Stance settings? type of riding

So, just curious how everyone rides here (i.e. stance setting) and
experience level. Been boarding for about 10 years, love the powder and
trees, do some some tricks, and jump natural terrain features, not big in
the park area (I'm older and like to ride more then play in the park)

I ride a Never Summer 162 (I'm 6'3) and have the front binding at about 17
deg. and the rear at about 0.

My younger brother who shreds, rides what I call Duck style front at 18 and
rear at -15 and I can't understand how or why the hell he does this? He
does spend some time in the park.

So what stance do you ride at and why? Thanks.

So what stance do you ride at and why? Thanks.

I'm sitting here jonesing for snow and procrastinating, so here goes...

As has been noted many times before on this newsgroup there's a lot more
to stance than just your binding angles - stance width (distance between
centers of binding disks) and setback from center.

Most people can increase the difference between the binding angles
(spread) if they also increase the stance width. More setback from
center increases the ability to float in powder while decreasing the
ability to carve effectively.

So here's my settings.

I'm 5-10", 190 pounds.

Soft boots -
24/15, 19.5", neutral setback. I find this stance works well for
general freeriding, including carving, powder, steeps, and jumps. The
angles are forward enough so I can effectively drive heelside carves
with my hips, but not so far forward that I push against the stop spot
in my boots on toesides. The narrowish stance width is effective in
decambering the board fully while carving, and the difference between
the angles is what's comfortable for me at that stance width. A
neutral setback generally helps you make complete carves, and I
personally don't have problems staying afloat in powder so I don't set
it back in powder. On some boards I've had to do that - my Donek Wide
161 is a bit wider than what most people would consider my "ideal" board
and it is a huge benefit in powder. Since it's quite stiff crosswise,
it still carves very well.

On those rare days when I hang out in the pipe I go to 15/6, but keep
everything else the same. I might go wider next time I'm in the pipe
and also spread the feet a bit more - maybe 21", 18/3?

Hard boots -
I keep the 19.5" stance width and neutral setback. I uses either 57/54
or 54/48 depending on whether I'm ride a really narrow freecarve or race
board or a moderately narrow all-mountain board. I won;t go into
details on that since I'm relatively sure you were more interested in my
softie stance.

I've been riding since 1996 and have somewhere between 300 and 400 days
under my belt.

Mike T

I usually alternate my stance depending wether I'm on the slope or the park.

For the slope I'll go 18/0 on a fairly stiff 165 board.

For the park I'll go duck 15/15 on a short 150.

Buddy of mine has his almost forward for both feet, something like 30/30 - I
don't know how he gets enough flex for carving but he does just fine. Of
course he cant ride switch to save his life - but he is strickly slope and
trail. I think this year he was going to make the switch to hard boots and a
carving board.

That reminds me - I'll have to dig out the gear and tune/wax em up in a few
weeks.
Hopefully we'll have some good snow within a months time (Southern Ontario)


"jaycb74" wrote in message
news:1068577223.77019@sj-nntpcache-5...
So, just curious how everyone rides here (i.e. stance setting) and
experience level. Been boarding for about 10 years, love the powder and
trees, do some some tricks, and jump natural terrain features, not big in
the park area (I'm older and like to ride more then play in the park)

I ride a Never Summer 162 (I'm 6'3) and have the front binding at about 17
deg. and the rear at about 0.

My younger brother who shreds, rides what I call Duck style front at 18
and
rear at -15 and I can't understand how or why the hell he does this? He
does spend some time in the park.

So what stance do you ride at and why? Thanks.

OK, you obviously know this stuff...what width would you recommend for
somebody my size? 6'3, 225 pounds, very athletic and can pretty much ride
anything but getting older now and just enjoy the powder days, sunny carving
days and hitting natural terrain features. I surf and skateboard so those
styles really come into play for me when riding.

I'm at a 19.5 width right now. What do I gain by increasing the width?

Also, I usually ride with a neutral setback unless Tahoe has been getting
dumped on for a few days.

Thanks!


"Mike T" wrote in message
news
So what stance do you ride at and why? Thanks.

I'm sitting here jonesing for snow and procrastinating, so here goes...

As has been noted many times before on this newsgroup there's a lot more
to stance than just your binding angles - stance width (distance between
centers of binding disks) and setback from center.

Most people can increase the difference between the binding angles
(spread) if they also increase the stance width. More setback from
center increases the ability to float in powder while decreasing the
ability to carve effectively.

So here's my settings.

I'm 5-10", 190 pounds.

Soft boots -
24/15, 19.5", neutral setback. I find this stance works well for
general freeriding, including carving, powder, steeps, and jumps. The
angles are forward enough so I can effectively drive heelside carves
with my hips, but not so far forward that I push against the stop spot
in my boots on toesides. The narrowish stance width is effective in
decambering the board fully while carving, and the difference between
the angles is what's comfortable for me at that stance width. A
neutral setback generally helps you make complete carves, and I
personally don't have problems staying afloat in powder so I don't set
it back in powder. On some boards I've had to do that - my Donek Wide
161 is a bit wider than what most people would consider my "ideal" board
and it is a huge benefit in powder. Since it's quite stiff crosswise,
it still carves very well.

On those rare days when I hang out in the pipe I go to 15/6, but keep
everything else the same. I might go wider next time I'm in the pipe
and also spread the feet a bit more - maybe 21", 18/3?

Hard boots -
I keep the 19.5" stance width and neutral setback. I uses either 57/54
or 54/48 depending on whether I'm ride a really narrow freecarve or race
board or a moderately narrow all-mountain board. I won;t go into
details on that since I'm relatively sure you were more interested in my
softie stance.

I've been riding since 1996 and have somewhere between 300 and 400 days
under my belt.

