Softboot carving board sizing help

[jayfromspain]

Hi everyone!

first of all, nice to meet ya’ll. Long time lurker first time poster here. I’m looking into buying my first softboot carving specific board, the thing is Im a very tall guy (6’6” or 200cm tall weighting around 210 pounds) with a size 10,5 boots (44,5 eu). I’ve been checkin the SG soul 164xt, the Nobile n8 ti 172 and the OES fr 165w. But if you guys know any other boards that would suit me or can help me decide between those three I would greatly appreciate it. 
Please feel free to ask any questions if my information is incomplete, and excuse if my English isn’t perfect.

Thanks all in advice for your time and help!

[Deuxdiesel]

Welcome!  Do you know what sort of binding angles you want to ride?  If you can manage higher angles like 35 degrees or more, then a 26 cm wide board might work.  A wider board than 26 cm will allow you to ride lower angles with less chance of dragging your heels and toes.  For reference, my boots are M29/E44.5/US11, I am on 27 cm wide boards (custom Coiler 163, Nitro Pantera 161W) and ride around 30 degrees front foot and 21 degrees rear foot.  The more angle I ride with soft boots, the less precise my turns become, and if I ride less angle, I start to drag to heels and toes.  The OES you listed is the widest, but I have no experience with any of those boards.  I hope this helps.

D.

[jayfromspain]

Hi Deuxdiesel and thanks for your reply.

im used to riding with steep positive angles (+27-30/30-33) and my current board (korua cafe racer 164) is 28 cm wide. What worries me about the OES is the effective edge (140 vs 144 on the SG and 148,5 on the Nobile). Do you think it would be enough to support me when going really low?? Thats the main reason I want one of this boards, the korua struggles a bit with my weight on my heel edge and I also overpower it a bit on the edge changes if im not really focused.

thanks!

[daveo]

I'm all about Oxess, so that's what I'd recommend. @WinterGoldany recommendations perhaps? 

[WinterGold]

The SG Soul XT is a solid choice.

If you have the money, you could definitely check Oxess. They are heavily focusing on softboot carving boards at the moment and they can build almost anything you like or need. Boards can be adapted to your weight and whatever preferences you have. The P-1 could be for you. Or the CX if you really want to focus on carving on slopes. You would have to contact Oxess via their site.

[dhamann]

26 w/ risers, 27 is good, 28 better... with a 10.5 boot... depending on how low you like to go. i have an SG soul 64 xt which you may want to look at the review if you haven't already. i also have an OES FR 162 wide w/ kevlar, stiff flex. the OES is a lot of board and i'm pretty sure it's attributed to that kevlar space material. the board weighs 9.5lbs. the soul is 7.5lbs. there's another review on a different OES Twin Tip than what i have, but also helpful to check out. sure you can get low of either of these as well as you cafe racer. the difference will be felt as equipment rather than a toy like how my nitro pantera feels to me. (still for sale btw) the soul radius is an average of 10.75m. where my OES is 11.5m. camber profiles are different as well as board construction. different boards all together. the soul is more forgiving to ride and carve than my OES, but so is my K68. sometimes visuals help... exiting a long laid out toe side here on the OES. i blame my wife for missing the money shot and that guy standing in my line of confidence. size 12 boot, +36/+6 for angles. 210lbs before gear, 6' tall. i need a riser plate for a 28 waist board on my heel side to match a similar angulation in the turn. i can't speak to nobile boards as i've never ridden being here in the states, but i believe they have a more race/stiff focus and construction. for a first softboot carve board, i'd recommend a board with a 10-12scr built for about 200lbs as a good baseline to start from. 163-167 given your height. camber. my OES feels like it's built for 300lbs and the soul built for 200lbs. it all depends on your aggressiveness and riding style/focus as well. some days you wanna give it all you got while other days you just don't. this equipment can get a little too much technical, but it's all for good reason. hope this helps.

