As we've all come to expect from you, this was an incredibly thoughtful and unique take in the world of (mostly bland) snowboard videos. Great work as usual!
Dear Lars. I am Brazilian, 43 years old, and I started snowboarding 4 years ago. It is a platonic passion, I can't think of anything else. I am learning a lot from your instructions, and like you, I think there is no better feeling than carving (but I still have a lot to learn). I happened to find a channel by a gentleman called MIRATORI channel. A Japanese man who advocates carving in duck stance. And it is impressive what he can do, a little different from Ryan Knapton. What is wonderful to see, are the different versions of you professionals, using your mastery to promote this wonderful carves to the world, especially to me who lives in a tropical country. I would like (if possible) your opinion on this Japanese gentleman's riding style, showing the advantages and disadvantages of the way he approaches it (I think I am asking too much, right?! 😊) Keep up the excellent work. Cheers.
@@edmondlecampion7693thank you kindly!! Watch my video about positive angles. That explains all I have to say about it. The duck guys are awesome. But they aren’t carving well because of the stance - but despite of the stance!! There’s no bio mechanical advantage. The advantage lies in the ability to carve switch!! 👍 Snowboard Stances Part #3/3: Double posi & snowboard carving technique th-cam.com/video/htKNZS-3CBw/w-d-xo.html
@@edmondlecampion7693Also, changing stance angles once you can ride at a decent level is just a matter of getting used to it for a bit, it is not that you had to relearn. So learn carving with something that is easier than symmetric duck (or switch and freestyle stuff with symmetric duck or close to that) or even just both with whatever (non-extreme) stance feels best for you and once you feel you nail more carves or tricks than not you can try and see what some other stance makes easier and harder to do.
As always we really enjoy your videos and talks; one of the best parts is that you always bring in the variables which have everything to do with expectations and outcomes! This is also something we try to stress when putting topics out subscribers and every new person thinking about shedding, this is outstanding since many channels are only marketing and talk in generalities We would like to meet up one day in the future and chat with you? All the best Jim & Ted the OLD GUYS
You two!! :-) Thanks for the comment!! I really appreciate this coming from people with many more decades of life experience!! 🙂Yes, meeting you in person would be fantastic. Where do you live? I'm in Fernie, BC, Canada - close to Montana.
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel We are living and riding here in North Idaho about 65 west of the Montana line. So whitefish Mountain in Kalispell is roughly 3 hours away. We have both been to Fernie before so that’s a possibility also. We’ll talk it over and come up with a possible plan and see if works for you? Looking forward to it!
Once again you nailed it Lars ! I had to get another board for this season because my board last season had a nose too stiff for me and the shape did not engage fast enough for my taste and the nature of the runs of my resorts. Another priceless video ! Thank you !
Lars, the wealth of information you've collected on your channel should be required for every snowboard shop employee. I learn SO much from every vid and appreciate when you come back and correct or clarify yourself. Thank you for sharing! Also, there are no snowboard shops in the PNW USA or even Western BC that I know of that carry Stranda boards and I really like to try before I buy. Really, a pretty disappointing selection of surf carver shapes to demo on the market in general. Any chance you'd do a sales trip out here? I'd buy you more than a coffee!
@@polyglottenforpain wow! Big words!! Thank you so very much!! Hopefully I’ll eventually be able to spread the brand into that region. Shops don’t want to put in the work… they all want a strong marketing machine behind a brand with mega star pro riders, so that can sell the boards for them. They don’t want to and can’t rely on the mostly young and less educated staff to sell a small brand based on ride and manufacturing quality. It’s disappointing and makes it very difficult for brands like Stranda. We’ll see… 😎🙌
Also if you ride a true twin and want more flex in the front you can set your bindings back. This gives more leverage over the front making it essentially softer than the back. This also allows you to ride one board for freestyle and carving depending on how you set your bindings. Also riding a ++ stance will align your weight more towards the back. In this case you really want a softer front.
Lars welcome back! Thanks again for the new video, and yet again as with all great videos you make, the more points you raise, the more questions you provoke! With the idea that a soft nose allows release of pressure for edge change, how much does a taper shape affect the board? More specifically im considering getting a Capita Megadeath which has crazy hype for a free ride board, but yet only has 1mm taper between nose and tail. How should one read into its behaviour in a carve? Is there anything you can divulge or infer from this?
