[AntipodeanSam]

Hey guys, first time thread for me, I recently bought a custom flying v 2013 158W. I'm 5"11, weigh about 85kg and intermediate level snowboarder. Brit living and riding south island of NZ, mt hutt, queenstown, wanaka and a few club fields.

I have size 10 US feet, measuring in at 27cm using the wall to bare foot longest toe measuring system I saw on this forum. The board width at the inserts on my 12, -12 angle I ride is 27.1 Now I know the board is a little bit small for my weight but I wanted something a little easier to throw around and play on around the mountain while my girlfriend is learning on the mellow slopes.

I went mid wide because my other board is a cambered 159 Jussi '09 which has the process shape and I believe is also mid wide though is a little thinner (2-3mm) when I put them together, but for whatever reason (maybe my old moto's are big) I still have a decent 3/4 inch overhang on that.

So what I'm asking is
1.Was this a good board to buy for what I want to do? Butters, 180's, 360's, bit of off piste powder etc (Please no Burton hate, I like the company and the boards have treated me better than others I have tried over the 6 years I have been riding).
2. Is the mid wide going to be an issue? should I get a 160 regular width instead for the above? or just use my jussi for carving and ice and 158 CFV for playing about in park and nice conditions?
3. If I get some new boots with the reduced footprint will that effect any of the above?

Sorry for the long first post, looking forward to your feedback.

Sam

 

[Fergatron2000]

My take:

1. Burton hybrid camber is good on good snow. Ice, frozen crud and chunder??? not so much. That board should excell at what you want to do provided conditions are good. At 188lb your 158cm is on the shorter side so you gain playfullness and nimbleness in park but sacrifice stability when charging off piste and float in pow.

2. 10us size boots dont normally require wide boards. 12us and above from what I understand.

3. Boot reduction tech is supposed to reduce overhang.

Hope that helps.

 

[AntipodeanSam]

Thanks a lot Fergatron,

I guess my main worries is will the width of the board have a really noticable effect on my carving on groomers and pow as an intermediate rider? Or is this more something an advanced rider looking for a great deal of speed or control would notice?

Same with the length I guess, I know due to the sidecut and the width it will have a lot less effective edge, again will this give me much less stability or speed edge to edge as a competent intermediate mainly running down greens, blue, blacks and some easy off piste powder or again is it something that only somebody looking for high performance as an advanced/expert rider might notice?

I just don't want to invest a great deal of money in something that is going to keep putting me on my arse all the time again and washing out at middle speeds, being completely unmanageable. Yet I hesitate going any bigger than my 159 Jussi as I find this quite big and hard to rotate etc. and main desire for this board is to have some fun on good condition days.

 

[AntipodeanSam]

thanks snowolf, really appreciate the feedback, will give it a whirl when the snow arrives here next month and see how it goes

 

[AntipodeanSam]

Just looked on the burton website and it describes the 158w as a wide board but the guy selling it described it as mid wide. waist width is only 25.8 and the side cut is the same as the regular 158 but has less effective edge, so is this wide or mid wide? Most of the other wide boards I have looked at have 26cm and over. If only there could be some kind of regulation on what is what between brands!!!

 

[hktrdr]

Just looked on the burton website and it describes the 158w as a wide board but the guy selling it described it as mid wide. waist width is only 25.8 and the side cut is the same as the regular 158 but has less effective edge, so is this wide or mid wide? Most of the other wide boards I have looked at have 26cm and over. If only there could be some kind of regulation on what is what between brands!!!

It is all labels and semantics. Ultimately it boils down to what works and what does not - and that cannot be summarized in one word or measurement.
But very generally speaking, there is no way that you need a mid-wide (let alone a wide board) with your foot size. Only potential reason is if you do not care about edge-to-edge response and want something with more surface area for pow (say, because you are going shorter).

 

[david_z]

A 25.8 is not really "wide" it's just wider than most (my Blacklist is billed as a midwide at 260mm), I'd say that's pretty squarely a mid-wide, and you'll be fine on it..

 

[AntipodeanSam]

Cheers guys, thanks for all the input, I know it must get tiring answering so many questions about size on here, but I guess with there being no industry standard when it comes to this area, it really does vary between not only brands but even boards. I did my research and the general consensus was that with a 10 boot I could fit well onto a midwide if I wanted without really noticing much or any (at my intermediate level) loss in performance, then looked at some threads on here and got worried I'd be trying to manoeuvre an ironing board.

While I have some experienced ears, I was riding 18, 0 last season but want to switch to something a little more duck like 12, -12 to practice some more tricks and nail my switch down this season. I ride regular and have had four operations on my right (back) knee, is moving my stance outward going to put a lot more pressure on my back knee?

 

[ItchEtrigR]

I'm a little confused with this "wide slow edge to edge" as I have four boards all with different width measurements and while it is true that my widest board is the slowest edge to edge my most flexible board is the fastest edge to edge and my smallest board being the 2nd widest board is about equal edge to edge with my uninc which is the thinnest board of the bunch.

161 Brigade 253mm
154w Operator 254mm
159 Uninc 250mm
164 Slay blade 256mm


Is there something else that dictates edge response than just width?

 

[david_z]

I'm a little confused with this "wide slow edge to edge" as I have four boards all with different width measurements and while it is true that my widest board is the slowest edge to edge my most flexible board is the fastest edge to edge and my smallest board being the 2nd widest board is about equal edge to edge with my uninc which is the thinnest board of the bunch.

161 Brigade 253mm
154w Operator 254mm
159 Uninc 250mm
164 Slay blade 256mm


Is there something else that dictates edge response than just width?

Not really sure what's confusing, especially given your own experience seems to square with the what others have said. Regardless there will be variance between different boards due to other factors you're picking up on like torsional flex, sidecut, etc., but as a general rule it is safe to assume that any "wide" model snowboard will be slightly slower edge/edge, more sluggish, than its normal width counterpart.

 

[andrewdod]

I think youll be fine on that set up for what you want to do. Your right in the weight range, and the board will be nice and responsive at that shorter height for what you want to do. You should be fine on the mid-wide but in the future if i were you i'd stick with the regulars... theyre usually cheaper and theres more options out there. Me unfortunately i am a slave to wide boards because of my size 13 battleships...

 

[ItchEtrigR]

Not really sure what's confusing, especially given your own experience seems to square with the what others have said. Regardless there will be variance between different boards due to other factors you're picking up on like torsional flex, sidecut, etc., but as a general rule it is safe to assume that any "wide" model snowboard will be slightly slower edge/edge, more sluggish, than its normal width counterpart.

Thanks for the info, so the general rule is the wide version of the same board will be slower edge to edge? are we talking significantly slower in general? Or slower for someone with smaller feet? Or something only a 100 day a year rider will only notice?

I'm on the borderline of wide with my 12's so stuff like this is good to know for future purchases. Last year I bought a smaller 154w Operator that with my riding angles I could have probably gotten away with a regular. Unfortunately edge response never crossed my mind, my thoughts where "more riding surface" for the smaller board will be better for my almost 90kg

From my experience I was under the impression tortional (is that even a word?) flex had more influence over edge response and going wider 4mm to 6mm would hardly make a difference unless boards got dramatically stiffer as they got wider.

Any thoughts?