Mike T

hi,

not an answer but a question along similar line. hope you don't mind.

i've been boarding with stance angles around 16/3 and was doing ok, getting
my carves going in the ways generally described here - driving with hips,
tucking back knee in for heelside & opening up with toeside. basically
angling the upper half of my body fowards.

i then had a lesson in france for an afternoon, and the guy set mr up duck
stance 13/-3 and encouraged me to have my shoulders in line with the board.
he wanted me to carve purely by weighting the rails through getting really
low but keeping an upright body.

it certainly seemed effective, but felt like a less flexible set up for
general manouvering at slower speeds, trees etc ...

i guess its two different setups and resultant differences in carving
styles. probably impossible to say which is best, but what are the merits
of each style? i don;t know which path to take .....

i only snowboard 1 or 2 weeks a year (for about 6 six years) on powder,
trees, piste and occasional foray through the jumps.

thanks,

C.





"Baretta" wrote in message
le.rogers.com...
I usually alternate my stance depending wether I'm on the slope or the
park.

For the slope I'll go 18/0 on a fairly stiff 165 board.

For the park I'll go duck 15/15 on a short 150.

Buddy of mine has his almost forward for both feet, something like 30/30 -
I
don't know how he gets enough flex for carving but he does just fine. Of
course he cant ride switch to save his life - but he is strickly slope and
trail. I think this year he was going to make the switch to hard boots and
a
carving board.

That reminds me - I'll have to dig out the gear and tune/wax em up in a
few
weeks.
Hopefully we'll have some good snow within a months time (Southern
Ontario)


"jaycb74" wrote in message
news:1068577223.77019@sj-nntpcache-5...
So, just curious how everyone rides here (i.e. stance setting) and
experience level. Been boarding for about 10 years, love the powder and
trees, do some some tricks, and jump natural terrain features, not big
in
the park area (I'm older and like to ride more then play in the park)

I ride a Never Summer 162 (I'm 6'3) and have the front binding at about
17
deg. and the rear at about 0.

My younger brother who shreds, rides what I call Duck style front at 18
and
rear at -15 and I can't understand how or why the hell he does this? He
does spend some time in the park.

So what stance do you ride at and why? Thanks.

On Tue, 11 Nov 2003 19:01:28 GMT, "jaycb74"
allegedly wrote:

So what stance do you ride at and why? Thanks.

On my last day of the season in April, I changed my angles from 24/9 to
24/-6, because I want to increase the difference between my feet, but find
it hard when my front foot goes over 24. The change wasn't dramatic, but
I did have more control.

Duck stance isn't wrong per se, as long as the angle difference between
the feet is comfortable for you.

This season I'll start where I left off, but will tinker with increasing
and decreasing both feet by the same amount.

- Dave.

--
The only powder to get high on, falls from the sky.
http://www.vpas.org/ - Snowboarding the worlds pow pow -
Securing your e-mail

The Snowboard FAQ lives here - http://rssFAQ.org/

On Wed, 12 Nov 2003 10:08:01 GMT, "copek"
allegedly wrote:

i then had a lesson in france for an afternoon, and the guy set mr up
duck stance 13/-3 and encouraged me to have my shoulders in line with
the board. he wanted me to carve purely by weighting the rails through
getting really low but keeping an upright body.

it certainly seemed effective, but felt like a less flexible set up
for general manouvering at slower speeds, trees etc ...

That's because when you're moving at slower speed you're not using the
rails of the board to dictate your direction in the same way that you are
at higher speeds.

Weighting the rails, for initiating the turn and pressuring through the
turn works well.

As you've found at lower speeds, you need to apply a different technique
almost applying that most evil of sins, counter-rotation.

- Dave.

--
The only powder to get high on, falls from the sky.
http://www.vpas.org/ - Snowboarding the worlds pow pow -
Securing your e-mail

The Snowboard FAQ lives here - http://rssFAQ.org/

"copek" wrote

i've been boarding with stance angles around 16/3 and was doing ok [snip]

i then had a lesson in france for an afternoon, and the guy set mr up duck
stance 13/-3 and encouraged me to have my shoulders in line with the board.
[snip]

I think your French instructor was wrong. If you're interested in
carving and general purpose riding, you should be looking at more
stance angle, not less. Try running your front foot at 35 or so and
your back foot at whatever's comfortable (for me that would be 30).
When your angles are higher, that lets you get your weight more over
your edge on heelsides, as opposed to the sitting on the toilet stance
that most softie riders have. You'll be able to get lower without
losing your edge. With a duck stance, getting low just hangs your ass
off the side and moves your CG way away from the edge.

Neil

I'm at a 19.5 width right now. What do I gain by increasing the
width?

My best recommendation is to experiment on your own. You're taller than
me so your 19.5" is definitely narrower than most but it might be ideal
for you personally. It all comes down to what's most comfortable and
what works best for your technique. I went through a lot of stances
when I was on the steep part of the learning curve and didn't settle
into a given stance until I had 200+ days on a snowboard.

I find that if I go with a wider stance I increase the stability of my
"landing gear" (landing jumps, halfpipe, rails) and also it becomes
easier to skid turns (tight icy moguls) and switch riding becomes
easier. On the other hand I find it harder to make nice arced, carved
turns (more effort to decamber the board) and I get tired faster.

Mike T

Hard boots -
I keep the 19.5" stance width and neutral setback. I uses either 57/54
or 54/48 depending on whether I'm ride a really narrow freecarve or race
board or a moderately narrow all-mountain board. I won;t go into
details on that since I'm relatively sure you were more interested in my
softie stance.

Actually, I'm interested in how those stances compare. I'm sure at sun
peaks they'll put me on a skinny stick, so I'll likely be around the
60/60. But so far I've been assuming that when I want to freeride in
hardboots, I'll want to go to something around 53/45.