Recently I got to ride a board that was 1.5 cm narrower in the waist
than my usual board (this is on softboots) and it felt dramaticly
quicker edge to edge. Since then, I've started to think that "edge
quickness" has more to do with how much overhang or underhange you
have, not the actual width. More clearly: I suspect thata a 21.5 cm
freecarve board with a stance that had 0 overhang would feel basicly
as fast as a 19 cm race/freecarve board that also had a stance of 0
overhang.

Mike: you're probibly the only person I know that rides a few
different stances and widths... what do you think?

I think it's a little more complicated than that unfortunately.

First of all there are factors other than waist width and overhang,
underhang or lack thereof. Torsional stiffness is a big factor. A board
that is more torsionally stiff will change edges faster than one that is
less torsionally stiff.

Also keep in mind that going from, using Jason's example, 21.5 cm to 19 cm,
keeping your boots flush with the edges requires a pretty radical change in
stance. Most of us won't be able to ride equally well in both stances.
When I'm on my Axis (21.5 cm) I ride with probably 5 - 10 mm of underhang,
because the loss in edge change speed (which is noticeable BTW) is more than
made up for in comfort and the ability to apply my "normal" alpine technique
at the higher angles. (Although Jason would probably say that I still look
a lot better on my Coiler at even higher stance angles.)

So that's about all I can say from personal experience... I suspect the more
advanced folks over at Bomber would be able to pick this argument apart and
get to the bottom of it.

FWIW, I can say that a Donek FC 163 at 18 cm waist changes edges noticeably
faster than a Coiler PR 184 at 18.5 cm. Much more than one would expect
given the tiny 5mm difference in waist width. The Donek is noticeably
torsionally stiffer.

Edge change speed isn't the end all, be all of alpine riding though... it's
only one part.

On that Donek I found that edge changes happened without thinking about it,
but holding the edge through the turn took some focus.

On the Coiler edge changes take a little focus, but holding the edge through
the turn just happens.

I don't know how much of that is due to who made the boards and how much is
due to them being different lengths and sidecut though - hopefully I'll try
other peoples' boards and find out some day!

Mike T