Hello and welcome to my Union Rosa binding review. This review will assess the suitability of the Rosa’s as women’s bindings for freestyle riders.
As is tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com the Rosa’s will receive a rating out of 100. This is of course not an exact science but should give you some impression of the Rosa’s performance at a glance. The review will of course go into detail too.
I’ll also make a call on whether they are value for money or not.
Bindings: Union Rosa
Price: $149 RRP
Smart rating score: 91.1/100
Flex: Medium-Soft (4 out of 10)
Style: Strap-In
O.k. let’s take a look at the details!
What the Rosa’s are Rated On
- Flex
- Butterability
- Adjustability
- Shock Absorption
- Entry/Exit
- Comfort
- Responsiveness
Flex
The Rosa’s have a medium-soft flex. They have a flex rating of 4 out of 10 (with 1 being the softest and 10 being the stiffest).
This is well suited to freestyle riding but will also let you venture out of the park to ride the mountain with your friends whether to ride the mountain like a park or just to cruise the trails.
This flex in the bindings allows for tweaking of grabs, buttering and bit of give for landing jumps.
Butterability
Most freestyle riders like to butter, press and hit jibs. The Rosa’s aren’t lacking in buttering prowess so they should assist in everything buttery that you want out of your board.
Adjustability
As is pretty much the case with a lot of Union’s recent bindings most of the adjustments you make are tool-less. So you can do any readjusting on the fly to tweak them for that perfect fit.
You can easily adjust the high-back lean and the ankle and toe straps to suit.
Whilst not the most adjustable bindings on the market it shouldn’t be a problem getting a great fit so long as you get them in the right size.
Shock Absorption
Landing jumps and jibs all day long and generally putting your body through hell lap after lap in the park means that for a binding to be great for freestyle they should provide plenty of shock absorption.
The Rosa’s definitely don’t disappoint here. They are loaded with EVA padding so your landings are comfortable and easy on your body.
Entry/Exit
The Rosa’s have a quality ratcheting system so getting in and out of these shouldn’t be pretty straight forward and fairly quick.
Obviously they aren’t as quick as speed entry bindings but you should be able to get in and out of these pretty quickly and easily.
Comfort
No one wants an uncomfortable ride on the mountain and freestyle riding is no exception.
As discussed the Rosa’s have plenty of EVA padding on the footbed so these should feel really comfortable for that reason – but they also have some great anke straps that evenly distribute pressure so that you don’t get any pressure points.
The only thing it’s missing comfort-wise is the lack of a canted footbed (which essentially work to align your ankles, knees and hips properly). If they had that they’d get full points for comfort.
Responsiveness
Whilst responsiveness isn’t as important for freestyle riding as it is for all-mountain or free-riding, it’s still nice to have a bit of response especially if you like to ride the trails and occasionally have that need for a bit of downhill speed.
The Rosa’s actually have some decent response for a softer binding so they give you enough so that you can comfortably bomb some groomers.
A Couple of Extra things
The Rosa’s come compatible with both standard 4 x 4 binding mounting systems (which most brands of snowboards use) and Burton’s channel system so you don’t need to worry about whether or not your bindings will be compatible with your board.
The Rosa’s also have a women’s specific base plate and highback.
New for 2016 Model
Nothing much has changed on the 2016 to the 2015 model. Really just some colorway changes. But hey – Union are onto a good thing with the Rosa so why change it. They’re also $10 cheaper in the 2016 model – so already awesome value bindings are even awesomer (excuse my wicked English skills there!) this year.
Final Score
O.k. let’s see how the Rosa’s performed overall.
| FACTOR | RATING (OUT OF 5) | CONTRIBUTION TO FINAL SCORE |
| Shock Absorption: | 4.5 | 22.5/25 |
| Butterability: | 4.0 | 16/20 |
| Flex: | 5.0 | 15/15 |
| Adjustability: | 3.5 | 10.5/15 |
| Comfort: | 4.0 | 8/10 |
| Responsiveness: | 3.0 | 6/10 |
| Entry/Exit: | 4.0 | 4/5 |
| TOTAL | 91.1/100 |
I’d say they did pretty darn well! In fact they topped my list of the top 5 women’s freestyle snowboard bindings
Value for money
Hands down, these bindings are incredible value for money. With a recommended price of just $149 they really are a steal for the performance you get if you are into riding freestyle or if you are a beginner.
Enough said.
More Info, Current Price & User Reviews
Check out the links below for more info, user reviews (if any) and current prices – RRP is USD$149 but you may be able to find them even cheaper in some stores.
Thanks for reading
Thanks for checking out my review. I hope it has helped in your research for your new bindings.
If you have any opinions on the Rosa’s or have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them in the comments section below.
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