Setup ? for new board and rider

[newcarver]

Have a 160 with 136 effective edge. Waist is 21. Board is supposed to be a AM/FC board. It seems real stiff in the center and softer on both ends. My question is about stance and angles. TD2 bindings with 3 deg cants on both ends. I'm 5'9" tall and weigh 160. Boot size is 26.5M. I was going to start with a centered position on the board with about 18.5" between both bindings center to center. The angles I was looking at are 50 on front and around 47.5 on the back. This is where I can have my toe and heels the closest to the edge. Would this be a good place to start? Should I spread out the stance some more with the cant disks? Should the bindings be placed further back on this type of board? Sorry for all the questions, but want to get it close before going out with the new set up.

[RDY_2_Carve]

As a new carver one of the hardest things I had transitioning was the higher angles. I suggest you start in the 45-50 range (low), but realistically you want to set them up with the lowest possible angles with no boot overhang. So start with the back foot and eyeball it then set the front foot 3-5 deg higher than the back.

You can actually run with some overhang as you start carving since you won't be doing super low turns right away. A good check on this is to mount binding and boot on the board (I do this on my bench) then tilt the board and see how far you can get it before the boot touches. With zero overhang it should go almost perpendicular. You'll be surprised how tilted the board can get w/o touching-even with some overhang. Then ask yourself are you really going to get the board that far over anytime soon?

Then what I did is add 2-3 degrees to each foot each time you go out. The small difference from the last time you rode will be less noticable each time you hit the slopes. Eventually you will get to the point where you can ride 65deg+ angles with confidence. The big boon here is those lightning quick transitioning skinny waisted boards will be no problem for you.

IMHO stance width is more a matter of rider build and personal preference, but then again so are binding angles. I would recommend starting out with shoulders width but you definately want to do a bunch of tweaking to find what is best for you.

Two chairs and a carpeted living room will do wonders for you-even after you've hit the snow a few times. Throw on your boots and step into your setup on the floor. Move around in snowboard-like motions and use the chairs to keep from falling over. It's normal for everything to feel really ackward at first but keep tweaking until you find something that feels better than the others.

Others here can probably help you more, but this is what helped me out the most.

[Gleb]

for me, i started off by putting the angles as low as possible without over hang and then add 2-3 degrees in the front. The cant was essential for me to get heelside down, but that is something you'll have to play around with. I only had a rear cant. Stance should be your regular stance with while standing with feet shoulder length apart, at least thats what worked for me. Good luck.

[Jack M]

have you seen these links below?

good luck!

[newcarver]

Thanks for all the info. I've looked at the welcome center tips stuff. That is where I got my initial settings from. Was just wondering if the type of board makes any difference in the set up used. It feels pretty comfy standing in the lv. I can go from edge to edge and ballance it by flicking my ankles back and forth. I always ride a softboot setup with at least 34 degrees in the front so the sharper angles aren't too bad. I tried riding a freestyle board last weekend with around 20 degrees and I could barely ride it. Looks like we are getting more pow this weekend so I don't know if I'll get to try it out or not. First sunny day and I'll be on it. I'll take my gear with me just in case.

[Jon Dahl]

Ok , I'll bite. At your height, I'd recomend 19-19.5 stance width, 45ish front, 40ish rear. At your height, 18 is too narrow, and you should be able to get those angles w/o much overhang on a 21.5 waist board.

[BadBrad]

Ok , I'll bite. At your height, I'd recomend 19-19.5 stance width, 45ish front, 40ish rear. At your height, 18 is too narrow, and you should be able to get those angles w/o much overhang on a 21.5 waist board.

I have the same size boot (26.5) and I have to run 54/51 angles on my 21.5 waist board to get zero overhang, and that's with a 19.3" stance width. I have Burton boots and bindings, so maybe my boots have more overhang than others, but I'm surprised that you an get 40 degrees without much overhang. On my 19cm waist board I have to run 60/57.

Jon, what is your inseam? I'm about the same size as you, with long legs and a short torso. I've been running 16-17" stance widths for about the last decade, but the trend now seems to be wider stances and on my new board I am widening mine up to the 19 - 19.5 range that Jon recommended, although I haven't had a chance to try it yet. With the canting that you have you could probably go even a little wider.

So, I think your setup looks really good except that you probably want to increase your stance width about an inch.

[newcarver]

Here is a pic of my set up. This is with a 19" stance and 45 and 40 degree angles. Remember, this will be my first time hardbooting. The picture makes the boots stick out more than they look to in reality. I can lay the board over perpendicular to the floor without them touching. Appears that there may be about 1" of setback towards the rear? Doesn't say anything about it in the specs though. Just has a base stance of 46cm.

[newcarver]

ride my hardboot set up. Didn't get too many runs as I was having to try and get my 7 yr old down the mountain for his 1st time snowboarding. I would help him out some to relieve my wife and then go down and ride back down to catch up with them. Had a pretty good experience. Worst problem I had was linking turns when carving hard and chattering out on healside turns sometimes. Took a little getting used to being able to go edge to edge so quickly. Narrowest board I've ever riden before this was a 24.5 in softboots. It was kind of flat light and was having trouble with chop but this board worked well in it. Board almost seemed liked it turned too well sometimes. It has an 8.8M SCR. Was wondering if something about 9+M would be better? Will definitly take the h/b stuff back out. Hopefully it will be sunny and easier to see next time. Can anybody recommend some good lenses for flat light?

[DiveBomber]

maybe go .5" wider on the stance and a couple deg more on the bindings

If you are chattering on a turn your not angulating enough, bend at the waist make a C shape. you are leaning too much.

drive heelside turns with your front knee and toe side with your rear knee

[newcarver]

Thanks for the tips:biggthump Will try them out next time. DB boots worked out great. Pretty much a prefect fit.

[DiveBomber]

One more thing, On heelside turns try to reach for the nose of your board, or just ahead with shorter boards with your REAR hand