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Equipment and Media - How To Buy a Snowboard

charliebuoy - Dec 20, 2007 - 02:46 AM
Post subject: How To Buy a Snowboard

I thought this would be useful for people and it saves answering the same questions on a daily basis.

So, your contributions for consolidation into a quick, easy and fairly basic guide please!

So far I have:

1 - TRY BEFORE YOU BUY

A snowboard may look pretty, it may be expensive and sound good but when you get it on the snow can you ride it? Snowboards feel different to everyone, and therefore there is no definitive 'good snowboard'. It depends on your personal preference which takes into account things like your skill level, physical strength and the way your body is put together amongst other things.

Go and demo a board or try a mates' out. You know it makes sense.

2 - BUY A BOARD THAT SUITS YOUR EXPERIENCE AND SKILL LEVEL

There's no point in buying a board with the latest Burton aluminium soulfly duratex ubergoldfandanglyawesome core if you can't turn the thing because your spindly legs can't bend it. If you're a beginner buy a board that's aimed at beginners/intermediates. By all means buy something that you're going to be able to improve on and will last you a while though.

3 - CHEAP DOESN'T MEAN BAD, EXPENSIVE DOESN'T MEAN GOOD

What you should be looking out for is construction quality and going back to points 1 and 2; do you like the way it handles? You could buy the most expensive board in the world and ride like crap on it because it's far too stiff/advanced for you.

4 - GET A BOARD THAT FITS YOU

LENGTH

The length of the board that you should buy depends on several factors: Your height, your weight and what you want to do on the board. The heavier and taller you are, the longer the board you need will have to be regardless of what you want to do on it.

This calculator is pretty good: http://www.snowboardlength.com/

It's not set in stone, you can go a couple of centimeters either side of the recommended length.

FOOT SIZE

Toe/heel overhang is B A D. You don't want to drag your nice shiny new boots in the snow every time you go on your edge do you? Many boards come in wide sizes (normally marked with a 'W', i.e. 160W). Make sure that you put your bindings on the board (at your normal riding angles) with your boots strapped in and check you don't have significant overhang. Gas pedals help a bit but really a lot more than a couple of centimeters overhang isn't a good sign.

5 - GET A BOARD THAT SUITS YOUR STYLE

There are essentially three types of board that the majority of us are interested in (there are a number of others including race/alpine boards which are for continental types who wish they were skiing and apparently for olympic events... Wink

):

Freeride (long, stiff)
Freestyle (short, flexible, often twin tip)
All mountain (middle lengths, varying stiffness)

The majority of people, if they have just one board, go for an all mountain/do everything board. It makes sense, you're not limited to the park, piste or powder. All mountain boards come in a variety of flavours depending on the stiffness, sidecut, shape and other different factors. So you also get all mountain freestyle boards and all mountain freeride boards. Confused? Trying them out will probably make it easier!

LENGTH

Short boards make it easier to turn/spin/jib.
Short boards generally make it harder to go fast/ride powder.

Long boards make it easier to go fast/ride powder.
Long boards make it harder to turn (at least when you're a beginner)/spin/jib.

STIFFNESS

Stiff boards ride better at speed, and are more suitable for powder (possibly debatable). They're also good for the heavier person because you have the weight to bend them and apply the right pressure. In addition, more advanced riders tend to find stiff boards easier to use than learners. They're less forgiving when you screw up so will buck you off more easily and you need some skillz to be able to manage them Wink

Soft boards are great for butters, freestyle (pipe boards tend to be more stiff though) and general messing around. They're more forgiving generally. They tend to get wobbly at speed though and don't carve so well.

SIDECUT RADIUS

The side of a snowboard is curved, if you imagine that curve is extended into a whole circle then the radius of that circle is the sidecut radius. Some boards have just one radius, others might use 2 or more. If you're reading this then you probably don't need to worry about it.

