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#11
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James;
I've got 2 seasons under my belt and I went through all of the same issues you are going through when I purchased my board. I'm almost the same size as you are (6'2, 210lbs, 10 1/2 US shoe size). I researched for weeks and agonized over what board to choose.I ended up with a 162 Burton Custom. Where you are in your progession right now, either board will probably work fine for you. As a lot of people have pointed out, 160 is at the low end for your size so switching to the 163 might not be a bad idea. I'm in agreement that "wide" boards are not a great choice. A couple of friends have them and do not like them. The overhang issue can be addressed by changing the angle of your stance if you stay with the 160. I'm not familiar with adding risers to Flows, so I won't comment on that option. It's funny, I spent so much time focusing on the length of my board when I was starting out and now I find that I hardly ever think about it. The only time I notice it is when I'm trying to go faster and the board starts to chatter a bit on some turns. A longer board would probably be smoother for me at higher speed. The things I focus on now are boot fit and stance angle. I've found that dialing in the fit of my boots to have a much greater impact on my performance and comfort than the board ever could. I've taken my boots to a professional boot fitter to decrease my heel lift and it's made a world of difference. I highly recommend this. I switched to Flows this season, and I LOVE them. I know a lot of people bag on them, but the comfort and convienence is awesome and I've seen no decrease in response since switching. I've even learned to slip into the rear foot wrap just prior to getting off of the lift. This allows for much better control when exiting the lift, something that I had real trouble with when just trying to use the stomp pad. One additional plus of the Flows is that you can put your foot in the rear wrap while riding the lift (if the chair isn't full), this helps relieve the weight on the front foot from carrying the board on the lift. In the end, you will probably be happy with either choice and probably upgrade in a couple of years either way. Focus on your technique, start to carve instead of slide, and challenge yourself everytime you go out. Everything else will take care of itself. Cheers, Mark |
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#12
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Cheers Mark, thanks for the advice
"Spark" wrote in message James; I've got 2 seasons under my belt and I went through all of the same issues you are going through when I purchased my board. I'm almost the same size as you are (6'2, 210lbs, 10 1/2 US shoe size). I researched for weeks and agonized over what board to choose.I ended up with a 162 Burton Custom. Where you are in your progession right now, either board will probably work fine for you. As a lot of people have pointed out, 160 is at the low end for your size so switching to the 163 might not be a bad idea. I'm in agreement that "wide" boards are not a great choice. A couple of friends have them and do not like them. The overhang issue can be addressed by changing the angle of your stance if you stay with the 160. I'm not familiar with adding risers to Flows, so I won't comment on that option. It's funny, I spent so much time focusing on the length of my board when I was starting out and now I find that I hardly ever think about it. The only time I notice it is when I'm trying to go faster and the board starts to chatter a bit on some turns. A longer board would probably be smoother for me at higher speed. The things I focus on now are boot fit and stance angle. I've found that dialing in the fit of my boots to have a much greater impact on my performance and comfort than the board ever could. I've taken my boots to a professional boot fitter to decrease my heel lift and it's made a world of difference. I highly recommend this. I switched to Flows this season, and I LOVE them. I know a lot of people bag on them, but the comfort and convienence is awesome and I've seen no decrease in response since switching. I've even learned to slip into the rear foot wrap just prior to getting off of the lift. This allows for much better control when exiting the lift, something that I had real trouble with when just trying to use the stomp pad. One additional plus of the Flows is that you can put your foot in the rear wrap while riding the lift (if the chair isn't full), this helps relieve the weight on the front foot from carrying the board on the lift. In the end, you will probably be happy with either choice and probably upgrade in a couple of years either way. Focus on your technique, start to carve instead of slide, and challenge yourself everytime you go out. Everything else will take care of itself. Cheers, Mark |
#13
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I'm 6ft 2", 13 stone and have size 10 feet. I started with a Burton Indie
