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BRAND NEW SETUP REVIEW: Voile Mojo 161 and Spark R&D Fuse Bindings

Instead of posting 2 separate reviews in each of the board and binding forums, I’ve just combined the whole thing here… Photos from my day trip would have been pointless, because it was a total and profound whiteout. Sorry guys! I'll try to post a photo of the board setup soon...


BACKGROUND:
I bought the Voile Mojo 161 after much debate. I weigh about 175-180 pounds, and am 5 foot 10-ish (maybe more like 5-11). I went with the Voile because I wanted the lightest possible splitboard setup I could build, and it is a lighter board than the Priors (The NS board was just too much $$ for me to even think about..). I decided on the 161 because I’ve chatted with several people about it feeling more traditional under foot. Plus, I really did want a splitboard that would totally shred and feel like a traditional solid. Most big boards I’ve ridden (as in larger than 166cm) simply felt too much like trying to turn a 747 when shit hit the fan. I’m an ex Park Rat, and I prefer the F-22 Raptor type of ride in comparison to the jumbo jet…. Further, I have been simply sick of the Voile Slider Track system and the lateral rocking that happens when I’m skinning up steeps and side-stepping. So I dipped further into this fall’s food budget and bought the Fuse Bindings, as they really do seem to be the lightest and sexiest option the market currently offers.

REVIEW:
I got to the Mount Baker Ski Area yesterday, and decided to skin up to Artist Point, and possibly also to the top of Table Mountain. Skinning with the Fuse bindings was RAD. I found that for steep side hilling, all I need to do is crank down my ankle straps a little, and there literally is almost no lateral rocking; even if there is, its totally insignificant and manageable. Also, as most skeptics of splitboarding say “the rolling flats are TERRIBLE for splitters”: I put this to the test and stayed in “ski mode” for significant steep-ish downhill sections, and found that I could totally just tap into my old skills (skied for 6 years back in the day). I could totally make some alpine turns, and even some half-ass tele-style turns (couldn’t really do that in the old slider plate because of the lateral flex issues). I’m not saying I could “ski” double diamonds like this, but I can make it down the powder rollers just fine, and thus save exponential amounts of time!

I made it about a mile past the parking lot up the side of Table Mountain, and had lunch in the side of a tree well. The avi danger was pretty minimal, but it was a total whiteout and I was alone, so I didn’t head out onto Table’s summit plateau.

Riding down I followed wands that I placed on the way up, and I found that the Fuse bindings ride PERFECT. There simply is no point in comparing them to traditional bindings, because they probably actually ride better. The Mojo 161 is the same story. In deep-ish pow (in this case roughly thigh deep) it had AWESOME floatation. I have my stance about as wide as it will go, and the taper and setback of the design really brought out a free-ride nature of the board. Surprisingly, I was also able to comfortably do some switch carving in the pow. I would have thought that the small tail of this board wouldn’t allow for this, but I could lean back and actually ride switch pretty agro.

Once getting back to the ski area, my original plan was to go back to my truck and grab my solid Nitro Pantera, and just do some lift riding. HOWEVER, I was having SOOO much fun riding the split setup that I didn’t even bother grabbing my other board. I ended up riding inbounds on the Mojo and Fuses for another 4.5 hours, looking for all the iciest, steepest, and shittiest runs I knew of. Its funny, this board actually WANTS to ride the steep, crappy ice! Don’t get me wrong, bombing down groomers was fun too (even riding switch) but the board just seemed to point itself to the pounded icy steep sections that nobody else wanted to even bother with. I was thinking that the full-cap construction would have made the board super chattery, but this is not the case. It’s not as damp as my Nitro boards are, but at no point did I find myself bouncing off my edges on ice. In other words, it offers enough shock absorbing to maintain control at high speeds even in Washington Cottage Cheese. I believe the Mojo has a radial sidecut, and for what this board is designed to do high-speed turn initiations and exits were super fun. Also, it was way faster edge to edge than other freeride boards I’ve experienced. I did find however, that while on the Mojo I didn’t really feel motivated to go hit kickers or jumps, or spin off stuff. It really just wants to shred fast through knarly tight spots (which is okay, because that’s what I need it for; not for sliding park rails!)

Once again, I rode the Fuse Bindings in preference to my Burton P1’s. As I said, they are just PERFECT. The glossy baseplate is dope when it comes to swiping snow away, and the straps are also perfectly articulated to my ankles. The only “complaint” I might have is that I am kind of a forward-lean junky, and would prefer getting an extra couple degrees of lean out of the highbacks. This is something I could probably figure out super easily though…

All in all, the combined Mojo 161 with Fuse bindings is only about ¾ pound heavier than my traditional freeride board, and in all reality that extra weight comes in helpful for plowing through crappy snow. For what this setup is designed for, I’ll give it 9.5 / 10, and getting a tad bit more lean would probably bump it to 10 / 10 for performance.

Last word I’ll say, is that it is interesting to me how I am comparing the ride performance of my split setup to other traditional setups I’ve had. I’ve heard many people say “oh, splitboards are cool, they just won’t ride as well as a normal board.” At this point I pretty much agree with bcrider when he says that the technological side of this sport is damn near close to complete.

Cheers!!

russman

Damn...I'm pretty much convinced that when I come across an extra $300 it's getting sent to the boys at Spark, and your post added to this conviction! Thanks...I think? LOL.

Nice review, thanks.

How much does your Mojo + Fuse weigh?

I've got the 166 Mojo and I'm looking to upgrade to the Fuse ASAP.

Good stuff and thanks for sharing.



To clarify, there's always room for improvement with our products....I just dont buy "the gear is holding us back anymore" stuff.

Great review. what kind of boot do you use.

Yeah I'm not definitely sure how much the whole setup weighs. I'll try to get it on the scale tomorrow. It does look pretty damn sexy though. Its the red topsheet with black Fuses with the blue heelcup. Again, I need to figure out how to load pictures!

As for boots, I use 32 305's from 2006-2007. They are the best boots I've ever had. Stiff enough for freeriding, but still have enough flex for my park rat side. They also have a pretty good toe box for kicking steps, and they "sort of" take my strap-crampons pretty well...

Great review, I was debating between the 166 and 161, after reading this I think I'll stick with the 161.

I'd really like the Never Summer, but the price is a killer.

sooooooooo excited. my mojo is sitting next to me in my room and my fuse bindings are on the way!

Waiting for those bindings to come is kind of like realizing that you are about to get layed, isn't it?

Waiting for those bindings to come is kind of like realizing that you are about to get layed, isn't it? [/quote]

...just hope the pleasure lasts longer than that

i have the exact same setup and the first time i will be able to use it is jan 4. expect a review on the 5th

Great review. I'm on the same set up as well. Having ridden this board w/ a set of franken-binders/slider plates and now w/ a new set of Fuses, I can say w/ total confidence, that the binding makes the board--it ascends better, descends much more intuitively and is noticeably more responsive going up or down.

That being said, I'm still not totally sold on the Mojo's performance. It's a fun board to ride in powder, very stable and all that. But at the same time, she can be a bit unruly. I think riding a small rockered board at the resorts has spoiled me and now I want that same level of playfulness and float all the time.