Ippy's Guide to Buying a new snowboard

[ippy 66]

jynxx was just talking about sizing in fact (its this page if you have a look up - its in the post with his cameltoe )

 

Truth is, at your weight, im thinking thats going to be a DEMON to control for you. Some things to consider:

 

1. The boards length is going to feel big and hard to control

2. Its likely going to have in effect a medium-wide/wide waist width (even though it will be normal for someone the right size - but to your frail physique and size it will probably be a bit wider than youre used to) this will mean the torsional flex will feel a little stiffer, and it might make it feel a little bit sluggish edge to edge.

3. Pop. You aint loading that thing. Unless you have exceptional balance and can really get on that tail, you wont be pushing enough force into the ass of the deck to load it like someone much heavier than you will.

 

As a plus though:

 

1. The float will be insane.

2. Its a prime candidate for a split board

3. If youre all about deeeep pow, that thing is gonna rip.

4. Its what 5 years old? Its gonna be cheap!

 

Your big negatives are torsional flex, waist width, length and pop, as a straight ride you can probably get something more suitable for your size as a freeride ripper. But in its advantage, if you can find someone that can turn this into a split board and like a bit of BC hiking for real pow, this thing will KILL IT.

 

If you can get that deck split, dude, go for it!

[Schneebored 0]

Originally Posted By: ippy

If you can get that deck split, dude, go for it!

Recently been reading into this one and debating splitting my 2005 Ride Yukon 168. I think it would be bloody amazing if I manage to do a good job of it. Just need to find somewhere to do the big cut!

[Thundercat 60]

Bigger boards? It really depends on the snow. Deep and soft, a big board will do fine. Hard and icy, washouts, edge catching and scorpions galore.

[panhead_pete 27]

Thanks for all the info guys.

 

How about some info re stance angles and distances. My feet and legs hurt really bad last season and Im thinking whilst fitness would be a root cause, stance may have been a contributing factor.

 

Ippy - any view on the Arbor Roundhouse - there is a 160 here that looks beautiful but maybe a fraction big?

[ippy 66]

i think my sphere of knowledge hasnt quite made it to arbor yet. Ill have a look and do a bit of research and see what others say on it then get back to you

 

first thing, if its 160 and too big for you what size are your feet? its a wide board for big feet guys by the sound of it?

 

159cm - 266mm

163cm - 268mm

167cm - 270mm

 

Those are some pretty big waist widths

 

For comparison, the indoor fk:

 

158cm - 253mm

160cm - 256mm

[panhead_pete 27]

Only size 9 feet mate. Yeah the width is WIDE!

[ippy 66]

yeah, i think that automatically stops you from buying it. Itll feel really sluggish edge to edge for you and will be an ordeal trying to get something out of it. If you were knackered last season, prepare to be destroyed this season on that. Pretty looking deck though

 

Speaking of you being knakcered last season, im afraid getting your stance right is entirely an act of personal experimentation. Once you go beyond the basics (centering it and a little bit of minus in the back foot for switch) its just a case of moving the bindings and angles around until you hit on something youre comfortable with.

[panhead_pete 27]

Thanks mate, its raining here so off to Innsbruck to buy a board as its suppose to clear up this afternoon

[Thundercat 60]

Hey Pete, re distance and angle, my suggestion would be to start with the factory stance with a back foot set to 0 Degrees and front open 15-18 Degrees. It's really all about personal preference so start from there and then start adjusting. If you have bindings that allow you to move them around easily I would suggest making the same run several times slightly tweeking the angle each run. Do one thing at a time though. Find the right angle for your comfort and then start tweeking the distance. Doing both at once will only confuse things. Over the course of the season, as you build up strength, you'll again want to move things around a bit. Have fun!

 

Re the new board, I agree with Ippy. Too long doesn't matter as much as too wide. I think you'd find it very frustrating to ride a board that is too wide for you.

[Jynxx 4]

Abor Roundhouse is for big feet. If you have size 10 or over, would be a great board. Nitro Pantera, Venture storm falls in to the same category. The thing about wide boards is that when you have small feet, you can´t get your toe on the edge effectively. Edge-to-edge transfer will be shite. One reason I will not pick a too wide board for powder and go for length and setback, especially when I have to deal with other conditions than powder. (like Jones hovercraft and others, if it´s just for powder, great! or you have big feet)

But to be fair, 2,3 millimete difference is negligent. 1 cm is not that wide! The benefits for riding powder will be great! It´s just that you will be working harder if you want quick edge to edge. On the other hand, you are laying big turns then that´s what it´s designed to do.

