New snowboard. You need the right tool for the job, but how to choose? What is important when selecting possible sticks that could become your next snowboard and what is not. What makes a snowboard good and what is only here for the bling bling. What is the meaning of technical terms in technical specifications and more. Snowboard from tip to tail from A to Z.

SNOWBOARD SIZING & HOW TO BUY A SNOWBOARD

How to choose the right snowboard?

Let me tell you a little snowboard story first… So you busted your ass the whole summer at some crappy job to get enough money for you dream snowboard trip. Then comes the first snow and you are eager to hit the slopes. You are the first one up, the first one in line at the lift, the first one to plan your lines on the powder covered hill or through the sick halfpipe and park. You are squeezing the iron bar on the chair so hard that water comes out, your heart beats like crazy, your palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy, there’s vomit on your sweater already, mom’s spaghetti, you’re nervous, but on the surface you look calm and ready, to drop bombs…uh got carried away. You strap in and jump up, hit the kicker and? Damn, what happened to my bindings, what is wrong with my snowboard. I watched all the pros, made a list of what they ride, flipped through all the add pages in the latest mags. Well, how to buy a snowboard then?

Yeah, and you got fooled by the marketing departments of snowboard companies. That is not the way to buy a snowboard. The right way is this: first take some time to read this ”How to buy a snowboard guide” so you know what to look for, then take all the smart things you learned here and browse through snowboard catalogs and snowboard companies web pages, then talk to other snowboarders or the staff at the local snowboard shop (if they are for real), and the most important – try it before you buy it! What might be a sick stick for the next pro rider cold be totally useless for you. Now read on

How to buy a snowboard if you are a beginner snowboarder?

If you are a total beginner and you can not tell the front of the snowboard from the back and it takes you five minutes to figure out which side is the top, then you are in deep shit… khm trouble.

OK, not really, but the first thing you need to do is read some basic things about snowboarding. What are the snowboarding styles, what is freestyle snowboarding, what is freeride snowboarding, what is alpine or race snowboarding. After that, still do not jump right into it just because you are a freestyler/freerider or maybe skier at heart and you know that must be right for you. Try it before you buy it. Do you know somebody that snowboards? Maybe he can lend you his equipment (if he is a real snowboarder, you might only get one of his old snowboards, because snowboarders do not share their snowboards (unlike girlfriends)) and you can try it for yourself. Even better – get some lessons, then visit some snowboard equipment test on the slopes. Start thinking of a new snowboard only when you are already a bit more into the thing.

Try a snowboard before you buy a snowboard!

Every season more and more snowboard companies organize tests of their equipment on the slopes, mostly at the beginning of the winter. The dates of these test are written all over the snowboard manufacturers web pages or on the pages of the ski resorts that host the snowboard demos. Some snowboard companies even have their own little tents or shacks on the slopes that are there permanently. Now lets go on to snowboarding equipment and the most important thing you will ever need for snowboarding which is a snowboard (?!).

HOW TO BUY A SNOWBOARD?

These snowboard tips are more related to freestyle and freeride snowboards, because these are by far more popular and also more suitable for beginners. But you can pick up some useful information even if you ride a race snowboard.

GRAPHICS

Hell yeah, the first and most important thing – never buy your snowboard because the designs on it looks cool and they match your eyes. (we know, at the end we all do it anyway :) ) At least at the beginning, look for other things. I guess lots of people will say – Hell, the better you look, the better you ride! ha-ha, but let your snowboarding skills speak for themselves or better, the more fun you have the better you ride.

SNOWBOARD WIDTH

Snowboard width is one of the more important things to look for when buying a snowboard. If your snowboard is too narrow and your feet are too big, your toes will overhang and you will slide out when carving. On the other hand, a wide snowboard is less responsive and harder to turn, because it is harder to get from one edge to the other. So you are looking for a compromise. If you feet are not above average, get a normal sized (width) snowboard. Also, if you well do a lot of freestyle riding you will want to put your bindings on your snowboard at a lower angle or maybe even zero for back foot. In that case the toe overhang is most evident. If you set bigger angles, you can avoid the overhang, but the right width snowboard is off course better.

To test the snowboard width put on you snowboard boots and stand on the snowboards inserts (what are inserts? read on), then check your toes. You need to take it info account that when you will put bindings on the board your fit will be lifted and overhang will be smaller, so if you can, check the snowboard width with your bindings.

The width measurements in the snowboard width chart below are given for the narrowest part of the snowboard.

SNOWBOARD WIDTH CHART

SNOWBOARD SIZE – LENGTH

Yes, size matters. The size or length of the snowboard is measured from tip to tail (where else) and is usually from 140 – 170 cm long for and average adult snowboard. General rule is that snowboard should be about 90% of your height which is somewhere up to your chin or a little more. Later on, when you know what you want you also adapt the snowboard length to your style of riding.

