Nidecker Boards

Hi there,

I am looking for a 2006 Nidecker Blade board. What are your
suggestions? Should I buy it? Is Nidecker a good brand? I am a
beginner-intermediate boarder. An universal/freeride board would be
fine for me I guess.

Would you prefer a Venue board instead? or another one?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

Gman

wrote:
Hi there,

I am looking for a 2006 Nidecker Blade board. What are your
suggestions? Should I buy it? Is Nidecker a good brand? I am a
beginner-intermediate boarder. An universal/freeride board would be
fine for me I guess.

Would you prefer a Venue board instead? or another one?

I like Nidecker as a brand (have ridden a board and own two sets of
their bindings). I'm not very familiar with the Blade board, but
looking at it's description from the website it is designed to be a
all-around freeride board for beginner-intermediates.

However, it is a little bit narrower than most freeride boards. How
much do you weight and what is your foot size. The 153 is rated up to
143 lbs maximum and has a 242mm waist, meaning your feet should be
more than a size 8. The 158 cm length is good for 155-195 lbs, but if
you feet are bigger than size 9, you'll need to get the wide (158xl)
version.

lonerider wrote:
wrote:
Hi there,

I am looking for a 2006 Nidecker Blade board. What are your
suggestions? Should I buy it? Is Nidecker a good brand? I am a
beginner-intermediate boarder. An universal/freeride board would be
fine for me I guess.

Would you prefer a Venue board instead? or another one?

I like Nidecker as a brand (have ridden a board and own two sets of
their bindings). I'm not very familiar with the Blade board, but
looking at it's description from the website it is designed to be a
all-around freeride board for beginner-intermediates.

However, it is a little bit narrower than most freeride boards. How
much do you weight and what is your foot size. The 153 is rated up to
143 lbs maximum and has a 242mm waist, meaning your feet should be
more than a size 8. The 158 cm length is good for 155-195 lbs, but if
you feet are bigger than size 9, you'll need to get the wide (158xl)
version.



I am 176 lbs and in I think the shoes that I tried in the store was 9.
I generally wear 9-1/2 for regular street shoes. There would be any
disadvantages of getting a wide board? What waist size is ok for 9-1/2?

wrote:
lonerider wrote:
wrote:
Hi there,

I am looking for a 2006 Nidecker Blade board. What are your
suggestions? Should I buy it? Is Nidecker a good brand? I am a
beginner-intermediate boarder. An universal/freeride board would be
fine for me I guess.

Would you prefer a Venue board instead? or another one?

I like Nidecker as a brand (have ridden a board and own two sets of
their bindings). I'm not very familiar with the Blade board, but
looking at it's description from the website it is designed to be a
all-around freeride board for beginner-intermediates.

However, it is a little bit narrower than most freeride boards. How
much do you weight and what is your foot size. The 153 is rated up to
143 lbs maximum and has a 242mm waist, meaning your feet should be
more than a size 8. The 158 cm length is good for 155-195 lbs, but if
you feet are bigger than size 9, you'll need to get the wide (158xl)
version.



I am 176 lbs and in I think the shoes that I tried in the store was 9.
I generally wear 9-1/2 for regular street shoes. There would be any
disadvantages of getting a wide board? What waist size is ok for 9-1/2?


By the way, which Nidecker board you have ridden? The guy at the store
also showed me a 2006 Score.

wrote:

I like Nidecker as a brand I'm not very familiar with the Blade board, but
looking at it's description from the website it is designed to be a
all-around freeride board for beginner-intermediates.

However, it is a little bit narrower than most freeride boards. How
much do you weight and what is your foot size. The 153 is rated up to
143 lbs maximum and has a 242mm waist, meaning your feet should be
more than a size 8. The 158 cm length is good for 155-195 lbs, but if
you feet are bigger than size 9, you'll need to get the wide (158xl)
version.

I am 176 lbs and in I think the shoes that I tried in the store was 9.
I generally wear 9-1/2 for regular street shoes. There would be any
disadvantages of getting a wide board? What waist size is ok for 9-1/2?

I've ridden the Nidecker Megalight (great freeride/powder board) and
have Nidecker 800 Pro. The Score is a freestyle board and I wouldn't
get it for your ability/riding preferences.

If you get too narrow a board and get the board high on edge you can
get boot drag, which is not fun at all (basically you will lose your
edge and slide out). The main drawback of getting a board that is too
wide for you (it might be great for someone else) is that it will be
hard to get proper leverage to get the board up on edge and turn it, it
is also a tiny bit slower switching from edge to edge and maybe has a
little less torsional rigidity, but those are secondary issues.