No offence to anybody, but when you are snowboarding indoors/parks/narrow mogule strips of mainland Japan, it´s a bit different from the European Alps . You start riding bigger, not making small wiggly turns

 

Big feet people on the other hand. can have too much toe overhanging from the board. That´s not good. Their toe can drag. Therefor, wider board.

[Jynxx 4]

Originally Posted By: Sutebun

Is riding a board that is bigger for your size very difficult??

I'm 178cm and ~68kg/150lbs.

I found a used Lib Tech Emmagator 166 cm for sale and am considering buying it.

Last year I rode a 157 directional freeride board.

I like doing downhill riding and just going fast, turning and carving through the area. I don't care for jumps or tricks really at all, so I am thinking that a larger board might be more fun.

But 157->166 seems like a big jump. On the other hand I exercise often and am pretty fit so I wonder if I can tame it??

Anybody out there with more experience have some wisdom to share?

How wide is this thing and your boot size?
I´m 172cm 60kg and I ride a Salomon Burner 157 ´08 that is stiffer than the current models.
No, it´s not a big jump. I´m looking at a 164-166 for my all(big)mountain/powder board.
When I started boarding, I looked for a softer board because I am a beginner and a lightweight. Were even looking into women´s boards. But from second season, I´m riding the Salomon. Supposed to be the stiffest in their line up, and the fastest of all production boards. It´s all about putting your weight and what comes from the g-force in the turns onto the edge. And at higher speed. you do want a stiff board. You don´t want a soft/short board when you are dealing with some ice situation/ rocks around you/ steep up there.
I like the feeling of stiff boards, too.
I think longer camber boards (with a soft nose and nose rocker/ or the nose turns up a little closer towards the front binding so you have a longer nose) is the solution. All mountains=longer board.
The thing you gotta do is widen you stance ! Find that stance and where you set your binding...

[panhead_pete 27]

Well bit the bullet today and here it is. 157 Lib Tech Jamie Lynn. Loved the graphics and the rest seems to fit. Will be more board thenI ever need.

 

Had it out all afternoon, handled some pow if I keep my speed up but will be better with a little more set back and a little less weight on me that will happen over the next month. On the other runs felt great but Im an intermediate on a good day so what would I know Couldn't find anything else and I suspect this will be a great board. Sadly they wouldnt trade in either of my other two boards so now traveling with 3, which Id rather not do.

 

 

PS thanks BM - I have moved the bindings a little for today to see how it feels, may change it again at lunch.

[ippy 66]

i think we need a quiver shot

[Jynxx 4]

So, If anyone is interested in a my Mrs´ take on the Atomic radon 159, here goes...

She advices not to jump straight on to pow. Try it out on the groomers and sus it out first. She had a frustrating time at first.

She said...

" Shit, this thing goes fast!"

" mmm... give me a bit of time. I´m getting it. I like it!"

" I think the length is OK. It might be better if it is a little bit wider in Pow "

 

Now this last statement is interesting. She is a 165cm 55kg girl, size 7

feet and she reckons a wider board may be the go.

Why is it interesting? Because we can look at specs and talk techno jargon and make assumptions, but that doesn´t translate to the real world. When I was a skier (old skool), I had 2m skis I took on the moguls, no problem. Found it a lot easier on 150/160 though. We didn´t have wide powder ski but moved our bindings back (setback) for Pow. There are similarities along these thoughts and equipment development... whether ski or board.

 

As for our boards´ setback, next time in pow, we will move it another hole to max setback 5cm.

I will be looking for a longer board. I don´t want to sacrifice my tail length. But, man, just 2cm setback can make a difference!

[ippy 66]

you have to remember its not all about the board though. The surface is the thing thats working for her.

 

It goes with what Black Mountain said above, if its pure pow, go rip, if its groomers, youll have a crappy time of it.

