Binding Review: 08-09 Burton Cartel

Location: Loveland, Colorado

Snow Conditions: Snowing with hardpacked groomers to icy groomers to fresh snow on the runs.

Setup: I rode the Burton Cartels on the Burton Love with my Vans Omni Focus size 8.

Time to set up the binding: Average time, just needed to make sure the bindings fit my women’s boot as a men’s binding.

Fit: The cartels fit my Vans boots very well with some adjustment on the ankle strap and cap strap to fit correctly which didn’t take long to adjust.

First Impression: I’m finally getting to ride the very popular Cartel.

Appearance: Only real men can don hot pink bindings and be comfortable. I love how the cartels look this year, fun and playful. The combo of the love board was really funny.

Comfort: I was surprised how comfortable the cartels were for me. The toe strap this year with allowing making it more off-center aligning. The ankle strap is still very comfortable with good cushioning and flex. The canted highback allows you to match the angle of your legs and also rotate the highback.

Functionality: The reason I rode the cartels was because the love was a non ICS board and the cartels were there ready to ride. Functionality, they were fine and a binding I’d ride off a burton board. Lightweight binding, easy to adjust the straps if you need to.

Flex: Definitely a stiffer highback, but with that means more responsiveness. It won’t take much to get heelside response from these bindings. I thought the highback might be too much for me, it handled a couple runs but I could see how all day in these bindings would hurt my calfs.

Response: Very responsive binding from the highback to the straps, to the baseplate with a lot of comfort built in. Even without the EST/ICS, I felt connected to the board and didn’t have any issues with getting quick response on toe to heelside turns. Little amounts of pressure did wonders.

Toe Strap: I definitely appreciate the burton capstrap with the hole making the fit there for my boots. Never had an issue with the binding moving while riding and it cupped it securely.

Overall Impression: I can see why the Cartels are so popular, they are a do it all binding with good response to handle any condition on the mountain. All with a good amount of comfort and support, easy to adjust as well. I liked them but with my size feet and women’s boots, the women’s bindings are definitely more my feel than the cartel.

Shay’s Honesty Box: I took a couple laps with these and while I enjoyed them on the couple laps, I probably wouldn’t have felt the same way after riding all day in them. Just a little too much than I needed.

On Snow Photo

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Burton Cartel Description

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For more information on the Burton Cartel go to Burton’s website.