The111

Summer maintenance time!

Got my first board last winter. I have read tons of information about base/side edge angles, etc. I understand the concept fully well. However, how do I determine what edge angles my board currently has? The edge surface area is so small it seems like just eyeballing it, even with some kind of measurement tool, might be insufficient. I am fairly happy with the way it rides and would prefer to leave the angles both at whatever they currently are, only sharpen/deburr them with the proper angled tool. Snowboard mfrs seem to be horrible at listing complete specs for the boards they make/sell... so of course I can find nothing about the factory angles on my board.

And once I decide what angles I have... any tuning toolkits specifically recommended/preferred? So many to choose from... thanks!

Ballistic

almost every board comes with an 89 degree side edge.. its industry standard. Racers sometimes go with 88, 87 or even 86.

standard Base edge= 1 degree (measured from base)
standard side edge= 89 degree, measured from base

if u ride park, you can blunt the base edge to 2 or 3 degrees to make it less grabby. but then it will suck for edgehold

__________________
Vancouver, BC

The111

Thanks for the reply.

However this site says 0 and 90 is what most boards come standard with.
Snowboard Repair & Maintenance | Waxing & Deburring Snowboards

TofuSama

Base/Side Edge Bevel Tool +3 DMT diamond stones +file | eBay Is supposed to be a great tool. I'm planning on buying one. They're available from a few site online, one being tognar.com Adjustable is good.

Try to ask your manufacturer, or with an adjustable tool like the one above I think it can be figured out.

alternatevista

That ebay listing is from racewax.com where I bought all my tuning and maintenance gear from and I highly recommend them, the guides on their site are excellent too.

If you're keeping the same angle then all you need is the bevel tool + DMT stones. For just maintaining your edges you wont need anything coarser than the blue stone (325 grit), although it's nice to have the black just in case. You'll also need a gummi stone (I like one fine, and one slightly coarser to deburr your edges too).

If you set your angles on the tool to 89/1 and run it along your edges with a fine DMT stone you'll be able to tell if that is the same angle as your board because it will glide nicely and not 'dig in' anywhere. Most snowboard manufacturers are super helpful so I'd probably just email them first to make sure.

Other than that, if you're looking to keep your board maintained over Summer you just need to wax it up very liberally (including edges) to reduce the risk of rust / any other damage while it's in storage. Then when the season comes around give it a good scraping and you're good to go!

Ballistic

thats wrong. 1/89 is standard. I buy from Racewax also. They are expert. Call them and ask which fileguide (answer: 89degree)

__________________
Vancouver, BC

The111

No worries, I'm buying the adjustable tool recommended above from Racewax (0 thru 5 in 0.5 increments) and there is a method for finding what angle you have... it involves coloring your edges with a black sharpie and lightly running the tool across at increasing angle until you wipe the sharpie clean, then you know you are at the correct angle. So I'll try it out and see what I find... I'm sure you're right about the 1/89. Just thinking about it intuitively, 0/90 seems like it would be very unforgiving (catch too easy). Thanks again.

And you're right they seem to know what's up... one of their saleguys Marc gave me a bunch of good answers through email... so I'll be buying all my tuneup stuff from them.

Wangta

Hey guys,

I got the tool from racewax (borrowed from a friend) but am not sure what my factory board angles are. I've emailed RIDE but haven't received a response - so I'm guessing it's 1/89?

Wondering if I have to use the file to get to 1/89 or just the diamond stone to sharpen/de-burr (I think 1/89 is fine...though not completely sure).

__________________
--
2012 Ride Highlife 161
2013 Ride Slackcountry 164