Hi and thank you for the kind words! That’s not what I meant to say about softer noses, and I hope I didn’t. It’s not about edge change and pressure, it’s about entering the turn on your front foot at presumably lower speed than you carry at turn exit. At turn entry a softer nose bends into the turn easier under the lesser force applied. Taper is its own beast…. It makes the tail looser and less ‚hooky‘, but messes with riding switch. It helps with turn entry in a way, too, since it makes that phase smoother and again, less hooky. The more taper, the more the board will want to finish the turn down the fall line rather than tracking more across the hill. So when riding steeps where you need to control your speed through turn shape, the very heavily tapered boards like some Koruas for example can feel quite fast and harder to control. But 1mm taper??? Sorry Capita, that’s just marketing!! They likely went with 1mm to state that it’s a directional board, „but hey, don’t worry about it, it’s just 1mm, you won’t notice that!“. So why then apply it?? The market is a little directional now. Taper is a thing to people. 1mm means nothing at a functional level, but at the marketing level it does… That board to me is a directional twin. It likely carves very well, but the whole shape is not a carving board to me. I’d say 4mm taper is the very minimum of what makes any difference for turning. It’s also relative to the board‘s length: 1mm taper on a 130cm long edge is different from 1mm taper on a 1m long edge…. Generally speaking I like to believe that every board carves… it’s all just different flavours. The Megadeath is likely a great carver for a FREESTYLER. ✌️
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel Lars thanks for your patience in correcting my misinterpretation of your explanation on the softer nose. Rereading it helped a lot. I only saw this video once unlike your others, which have been on replay over the last year. The Koruas are what I had in mind when I wrote this as I have been wanting one to replace my 2017 Jones Ultra Mountain Twin. I've tried riding posi posi on it last season and carve ok, but as I try uphill carves and try complete a full circle I find that I wash out at 270°. I've always wondered if that was from more from the spoon shape tips (since we are talking about cross section board designs) or from the twin shape/ lack of taper. Thanks for laying out the jigsaw pieces to complete the picture I'm trying to understand!
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel oh yes, please do so! Any tips on getting that thing to work better are appreciated 😊 Was a great way to pass the time until the Austrian glaciers are opening again
An interesting idea: what if you thought of the snowboard as kind of like two skis, one for the back foot and one for the front. Then you design the camber for each "ski" so that standing on it gives an equal pressure across the whole surface (instead of most of the weight under the foot). Using these cambers, you find the camber where the two "skis" overlap and take the average there to get the camber in the middle. I think this is sort of the philosophy of the V shaped flex... to get a board that when you stand on it has an evenly distributed weight on the surface of the snow (again instead of mostly under the feet with a flat board or in front of the front foot and behind the back foot with a traditional camber board). It sort of falls apart when you think of all the G's that go into a turn though, and I think this is why a traditional camber board rides much better on faster turns, but not as well on flatland freestyle stuff or at low speeds.
We have two legs on a board whereas skiers have only one. Traditional camber comes from skis where there is one point of pressure. Dual camber boards treat each leg as a point so kind of like two skis on top of each other. I wasn’t planning saying it’s sounds good until you think about where the force is directed in a high G force turn (moves towards the center).
@@soma808 the issue with dual camber boards is that the very centre of the board is also the part that somewhat dictates the point of maximum bend in a turn or better, maximum load of energy. That’s why rocker boards feel a bit dead, the centre doesn’t get compressed much in a turn, it’s already bent. So imo the centre of a board still needs to be the highest point of the arc. I think the smart way to do snowboard camber might be a profile where the peak of the arc is reached at the feet and then doesn’t rise any further towards the centre, but simply keeps that height. So much theory…. 😅😅😅
@@Justaride-Snowboard-ChannelWhat if one countered that issue of it already being bent in the center with material choice? Thus that that rocker part bends less with weight applied to the inserts resulting in a more even bending. Maybe even different near the edge than near the center, so that at slow speeds on the base the rocker is maintained providing float and easy spinning, while on edge with forces within the board being in different directions, the edge can still bend in an even arc. I wonder if any board designer ever glues strain gauges all over his prototypes to measure and then optimize flex behaviour in a systematic way, or its all just experience built up by trial and error. I kind of feel the latter. 🤔
Thanks a lot Lars!) The most informative video, as always (but what a pain to watch vertical vid on a laptop 😆) The question is if you choose one Stranda board that is great for both carving and powder, will it be a shorty, treesurfer or biru?