• Longer snowboards give you better stability, better edge hold on ice, better handling with higher speeds and what is most important for a lot of snowboarders – longer snowboards better float in deep virgin powder. So a longer snowboard is used for groomed slopes, freeriding and especially powder. That is why freeride boards are longer.
• On the other hand, shorter snowboards are easier to learn on, easier to turn, easier to do tricks on. So more freestyle snowboarding and tricks or for beginner snowboard get a shorter snowboard. That is why freestyle boards are shorter.

Arrrrgh, aggression

If you are a fast, aggressive rider that get a little longer board. If you ride slow and easy get a little shorter snowboard.

What is your weight

Weight is the next factor when choosing the length of the snowboard. The heavier you are the more pressure you put on your snowboard:

• If you are light, you need a shorter, more flexible snowboard. Long board will require more work from you.
• If you are a bit heavier, you need a longer and less flexible snowboard. A sort and flexible snowboard will be too soft for you and you will slide and spin out of turns easily.

SNOWBOARD SHAPE

There are three basic snowboard shapes: directional, twin- tip and directional twin.

• Directional snowboards are the best choice for riding powder. Longer and wider nose for better float in powder, stiffer tail and setback of the bindings.
• Twin- tip snowboards are the choice for freestyle snowboarders. Eeee. Wrong. They used to be the choice for freestyle snowboarder. Today almost every freestyle snowboard is directional twin. The thought behind the twin – tip snowboard was to make switch riding easier. But now most of the pros ride like they were born switch and nobody needs that kind of help any more. With the advances in snowboard technology most of the snowboards are
• Directional twin snowboards. They have the flexibility of the directional snowboard and the shape of the twin tip snowboard. That means that nose and tail of the snowboard are fairly the same at the first look. In reality they are never completely the same as they have different width, height, stiffness characteristics.

SNOWBOARD FLEXIBILITY

Its all in the flex baby. We have two types of snowboard flexibility: horizontal flexibility and vertical flexibility:

• Longitidunial / Horizontal flexibility – is the flexibility from nose to tail. For a light snowboarder a stiff snowboard will be too hard and therefore not enough responsive, it will also be a suffer to ride on icy and bumpy snow. Horizontal flexibility is highly connected to the snowboarders weight. Besides that – stiffer snowboards are better for groomed slopes, holding edge while carving and powder. Softer snowboards are better for freestyle snowboarding, for landing jumps, jibbing etc. A hard snowboard is much harder to land and lives less place for mistakes.
• Torsional / Vertical flexibility – this is the stiffness of the snowboard from heel edge to toe edge. Softer snowboards are easier to turn and more responsive, but the edges on the harder snowboard hold better in the turn. So to sum it up – stif snowboard is better for groomed slopes and powder, softer snowboard is better for bumpy and soft snow.

SNOWBOARD CAMBER

If you put your snowboard on flat surface the camber is the distance from the flat surface to the snowboards base in the middle of the snowboard. As you can see, there is a gentle arch the snowboard makes. Snowboard camber is related to flex – higher camber makes the nose and tail of the board work harder as more pressure is put on those two areas. Low or no camber is a sign of a really tired used old snowboard or sometimes a freestyle snowboard, where lower camber makes some tricks easier. Camber that helps stabilize the board at higher speeds and on hard snow, and makes it easier to turn.

SIDE CUT RADIUS OF A SNOWBOARD

Finally something simple. Side cut radius is an imaginary circle that is partly represented by the snowboards edges.

• The smaller the sidecut (and the circle) the faster the snowboard will turn and draw smaller circles in the snow. It will also turn quicker and be faster from one turn into another. It is better for freestyle. As usual there is a but and a trade-off…so But! Smaller sidecut makes the snowboard harder to handle, specially at higher speeds and the edges like to catch the snow quicker.
• Bigger sidecut means more long drawn out turns at higher speeds, more riding on the edge of the snowboard (carving is easier).

To complicate it a little, these days a lot of snowboards do not have sidecut radius that is simply a part of the circle. The shape of sidecut radius is now more refined and changes from the tail to the nose of the snowboard, but the principle with bigger and smaller sidecut stays the same..

SIDEWALL CONSTRUCTION

Sidewall is the wall between the snowboard base/edge and top sheet of the snowboard. The smart people from the snowboard companies have again confused us with more than one sidewall construction. First is straight sidewall, that is easier to fix, second is cap construction, that is harder to ding and harder to fix. You get cap construction when you fold the top sheet of the snowboard all the way down to the snowboards edge. The last sidewall construction is a mix of the above two. The cap construction hype was better transfer of power from rider to the snowboards edges. Funny how it is not very popular any more.

