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Board and Binding Help

1K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  RicSA 
#1 ·
Hi all,

Going to try and keep this short. I am from South Africa and our snow and shops are really limited. We have 2 resorts, with limited natural snow, mostly 1 groomed run per resort of between 800 – 1.4km depending on the weather. See attached picture.

I would consider myself a real newbie and currently have the following kit,
- Boots, Burton Grail, bought them new and they are a good fit and still almost new
- Bindings, Burton Cobrashark, was the only bindings I could get my hands on
- Board, Gnu 164cm, no idea what board model and year, got it for R300 which is about $30

We only have 2 shops in South Africa, with very limited stock when it comes to boards and bindings, as the market is way too small for them to stock a wide range. I am now in the position to buy a new board and bindings, although these will be either bought from eBay or some online store in the US that is willing to ship to South Africa. I don’t need the latest and greatest 2014 gear, due to our limited time we can spend boarding and also the shipping costs on a board almost equals the board price.

I do spend some time during the year on the ski deck, carpet covered deck where we can practise at one of the shops and then once, maybe twice a year will go to the resort.

My specs:
- Newbie
- Boarding, carpet deck and groomed slope
- Height 1.8m (6 Feet)
- Weight 230lbs

Based on my limited boarding time what is the best newbie board and bindings I should look at? Taking into account, no need to be 2014 gear, just good kit that will work for me and my conditions and the fact that I will have to buy and ship to South Africa.
 

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#2 ·
And why do you need new board and bindings? Whats wrong with current ones? I would say order a snowboard repair and tuning kit, keep your edges sharp, base waxed and on that bunny hill you'll ne just fine
 
#5 ·
For a new rider with such limited access to snow your probably good with what you have for now. The board is roughly the right size and Cobra Sharks are a decent binding. Some boards are easier to learn on than others, but it's probably not worth the additional expense when you already have something good enough to get you started.
 
#4 ·
Well there are a lot of boards that would work for a beginner, finding a board at a reasonable price that ships to South Africa is going to be the tricky part. I would shop around online and find a list of boards within your price rage that will ship to where you live and we can help you narrow things down from there. I have no experience with carpet decks so I'm not sure if some boards will be more suited to this. 164 is a pretty good size for you, but on such a small hill anything over 160 would probably work.
 
#8 ·
... this...

My guess... you'll want to switch boots before board. As you progress you may find the grails too soft.

I learned to ride on a 10 year old cambered Gnu. Wish hadn't sold it... all my current boards are rocker or rocker hybrids.
 
#10 ·
You don't need a wide board, you will find it easier to go from edge to edge on a normal width board.
As others said keep your money and holiday somewhere cold and rent a snowboard and when you rent you can work out what size and brands feel good and go from there.

I didn't even know South Africa had snow. Thanks for the Picture
:dunno:
 
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