In general you want the board wide enough such that when your are
strapped into your bindings, you toes/heel stick out about a half inch
over the edges on both sides. So just put the board gently on the store
floor and step on it to see how far your feet overhang. Boot drag is
more of an issue in soft snow conditions where the board sinks more.
See if the 158, 158xl, or 163 work out for you - take what ever the
shop guy says with a grain of salt, of course that technically applies
to my comments as well.

wrote:

disadvantages of getting a wide board? What waist size is ok for 9-1/2?

That depends (stop me if you've heard this before) on your stance. At 90
degrees to the board edge, a 300 mm boot sole is going to need nearly a
300 mm width. At 45 degrees, 210 mm will work, pretending you have a
two-dimensional boot. Keep in mind that the dimensions are usually given
as tip (or the fattest part near the tip), waist, and tail (or fattest part).
The bindings won't be at any of these points, so you need to do some
extrapolation. Standing on the board is much easier.

lonerider wrote:

In general you want the board wide enough such that when your are
strapped into your bindings, you toes/heel stick out about a half inch
over the edges on both sides. So just put the board gently on the store
floor and step on it to see how far your feet overhang. Boot drag is
more of an issue in soft snow conditions where the board sinks more.
See if the 158, 158xl, or 163 work out for you - take what ever the
shop guy says with a grain of salt, of course that technically applies
to my comments as well.

That's an interesting assertion. I would have said that drag is more of an
issue in hard conditions, where you really are only contacting the snow on
that edge. Imagine replacing the board edge with your boot, and watch what
happens to the carving capability of the board.

In softer snow with the board sinking in, the base comes into play
more for steeply banked turns, and a toe or heel making ground contact isn't
going to lever the edge off the snow.

None of that should be read to discredit the fitting advice.

Jeremy wrote:
wrote:

disadvantages of getting a wide board? What waist size is ok for 9-1/2?

That depends (stop me if you've heard this before) on your stance. At 90
degrees to the board edge, a 300 mm boot sole is going to need nearly a
300 mm width. At 45 degrees, 210 mm will work, pretending you have a
two-dimensional boot. Keep in mind that the dimensions are usually given
as tip (or the fattest part near the tip), waist, and tail (or fattest part).

Good point

The bindings won't be at any of these points, so you need to do some
extrapolation. Standing on the board is much easier.

lonerider wrote:
Boot drag is
more of an issue in soft snow conditions where the board sinks more.
See if the 158, 158xl, or 163 work out for you - take what ever the
shop guy says with a grain of salt, of course that technically applies
to my comments as well.

That's an interesting assertion. I would have said that drag is more of an
issue in hard conditions, where you really are only contacting the snow on
that edge. Imagine replacing the board edge with your boot, and watch what
happens to the carving capability of the board.

In softer snow with the board sinking in, the base comes into play
more for steeply banked turns, and a toe or heel making ground contact isn't
going to lever the edge off the snow.

None of that should be read to discredit the fitting advice.

You are right, for powder it isn't an issue as the base comes more into
play where as for firm snow if you boot touches the snow you will lose
edge pressures as you toe is levering your weight off the board. I
meant in kind of a heavy crust/slush/crud ontop of hardpack, I noticed
that my toes/heels would drag hard at higher speeds as it burrows
through the snow and while I didn't get levered off my edge, I did
literally feel the "drag" slowing me down really quickly.

The odds of a 9 or 9 1/2 boot hitting the snow are extremely thin.
Unless you're using something shorter than a 150cm and/or race deck -
neither of which is your desire. I have some leftover Venue Pulse's
(155 & 158) selling for $299 here at the shop. Great board.
Nidecker makes a fine product, too.

56fish wrote:
The odds of a 9 or 9 1/2 boot hitting the snow are extremely thin.
Unless you're using something shorter than a 150cm and/or race deck -
neither of which is your desire. I have some leftover Venue Pulse's
(155 & 158) selling for $299 here at the shop. Great board.
Nidecker makes a fine product, too.


And, using too wide a board will not allow you to pressure the edges to
carve and, link turns - stunting your progression as a freerider!

Thanks a lot everyone for your help.

I think I am not gonna get that Nidecker Blade, I could go for a Venue
board since I will travel to Italy in a week, it could be cheaper over
there. I was already getting Northwave shoes and Drake bindings. So it
could be cheaper as a set I guess.