SNOWBOARD CORE

Snowboard core is a soul of the snowboard and is what a snowboard is built around. The weight of the snowboard and the shock absorption depends on the core. We have more types of cores. The heaviest and cheapest is injected foam core. Today this core is really only found in some low end snowboards. The other extreme is maybe aluminum core in the shape of honeycomb, which gives the lightest core and extremely expensive snowboard. Then there is a whole range of wood cores which are the standard for snowboard core these days. Also the most high end top end and high tech snowboards have wooden cores. The quality and price of the snowboard core depends on the type of wood that is used for the core, the technique of the lamination etc. Core is where the most weight can be saved or gained. In theory a heavier snowboard is better on bumpy snow because it absorbs the vibrations better. But in practice, a lighter snowboard is always more fun to ride.

SNOWBOARD BASE

Snowboard base is the part of the snowboard that comes in contact with the snow. For the sliding and speed performance of a snowboard, base is the most important thing, and to get the most speed out of your snowboard is a quest for all the serious racers. As for the rest of us, the speed of the average snowboard is just fine. Bigger problem is the fact, that we usually leave the base to the mercy of ice, rocks, rails, trees, little brothers crayons etc without waxing it for a long time. Lack of wax will make even the most high-tech base slow down.

Most snowboard bases are made from a polyethylene material called P-Tex. Bases can be extruded or sintered. Snowboard base is somewhat like our skin, they can “breathe” through little holes in the base. These holes suck up the wax which makes the base “soaked” in wax and fast. Extruded snowboard bases are melted and cut to shape. Extruded bases are easier to repair, but because the way they are made, they have less capillary holes and hold less wax. Sintered snowboard bases are first grounded into powder, heated, pressed, and then cut into shape. Sintered base is superior to the extruded base because it is faster and holds wax better. Although they are also more durable, they are more expensive and harder to repair.

P-Tex quality is in the size of the pellets that are used to make a base. The smaller the pellet size, the faster the base. Then there are also some other materials that are added to polyethylene. One of these materials is graphite. Graphite snowboard base is the fastest base out there. It is deep black and use in race snowboards. So here we have again the pros and cons, if you are looking for high performance snowboard and want to go fast even in the afternoon slush, get a snowboard with a sintered base. If you are tight with the money, get an extruded base. Catch is you cant get top snowboard with cheap base, so you either get a top board or you are left with more money for the tickets.

These are the main factors that influence the snowboard performance, who is it made for and how will it ride. When you are looking at the technical specifications for an individual snowboard you might also come across these terms:

SNOWBOARD EDGE

Snowboard edge is a metal edge of the snowboard. No, really :)! There are some different techniques how companies insert the edges into the snowboard, but we will not bore you with this highly technical stuff. More important is effective edge of the snowboard.

EFFECTIVE EDGE

Effective edge of a snowboard is the length of the edge that actually touches the snow when you ride your stick and make a carving turn. So this does not include the whole edge from tip to tail. A longer effective edge gives you more stable, controlled ride; a shorter effective edge makes a snowboard looser and easier to turn.

SNOWBOARD NOSE OR TIP, LENGTH, WIDTH

This is the front end of the snowboard. Higher and wider nose is good for riding powder because it prevents the snowboard to sink under the snow. You do not want your nose to catch snow when you are making a high speed powder lines. The result is usually a lot of tumbling and quick exchange of the sky and snow before your eyes. The nose length is measured from the widest part of the board’s nose to the tip of the nose, the nose width is measured across the front tip or nose area of the board.

SNOWBOARD TAIL, LENGTH, WIDTH

The tail is the rear end of the snowboard. Because it is in the back, there is no fear it will catch snow ,so it is generally flatter than the nose. If you see a really funny fish or split tail snowboard, these are made for deep powder. Tail length and width are measured the same way as it is described above.

SNOWBOARD INSERTS AND SETBACK

Snowboard inserts are two metal inserts integrated into the snowboard. Inserts have several holes, which are used for mounting your bindings onto the snowboard. Setback is the distance that tells us how far back the inserts are from the centre of the board. Or to explain it better – imagine the centre between the inserts and the centre of the snowboard. The distance between these two centres is the setback. Inserts are generally moved a little towards the tail, this is even more true with freeride snowboards. Setback puts the weight of the snowboarder towards the back of the snowboard, so the snowboard nose sticks more out of the snow. Good idea in deep powder. If the inserts are completely centred, then the snowboard does not have any setback.

Oh, there is another thing to look for. Burton places the holes in the inserts a bit different than other companies. They have a 3×3 system, everybody else has a 4×4 system. That means that you need 3 screws to mount a binding on a burton snowboard and 4 screws for any other board. So your bindings will have to be Burton compatible. If you already own the bindings, make sure your snowboard has the same hole pattern as the bindings are designed for.

SNOWBOARD TOP SHEET

Yeah, finally. We are back at the beginning. This is where the graphics comes. At the end, I know you will not buy an ugly snowboard.

So that’s it. This is how to buy a snowboard. Now go buy yourself a stick and go ride, stick some tricks, shred some powder! Then come back and let us hear it.

Related posts:

1. Tripple Base – Bataleon Snowboards