Equipment Advice

[snow|3oarder]

Hello everyone. I am new to hardbooting, although ive been snowboarding for awhile. I just ordered hardboots and plates. I am 6'4", weigh about 225, and use mondo 31 boots.

What boards would you veterans recommend for a begginner such as myself? Currently I have a donek sasquatch, but im thinking that a different board may maximize my carving fun. I intend to stay on groomed runs. All input is appreciated! (how should i figure out what length, sidecut, and stiffness are appropriate?)

[bobdea]

or if you went a little wider the Madd BX

with those big feet I would be willing to bet that the Madd BX would work well for you.

the prior 4x4 also would probably be a good bet.

If you want something a little more carvy go with a wide race deck such as what is listed on the customs part of the donek site, with that big foot anything below a 20 cm waist is gonna be hard to get used to because you will be running high angles.

if you plan on getting a new board next year I would highly reccomend putting in a order for a Coiler all mountain, that is my current favorite board and they will do a full custom way cheaper than the other companies.

[RJ-PS]

I remember asking the same questions when I got onto the forum.

Length

Sidecut

Stiffness

The short answer is buy used + buy often + buy again = self education

The long answer has to do with the physics of a carved turn, what you want to do, how you ride, where you ride, what your preferences are, etc.

You'll be able to find people that swear by Coiler, Donek, Prior, Virus, Volkl, F2, Burton, etc. What they are saying is they like the particular way that the board is designed for their preferred style of riding. When you get on the different boards you can get a feeling of what the original board designer wanted the board to do. And if that fits your preference, keep that board! If not trade it/sell it, get another, life's too short to ride a board you don't love.

I was talking to oldsnowboards the other day and he was discussing how hard it is to describe these characteristics with snowboarders of differing ability levels. A relatively new snowboarder without the skill level may say a snowboard sucks because they can't find the board's sweet spot. Top level athletes may be able to carve on just about anything because of their skill (see bordy's video on antique equipment). But those of us that are not able to put in 100+ days a year on snow, might just not be able to reach that level. Whether we are able to take any snowboard and make it do what we want it to do has to do with skill. But riding a board that puts a smile on our face has to do with personal preference.

So while you need to think about these individual factors the most important is the actual ride. That is the incorporation of all these things and a bunch of littler ones that no one really talks about (choice of wood, carbon fiber thread count, fiberglass direction/thickness/strength, polymers, etc)

As you are already riding a Donek, why not call Sean and see what he has to say? Being a board builder for so many years he would be able to ask you the right questions and discern from your answers what would best suit you now (which might not suit you in a year or so ;) ). If you like the Sasquatch chances are you'll like what Sean can get you. If you don't want to throw down the bucks for a new board, see the short answer above.

I have always found used equipment to be great fun in teaching me likes and dislikes. Plus I get to meet a lot of the folks here buying and selling with them.

Good luck,