Picking a board size!?!?

[Kleinsp]

Im new to snowboarding and am told that i need a size 155 board. im roughly 6'1" and weigh about 160. what would the effects be of riding on a 153 or a 158 if i cant find the board i want in size 155?

[david_z]

Originally Posted by Kleinsp

Im new to snowboarding and am told that i need a size 155 board. im roughly 6'1" and weigh about 160. what would the effects be of riding on a 153 or a 158 if i cant find the board i want in size 155?

What board?

If you go with too short of a board, you may not be able to set your stance wide enough especially since at 6'1" you're on the taller-than-average side. The reverse may be true if you get a board that's too long, but at you're height I'd say that's probably not going to be a problem.

It also depends what sort of riding you plan on doing, and where, and what board you choose.

[Kleinsp]

I was looking at trying to find a 2010 never summer evo-r and do freestyle/park

[david_z]

what size shoe do you wear?

There's an Evo-R out there in 153 for $369 that's a pretty fair price
Demo Sport - 2010 EVO-R

But I'd be wary of the shorter size at your height, and the narrow waist especially if you wear size 11+ boots.

If you wear 11+ boots try and find the Revolver-R it's the same basic board but a "wide" version of the Evo-R. Salty Peaks has one of these, not nearly as cheap at $430 but they still have 156 and 159. The 56 would probably work.

Never Summer Revolver-R Wide Snowboard at SaltyPeaks.com

Check out GearTrade if you don't mind gently-used snowboards, you might be able to find a pretty good deal there but their search function is kind of lacking so you have to browse through a bunch of other boards, too.

[Kleinsp]

Thanks! when i went and tried on boots i wore a size 11.

[david_z]

OK. With an 11 you don't need a "wide" snowboard; you could go either way.

Especially on a shorter length board like the 156, I think a wide might be preferably because the waist on a regular 156 is only going to be about 252- 254mm probably. The "wide" boards usually run about 10mm wider so they're less likely to give you excessive toe/heel drag.

I just checked GearTrade didn't see any Evo/Revolvers there but there are some cheap used Lib Tech Skate Bananas in 156w.

[Kleinsp]

Thanks man. i will check out those lib techs. i was gonna try and find a 158 evo-r too see if that might be bigger. I hear that if the board is too narrow then my feet will drag and slow me down but a wider board is a bit heavier and harder to maneuver.

[david_z]

Yeah u have to be careful with waist width - not just gonna slow you down if your toes drag too much it will interfere with your ability to carve/turn.

Anything under 257mm just seems very narrow to me but I wear size 11.

A 58 evo will be marginally wider, maybe 3-5mm wider than the 153.

[Kleinsp]

Hmmmm theres just so many different boards and factors that can effect my riding experience that i dont know what the best thing to pick would be. lol.
Some of the boards ive been looking at are those lib tech skate bannanas, NS evo/revolver, K2 WWW, Burton Blunt, Ride Crush, Ride Machete, and the Rome Garage Rocker.
I mean i started snowboarding last year and got the hang of it pretty fast from my experience wakeboarding and surfing but im not amazing at it yet. And the snow areas around East Tennessee arent that good, all we have is ober gatlinburg which is absolutely horrid, so sometimes i'll travel to cataloochee, snowshoe, ski beach etc...which means i'll probably be edging back and forth down the mountain and freeriding around on little to less powder since we hardly ever get real snow down here. maybe do a few jumps on whatever i can jump goin down the mtn. and hit the park some too (whatever we have for our park is mediocre. kicker, a box, maybe 2 rails or so.)
So pretty much, im just a poor college freshman thats desperate for some guidance in what i need. haha

[david_z]

yeah there's definitely a lot to choose from and probably several boards (or more) that will fit your needs.

Generally an all-mountain/freeride board is stiffer than a park/freestyle board, but within either of these groups, there are varying degrees of "stiff".

You want a little bit of everything... so try to find either a relatively soft all-mountain board (Ride Machete), or a relatively stiff park board. Either case should get you pretty much what you want.