 

The science behind it is fairly simple: on an icy surface you have resistance getting the board up on its edge because you cant apply the pressure as well from the pivot:

 

Thought experiment:

 

Youre strapped into the center of a piece of wood the standard thickness of a snowboard, only its about six inches wider than your standard snowboard. Imagine trying to get that thing on its edge on a solid surface

 

Counterwise, imagine trying to get a piece of wood thats only half the size of your feet on edge. Truth is youll be so effective in this case youll actually have trouble keeping it flat The lightest of pressure is going to take it onto its edge.

 

Now these are extreme examples, but they illustrate one of the problems of a wide board for normal size feet, it takes a lot more effort to get the board onto its edge when your feet arent reaching the edge of the deck than it does when youve got a teensy bit of overhang (a tiny bit of overhang isnt a problem by the way). If the board has a stiff torsional flex anyway, it will now feel even stiffer because it requires just that little bit more effort to move it from its central pivot to its edge. This is just the first big issue.

 

The second one is the placement of teh contact. Because its wider the contact is going to be in a place thats unfamiliar firstly (its wider so your going to feel it catch a little earlier than youre used to), but because you require that bit more of an explosion (and thus a little less controlled movement) to get it up on its edge due to the comparative change in torsional flex it means your chance of catching an edge has just shot up quite considerably.

 

So now you require more effort to get the thing on edge, a stiffer flex to roll it over to its edge (torsionally), both of which mean less control on your part to get it there. Also a fatter board which means a bit of unfamiliarity on your contact placement (of course youll get used to it though).

 

I appreciate this is all a bit of slight exaggeration and over magnification of issues that arent quite as dramatic as all that, but multiply it over the course of a day or a week and i guarantee you will be thinking "i should have bought the right size eh?"

 

 

Heres the second thing to consider then.

 

The surface:

 

On ice, the surface forces you to do almost all the effort to get it on its edge, but consider what happens in pow?

 

You dont raise the board on your edge as much as the board in fact sinks into its edge Getting a deck on edge in pow is MASSIVELY easier than it is on ice. Youve just effectively negated the entire problems above simply by having a pliable surface you can just push into with little serious resistance. Not only that, but more surface area = float! wheee!

 

So to echo black mountain: on pow - wheee! on groomers - :'(

 

hehe, im obviously out of my science depth (oh how i wish actual scientists would explain this stuff instead of people like me trying to blag my way through it all ) but i think that explains in excrutiating detail whats going on and why its fine for pow to be on a fat board, but why on icier conditions it could suck out your very will to board

 

 

[ippy 66]

hey david, would you be a dear and open up the editing powers again. I reckon im going to try and restart this thread up (this thread is awesome for general snowboard info, but i want a good 10 posts to turn it into the same guide as the one i posted on trusnow/sierra (sans links of course). Basically this one has most of the info (though theres a few edits i made that arent here yet), plus id like to have the guide in one solid lump rather than 3 bits on page 1, a couple of bits on page 5, another part on page 6 and another on page 8

 

To do all that i need to have access to "edit post" so i can copy and paste each section including the tags (otherwise i have to spend hours reformating things )

 

Could you be a dear and reopen it all for me to fix up over the next couple of days?

[panhead_pete 27]

Ippy, BM etc a big thanks. Even though my board isnt one of the speciific ones you mentioned its great. Its good in the pow and on the groomers, not a park rat so cant comment on those attributes but it seems to be a great all rounder for me. Just got to stop tearing up the bottom on hidden rocks

[ippy 66]

Not to toot me own horn, but it is

 

The jamie lynn and lando are pretty much teh same deck.

 

Im glad youre loving it though! Heres what i said so i can have a bit of a gloat:

 

Quote:

But heres the deck i honestly think you should be on:

 

*ttp://www.lib-tech.com/snow/snowboards/phoenix-series-mark-landvik/

 

(killed the hotlink just in case its not allowed, just change star to an h).

 

This deck is much more aggressive than some of the decks ive been recommending (aside the bsod). Its also the epitome of the new direction of modern all mountain freestyle hybrids. This thing does it all. It is precisely the all mountain stick an aggressive freeride orientated rider wants to twist and spin about in the trees with. Its also aces in the resort, and you will be able to dick around in the park on it as well. Definitely does what it says it does: all mountain freestyle shredder. (though lib bases are notoriously sticky by the way... just on a point of balance).

 

Dude, get on some boxes as well, i reckon when you start riding a few youll realise how easy c2 makes it all! And keep ripping that base up, no point getting all precious about the thing