Burton Snowboards Binding Review 2010: Malavita and Infidel

Ok. This is a quickie. I've been procrastinating for way too long, but my wife is about to have a baby so this review is extremely short and will tell you next to nothing. Tested the Malavita and Infidels at the US Open.

First up are the Malavitas. I gotta say the bindings are sweet. I matched these up with the Jussi and the Custom Vrocker... And once in a blue moon, the glass slipper fits. These bindings were the awesome:

- Clean overall design
- Nothing super special or fancy pro about them
- The highback hit just right to give solid support and flex
- Nice clean graphics
- Worked like a champ and gave me confidence as soon as I rode them
- Some people may not like the grip tape on the highback and it might not have enough tech for the price for some peeps.

The Infidels were pretty good for a 3-hole binder. I took them out on an X8 with vrocker, spoon nose/tail and some other bells/whistles. Also tried it on a Love. I haven't ridden a 3-hole binding on a burton board in years. Well technically I guess this is a 2, 3 or 4-hole binder depending on how you look at it. Anyway, I didn't really notice much "improvement" with my buttering from the wings, but I like the idea of the winged binding, especially when paired with a non-rockered, jib board.

- Good solid dependable binding
- I'd rock these on my non-Burton, 4-hole boards, especially since I'm in need of a new set of 4-hole binders
- The one love color way is pretty awesome and a head turner fo shuuure brahhh
- As I said above, didn't really notice any special improvement when buttering with the wings, but also didn't notice any downsides
- For some reason the construction of the highbacks made me a bit queesy. I'd be worried that they might break or shatter, but I'm just being a nervous nelly. Or it could just be that I've been on a big breakage streak for 2009

Ok... now back to our regularly scheduled baby-programming.