dizzy 0 Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 ...buying a car. there's all these technical specs that all mysteriously mean something and advertisments and magazines do a great job of hyping up the product w/o telling you much about it. but they love telling you how cool you'll feel using it or who else is using it and that's why you should too. i've known what all the jargon means for years now, but when i was first starting out, i didn't have a clue. if you have any good links or definitions which translate into meaning for the layman, please add! Basic Board Info: Carving: snowbaords made for racing that cut lines into the mountains Freestyle: park and halfpipe boards, often with heavy influence carried over from skateboarding and surfing. Freeride: sometimes called All Mountain or all terrain boards, designed for park, pipe, groomed trails, and powder Backcountry Boards: designed for use in deep powder; binding holes are offset so the nose of the board is longer then the tail (i.e. the nose doesn't get caught in the snow and so you don't sink) Split Boards: splits into two for touring Sidecut: an imaginary circle where the radius is from the middle part of the board to the widest part of the board, nose or tail. translates to: the smaller the sidecut, the tighter you'll be able to turn while larger sidecuts are meant for larger turns. powder/bc boards tend to have a smaller sidecut, Effective Edge: how much of the board touches the snow. translates to: a longer effective edge makes for more stable turns (b/c more of the board is flush with the snow), a shorter effective edge makes for a looser, easier-to-turn board. if you want a stiff board look for one with a relatively long effective edge Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 Good topic Dizz. My question to the industry: Where is the backcountry board that is not made for powder? That's the problem. Back country can be icy, steep, sastrugi, tightly rocked and technical.... not good on a powder board. There is more to the BC than dreamy powder turns. But what maker will market a back country board for crap conditions. None. Sidecut: it depends on board length, but what is considered small? Is 7m small for a 160cm? is 8.5m big for a 157cm? In fact, multidimensional table showing various board length-sidecut-effective edge would be awesome. Different quadrants of the matrix would be highlighted as easy to turn, fast and stable, etc Using the table you could pick your desired board length and then read off the stipulated EE and SC according to the ride characteristic you want. eg, what 155cm board has tight turns and stable turns (small SC, large EE). Link to post Share on other sites
SerreChe 2 Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 Maybe there's a niche there. Time for Spud to come-up with his own table and post it on SJ. Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 I actually developed a strange thing like that a year or so ago for my job (not snobo related). It was an n-dimensional space and any position within that space described the current set of separate values that we observed and plotted on each of the n axis, just like grid coordinates on a map, except the map was n-dimensional. You could then track the relative movement month-on-month of the position within the space. Each point in time could be described by the coordinates inside that space. There were certain areas inside the space that we never wanted to end up in, the red zones. If you made more than one 'space' you could measure the correlation between the relative movements of each point in both spaces with teh passing of time. It never got off the ground as it freaked everyone out. Give it 5-10 years and a certain concept in my industry will be summarised and tracked in exactly this manner. Call me Jimi Hendrix. Back to snowboarding. Link to post Share on other sites
SerreChe 2 Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 Almost sounds like string theory, unless it is manifolds & obifolds. I think a simple n x m matrix will do for now Spud. Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 String??? You've lost the plot man. Link to post Share on other sites
SerreChe 2 Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 higher dimension... Link to post Share on other sites
SerreChe 2 Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 Quote: Originally posted by db le spud: String??? You've lost the plot man. Yes, a while ago. Link to post Share on other sites
dizzy 0 Posted October 19, 2006 Author Share Posted October 19, 2006 Quote: Originally posted by db le spud: Using the table you could pick your desired board length and then read off the stipulated EE and SC according to the ride characteristic you want. eg, what 155cm board has tight turns and stable turns (small SC, large EE). that would be very helpful to peeps. i'd love to make something like this, but am illiterate in computer language. i think you've hit on a great idea. Quote: Originally posted by db le spud: Sidecut: it depends on board length, but what is considered small? Is 7m small for a 160cm? is 8.5m big for a 157cm? exactly. the beginner won't want to make turns that are too big, have a side cut radius that's too large. has anyone seen a graph/chart for sidecut ranges for different snowboard lengths anywhere online? i've only come across this on a quick google image search: Link to post Share on other sites
snosurf 0 Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 Buying a snowboard is like....ly to break the bank. Just blew $3000 online last night. Ouch! Link to post Share on other sites
mattlucas 0 Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 Buying skis for steep couloirs you have a pretty good selection. They are skis with little to no sidecut so that your foot is always on the snow and not just the tip and tail Some companies also market a small flare in the tail so that you won't get hung up if you have to reverse They are usually really light as well as they ar designed for backcountry use Could you do this with a snowboard? Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 I have little flares on my ski tails, but not twin tips. The ski manufacturing industry is so much better geared towards providing specific skis for specific jobs. Snowboard manufacturing industry is less so. It disappoints me at times. There is also a lower ratio of junk to quality junk in the ski selection (I think). You go to TGR and say "I want a ski for the following objective..." , there will be one for you. Try that with snowboarding. There are generic pow boards, freeride boards and park boards. And few people can tell you why one free ride is better than another. This is when [snowboarding compared to skiing] reminds me of [bodyboarding compared to surfing]. Snowboarding is the body board of the snow, or perhaps fun skis now hold that tittle. Sorry Bushy. Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 >Buying a snowboard (pair of skis) is like... dating - you never know how good the ride is till you try it out Link to post Share on other sites
bushpig 0 Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 Mate, no argument from me there. A bodyboard is a bodyboard for most purposes. Length and stiffness ( )are quite relevant, but other than that it comes down to quality of construction that's all. Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 Saw some peeps looking to buy some gear. Here's a bump for some good info. Link to post Share on other sites
SirJibAlot 0 Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 Like hiring a prostitute - you pay way too much money hoping for extacy, but it's all over too quickly... Link to post Share on other sites
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