 Poster: A snowHead
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I have only been boarding for a few weeks after skiing for years. Last year for the first time I had my own board. I bought a Morrow Dimension 168cm board from a German shop on Ebay and got Elfgen bindings included. £129 inc delivery for a brand new board & bindings - not bad.
I'm 6'5" tall and weigh approx 100 kg. I have relatively small feet (uk. size 10) for a tall bloke but I'm not entirely sure about setting up bindings on this here board. I have bought some new boots now - I have Flow Morphan II size 10's (euro 45).
I didn't feel I was as in control of the board last year as I have been when hiring gear in the past and I'm fairly sure that's down to the setup I have.
In the past I've had trouble when turning and my toes have caught the snow on the overhang, lifting the board off the snow and I lose an edge and... wipeout... So when I'm looking at guides on how to set up, it goes on about stance angles and so on and that seems, to a large part, to be dictated by the length of boot base and the width of the board, yes? What's the point having low angles if it means the toes/heels will overhang massively?
The problem with measuring and setting up the board is that the boots are firstly raised off the board by the bindings, which helps to improve the overhang position slightly, and also that the boots curve at th ebottom so it's hard to know where to measure to on the base of the boot!
The snowboard itself is 30cm at its widest point near the end, 25cm at the centre and 25.5cm at the point where the binding holes are. If I put the boots flat and take a perpendicular line straight down from the extreme front & back of the boots onto a piece of paper, the gap between the lines is 32cm. However, due to the curved heel and curved toe, the actual length of the boot is probably nearer 30cm.
Looking down from above the board, to set up the bindings so that the entire boot is lined up with the edges of the board would mean setting the bindings to about 55 degrees - clearly a daft proposition... However, if I set the bindings to a "normal" 18 degrees front, then the overhang of the toe at the front (when viewed from the side) is about an inch, which I can reduce to around half an inch if I slide the bindings "back" towards the heelside on the board. However, this concerns me that maybe I'm pushing the balance point too far back as well!
You see my probalem? I'm not sure if I'm letting the tail wag the dog here! It looks to me that the board can only be tilted to an angle of around 30 degrees before my toes will catch the snow again and that can't be right - I'll never get good at carving if every time I lean the board over I catch my toes in the snow, will I?
Any advice or friendly abuse welcome here!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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carled, in terms of the tail wagging the dog, your starting point should be finding your natural stance - as you say, this is about angles and width between the bindings. I won't repeat the principles here as there are other threads that deal with the detail - but the stance is the first thing to get right.
when putting the bindings on the board, you should put your (empty) boots in the bindings to ensure that the weight of your foot will be in the middle of your board. Reading between the lines of your post, i suspect that your bindings may be too far forward so that you have lots of toe-overhang but no heel overhang. If this is the case, not only will you have toe-drag problems, but your weight will be too far over the toe edge and therefore this could be contributing to your problems.
it is normal to have overhang on both the heel and toes sides but it should not be enough for you to make contact in normal circumstances. If moving the bindings back to reduce toe overhang means that your centre of gravity is over the heel edge rather than centred on the board, then you could try getting some riser plates to raise the bindings off the board and therefore allow you to get away with a greater degree of overhang.
I hope that helps.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You should have equal overhang of the toe and heel. You can adjust this is two ways: 1 - many bindings have an adjustable heel cup (the cup that the highback rests against), so you could try moving this back, or 2 - many bindings allow you to have 3 different positions on the baseplate where they screw in, trying moving this back. Also, make sure your boot is right at the back of the binding when you strap in - with no space between the bottom of your highback and your boot. One thing to remember is that you WANT at least 1/2 inch of overhang on either side - this lets you have better leverage on the board, so that you can turn easier and drive the edge into the snow for high speed carves. You also want less than 1 inch overhang per side, as this will result in toe or heel drag. A 25cm waist should be pretty much perfect for size 10 boots: I have uk size 10 boots, and have no problem with my 25.3 cm width board. Also, when measuring, make sure you are measuring the board width from the BOTTOM of the board, outside edge to outside edge, at the narrowest point.
If you are still having problems, it sounds like you are using a "duck" stance, with the front binding angle being only 18 degrees. In a duck stance, the front toe points towards the front of the board, and the back toe towards the back of the board. Try a "forward" stance, where both toes point towards the front. Start with +21/+9 and play around from there.
However, I really think your problem should just be that your feet aren't properly centered - you shouldn't have toe/heel drag problems with the board/foot size you describe.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Also, with angles, it's ok to have weird angles. Check out this site, near the bottom:
http://www.cs.uu.nl/~daan/snow/stance.html
Almost all pros use different angles, with duck stances ranging from 15/-3 to 29/-15, and forward stances from 12/0 (is this a forward or duck stance, I wasn't sure) to 33/9 and 27/15.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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carled, Tony Lane is right you need to start by finding your natural stance angle (I'd recommend following Neil McNab's advice on this). Then find a way to accommodate this with your equipment.
A board with a waist width of 25cm may proove a little bit of a challenge for size 45 boots and you might want to consider using risers like the Palmer Power Plates to give you a bit of extra clearance and avoid toe drag.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Before resorting to risers, try adjusting your heelcup so that you have equal overhang on both sides. This will often solve the problem. Your board/foot size is sort of borderline - you may have a problem or you may be able to avoid it. If you're still having trouble with drag, get risers.
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