finally tried forward angles, but need some help...

When I learned to snowboard I started out at 15,0. At the end of my
first season I tried 21,6 but couldn't do anything with it so I went
back to 15,0. About half way through last season I tried 15,-6 and it
just seemed like the board suddenly had power steering. At the start of
this season I tried some higher forward angles and really liked them.
So far I've tried 30,21 and 39,30. I felt more comfortable, my heel
side turns became easier, and suddenly it was easier to link a couple
carves together. It was also easier to jump with it. Here's the issue,
I didn't feel too much difference between the two sets of forward
angles I've tried, and feel that I could set my binding to almost
anything and ride it. I think that's getting in the way of finding
something that really suits me and my riding. I'm hoping that someone
could:

1. Recommend a good set of base angles for the riding I do that I can
build from. I'd hope to eliminate a lot of trial and error since
messing with my bindings cuts down on my riding time.

2. Explain what I'd gain by increasing or lowering my angles and what
I'd lose.

I mostly ride crud with groomers where available and powder on the rare
days that I can. I stay out of the park, but am trying more of the
jumps I can find on the trail. I love glades, but I'm not very
comfortable in them yet. I aspire to skid as few turns as possible on
every run. I ride a stiff soft boot setup with Malamutes and Ride SPIs
or Tomcats.

I'd go back and try 21/6 again. I exclusively frreeride and use 25/10
+-3

Sounds to me like you need two sets of binding settings. One for
freeride and one for freestyle.

A forward stance makes heelside turns a bit tougher and not as precise.

A forward stance makes heelside turns a bit tougher and not as precise.

Interesting, I find the exact opposite!



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I'm with BM and MikeT.....
Forward angles make for nice carving, and suck at landing the big
jumps, but surprisingly for me at least, not bad to ride backwards!
I'm an old fart at 56, freeriding most important, next is Pipe (I'm a
surfer). Gotta be able to ride out switch and take off as well as
frontside, so 27 and + 3 for me, wide stanced at 21", more toe than
binding overlap....

I don't ride freestyle and I've found forward stance helped my heelside
quite a bit.

Generally what do you lose when you rotate your bindings forward? I
don't want to do anything that might negatively impact me in the trees.
I'd really rather not hit one.

wrote:

Generally what do you lose when you rotate your bindings forward?

Some ability to ride and land switch. It's less comfortable to sit in
the snow. If you go much past 40 degrees in soft boots, pressuring the
heel edge gets tough. If you're wanting to go that steep, you should
consider hard boots anyways.

I don't want to do anything that might negatively impact me in the trees.
I'd really rather not hit one.

Well, how do you feel about it? Do you feel better or worse able to
make a sudden edge change or stop?

Neil

Neil Gendzwill wrote:
I don't want to do anything that might negatively impact me in the trees.
I'd really rather not hit one.

Well, how do you feel about it? Do you feel better or worse able to
make a sudden edge change or stop?

Neil

I'd definitely feel better being able to do that. So...higher angles ok
for trees?

I'd definitely feel better being able to do that. So...higher angles ok
for trees?

If that's where you're most comfortable than absolutely! For tree riding
you should simply set your equipment up so that you have as much control as
possible without having to think about it... in other words, whatever comes
natural. For me that's 24/15 in softies and mid-50's on plates. (I take
my Donek Axis 172 w/ plates through the trees all the time - it does fine).
Go with what works. Your mind will be on choosing a line through the
trees, your riding needs to be pretty much automatic.



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wrote:
Neil Gendzwill wrote:

I don't want to do anything that might negatively impact me in the trees.
I'd really rather not hit one.

Well, how do you feel about it? Do you feel better or worse able to
make a sudden edge change or stop?

I'd definitely feel better being able to do that. So...higher angles ok
for trees?

Well, I was asking you if you felt better at high angles as opposed to
low. If you don't know, I think the answer is for you to try them on
some open slopes, preferably with powder, to see how well you can make
quick turns.

Personally, I think they're just fine and I ride my setup in bumps,
trees, steeps, wherever. But my preference for high angles and hard
boots has been stated before and stance angles are fairly personal.
Curiously enough, among the hard boot crowd I like kind of low angles -
they're mostly in the 50s and 60s and I ride around 45 on my alpine
board and 35 on my freeride board.

Neil

Neil Gendzwill wrote:
wrote:

Generally what do you lose when you rotate your bindings forward?

Some ability to ride and land switch. It's less comfortable to sit in
the snow. If you go much past 40 degrees in soft boots, pressuring the
heel edge gets tough. If you're wanting to go that steep, you should
consider hard boots anyways.

Anything else? I've heard people say it's harder to do a
counter-rotating panic turn/stop when you're angles starting getting
higher. Any truth to that rumor?

I apologize if I'm beating this to death. I just really like having a
good grasp of whats going on...