164 - much too long. Last March I upgraded to a Ride timeless 161. I've had 7 weeks on it since then and it's been fantastic. Its a few mm's wider than the decade but almost the same and I've not experienced problems with toe overhang. Long boards are for boarders who can't ride switch and who never leave the ground. They are make jibbing difficult and are cumbersome in the park My advice is to take back the decade and upgrade to the timeless 161. "James Varty" wrote in message ... I'm a novice to intermediate boarder and thought I'd buy a board in the sales ready for next season. I've gone for a Ride 'decade' 160 cm, and Flow amp 5 bindings. I discussed a variety of options with the guy in the shop but I think the boards I've hired before have been wider. The selection of sale boards wasn't great so I ended up going for this, but now I'm wondering if I should have gone for a wide board instead. I'm 6ft 2" tall and weigh about 95 kilos, and have a UK size 10 (US 11) boot. I'll have a bit of toe overhang on the board - is this usual? I could probably swap it for something else over the next few days, so please let me know if I'd be better off with something else. Cheers James |
#14
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On Sun, 12 Mar 2006 12:00:55 GMT, "James Varty"
allegedly wrote: "og" wrote in message WIde boards suck If 251mm is a bit narrow adjust your stance or get power plates. In anything but deep powder wider is definately not better. What is the problem with wide boards? There's nothing wrong with wide boards as such. The issue is getting the right size board *for you*. A board that's too wide for you will suck. A board that's too narrow for you will suck. Statements like the above don't contain the whole story. Og isn't a big guy with big feet, but you are tall, presumably medium build going by your weight and have big (ish) feet. You need to consider the level of riding you're at and the terrain that you're going to be doing. As Mike T says, carving or half-pipe adds extra demands for the angle you need to get the board up at. Additionally, riding steeps on a hard-pack day will also require greater angulation between the board and the slope. Only you know what level you're at, so you're best placed to make the decision. I started off on boards with a width of about 25cm but soon made the move to wider and wider boards as my feet decked out and set me on my arse. However, if you make the move too early, you'll get the impression that wide boards suck and end up having to do something else to help you use a regular board, like change the angles you're comfortable with, or slap huge plastic plates under the bindings to rise your feet above the snow. Also there's no cast iron rule over the width or even the length. The rigidity (and sidecut) of the board will considerably alter how it rides so a 161 of one model may be better or worse than a 164 of another model, even by the same manufacturer. This is why it's best to demo the board, although that's not always possible. Getting reviews on a board from the net can help. This probably doesn't help answer your question directly, but then it's very difficult to say. - 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/ |
#15
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Edward wrote:
I'm 6ft 2", 13 stone and have size 10 feet. I started with a Burton Indie 164 - much too long. Last March I upgraded to a Ride timeless 161. I've had 7 weeks on it since then and it's been fantastic. Its a few mm's wider than the decade but almost the same and I've not experienced problems with toe overhang. Frankly, 3 cm isn't going to be a huge deal. There are probably other differences between the boards that make you prefer the Ride to the Burton. Stiffness, flex pattern and sidecut make at least as much difference as length. To take a couple of extreme examples, many novice/intermediate riders rode and loved the old Burton Supermodel at 168 or longer. Those same riders would get their asses kicked by a Rad-Air Lamm LSD 156. Long boards are for boarders who can't ride switch and who never leave the ground. They are make jibbing difficult and are cumbersome in the park I ride switch fine on my Coiler AM 172 (alpine) and my 200 cm Tanker (freeride). I'm not much for airtime but lots of guys use bigger boards to huck cliffs, although if you like to spin lots shorter is better. I agree that if jibbing and park riding is your thing, go shorter. What length buys you is generally more stablility at speed, more effective edge (ie more edge on the snow in a turn) and more float in the powder. Neil |
#16
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Neil Gendzwill wrote: Edward wrote: I'm 6ft 2", 13 stone and have size 10 feet. I started with a Burton Indie 164 - much too long. Last March I upgraded to a Ride timeless 161. I've had 7 weeks on it since then and it's been fantastic. Its a few mm's wider than the decade but almost the same and I've not experienced problems with toe overhang. Frankly, 3 cm isn't going to be a huge deal. There are probably other differences between the boards that make you prefer the Ride to the Burton. That;s exactly what I was thinking. Going from one model board to another, a lot more changes that's likely to be more noticeable than the 3cm difference in length. Stiffness, flex pattern and sidecut make at least as much difference as length. To take a couple of extreme examples, many novice/intermediate riders rode and loved the old Burton Supermodel at 168 or longer. Those same riders would get their asses kicked by a Rad-Air Lamm LSD 156. Long boards are for boarders who can't ride switch and who never leave the ground. They are make jibbing difficult and are cumbersome in the park I ride switch fine on my Coiler AM 172 (alpine) and my 200 cm Tanker (freeride). I'm not much for airtime but lots of guys use bigger boards to huck cliffs, although if you like to spin lots shorter is better. I agree that if jibbing and park riding is your thing, go shorter. What length buys you is generally more stablility at speed, more effective edge (ie more edge on the snow in a turn) and more float in the powder. Neil |