Edited February 14, 2022 by dhamann
camber camber camber

[jayfromspain]

Thanks everyone for your responses. Specially dhamann for providing info on the OES, it was thanks to your comment that I decided to get a OES FR 165w, regular construction in a hard stiffness. Reading you I could tell the kevlar version would be too serious of a board for me to have fun.

I will do a review on it as soon as Im able to really try it. Can’t wait!!

thanks again everyone!!

[dhamann]

nice, but prepare for HARD stiffness. like racing hard stiff. medium many be considered better for a first carve board. i will also add that the OES Twin Tip review mentions something about the proflie or tail edge not having a "kick" or "pop" into transitions of the next turn. i find this prevalent with my OES FR 162 wide as well. a medium flex may help with this as opposed to fighting the finish of a turn and/or loosing an edge at the finish of a turn. 15m on the tail of the 165. i found not too much camber in the board to engage the corners of the edges too. just my two cents. good luck and hope you enjoy the ride.

[jayfromspain]

I get what you say about the stiffest spec. I hope it doesn’t feel too dead at the finish of the turn and I can make it spring back to shape into the next turn, which is something i love doing on the korua. Maybe you feel it so so stiff because of the kevlar??

i’ll post the review when I get the chance. Thanks again!!

[Scott.Creer]

5 hours ago, jayfromspain said:

 I hope it doesn’t feel too dead at the finish of the turn

My experience with the OES TT Kevlar is that the board really doesn't pop at all at the finish of the turn. You really need to pull your legs back up to make the transitions work. I don't know if it is the kevlar, the camber profile, or a combination of the two. You get used to it. If you want to air transition you need to weight the tail and give it a slight Ollie. 

Other boards, soul Titan, knapton, etc I could just pressure in the turn then let the board pop up off the snow. The OES is not the same.

Don't get discouraged the first few times on it. It will feel different. Once you figure out how to weight it right, it is a lot of fun. I had a heel side turn last week and my butt was rubbing on the snow in a turn. I thought "oh crap I am booting out" but nope, I was still locked in. 

[dhamann]

an OES FR 165w will ride completely different than a 164 cafe racer, even with a soft OES flex. the kevlar definitely adds to the torsional stiffness i believe. if we forget about the shape and construction differences and just look at the numbers, it's gonna run a lot bigger. probably weight too. add stiff construction into the equation... the board will be happy at high speeds. if that's what you're after then you've nailed it.

width: 27.8cm cafe, 28.1cm FR

effective edge: 1230mm cafe, 1400mm FR

sidecut: avg 8.6m cafe, 12.5m FR (10-15m)

25 minutes ago, Scott.Creer said:

My experience with the OES TT Kevlar is that the board really doesn't pop at all at the finish of the turn. You really need to pull your legs back up to make the transitions work. I don't know if it is the kevlar, the camber profile, or a combination of the two. You get used to it. If you want to air transition you need to weight the tail and give it a slight Ollie.

absolutely. it's like the first time riding a variable scr rather than a single radii board, but even more prevalent on the finish of the turn. to me, it feels like a combination of the larger tail sidecut, .6cm taper (TT has no taper), stiffness and not so much camber locking in the tail corner edge. however like scott says, you get used to it. i wanted to sell mine when i got it but glad i tested it. she's a keeper. it's a good board to have in the quiver for sure. for firm fast days, it rips. i may recommend a metal chassis binding with this board as well. happy shredding.

Edited February 22, 2022 by dhamann

[jayfromspain]

Thank you guys! All this deffinetly helps me know what to expect. My height and weight put a lot of lever in the 123cm effective edge of the cafe racer and I tend to feel a lack of support specially when i try to go really low, I can finesse it but it doesn’t feel natural or fluid on my feet and also the amount of tension that builds up on my legs makes it impossible for me to do it on more than 4-5 turns in a row. 
Thanks again for all the advice guys! I’ll let you know how i do with it. Just to clarify, i went with the 165w FR, fiber glass and hard  stiffness level.