Board length/SCR question:

[John Bell]

OK, so I just weighed myself again after moving to NYC and eating nothing but lamb gyros, cheap Chinese food, and buttered bialys for 3 months. And I was shocked to find that (at 5'8.5" tall) I've plumped up to 180 lbs. I like to think most of it is brain and bicep. And I think my pants weigh at least 5 lbs. But anyway...

What length board would be ideal for me? I do plan to drop about 10 lbs. once I start hitting the gym. (Just got the membership yesterday, so this will happen.) I'm usually about 170, though 160 is a long-term goal. (I may have to take up cigarettes to achieve the latter.)

I'd previously thought that a board in the mid-160s would be ideal--but now I'm told that I should be looking at 170 or more based on my weight. The person who said this seems knowledgeable. But won't a board that long have too big an SCR for the east coast?

The "get to the point, windbag" section:

Length: 165 or so may be too soft for my weight. But 170 or longer may be too big an SCR.

SCR: I want big enough to make learning not overly frustrating but small enough to make it easy to avoid mowing down people out here in the East. But I do want to try Eurocarving someday--although I'm not sure you can even do that on TD1s. (Of course, by then I might just spring for new bindings.)

Help!

Thank you!

[Chris Houghton]

John, I never said you were fat, just that the board was short for your weight! haha

Seriously, you can find longer boards with deep sidecuts, just look for "freecarve" models, even the Prior 4x4 is 10m or so for the 174. More important is that you decide what you'd like to do with the board, that will tell you what sidecut you should hunt for. In the 170 - 175 region you can find 9 to 14m sidecuts without going custom, so you should have no problem finding what you'd like, when you know what that is. Really, anything in the 10-12 m sidecut should work well for an all-around ride.

[John Bell]

John, I never said you were fat, just that the board was short for your weight! haha

Seriously, you can find longer boards with deep sidecuts, just look for "freecarve" models, even the Prior 4x4 is 10m or so for the 174. More important is that you decide what you'd like to do with the board, that will tell you what sidecut you should hunt for. In the 170 - 175 region you can find 9 to 14m sidecuts without going custom, so you should have no problem finding what you'd like, when you know what that is. Really, anything in the 10-12 m sidecut should work well for an all-around ride.

That's OK, Chris; like Queen Latifah, I'm comfortable with my curve. (I only have one, and it's right in the middle.)

But seriously--thanks much for the info; you probably saved me from buying too short a board.

See, what I'd *like* to do is carve some huge, laid-out arcs. But down here we have all these snowplowing 2-year-olds on skis, jibbers sitting down in the middle of the double-blacks rolling blunts, etc. So I'm thinking I should go for a lower SCR, lest I smack into one of them. And maybe it's unrealistic to think I could ever try EC in upstate NY or Vermont.

The other thing is: What about the officially listed range for a board? For the 4x4, I recall that at 170 lbs. (future tense), there's something like 4 different lengths whose "suggested rider weight" I'd fall into. So are you saying that I should avoid being anywhere but dead in the middle of the range?

[twelsch42]

You mentioned the 4x4. I'm 160# and had no problem adjusting (first carving board) to a 169 4x4. At home the board seems stiff compared to anything else I've ridden. On the mountain I was in control. After a few days on it, I was having fun even in the bumps.

twelsch

[BlueB]

John,

You are overdoing this a bit... Every day you spend deliberating, is one day less on the slopes on your new alpine gear. I 2nd what Chris said, just get a board in that 160-175cm, 10-12m scr range and you'll be fine.

If you figoured that you didn't like the board, well, there's always the BOL classifieds. Eventually you'll have few boards, anyhow.

Oh, one more thing - leave the EC out of equation for now. It's fun but learn the basics first. Once you ride well you'll be able to EC on almost any board.

Just do it.

[queequeg]

OK, so I just weighed myself again after moving to NYC and eating nothing but lamb gyros, cheap Chinese food, and buttered bialys for 3 months. And I was shocked to find that (at 5'8.5" tall) I've plumped up to 180 lbs. I like to think most of it is brain and bicep. And I think my pants weigh at least 5 lbs. But anyway...

What length board would be ideal for me? I do plan to drop about 10 lbs. once I start hitting the gym. (Just got the membership yesterday, so this will happen.) I'm usually about 170, though 160 is a long-term goal. (I may have to take up cigarettes to achieve the latter.)

I'd previously thought that a board in the mid-160s would be ideal--but now I'm told that I should be looking at 170 or more based on my weight. The person who said this seems knowledgeable. But won't a board that long have too big an SCR for the east coast?

