Catek freeride advice/info

[bboyd]

Has anyone on this forum been using Catek freeride with a stiff freeride set-up? I'd like to know what peoplle have liked/disliked, how they work, whether they are worth the somewhat steep price (steep for freeride bindings anyway, etc). I currently have Ride SPi, which are a pretty stiff binding, but lack some adjustability, lift, etc. Thanks in advance for any advice. (and I've already read the Catek forums for info on this, in case anyone would plan on suggesting that as a first step).

[svr]

bboyd,
I use the freerides on a 200cm Rad Air Tanker with Deeluxe Spark NT boots. I love the bindings and have converted four of my close riding friends to the bindings as well. They are comparable in price to Burton Missions and Drake F70's so that is not really an issue, and because of the construction, they will last a lot longer than the other bindings. The only things that I can say about the bindings that I changed/upgraded are as follows:

1. I changed the highbacks to my old ones (personal preference though as the hb's that the bindings come with are good)

2. I put pipe tape on the toe strap screws to stop them from coming loose ( I would never use loc-tite on any type of snowboard equipment although some people have done this).

3. I added T9 MFM Baltimore toe straps (once again a personal preference).

Other than that, I love the bindings and actually bought a second pair for my other board...one of my friends just purchased the extra disks so that he could use his bindings on both boards by simply changing the kingpin screws and then re-adjusting the cant/lift screws.

I think that you will be very satisfied with these bindings and they are definately worth the cash, plus Jeff Caron has great customer service. Good luck with your purchase.

[bboyd]

svr- thanks for the reply and info. Does anyone know if/when Catek freerides ever go on an end-of-season clearance, or do they offer the same binding again next year, such that they don't need to to reduce inventory? Anyone ever see these things go up for sale used? I may eventually have to work up to a new pair, but thought I'd see if anyone else knows or has experience with finding them at a better price.
Also - can anyone compare these bindings to Ride SPi, or a similarly stiff freestyle/freeride binding. I do no freestyle, so a very stiff freeride binding would be ideal, but I'm wondering if the Cateks have true advantages in stiffness (not just in adjustability) that I don't already have with the Rides. Any info?

[Ken D]

I have the ride team (very stiff) AND the cateks (very, very stiff). You don't need a stiffer SOFT binding in either case. My choice is the freeride. Reason being... at that level of stiffness, add a stiff boot and you NEED the adjustability. The feel of the board becomes limitted otherwise.

PS: Change the straps on the freeride... a must.

Thats just me though.

ken d

[Mike T]

I've never seen Catek offer bindings at clearance prices.

[svr]

bboyd,
I have never seen catek's on sale either, but one thing to keep in mind is that this is the first production year for the freerides so finding a used pair may be difficult as everyone I have seen or heard of that has used them doesn't want to get rid of them. I know that $260 seems like a good chunk of change to throw down on bindings, but I am very sure that you will not be disappointed by the bindings. As fo the comparison witht he ride's, sorry that I forgot to mention just how stiff the bindings are (but in this case that means that they are much more responsive), and I totally agree with Ken D that when you go with stiffer boots you need a binding that has adjustability so that you can fine tune your setup and you will not find another soft boot binding that is going to come close to the freerides in that department. Hope all of this info helps.