TWIN TIP OR NOT

In case you don't know, the majority of boards have a nose that is longer than the tail. The sidecut and profile might vary between the nose and the tail as well. This helps you to keep the nose up in powder and also to turn when you're riding in your normal direction. It tends to hinder switch riding but doesn't make it impossible.

Twin tip boards are symmetrical, the tip and tail are the same length and width. This has obvious benefits when riding switch and they are therefore ideally suited to freestyle.

To make it confusing there are also hybrids which aren't true twin tips but make it easier to ride switch. These are typically all mountain freestyle boards.

6 - BASES

Bases are generally made from p-tex (a polyethylene matrix type thing). They come in two types: Extruded and sintered.

Extruded bases are cheaper but hold less wax so are therefore slower. They're also cheaper and easier to repair.

Sintered bases are more expensive but hold loads of wax so are fast. It's more expensive and difficult to repair major damage to sintered bases though. Sintered bases come in quality grades, which is denoted by so many 1000's (an 8000 sintered base is supposedly faster than a 4000 base). They also sometimes have additives (such as gallium) which are supposed to make them even faster.

You'll only really notice the difference when you start going fast so when you're starting out there's nothing wrong with an extruded base. If you're riding a lot of rails then it's often best to go for an extruded base due to the ease of repair. Generally though, try to get a sintered base. Even some entry level boards now have them.

7 - GET A PRETTY BOARD

This may be personal preference but I hate having a fugly board. There's no reason why you shouldn't have both style and functionality!

8 - SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHOP

The people at your local shop should know their stuff, ask them their opinion and then buy a board from those lovely people! They're the soul of the industry and need your support!

So, as a summary:

- Know what length you want.
- Know what you're going to be doing on the board, if you don't know yet then chances are that you want an all mountain board.
- Try before you buy!
- If you really don't know then ask. The snowboarding community is one of the most friendly and welcoming there is, make use of our collective knowledge.

charliebuoy - Dec 20, 2007 - 02:51 AM
Post subject: RE: How To Buy a Snowboard

Any disagreements with what I've said or additions (remember we're not getting too technical) then let me know.

Branny - Dec 20, 2007 - 04:56 AM
Post subject: RE: How To Buy a Snowboard

well done charliebuoy, a hyperlink to this post will be used about a gazzillion times a week.

Maybe expand the topic and add some info on buying boots:-

Boots are for most people the most important part of their set up so again maybe the following ground rules will be useful:

1. Again Try before you buy...okay not on the slope but wear them around the shop for a reasonale period of time

2. Just because you take a size 9 in brand X, doesn't mean you'll be a size 9 in brand V

3. The fit of different brands is different and better for wide/flat/narrow feet, ask the friendly shop keeper for advice

4. If the boot has a mouldable footbed, get the shop to mould it for you.

5. don't buy boots of the internet, 9 out of 10 times they won't fit properly.

6. be honest about the type of riding you do, boots come in various flex, so if you freeride, superflexi freestyle boots aren't going to support your riding.

7. Spend as much as you can....this isn't a marketing ploy, investment in your foot comfort will prolong and enhance your snowboarding pleasure.

and finally not a rule but a question of morales and opinion...don't spend hours trying boots on in your local shop and then order them from some cr4ppy e-mail corporate whore because they're a few quid cheaper!

Tiberius - Dec 20, 2007 - 06:45 AM
Post subject: RE: How To Buy a Snowboard

Spot on, be good for a mod to make it sticky.

