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New Custom X doesn't handle as expected. Why?

7K views 21 replies 10 participants last post by  tyler243 
#1 ·
Until recently I have been riding the same board for about 8 years. It was a 160cm, wide, regular camber Salomon. I never figured out what the model is called, but I've been riding it since I started and it has served me well. This season I've been feeling fairly good about my riding, so after doing some research I decided I was going to treat myself to a Burton Custom X Wide 162cm. Well, I tried it out for the first time yesterday in the French Alps, and it was nothing at all like I expected.

From various reviews I had read that it was an extremely unforgiving board, but with great grip and an ability to hold an edge very well. I feel that I am a fairly competent rider, who usually goes fast, but is always in control, but based on the reviews I was nevertheless expecting to catch an edge or two, before learning how to control this board.

Well, I can safely say from yesterday's experience that there was not even the remotest possibility of that happening, not even going switch. In fact, my biggest problem was that I seemed to be unable to hold an edge at all and was slipping and sliding around like crazy.

It hadn't snowed in a few weeks and the pistes were all quite icy, so everyone seemed to be sliding around to some extent, but I felt like I had a lot more problems than most, and I could certainly handle it less well than I could with my old board. In particular I found that if I tried braking with my toe-side edge the board would slide from under me and I would fall.

Now I should probably mention that I am 178cm tall and weigh 78kg, so I realise that the board might be slightly on the long side for me. But the fact that it is somewhat lighter, more responsive and has a slightly narrower waist than my old board meant that it actually felt somewhat smaller than my old board. I also quite liked the increased stiffness the board had to offer, and it mostly seemed to do what I wanted it to, but this was all overshadowed by the fact that I was slipping around a lot, especially on my toe-side edge.

Now my question is why this could be, when I was told that one of this board's strengths is it's ability to handle icy conditions. Might the cause be improperly tuned edges? They don't seem particularly dull, but I'm definitely going to try and get them tuned before my next run.

Or could it be that fact that I am riding a board that is too long for my weight? Does the longer effective edge length mean that I am unable to exert enough pressure to hold the edge?

Or is it just that my technique is too poor? I can't really see what I might be doing wrong with a simple toe-side brake, but maybe it's just a matter of getting used to the board?

Any suggestions on what might be the problem will be appreciated. Many thanks.

TL;DR New Custom X doesn't behave at all as expected: Not sign of it being unforgiving, can't hold toe-side edge. Help appreciated.
 
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#2 ·
Hi Steve,

What is your foot size? If possible, post up a few pics that show your mounting setup, including s hot with your boots tightly strapped into the bindings and one of the binding positions without your boots.

More liekly than not you have a mounting issue that can be corrected with some tweakage.
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the reply.

My boot size is 13 and I have large cartel bindings.

Unfortunately I don't actually have a camera right now (not even on my phone), but I'll try and get my hands on one and upload a few pictures of the mounted bindings tomorrow.

I did consider whether the problems I was having are due to incorrectly mounted bindings. After I first experienced the lack of grip on the toe-side, I made a rushed attempt at moving the bindings further towards that edge. Currently the "gas pedal" does hang over the side of the board by about half a cm and my foot protrudes out quite a bit further still, but as far as I'm aware there is no toe-drag.

I'm wondering, maybe I tried to correct the bindings in the wrong direction. Should I have tried to move it further towards the heel instead?
Anyway, I'll upload the photos tomorrow.
 
#4 ·
It's not a matter of "not getting toe-drag", you need to have your bindings centered on the board. Take your boots, put them in the bindings, and then take a tape measurer and see how much overhang you have on both sides of the board. The overhang should be equal, if it's not, it's going to make one or both of your turns feel funky-chicken.

I got new boots, and was just not feeling the goodness. Then I realized with the new boots I had 3/4 of an inch more overhang on my heel-edge, which once I corrected that, everything clicked.
 
#5 ·
If you're stance width is too wide, it also makes a board harder to control. Stance width can be an inch or so wider than your shoulders, or if you measure from the middle of your knee cap to the floor that's also a good metric for stance width. It really all boils down to comfortability though.

As hobo mentioned, your bindings should be centered on your board with equal heel and toe overhang. What I do is I adjust the heel cup so my boot is centered on my binding, then I put the binding on the board and center that as well. Lastly I throw the boot in and ensure that there is equal heel and toe overhand with everything centered.

