Board Characteristics

Author: George Cant - DesignCartel.com.au

Board Types

Snowboards fit into the following categories, although from brand to brand these terms may differ slightly.

Powder / Freeride

These boards are typically directional boards with setback stances designed for riding at higher speeds in natural snow conditions such as powder. Often these boards have tapered shapes, which means that the nose is wider than the tail; this difference in widths allows the nose to float higher than the tail in powder, resulting in a surf style feel.

All Mountain / Freestyle

These boards are designed to perform well all over the mountain - in powder, on the groomers, or in the park. They will generally be directional in shape and may be offered with either a setback or centred stance. Generally these boards will ride well in either direction allowing riders to ride switch with greater ease.

Park / Street

This is a true freestyle category with boards generally being twin in shape with centred stances. These boards are designed for terrain park or urban riding which involves jumps, spins, rails, and switch riding.

Board Shaping Characteristics

Shapes

Snowboards come in a variety of shapes but the two most common are:

• Directional boards have longer noses than tails and generally the board’s on snow geometry is different in either direction. Directional boards often have setback stances and are great for riders who like to ride in a variety of snow conditions.


• Twin boards have the same length nose and tail as well as the same on snow geometry in either direction. Stances are typically wide and centred, and the boards perform the same when ridden in either direction.

Length

If you start with a board that measures up around your chin, then chances are it’s going to be a length that will work well for you. If you go shorter, the board is going to feel easier to maneuver on packed snow and in the park, but may not perform as well in deeper snow. If you go with something a little longer it will probably feel more stable through turns and will charge through the bumps, lumps, and deep snow but you’ll sacrifice maneuverability for stability. In the end it comes down to the type of terrain you’ll spend most of your time riding.

Waist width

Waist width is the narrowest section of the board found between the bindings. Its really important that the waist width of a board matches your boot size as a board that is too narrow will give you toe and heel drag which will cause your boots to dig into the snow when making a turn. If the board is too wide it can feel slow from edge to edge and will take more energy to get into a turn. If in doubt go a little wider and you’ll be safe.

Effective edge / Contact points

These points are traditionally the widest points of the board, located at the tip and the tail. With some new board shapes there can be multiple points of contact down the sidecut. When entering into a turn the contact points are the first areas of the side cut to make contact with the snow and can be considered the drive or grip points of the edge.

Taper

Taper is the width difference between a board’s nose and tail. Typically a board with taper will have a wider nose than tail and a longer nose than tail. The physics of the shape allow the nose to float higher than the tail improving the boards overall performance and maneuverability in powder.

Stances

Stances are typically referred to as being centred or setback and come in a variety of stance widths.

• Centred stances are usually found on twin freestyle boards and the reference stance widths will usually be wider for stability.


• Setback stances are usually found on directional freeride boards to allow the rider to position themselves further back on the board in deeper snow.

Sidecut technology

A number of the new board shapes on the market are beginning to incorporate some type of visual edge technology. The concept behind this technology is to improve the board’s traction and control on the snow, especially on ice and hard pack. A good example of this type of technology is Arbor’s “Grip Tech” which can be found on the 2010 Draft, or Lib Tech’s “Magne-Traction”.

Camber and Rocker

If you take a board and lay it flat on the ground you will see that either the centre is raised or the tip and tail are raised off the ground. If the centre is raised off the ground then the board has camber and if the tips are off the ground then the board has rocker or reverse camber.

• Camber is designed to provide a pre-loading to the contact length of the board, keeping the contact length in constant contact with the uneven terrain. This pre-loading also provides increased pop for olies and gives the board an alert responsive feel. Camber has been the industry standard for years and these days still has a strong presence in All Mountain Freeride boards.


• Rocker removes the pre-loading from the boards contact length and provides a more maneuverable forgiving ride that performs well for street and park riding as well as in powder.

Materials and Construction

Cores

The main function of the core is to separate the external fiberglass laminates. There are several variations of wood, honeycomb, composites and foam that are typically used. The selection and placement of these materials mainly affects the weight and durability of the laminated sandwich structure. Flex is mainly controlled by the core thickness which is varied in different areas of the board to give different flex results depending on the target terrain type for the board. You’ll notice that the thickness of the board is a lot thicker under the bindings than it is out towards the tip and tail.

If you want to visually understand a boards core profile you can flatten the camber or rocker out of the board and look down the sidewall (from tip to tail) and see where the board increases and decreases in thickness.

Unfortunately you can’t compare one board’s core thickness to another because there are other factors at play with the laminates between different models.

Typically a board with a softer flex will be better suited to a beginner or a park orientated rider as the ride is usually more forgiving. Stiffer boards are more suited to big mountain riding or pipe riding as they typically hold a better edge through turns and in a variety of conditions.

Glasses

There are a number of different fiberglass laminates used in snowboard construction however to keep things simple the two most common would be biax glass and triax glass. The difference between these two types of fiberglass is the fiber orientation and the control they have over the torsion or twist of the board.

• Biax glass consists of two different glass fiber orientations, one running the length of the board and the other running across the board. Biax laminates generally provide a torsionaly soft feel to the board unless other laminates are added for torsion.


• Triax glass has three different glass fiber orientations. One runs the length of the board and the other two run diagonally across the board like an X. A triax glass construction will generally result in a more torsionaly stiff board.

Sometimes companies will use both glass types in a construction to try and achieve a torsional feel somewhere in between the two.

Typically a torsionaly soft board would be considered more forgiving and better suited to park riders or beginner riders, verse a torsionaly stiff All Mountain freeride board that is more stable at high speeds and will hold its edge better through turns.

Flex

Flex is controlled by the boards core profile and the laminates used in its construction. Flex also ties in closely with the boards intended use. For example, Freestyle boards typically have softer flexes than freeride boards. All boards have a different flex and the general rule is that the stiffer the board, the better the edge hold and stability. The softer the board, the easier the turn initiation and the more maneuverable the board will be at slower speed.

Bases (materials / structures)

Base materials are made of a polyethylene plastic and come in both extruded and sintered forms. Extruded materials are generally easier to maintain but don’t necessarily have the speed and performance of a sintered base. Sintered bases contain more pores allowing for better wax absorption and are often available with other performance enhancing additives.

Adding a stone grind ground structure to any base will provide excellent performance in spring time conditions.

Construction summary

There are several snowboard manufacturers out there building boards in a variety of different constructions and with varying degrees of quality. With that being said, most of the larger snowboard brands are working with large reputable manufacturers or manufacturing their own products. Most of these larger manufacturers have strict quality control procedures in place along with research and development departments that test and evaluate new materials or changes in construction or manufacturing process to ensure that the boards will meet the ever increasing physical demands of the end user (the snowboarder). With this being said, if you select a brand that produces boards with a reputable and trusted manufacturer within the industry then chances are that all the boards in the line will perform very well regardless of their price or the material make up of the construction.

If you have any questions, ask one of our shop staff on the Boardworld Forums.