I have personal experience of point number 2. For my first board I bought a pro level £400 board, only to find that I didn't ride agressively enough to make any use of it, it's like riding a plank. I then invested in a £200 hatchet and love it, so my first board effectively cost me £600

charliebuoy - Dec 20, 2007 - 10:36 AM
Post subject: RE: How To Buy a Snowboard

Added a section on bases Smile

Tiberius - Dec 20, 2007 - 11:00 AM
Post subject: RE: How To Buy a Snowboard

There are now 2 section sevens. In order to please avoide alienating chinese readers it would be advisable to re-name section 4 section 5, then carry one sequecially Smile

anton1r - Dec 20, 2007 - 11:14 AM
Post subject: RE: How To Buy a Snowboard

Good stuff, id say this should get locked and stickied!

charliebuoy - Dec 20, 2007 - 11:16 AM
Post subject: Re: RE: How To Buy a Snowboard

Tiberius wrote:

There are now 2 section sevens. In order to please avoide alienating chinese readers it would be advisable to re-name section 4 section 5, then carry one sequecially Smile

Haha whoops. I've fixed it now.

charliebuoy - Dec 20, 2007 - 02:33 PM
Post subject: RE: Re: RE: How To Buy a Snowboard

Any mods want to sticky this?

Kitmatt - Dec 20, 2007 - 02:58 PM
Post subject: RE: Re: RE: How To Buy a Snowboard

Sticky it, it will save is all alot of time explaining the simple points that make sense.

Good work man, thats a really useful and infomative article and will hopefully save oodles of hard earned notes buying stuff a second time because it didn't fit/ function when bought the first time!!!!

Defo agree with Branny too, buy and use your local shops they are the people who keep us going, but don't forget your SCUK discount if its applicable!!

philw - Dec 20, 2007 - 03:07 PM
Post subject: Re: How To Buy a Snowboard

That's pretty good. Is there an FAQ here you could stick that in, or a wiki?

Some comments/ thoughts..... IMHO and all that...

Quote:

LENGTH

(1) You could add that "length" is not really something which is independent of stiffness and flex. So you could well be best suited to length "x" in one board, and length "y"in another.

(2) I weigh less and I'm shorter than most people, but I ride boards which are stiffer. The most important factor after intended use is "how hard you ride", not how long your legs are.

(3) I think "length calculators" are erroneous because they ignore the above issues. However they're only used by beginners so arguably that's ok. You should not rely on anybody's opinion here, but if you must, use the manufacturer's numbers.

In summary "length" is the wrong concept. Manufacturers do grade their boards by length, but different board sizes are not identical in all other respects than their length@ the manufacturers also tweak the construction for each length category. So length's just a tag, not a metric.
Hence you can not "know what length you want", as that's model dependent. You should instead look at the recommended weight range for the specific board you are interested in, then ride it.

Quote:

There are essentially three types of board (well four but race boards are exclusively for continental types who wish they were skiing):

There are five. You need to add the two boards I use:
(a) Race boards. I don't wish I was skiing, although I don't like being passed by skiers either. Hence I have some boards with the speed to pass all of them. They're challenging to ride, but like a race car they deliver the goods. For general piste riding including running moguls a well balanced slalom board is unbeatable.
(b) Powder boards. Powder specific designs for exclusively off-piste work. Generally crap on piste, with specific design features such as taper, stiff nose and soft tail. You'll be told that "all terrain" boards work in powder; they do work in "resort powder", which is keyed every fall by riders; back country powder isn't like that.

Quote:

Short boards make it harder to go fast/ride powder.

Except for the Fish in powder. How about saying "in general..." ?

I think the problem here is "length" again. Did someone say it's not about length?

Quote:

Long boards make it harder to turn (at least when you're a beginner)

The qualification is very important, but I think the message is a bit misleading. How about "it's easier to learn on a short board" or something like that. A bit like learning to surf on a big old board only the other way around.

Quote:

Stiff boards ride better at speed, and are more suitable for powder (possibly debatable). They're also good for the heavier person because you have the weight to bend them and apply the right pressure. More advanced riders tend to find stiff boards easier to use than learners. They're less forgiving when you screw up so will buck you off more easily.

Sort of. The thing is that you want a board which is *balanced* for your weight and riding style. Length is really irrelevant - I use boards from 156 through 184; it's the way the board matches your style which is important. Beginner boards are just noodles, so they have no "kick back" when you try to turn them. A GS board is hard to ride at slow speeds as you need the G forces of high speed to get the camber working.

