Stance, lift, and cant

[bobdea]

widen that stance

I ride 18.75 with a 32 inseam

here's a bit from the almanac

The stance width is the center-to-center distance between the two bindings. In the US, stance width is often measured in inches, despite the fact that every other parameter of a snowboard is in metric. Stance is like binding angle - you don't determine it theoretically, but instead, you adjust it until it feels right. However, there are three common recommendations for a starting point for setting stance width:

Use your shoulder width

Use the distance from the floor to the middle of your kneecap

Take your pants inseam and multiply by (Phi × 3 / 8) = 0.607, which is taken from Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man.

For wider stances, more inner cant and lift on the front toe, plus more inner cant lift on the back heel is usually required so you won't put your legs under tension. For hardbooting, wider stances provide two main advantages:

A wider binding stance will provide more stability and balance, especially on ice, and will allow a larger range of movement so that you can shift your weight fore and aft with more control. You will have more control over the pressure that gets exerted at the nose and tail, which will benefit both entering and exiting turns.

Wider stances allow you to get low and compress, while keeping your balance.

On the other hand, a narrow stance will allow you to carve tighter turns, and transition from edge to edge a little quicker.

After you shift your weight forward to initiate a turn, your center of gravity should be over the apex of the sidecut. In order to achieve this geometry, the midpoint between the two bindings must be set back from the apex of the sidecut to compensate for the forward weight shift. The apex of the sidecut is the center of the effective edge, not the center of the board length. This setback is typically 2-4 cm. Board makers shift the two insert packs rearward by this amount, so that you can mount your bindings symmetric to the insert packs and get the right setback. Some manufacturers, like F2, specify on the topsheet pre-marked stance positions so that you know where to mount the bindings to achieve the recommended setback. If there are no pre-marked stance positions, mount your bindings symmetrical with respect to the hole pattern. However, binding setback has a large impact on carving performance, so it's something you should spend some extra time tweaking:

Incorrect binding setback can cause bad habits. If you have too much setback, you will find yourself breaking at the waist to get your weight forward. If you have too little setback, you will find your self riding the back of the board all the time.

You can decrease the setback (even a little forward of center) to increase edge engagement. It will be a little easier to initiate a turn, especially on ice, but you won't be able to hold an edge as well at the end of the turn, and the board will have no performance in powder. If your front shin is getting bruised, or your front leg muscles get sore quickly, it may be because you are putting too much effort into shifting your weight forward on the board, and decreasing the setback can help out.

You can increase the setback, and your edge hold at the end of the turn will increase, but you won't be able to attack the turn as much at the beginning. If the board is hooking too much at the front when entering a turn even after you detune the tip, you can try to increase the setback to compensate. Increasing the setback will increase the surface area of the board in front of the front binding, which improves performance when surfing in powder or riding in the trees.

The amount of setback you should use depends on the binding angle: very low binding angles will result is a smaller degree of fore/aft weight shift, so you need less.

The location of your center of gravity is determined by the setback and also the cant/lift settings, so you have to keep both in mind.

[Jack M]

widen that stance.

I ride 19.5" with a 31" inseam.

[pokkis]

There are sooo many rule for correct stance.

here is one picked from old flegmatic-carving.com pages

Binding setup is very important part here, we have developed very simple form for stance width:

(your shoe size as mondo * pi/2) + 2 inch

This form is scientic proven, simple to use and we have found it giving optimal results for all flegmatic carvers.

[Carp]

Great topic. Although I've only been out once (pretty much glare ice) this season. I did have a chance to ride with some toe lift which made a HUGE difference in quad burn. You guys have now gotten into specific board lengths, talking about wash out, etc. Although I haven't ridden since the 1st mod, here's my latest modifications on my two boards. Does this sound ok (realizing it's personal preference)?

Donek FC1-163 with TD2 (Intec)

55* front and back

3* cant disk in the front with toe lift only (I set it in line with the angle of the boot)

3* cant disk in the rear with outward cant and a little heal lift.

Salomon FRS 164 with TD1 (Intec)

50* front

45* back

3* outward cant both fron and back

About me:

Ride Regular

6' tall

175 lbs

32" inseam

My rear foot is angled to the outside when I'm not riding (slight birth defect)

Been riding plates since late 80's early 90's and like to consider myself somewhat of an aggressive rider when I'm in good shape.

Thanks ahead of time for the feed back!

[John E]

Dshack - you didn't say what your stance was - only that it was the narrowest the board would allow. If you are only 5'3" or 5'4", I would think your stance should be much narrower than most.

Again, I am a newbie. When I rode my board last year with a shoulder width stance (about 19"), my quads burned & I could only tolerate a few runs. I narrowed my stance to 18" and rode all day yesterday and my quads started to burn only near the end. The narrower stance also feels more natural.