The "get to the point, windbag" section:

Length: 165 or so may be too soft for my weight. But 170 or longer may be too big an SCR.

SCR: I want big enough to make learning not overly frustrating but small enough to make it easy to avoid mowing down people out here in the East. But I do want to try Eurocarving someday--although I'm not sure you can even do that on TD1s. (Of course, by then I might just spring for new bindings.)

Help!

Thank you!

Hey John, It took me at least two years of living here before I got sick of subsisting on cheap chinese takeout (mmmmm ... dumplings!) and gyros (I live in Astoria, which is like gyro-heaven).

My Donek FCII 175 is long(ish), stiff and still has a somewhat deep sidecut, at 11.75 M. Obviously that is much different than 9M or whatnot, but the extra length of the board means that a longer sidecut will still cut deeper into the boards waist, and as such, you can still wind the board up nice and tight if you get it high up on edge. I can still make very tight turns on this board, nonetheless it will carry plenty of speed and pop you back nicely. I have no problems weaving through the crowds at Okemo, Killington, and Mt. Snow on it.

I am right around the same weight as you, and live in your town. If you want to take it for a spin, all you've gotta do is make sure that it comes back in back in basically the same shape it left in. I'm injured right now, so I can't ride it for another month anyway ...

[Jack M]

167 to 173cm board length. 10.5 to 11.5m radius.

Donek, Madd, Coiler, Prior.

http://www.bomberonline.com//articles/how_to_buy_snowboard.cfm

[D-Sub]

John's gonna make it through this whole season without buying a board! :D

[John Bell]

Boris--Yeah, I know I've been taking forever. But lately I've been outta town on the weekends (sometimes longer) anyway. But I don't mind a little second-hand motivation.

Jack--Thanks for the succinct yet useful reply.

QQ: Thanks for info--and the offer! I may take you up on that sometime. Hope you're recuperating without too much pain. (Saw your posting about the injury.) Yeah, I just now went and scarfed a chicken gyro because they were out of lamb. (When it comes to meat animals, the cuter the face, the sweeter the taste.) But the chicken was great nonetheless. And dumplings! Right on, brother! I am all about the steamed seafood dumplings at Mee Noodle (2nd Ave at 49th). E-mail me if you're ever out this way and feel like meeting up there. I work at home, so I can always take a lunch break. All this talk about food makes me wanna gain another 10 lbs.

[lonerider]

The other thing is: What about the officially listed range for a board? For the 4x4, I recall that at 170 lbs. (future tense), there's something like 4 different lengths whose "suggested rider weight" I'd fall into. So are you saying that I should avoid being anywhere but dead in the middle of the range?

Yes, by default you should aim for the sweet spot in the middle of the range. For you... to save money, just roam the classifieds and look for a board in the 165-175cm range with 9.5-11.5m SCR where you are on the mid to high end of the weight range (this will be easier for you to flex starting out) and RIDE.

No matter what board you are going to ride, your preferences are going to develop and change. BlueB has the right idea with his armada of boards (I have a small battle group myself).

That's awesome about your plan to hit the gym. Last November, my cholesterol had gone from 176 to 184 and so I decided to work on that. I just avoided fried/greasy/tasty foods (it's okay to have a tasty hamburger or a burrito once a week... but ALWAYS pass on the eggs, french fries, onion rings, chips/salsa, or any salad with croutons/caesar dressing) while still eating hefty portions (sometimes I still order two entrees) and I dropped my cholesterol to 125 in a year. A side effect of this (since fatty foods have about 3 times the number of calories) was that I dropped 10% of my body weight.

[John Bell]

Lonerider--You just named like, all my favorite foods. But wow, that's amazing to lose that much weight. Yeah, I gotta summon some of that will-power stuff. Hard to resist when such fatty, delicious food is so readily available. Here in NY, it's arguably cheaper (and easier) to eat out than to cook for oneself--and those gyros are the cheapest, quickest, deliciousest thing there is, at least for me. The treadmill calls!

[newcarver]

Eat more sushi:D It tastes great and is good for you. Plus it will not make a spare tire unless you wash it down with a table keg of Saporo:barf:

[jolson]

Ok, hearing alot about you undernourished guys at 160 lbs.

I am 5'8" , and a solid 200 lbs. Been riding a 160 Burton Speed for years and looking to move up. Made attempt at an Oxygen APX 165 on EBAY but was blown away by what it went for.

Help a square body out, if I have the lingo right, looking for a damper board that carves at lower speeds. What's are best options in that 165 to 173 range.