How to tell Freeride or Freestyle?
 

If you have two same length boards, can you pick a freeride board or
freestyle? What makes them different physically?

How to tell Freeride or Freestyle?
 

There are a number of characteristics that can define the difference, but
the lines are frequently blurred. The typical freestyle board is a twin tip
(equal width tip and tail, hole pattern centered on the board, and tip and
tail rises are the same). These boards also typically have a softer flex
pattern. Freeride boards are typically directional in nature. This can
encompass a lot of things but not always all of them. They include: lower
tail than shovel, stiffer tail than shovel, narrower tail than shovel,
binding inserts closer to tail.

All of these different characteristics contribute to different performance
properties. Some people like a stiffer tail in the park to facilitate
landings and ollies. Others prefer a twin for doing rail tricks. Many
people have a great time on a directional freeride board in the park or
pipe. It really depends on the board you select, your weight, your height,
and your application.

--
Sean Martin
Donek Snowboards Inc.

http://www.donek.com/
phone:877-53-DONEK


"mike kim" wrote in message
om...
If you have two same length boards, can you pick a freeride board or
freestyle? What makes them different physically?

How to tell Freeride or Freestyle?
 

There are a number of characteristics that can define the difference,
but
the lines are frequently blurred.

Sean, I'm surprised you didn't mention sidecut! Again, not a hard and
fast rule, but freestyle boards often have a tighter sidecut than their
freeride brethren. (Sidecuts are usually expressed as a radius -
smaller number = tighter sidecut). The tighter sidecut allows one to
make tighter *carved* turns... which is helpful for getting more hits
in the halfpipe. Freeride boards with mellower (larger radius)
sidecuts are better at making larger, faster carved turns... this tends
to increase stability at speed. Suppose you have two boards of length
X. The board with the tighter sidecut will "feel shorter" in a sense
since it makes tight turns with less effort. The lines here are
frequently blurred as well... look at Burton's specs... their sidecuts
are all in a very small range. In fact I personally think they are
making a mistake by not offering anything with a mellow, surfy sidecut
this year!

How to tell Freeride or Freestyle?
 

"Mike T" wrote in message ...
There are a number of characteristics that can define the difference,
but
the lines are frequently blurred.

Sean, I'm surprised you didn't mention sidecut! Again, not a hard and
fast rule, but freestyle boards often have a tighter sidecut than their
freeride brethren. (Sidecuts are usually expressed as a radius -
smaller number = tighter sidecut). The tighter sidecut allows one to
make tighter *carved* turns... which is helpful for getting more hits
in the halfpipe. Freeride boards with mellower (larger radius)
sidecuts are better at making larger, faster carved turns... this tends
to increase stability at speed. Suppose you have two boards of length
X. The board with the tighter sidecut will "feel shorter" in a sense
since it makes tight turns with less effort. The lines here are
frequently blurred as well... look at Burton's specs... their sidecuts
are all in a very small range. In fact I personally think they are
making a mistake by not offering anything with a mellow, surfy sidecut
this year!

I agree about the sidecut in general, but I've noticed that many
freestyle boards (with Burton being a noticeable exception) have been
getting longer sidecuts recently, almost the same sidecuts as freeride
boards. You remember that my park/pipe *only* Neversummer Evo has a
sidecut of 800cm, where as my big mountain Salomon Definition had
811cm sidecut. My new Donek Incline has a 838cm sidecut, but the
sidecut is parabolic cut which is not as "deep" so I'm not sure if it
really is that much longer. Do most company have circular sidecuts?

The difference in flex is very noticeable. Freestyle boards tend to be
flex between the bindings so you can bend it easily for quick tight
carves. The drawback is you lose stability at high speeds. Twin tip
freestyle tend to have equally stiff noses and tails (which is the
same thing Sean said about freeride boards in reverse) so you can
ollie off the "tail" if you are riding switch. The drawback is that
the board is very sensitive to cruddy snow, whereas a board with a
softer nose will absorb the shocks of bouncing through choppy snow.

I'm not sure if Burton is making a marketing mistake (I did notice
that ALL they boards have short sidecuts). They have extremely brand
name recognition and so get immediate customer trust... so when they
say that they intentionally have short sidecuts for more responsive
riding customers will take their word for it and initially they will
notice that quicker turns and response (especially since most can't go
fast enough to want a longer sidecut). They are diffentiating
themselves from the rest of the market, and when you are already #1,
that's a good thing. And when you think about it... anyone who is like
"hey I want a bigger sidecut" is already probably someone who doesn't
want to buy a Burton board anyway.