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel Isn't the Shorty the softest Stranda board? For powder sure, but how does it feel on groomers? and what about its torsional flex?
@@outsider9216 definitely not the softest Stranda board. I'd say Treesurfer/Bowlrider are a tad softer, but not by much. Torsionally Stranda is generally more oldschool and stiffer - all of their boards! Shorty is a carving dream.... I love it for its larger radius. If you end up ordering a Stranda, go to my link in the description, it'll help me out a bit and it's free shipping anyways. :-) Cheers!!
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel Got it! So it will be Shorty) I bought Biru 54 last year and it's an amazing fun board on groomers and slash but it's not the best choice for deep powder days with its pretty centered stance and short nose so thank you so much for your help! =)
Hello Lars, I discovered your channel last winter and you haven't stoped to amaze me with Insides into riding or board-design since... I'm planing to buy my first "new" carving board this season, I've ridden an old used board till now. However, I'm really not sure anymore about boardsize after watching most of your vids. I'm 55kg on a good day, and I feel that is rather light for most free-ride or carving boards. My old one was 162 but very narrow, so boots where dragging quite often... Do you have any suggestions or recommendations for where to look? As always, great Video!
@@joheli304 what boot are you in? There should be a US and a mondo point (cm) size written in there. Sounds like a US8, which lets you ride boards below 260mm waist easily, so you have a huge selection to choose from.
Was getting quite late yesterday and I'm not home to check what boot I have exactly. It ist some entry level Nitro, the Team TLS from two years ago, will look up boot-size as soon as I get home
Thank you so much for making this video! Do you know the Gnu Banked County? I do not know the flex pattern, but they talk about the magnetraction they only put in the back and that it makes for a grippy tail at the end of the turn. Do they really need the magnetraction for that? Could they instead just focus on the right stifness? They also talk about the magnetraction at the back giving the feel of a fin surfing. Is this feel edge hold or drag? A fin in a surfboard gives direction and drag, but turning you want to be on the edge with as little drag as possible. Magnetraction does look draggy to me? A smooth edge looks much more right
@@ancro2040 you’re on point. It increases grip by increasing drag….. With the banked Country that’s minimal. It’s much smarter than what they do on most other boards. Magnetraction to the degree Mervin do it is the illusion of a sharp edge for people who don’t want to spend time tuning. There are no race boards with that edge shape….. ;-) I’ll make a video about it!!
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel Thanks! That makes sence. I am really looking forward to that video. It is so good having you back after the summer season. Winter is coming ❤️
Magnetraction does work. Unless someone builts the exact same board with and without it, it is hard to quantify exactly, but comparing similar boards that are not particularly long or stiff, in my experience the ones with magnetraction do tend to have the noticeably better grip. Does it result in more drag? Due to the laws of physics, yes, in every situation. Can you measure it on a downhill race course similar to the difference of wearing a race suit or normal snowboard wear? Yes, most likely. Do you notice it outside a race context, especially when its the g-force you seek in your carving, not the top speed? No, not unless you flatbase over crusty snow, then it is indeed very noticeable. To me the advantages outweigh latter disadvantage (plus the other one that sidewall cutting on especially the strong magne traction of the early years is a true PITA). So on the one hand, even if they made the board stiffer for more edge hold, I would rather still have them add magnetraction for even more. On the other hand, higher stiffness also has disadvanteges and the highest possible stiffness is not "the right" one. As said in video, all design aspects of a board play together in a complex way. So all that matters in the end is whether the end result is something that works for your riding and you like or not.