I have a pair of flow NXT-FSE bindings and no matter how I situated the base plate, I either had too much toe or heel overhang. The remedy here was to move the heel cup forward, center the binding, adjust the toe and heel sliders to match the width of the board, throw in a couple of bolts so I could gauge my boot overhang, then once it was perfect, mount the bindings completely. It's a similar process for all bindings.
 
#6 ·
Alright, thanks for the replies.

I definitely have considerably more overhang on the toe side compared to the heel, so I'll have to adjust that. My stance width might also be a bit too wide. Buying a measuring tape tomorrow to do some readjustments :)

I was wondering though, intuitively I would have thought that having too much toe overhang with respect to heel would mess up your heel side turns, whereas I am suffering from toe side turns. This is the reason why I had moved the bindings towards the toes in the first place. I'm not saying that I shouldn't be doing these readjustments, I'm just wondering whether the stance is the sole culprit.
 
#7 ·
Could also be that you have your mounting position wrong. The Custom X is a directional board so make sure that you did not move your bindings up in attempt to center your stance for equal nose and tail length.

That is a major no-no and I see a lot of people doing that on directional boards.

Also, I am positive that you do not need to tune your edges on a brand new board. That is not the issue. You need to keep in mind that this is an aggressive board meant for advanced riders. Might need to get used to it.
 
#8 ·
The Custom X is a directional board so make sure that you did not move your bindings up in attempt to center your stance for equal nose and tail length.

That is a major no-no and I see a lot of people doing that on directional boards.
Interesting statement...just wondering what your theory behind not centering your stance on a directional board is...I've been doing it on my last four boards, and haven't experienced any issues - to include both my 2011 Custom X and Custom Flying V.

Not trying to start an argument with you, just want to know the theory behind not doing it.
 
#12 · (Edited)
A new CX shouldn't need a tune right away, a wax after the first day might be a good idea.
I tried setting mine up with a centered stance when I first got it...way to unstable for me. I ended up keeping the 25 back stance.
Something that I noticed about my CX is that your control of fore/aft weighting plays a huge part on making it turn properly.
If you put weight on the nose of it it will initiate turns better, then snap out of the turn with weight on the tail.
The channel system (which I have) has the reference stance marked on it. 25mm back is the way it is designed to be ridden.
Trying a narrower stance would help you flex the board with less effort.
BTW I weigh 170lbs(77.1kg) and ride a Custom X 159cm wide set 25mm back with approx 20.5 inch(52cm) stance.
 
#16 · (Edited)
The +- on the back of the highback is your forward lean adjustment : as you turn it , the highback will go forward +,or back -.
Mine are set at 2 and I have experimented with them quite a bit. Mine are Cartels also and 2 is quite a bit of lean.
When I got new boots I tried backing off the lean to 0 and it felt very unstable to me.
Hopefully this helps.
 
#20 ·
As others have mentioned, every board type has a specific geometry. Directional boards will have a sidecut of which the most narrow point will be centered around the reference stance on the board. Yes, even ICS boards have reference stance points.

I don't know all of the technical engineering details, but the best way I can describe the feel of a centered stance on a directional board... it feels like you are riding switch when you are riding normal. That means it will actually ride better switch.

Centering yourself on a directional twin nets the same results due to sidecut. Basically put, when you center your stance on a board that is built with a setback, you are mounting your bindings forward. That's not a good idea.

To the OP: yes, start from reference stance and widen your stance evenly. You can move both bindings back for powder riding. Even if you move just the front foot forward, the ride will be affected. You can move just the back foot back, but it will still handle different. The difference just won't be as drastic as moving anything forward from reference.

I'm also not just pulling this from thin air. I have a directional board and I experimented with every stance imaginable.
 
#21 ·
Yes ,
If you want to widen you stance, you move the bindings toward the tips of the board by the same amount from the ref. point.
If you want to narrow the stance , you move the bindings toward each other ,also symmetrically .
Using more forward lean makes you keep your knees bent and increases responsiveness at the expense of your quadriceps getting tired faster.
 
#22 ·
This was actually one of the reasons I went for this board. I figured it would help me in my progression. I fully expected having to adjust to it. However I was expecting I'd have problems initiating turns or catching edges, whereas it turns out my main problem was the board slipping out from under me. Just didn't seem consistent with what I had heard from other people.
Stevitome, I had the same thing feeling when I first got my cx, you have to make sure you start your turns from your knees- that probably sounds wrong but stay with me, you have to make sure that you keep your body as over the board as possible so get down low, stay loose and maintain your body position centered over the top of the board and that will help a lot. Oh and what everybody else said about the binding set up too.
 
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