Advice on Length of Board and Setup

[darex]

Hi everyone, 

I'm looking to get my first soft boot setup and would like some advice. My friend recommended the Gray Desperado Type R 160w so I am probably getting that but others have told me to start with a more entry level board. I've been riding a Gentemstick XY, Burton Freethinker, and Custom X for the past few years and mainly riding freestyle and park. As of this season, I'm starting to enjoy getting in deep turns and carving a lot more and have been riding my 158 Custom X with Burton SLX boots. I'd rather not spend the money buying a beginner friendly carving board and eventually a higher-end board so I'm considering starting with the Type R as I've heard that it is close to a hard boot set up (want to stay riding soft boot). As for boots and bindings, I'm thinking of getting a pair of Driver X paired with Atlas FC/Pros or Flow NX2s as I've been told both are good. Any advice/comments regarding my set up would be greatly appreciated, thank you guys!

Forgot to say, I'm 5'10 at 175lbs so would a 160 board be too short for an alpine board? I'm typically riding 157 on the mountain and 152 in the park.

[Jack M]

Welcome!  I would say you want something longer than 160.  Check out the Donek Flux if you want to buy American.  Now O-Drives are also popular bindings for softboot carving, as are Flows.

[rst]

On 12/14/2022 at 4:47 AM, darex said:

Hi everyone, 

I'm looking to get my first soft boot setup and would like some advice. My friend recommended the Gray Desperado Type R 160w so I am probably getting that but others have told me to start with a more entry level board.

good choice...

you do not need entry level board, I assume you know how to ride and want to progress toward softboot carving. in this case you'd like to chose a board which is good in it. you will pump your carving skill; start cautiously and you'll get there.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

My primary suggestion would be about board width.

There is an awesome Asian softboot carving market in particular. Having said that, they are a little unique from NA in that: 1) many of them seem to be ripping even on boards that are 260mm waist width or less; and 2) they seem to be using very wide and high-angle softboot stances that are awesome for carving, but feel like they would make it more difficult to ride the rest of the mountain outside of groomers. 

I don’t know the waist width of that board you referenced, but at around 26cm or less board width you’ll have to run fairly wide and high stance angles (e.g 27 degrees or more…many of the Asian riders seem to be in the 40s with their softboots) to avoid bootout when you get the board high up on edge. That depends on your boot size, but I’d say it’s probably true for US size 8 or larger. Using high stance angles may not be an issue for you, but I think for most softboot riders (me included) they make it more difficult to go off the groomers or otherwise freeride in soft boots. 

So give that some thought. If you want to run slightly lower stance angles (like say 36F/18R, which is still probably a bit high for all-mountain freeriding), then you’ll likely need a board at least 27-28cm wide if you’re carving it hard!

Cheers

Edited December 19, 2022 by ShortcutToMoncton

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Just looked up the Type R 160w out of curiousity…the site is in Japanese but it appears to have a 256mm waist, is that right?

I would personally not recommend a 25.6cm waist width for softboot carving, unless you’re prepared to use very high stance angles. I have exactly the same waist width on my current softy board and have dealt with bootout for years on my size 9s at anything less than 30R, and that’s even using riser plates…if I’m riding a lower-angle stance that allows me to freeride everywhere, I just avoid aggressive carves because I’ll boot out. After trying a 27.5-waist SG Soul board for a couple runs last year, I was immediately hooked on the wider boards.

I saw a Donek Ryan Knapton Twin in the Sale section recently if you’d like to carve switch with a lower-angle freestyle stance like Ryan. (Haha everyone wants to…few can! My hip flexors just go ahead and tear themselves whenever I watch a Knapton video.)  

If you want more of a directional carver, Donek makes the Incline with any waist you want and to your weight specs, although you’ll have to ask about lead time.

SG Snowboards makes the Soul 159XT and 164XT with a 27.5 waist….I was blown away in the couple runs I had on the Soul XT and others around here have said great things about both of them. The 164XT would definitely be a wide softy ripper you could grow into!

OES snowboards also makes twin-tip and directional softboot boards in 28-ish waist width. I’ve heard good things about them, but don’t order the stiff version!

Bruce at Coiler Snowboards can make 27.5-ish waist widths but there definitely is a wait time. 

Personally I would start with any of those options rather than a snowboard with less than 27cm waist.

Cheers!

Edited December 20, 2022 by ShortcutToMoncton

[Odd Job]

I just rode a Winterstick Custom recently (softboots). Their builds are fantastic. I am a board snob.

[dhamann]

hi @darex. welcome. just continue to carve with your custom x, slx boots and whatever bindings you have and identify what you don't like about each one. share those thoughts and maybe you can get a more clear guidance here. there's a lot of knowledgeable folks here to share their two cents. i'd suggest to get a race tune and set edges to 1 degree base, 2 side and polish with a fine diamond stone. focus on directional freecarve riding since that's the kind of board/equipment you're asking about. jumping into such specific equipment can be an investment; both monetarily and the time it takes to learn new equipment/discipline. if you have a freestyle jib background, this kind of equipment will not perform like that; at all. what's your boot size, binding angles you plan to ride and how long have you been riding? what mountains do you most frequent? all i see is your weight and height as factors to consider. throwing product names around means nothing. more information is needed for making any guesses or recommendations that might be best for you. cherio

[Neil Gendzwill]

I think to progress past what the Custom X offers you should be looking closely at sidecut radius.  Your 158 has a sidecut radius under 8m.  That's pretty limiting if you are able to generate good pressure to the edge.  To progress I'd look at something in the 10m range.

[Gremlin]

As others have said, width. Overwhelmingly the thing that matters in deep carves with low angles. I wear 10.5 boots on a 28.4 waist, and still sometimes boot out.

One of the main advantages of softboots is the range of motion available with a free ankle joint. Stiff boots will move your flex up the chain away from the snow and push your weight out over your heel edge. Use your ankle stregth to improve terrain absorbtion and adjust your edge angle rather than relying on a boot shell.

Length is only important the faster you go or the harder it is. Soft boots, low angles, wide board.