Poster: A snowHead
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Been riding a hire 147 men's DC board the last couple of days & found it really great and easy fun for an improving idiot, so decided that I want to buy one. Will be for European piste use, all conditions & snowdome in UK. Now, the hire board is 2013 model & apparently a tad soft now, and also 147 specs say that my weight is at the upper end for a 147, as well as 147 being just under my chin. A 150 looks like a better bet, but would I notice that much difference from the 147? I felt one in the shop & it felt stiffer. Or, the "proper" alternative is the same model in the women's version at 149 but maybe softer flex?
It looks like online I could get a new 147, 150 or female 149 ( or even 153) - so do I just get the cheapest or nicest looking, or is there a benefit of one over the other? I have in the past ridden 147-152, but just don't know whether to go longer or shorter, or if it'll really make that difference.
Cheers.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I would look hard at the manufacturer's recommendation which are a good place to start, then if you can test the adjacent boards. Most UK people ride boards too small for them, in my experience. If you do that, the board tends to fold when you try to turn.
As far as length, you have the right answer hidden in your text, which is that the difference between adjacent sizes is not just the length. In fact the main difference is the flex, not the length. The length is used as an easy way to tell them apart. Burton and others have in the past produced boards all in the same length, just different flexes. That's why "board length calculators" are garbage, and why my garage has boards from 1.5m through 1.85m. Sure, 3cm itself makes little difference, but the flex difference may be night and day.
I regularly ride Lib Tech powder boards, and they have about 10 length/ width combinations for each model. I don't ride them all: I take a run on the recommended size, then either move up or down one depending on how it feels. The difference is night and day: certainly you can ride anything, but I'd never by choice waste a run on the wrong sized boards.
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If you have to buy without riding, that's risky, but I'd pick the board aimed at your type of riding and experience, for which you are close to the middle of the recommended weight range.
I'm not an expert on female specific boards: my women friends ride the same boards everyone else does (the board doesn't know your sex, I'd say).
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