Quote:

8 - SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHOP

I'd disagree there - I can't afford to pay uk prices, and in any case they generally only stock novice boards here; in general you can't ride them before you buy; you can't bring 'em back if they're not right; and your server may have never ridden the board you're buying.

charliebuoy - Dec 20, 2007 - 03:29 PM
Post subject: RE: Re: How To Buy a Snowboard

Gaahhhh ok. I'd disagree with you on a couple of points but I'll make a few amendments when I've got time.

Branny - Dec 20, 2007 - 03:55 PM
Post subject: Re: How To Buy a Snowboard

Quote:

8 - SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHOP

sorry, thats a crock of sh1t, you're obviously shopping in the wrong places, all the domes have test facilities, swad, warmwell & Halifax all have local shops that can arrange testing/have test specific nights

and the majority of good INDEPENDANTS stock boards for all abilities.

Don't want to get into it again but support your local indy, they are the backbone of the UK scene, without them no products, comps, magazines, dryslopes....ie no fun Sad

ace_mcgraw - Dec 20, 2007 - 03:56 PM
Post subject: RE: Re: How To Buy a Snowboard

Quote:

quick, easy and fairly basic guide please!

i think to be fair if you carry on amending it accoprding to philw's list, it prob will cease to be any of these! Good effort first time round as far as I'm concerned!

Quote:

Therefore, how exactly would you suggest getting boards then? Seems not too many places would fit those criteria?? Certainly the places where I shop (eg Revolutionz in Norwich most of the time) have ridden the vast mnajority of the boards - certainly more chance of getting good advice than via t'interweb

charliebuoy - Dec 29, 2007 - 10:05 PM
Post subject: RE: Re: How To Buy a Snowboard

Yeah, I think philw's points are all over complications of the basic message. I'll leave it.

Sidget_Ex - Jan 22, 2008 - 06:52 PM
Post subject: RE: Re: How To Buy a Snowboard

Dunno if its been said...But would like to add

If you go to your local shop for advice, find a board thats right for you and then buy it on the net from a site thats a few quid cheaper - Shame shame

charliebuoy - Feb 08, 2008 - 12:03 PM
Post subject: RE: Re: How To Buy a Snowboard

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO That's so wrong Rolling Eyes

JonnyGRanger - Feb 22, 2008 - 01:58 AM
Post subject: RE: Re: How To Buy a Snowboard

I'll be buying my board from TSA at Cas.
My bindings too.
All mountain board for less than £250 and bindings for less than £150.

jimcarter - Mar 10, 2008 - 05:36 PM
Post subject: RE: Re: How To Buy a Snowboard

Thanks i've taken this onboard for when i make my first purchase Smile

dunx - Mar 10, 2008 - 06:07 PM
Post subject: RE: Re: How To Buy a Snowboard

Sorry, I hadn't spotted this. We do have a FAQ section already, so might simply add most of Charlie's good work to that.

PiefaceUK - Aug 13, 2008 - 12:12 AM
Post subject: RE: Re: How To Buy a Snowboard

Height: 178 cm
Weight: 62 kg
Prefered snowboarding style: Freestyle
Your snowboarding skill level: Intermediate
Our recomended snowboard length: 152 cm

Im just wondering is that right for a freestyle board? For that Height and Weight, I went for intermediate because I don't want to buy a novice board then quickly have to buy another, or should I just go for expert sizing straight away?

Sidget_Ex - Aug 13, 2008 - 02:17 AM
Post subject: RE: Re: How To Buy a Snowboard

From the link on the mainpage

Our recomended snowboard length: 146 cm

I ride a 146 ^^ Oh yes for good board choice =P

Branny - Aug 13, 2008 - 05:49 AM
Post subject: RE: Re: How To Buy a Snowboard

2 seasons posted this the other day and it's a good one

http://www.snowboardlengthcalculator.com/