#17
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LeeD wrote:
I actually agree with all you guys, but since James is kinda starting out, he can choose a wider board for his next 6 to 20 boards. At size 11, 25.8 is about right, even for pure pipe, hiking and not riding anywhere else. But my bindings have really high toe ramps, and the plasticl rear hoop clears by well over 60 degrees. He's gotta start somewhere, and I actually have seen good riders with size 12's on Customs (248cm waist) and ride OK. In general, I agree with what Mike T and Neil G said about not having more tha 3/8" overhandg, but for this specific case I agree that it won't be a problem for James because he is still learning to carve (maybe in a few more years he'll notice that he's deep in a carve and suddenly the board will "slip" out on him). As LeeD said, if he has a pair of bindings with a tall baseplate and/or toeramp, then I think James can probably get a lot out of such a board. Wider board require more force to get them up on edge, if you are a bigger person with bigger feet, you will easily have sufficient leverage to get the board up on edge, however if you have smaller feet and less body weight/strength, then the board will feel a little difficult to manuever. I'm not super familiar with Flows, but from the website the AMP5 doesn't look like it has a the extra thick baseplate that I've seen with some of the other bindings (the toeramps don't angle up either). This is NOT saying that the AMP5 are a bad binding, just that they might not give you the riser effect that would help you avoid boot drag issues from riding a narrower board. As mentioned, a 160 is a little short for you. A 163 is a literally 1" longer. More important differences are the sidecut (the Yukon is slightly longer, but not by much), stiffness, and material construction. I personally would go with the Yukon (it's a better freeride board anyways). In response to Edward's comments, he doesn't realize it... but he is implicitly suggesting riding the longer 163. You should notice that he has noticeably smaller feet (probably a 1 cm or .5") and lighter (~30 lbs = 13.5 kg = 2 stone) than you and he's riding a 161. Wouldn't it make sense that you, being a bigger guy... ride a board that's a tiny bit longer and stiffer. I also agree with Neil G that I don't think Edward understand how much cna change when you are going from board to board... especially from Burton to a company like Ride, which have very different board design styles, material constructions, and model lines. For instance, the Ride Timeless is one of ride's top end freeride models ($480 USD - sorry I'm not going to convert every single value between US and European units), where as the a Burton Indie was a medium range all-mountain freestyle model ($380 USD). I really liked the Ride Timeless and thought it was an excellent all-around board, smooth and stable on groomed rides, light and responsive in the park (some freeride boards are less capable in the park and many freestyle boards are not very good on regular trails - most Burton boards have a very freestyle flavor to them and Ride has a more freeride flavor). Again, I stress that going from 164 to 161 is a only 3 cms (not much more than an inch) different and barely a weight difference... I'm pretty sure Edwards is just parroting what he's heard from other people because it is true that if you go really, really long... the boards do become more cumbersome in the park and less easy to jib... but when people say that... they are talking about like 175-185 cm alpine boards compared to freestyle/freeride boards. Even then, they are some crazies who can rip it up in the park in super longboards and hardboots (there are quite a few photos and videos of people riding park/pipe/rails and switch in longboards, wearing hardboots, and super high angles like 60+) obviously they aren't riding like Shaun White, but I bet that they are probably better than most of the people who claim increasing your board by 3cm is really going to mess up your park riding. I recently just went from 155 to 158 for my park board and I'm 150 lbs = 68kg... here's an old video of me doing a rainbow rail (http://www.dotphoto.com/MemViewImage...&ICT=17&IPP=16). I apologize for the quality, I tried uploading it to google video, but it says it will take a few days to be publicly posted. If you have high speed internet access, there are some more videos of people doing butters and riding switch on 172-182 cm boards. |
#18
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Cheers for all of the comments. I'll change it for the Yukon at the weekend.
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