Kirkwood on mostly groomers. I would say I at least got 30 days on the boots and maybe 15 on the bindings. I would be riding these on a variety of boards such as: Lib Tech TRS, Palmer Channel X Ti, US Cadet, Elevated Surfcraft goldstick. I would sometimes use power plates.

 

I'll start with the boots:

I love 'em. And it would seem many of my coworkers who ride hard up at Stevens are all about them aswell. For a softboot, they got some mean flex with that plastic tongue, and have decent lateral stiffness. Now, for better or worse they use BOA. On one end, it makes them harder to repair and less customizable, but on the other end it seems to lend to their stiffness. Whenever I use BOA I feel I can really get that boot locked down tight. They use double BOA which is a plus. Their profile is SUPER low and put a lot of other stiff boots to shame - almost looks like you're wearing sneakers. The boot goes up really high, so it's not like a touring boot that sits lower down the leg.

Now, one issue I noticed is they don't include a power strap. I feel for a boot this stiff, it would benefit greatly from a strap to make sure that upper portion of the boot is flush with the shin, also to keep the shin pain away; since one thing I did notice, is shin pain, I believe this was due to me riding at lower angles than my hardboots, so that part of my leg wasn't desensitized to that sort of abuse. Throwing my world cup boosters on seemed to help a lot and really stiffen them up even more, so I highly recommend it.

 

Bindings:

I originally got some Union Falcors, but the minidisc was a huge disappoint and I was iffy about the carbon so I sold them off. I wanted a metal binding and the Ride Capo answered the call, bonus points for being the same manufacture as my boot - meaning everything fit together excellently. The feel of the bindings was good, and I'd usually pair them up with the power plates, which really allowed me to transmit a lot of force on edge and rival my hardboot riding in many cases. I'd overall say they're a good value pick for a stiff binding and pair excellently with the Insanos.

Unfortunately, I ran into a several issues. One of my boards is a 4x4 and the washers that come with the binding are like a 2-in-1 washer, and the holes for the screw are a bit smaller than say burton bindings, so I had to find some lower profile washers. Second, I couldn't rotate the highback as much as I could on my old burton cartels, which was a shame, but this seems to be becoming less and less of a thing with newer bindings, I guess manufactures don't really expect 25+ degree angles. Overall though, I could still get them tilted enough. Third, the rubber on the back of the highback started to wear off. Maybe I'm just mean to my gear? I put some black duct tape over it to stop the wear - also gives the binding this cool "mad max" aesthetic. Fourth, this is the big one, is I had the highback snap on me. I checked the binding and I didn't see any bubbles so I don't think the plastic mold was bad, so I'm not sure what caused the break. I did let a couple people ride my board with the bindings and maybe they're less diligent than I, or I was dun goofed and let the chairlift ruin it. I do ride pretty hard and maybe they didn't appreciate me flying off rollers at Kirkwood at 40mph. Ride has said they'll replace it but I still haven't gotten it, but with COVID-19 I have noticed the supply chains everywhere have been wack.

 

Thanks. Hope this helps some of you out there!

I'll upload pics at some point since it's a PITA to move files from my phone to my PC.

Edited August 14, 2020 by nuisanceIV

[curvy]

Thanks for the detailed review!

I also sport insaos and just saw some cheap capos from 2020 for 150 bucks on sale. As I've tried a few other bindings that didn't convince me I thought I might give them a try.

The issues you describe are stopping me a bit though. Anyone else riding them? How are they holding up for you?

And also - how about vibrations due to the alloy, @nuisanceIV

Thanks!

 

Edited September 14, 2020 by curvy

[nuisanceIV]

I didn't find it to be an issue. But I was normally rocking these bindings with bomber power plates on my Palmer so the setup was unbelievably damp. I only found it unbearable if I was riding over frozen slush. Though I'm not really as 'fickle' as most people about these things.

 

Once I get a new highback and I get more days on these I'll have a better assessment. IDK if I just drew bad cards. The thing is, it was my front binding highback that cracked, so it's really bizarre.