Burton Malavita Bindings Review

Bindings: Burton Malavita

Price: $359 (USD recommended retail)

Style: Freestyle/Park

Other Uses: All-Mountain/All-Mountain-Freestyle

Flex Rating: Medium

Flex Feel: Medium (5.5/10)

Rating Score: 90.0/100

Compared to other All-Mountain Bindings

Out of the 16 men’s freestyle bindings that I rated:

The Malavita in More Detail

Check out the tables for the Malavita’s specs and available sizes.

Specs

Who are the Malavitas Most Suited To?

The Malavitas are best for anyone who likes to ride a mixture of all-mountain and park. Or anyone who likes to use the whole mountain like a park.

They’ve got enough response for reasonably quick edge-to-edge transitions but are also flexible enough for tweaking and flex really well with the board making them great for butters/presses.

They’re also great for larger features in the park, where you want a bit more stiffness than you’d get out of a more medium-soft freestyle binding.

Pretty versatile with the range of boards they match with, due to the way they naturally flex with the board, but ideal range is between a 4/10 and 6/10 flex.

Too stiff for beginners (and the price-point is probably a bit high for beginners) but certainly intermediate riders would be fine with these. Plus anyone advanced to expert that wants to use them for riding freestyle/all-mtn-freestyle.

The Malavita in More Detail

Flex & Response

Out of the Burton Cartel, the Burton Genesis and the Burton Malavita I would say that, when riding, the Malavitas feel about half way between the Genesis and Cartel – around 5.5/10, with the Cartels feeling slightly stiffer – around 6/10 and the Genesis more like 5/10. 

The Malavitas have a relatively stiff highback, but a softer baseplate. Stiffer highback than the Genesis and the Cartel too.

They respond just a little better than medium. But they strike a really good balance between response at higher speeds and maneuverability at slower speeds. 

Butterability/Board Feel

Super easy to butter/press. These bindings are made for this and this is one area where they excel.

They flex really well with the board – both the Re:Flex and the EST versions – but the EST versions slightly more so – but the Re:Flex flex so well with the board that there’s more than enough board feel there – and I’m fussy on board feel!

Adjustability

Like most Burton bindings, the Malavitas have plenty of adjustability – high back lean, high back rotation, ankle strap, toe strap etc – and it’s all easy to use and mostly tool-less. The only downside with the Re:Flex model is that you can’t really micro-adjust your stance width – you have to adjust by 2cm at a time (on 4 x 2 insert patterns). This is because you can’t run the disc horizontally – only vertically.

Shock Absorption

These bindings have great shock absorption, which helps to make them seriously good for freestyle type stuff in or out of the park – landing those large kickers all day is less taxing with all the padding in there – and it’s great for absorbing chatter from cruddy snow too.

Entry/Exit

Nice smooth ratchets and typically easy to get in and out of.

Has the flex slider on the ankle strap that Burton bindings have had for the last couple of years. This isn’t a biggie for me because I think it’s just as easy with other brands to bend the ankle strap in behind the high back when strapping in – but it’s not a bad thing either.

Comfort

I like bindings with a canted footbed and the Malavitas have an autocant in their footbed – so that gets a tick from me. What this does is align your hips, ankles and knees in a more natural way which reduces fatigue over time.

The ankle straps are also really comfortable and I’ve never noticed any pressure points anytime I’ve ridden them (which is a lot as these are the bindings that I use for all my snowboard testing) – they conform really well around the boot.

All that shock absorption also makes these bindings feel really comfortable. 

Ankle Support

There is a nice firm feeling of support when strapping these bindings in. They don’t feel as tightly locked in as some bindings – but they’re more than medium. And to be honest I don’t think I’d want them any more locked down for the type of riding that these bindings are best suited to. Also, you can adjust the ankle strap position for more support if you have it on the higher setting. I mostly keep in on the lower setting.

Overall the Malavita are great freestyle or all-mountain freestyle bindings. They have great board feel and are super comfy and shock absorbing. 

They are really versatile too and can be ridden on a wide range of different boards - from 3/10 flex to 8/10 flex (but ideal on 4/10 to 6/10 flex boards). Which makes them great as my testing bindings. 

They have been very consistent for me 100+ days riding them so far.

If you're looking at Malavita ESTs, check out my Malavita EST Review.