Why de-tune the nose and tail of the board?

A snowHead

I've heard talk of de-tuning the nose and tail of new board but I don't understand why you would do this.
Could someone please enlighten me?

Cheers

A snowHead

ronaldothefrog, it stops it catching when initiating turns, I've never bothered although I don't sharpen them so by now it's probably the same as if I'd detuned. If you're looking at on piste carving it can be worth sharpening them to a higher side edge angle instead. This lets the edge feed in to a turn. Otherwise it's not worth bothering IMO. If you want to stay in the park then some people completely detune the whole board, makes it an back bottom getting past icy sections though Razz

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Why tune a snowboard at all? None of you ever actually use the edges...

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skisimon, I beg to differ and I can get down that blue quicker on a board than skis . . . you can try to catch me again next eosb rolling eyes

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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Lizzard, Next year I'll be riding something VERY different and deeply weird Cool

(y'all have to wait Toofy Grin

)

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Masque, Hurtle? wink

After all it is free

saxabar, cruel and untrue . . . I need something with sharper edges and a bit more flexibility wink

Masque, if she reads this, I'll bet you'll see her

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detuning is imo the only way to ride a board. I take all my new boards straight from the shelf and round the edge off the whole thing, a bit I leave/don,t detune so much from the middle to before the nose/tail just to help a touch on ice but the nose and tail are rounded off on my boards. But then I board like a lazy stoner so don,t listen to me.
Without detuning you,ll do all that carving and turning stuff people seem to do. My OH used to ride an 87 edge detuned slightly and she loved it but I'm slowly turning her into a jib monkey and didnt do her new board like it.

snow reports

You can de-tune if you want to but it is not necessary and not recommended for most snowboarders. It is one of those great big myths! Manufacturers put nice sharp edges on a board for good reason - to bite into hard packed snow and ice. This bite gives you greater board speed and directional stability. Leave your edges alone if you are into freeride. The board carves or cuts into the snow, rather than just slipping across it. Mind you, some people want to slip eg if you are learning new freestyle tricks and your landings are a bit dodgy, detuned edges will make the board more forgiving. Beginners may prefer detuned edges too but most hire boards are so knackered the edges should be pretty much non-existant anyway! If your edges are de-tuned, be careful!!! It will not help your riding technique. The edges are there for a reason and if you learn to ride on a detuned board you may struggle, through having learned bad technique, when you get on a board with proper edges. I is a bit like learning to drive an automatic car and then trying to drive a stick shift. Better start off with a stick shift and leave your edges alone!

Tune the nose and tail...? Ideally, you shouldn't have steel edges on the nose and tail of a snowboard (meaning the bit much past the end of the contact length). Many mass-market boards will have steel edges all the way around as it allows the manufacturer to feed the board into an automatic finishing machine without chewing up the end of the board; why not check your board to see if you have this 'feature'? wink

Better quality boards are finished by hand, and so don't require steel edges on the nose and tail. This is better for several reasons, including:

reduced weight/moment of inertia
safer (which would you rather have run into your leg?)
much easier to repair in the event of a split/delam

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

Shallimus is about right................................

There is no "right" way to tune a board, different types of riding require different ways of tuning. For all round riding detuning the nose and tail is a bonus. I always detune, though after the last base grind I kinda forgot, but out on the snow it was immediately obvious I had.............

Detuning the nose and tail to me is an obvious thing to do, if you work out how a board "works", and what you're aiming for. As most boards have a "lollipop stick" shape, anything much past the widest point of the board, nose and tail, edgewise, is along along for the ride, not being part of the effective edge.

So find the widest part of the board, go an inch or two nearer to the tail/nose and chamfer, 45degs. Be conservative (ie start nearer the ends than the middle) as it's always easier to file it off than put it back on, and try it out. What your looking for is a board that becomes less nervous (ie less "edgy".....), and slowly pull back the chamfer until taking a little more off has no effect. At this point you've possibly gone too far, but how do you find that point in the first place? And the board will feel more like a mate, and less of a possessed spirit trying to get you a free ride down the moutain in the meat wagon.

Especially in the average pisted resort, where most of us spend our time, dreaming of powder.....................

No two boards/styles/terrain are the same, so it's not an exact science. The effective edge for most is best left at 90degs. Leave all the "latest-trick-edge-gotta-have" to the people on the telly, who probably even have a "tarmac" tune............

Ride easy, and for all those heroes without a helmet, get one. Oh, and feel free to disagree, you know you want to.

John

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Why de-tune the nose and tail of the board?

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