Rome Brass Bindings Review

Who are the Brass FW Most Suited To?

The Brass FW are best suited to someone looking for a binding on the stiffer side of medium. Something that can help them with overall stability and a more locked in feeling, particularly good for carves and feeling nicely supported - but not without some level of freedom of movement and flexibility. 

Best matched to boards in the 4/10 to 7/10 flex range. And most ideal for 5/10 to 6/10 flex boards. 

Too stiff for beginners, but should be fine for intermediate riders, and up. Though particularly light intermediate riders may find them a little stiff. 

The Brass FW in More Detail

O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Brass FW are capable of.

Demo Info

Bindings: Rome Brass 2024, S

Date: March 30, 2023

Conditions

Perfect sunshine! 

Temp: 1°C (34°F) and 0°C (32°F) with wind chill in the morning, though felt colder than that. 1°C (34°F) and -3°C (27°F) with wind chill in the afternoon. Wind was 10kph (6mph) SSE morning and 15kph (9mph) afternoon. 

24hr snow: 0cm (0")

48hr snow: 0cm (0")

7 day snow: 20cm (8")

On groomer: Fairly icy to start in a lot of patches. Other spots hard  but a few softer patches. As the day wore on things got progressively softer.

Off groomer: Crunchy/icy for the most part. Not a great day for getting off groomer. 

Set Up

Bindings angles: +12/-9

Stance Width: 520mm (20.5″)

Board demoed with: GNU Klassy

Baseplate Length: 23.4cm (9.2”) – that’s measured on the top of the footbed. 21.3cm (8.4") on the underside of the baseplate. 

Highback Height: 18.2cm (7.2”)

Weight: 880 grams (1lb, 15oz)

* for one binding, including screws and disc. The average weight of a small sample size of women's bindings that we've weighed (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2024 models) is 825 grams (1lb 13oz). The Brass is a little heavier than average, but felt more or less average on snow - perhaps just a touch heavier than average. 

Tester: Meira

Rider Height:  5'4 (163cm)

Rider Weight: 130lbs (58kg)

Rider Boot Size: US Women's 8 (Burton Limelite)

Responsiveness

I found the Brass gave me a better, more locked in feeling with carving in comparison to my control bindings (Union Milan) which are softer and less responsive.

For slower speed turns they felt very similar to my control bindings. 

Board Feel/Butterability

They gave pretty good board feel - better than average, but not quite as good as my control bindings. 

Pop/Ollie Power

I found the Brass a little harder to pop/ollie with. They felt more locked in and stiffer vs my control bindings, so I didn't find I had the flexibility to move and pop as much. 

Adjustability

Heel Cup: No

Stance Width:  The disc runs horizontal - which gives you good stance width adjustability. It's not the most, because of the mini-disc, but the mini-disc is big enough that there is some micro adjustability.

Highback Lean: Yes and toolless.

Ankle Strap Position: No.

Toe Strap Position: Yes, standard 2 positions.

Ankle and toe strap length: Toolless. 

Gas pedal/toe ramp extension: Not extendable as such, but can go back and forth, so great for lining up boots to be centered over the footbed of the bindings.

Highback Rotation: Yes

Compatible with: 2x4, 4x4 and the channel. It's a mini-disc, but the disc is big enough to accommodate 4x4 (which is pretty rare these days, but some boards with extra inserts behind the main insert pack are set 4cm back, which is where having 4 x 4 compatibility comes in handy). 

Shock Absorption

I found they absorbed shock and chatter really well. 

Comfort

Ankle Strap: Conformed nicely - I found the straps were able to be tightened really snuggly without getting any pressure points, which I really liked. 

Toe Strap: ditto ankle straps. 

Canted Footbed: Yes

Padded Footbed: Padding felt nice and squishy but with good rebound.

Highback: No calf bite.

Ankle Support

I felt like they supported my ankles really well. More supportive feeling than my control bindings. 

Entry/Exit

I found the ladders had to be in the right position to ratchet down - so not super easy in that respect. Once lined up, they were smooth though. On release they were a little stiff, so harder to release than what I'm used to, but nothing major.  

Score Breakdown and Final Verdict

Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.

The Brass FW are leaning on the more locked in, stiffer side of medium. But they still offer a little bit of freedom of movement and flexibility, so as not to be too stiff or unforgiving. So, if you like to carve and have that supportive feeling for the most part, but want some level of forgiveness for slower, more playful riding, then these should be a good bet. 

Whilst they have less adjustability than some Rome bindings, they are still nice and adjustable - and across all the factors we looked at they don't really have any weaknesses that we could tell.