@@elho001 Welcome back! It'a a lot about how intensely the mag has been applied. Mervin's first gen Banana Traction on the Skate Banana was bananas... overkill!! On boards like that I literally feel the loss of speed as they dig too deeply with too little effort. The mag has added a feature that increases grip, which I can no longer conrol - hence it's bad - for my riding!! - "Do you notice it outside a race context, especially when its the g-force you seek in your carving, not the top speed?" Yes!! G-force needs speed in order to be high. Magnetraction - when over done - kills speed very noticeably. - "On the other hand, higher stiffness also has disadvanteges and the highest possible stiffness is not "the right" one." Exactly! increasing stiffness by no means means increasing edge grip!!! The definition of edge grip is an even distribution of pressure along THE ENTIRE edge. Any rocker in the profile messes with that - in particular rocker in the centre. Hence, companies put magnetraction on boards to make up for that..... hence: magnetraction is mechanical grip rather than grip through pressure!!! Hence, it is a solution to a problem that comes from dysfunctional design in the first place. Small doses of it, like one bump under each foot, seem to be a nice little addition of grip that you hardly notice when not on really firm snow. And after all, you said it, whatever floats your boat!! No worries!! Does it help people? Yes!! Would those people also be helped with more practice and learning how to tune edges? Yes! Dumbing down life has lead to unhealthy diets and an overall sick society... :-) Why not keep stuff real?! Peace my dawg! 🙂
Great video. I agree with the feeling of some of these heavily milled out centers of some boards making the middle feel like a hinge. I dont like the turn or landing drops on boards like that. It seems making torsionally soft boards is popular right now and i dont like the feel.
It's always and only ever about making everything 'easy' and 'more accessible' for 'the majority'.... Even many top end freeride boards that are advertised as pro level don't feel like that. The rumours about pros having their very own boards built are piling up and have partially been confirmed. Of course Danny Davis never ever rode a rocker Burton Easy Living with an under 8m radius in the pipe... and he told us on the Bombhole. A great example is the Orca, too. I rode a 156, Lib Tech suggests for me the 153 or even shorter. But the 156 was already much too soft in the tail... I can't imagine Travis's 185 lbs on the 153 the way he crushes down steeps. This is of course just me assuming, which I shouldn't do... But for real, it would be so much nicer to see more honest marketing out there that explains ALL sides of a given design feature. Short/Fats being the absolute hype blows my mind! Everybody wants and needs one without ever looking at their boot size.... :-) Oh well! Here's my channel sharing some insights! Haha... Thanks for your comment. Much appreciated!!
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel completely agree with everything you said. I know it probably helps them sell better the way they do it but more honesty would just increase the general knowledge imo. But for increasing general snowboard knowledge, we have people like you lol. Thanks for all the videos.
@@Justaride-Snowboard-ChannelTBH it would be an appalling shame if the pros did not get custom special boards, that is the least a sponsor should do for his athletes. It likewise would be a shame if only "real" pro boards would be sold, that are stiff enough to take huge drops in alaska or go in a competition level pipe, but no one with below pro level riding could butter. Ryan Knapton does state that what he rides is wider and stiffer than the Twin sold with his name on it and yet I am convinced that that still is too wide and stiff for many of the people who buy it.
Last season you tried Freecarver, with the same flex as this Takaharu, softer between the feet and stiffer in the tips and you didn't like it that much as far as I remember 😅
@@outsider9216 correct!! The difference here is much more subtle and there’s two flex points between the feet instead of one. I’m super curious to try it….
Love it! So unflashy and down to earth, or snow. Need more of that. About board length.... I'm only about 168 @ around 68 kg, width a shoe size of EUR 41,5 or so. When buying a board and finally decided on what to buy and give a try I seem to end up questioning the sizing guides, nowadays(?). The board length I'm supposed to choose according to weght and height almost always feel so short. Is that a (questionable) trend or maybe a result of modern board tech? I'm mostly riding a Nitro Dropout right now, and a picked a 156, which was at the longer end of the suggestion span. It still feels a little bit small at times. The boards you show us here are waay longer than any allmountain board I've had suggested for me. Only because they are pow boards or other reasons/personal preference to?
@@JejjeP thanks for the comment and welcome to the club!! Have you watched my video on board length? If not, a must for you!! I’m in the same boat. I’ve hardly ever owned a board that according to the manufacturer was appropriate for me….. They just want things to rise effortlessly for the masses and often things get a little dumbed down. Snowboard Length 101 // What's the right board length for me? th-cam.com/video/BNOtFxPhxj4/w-d-xo.html
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel I have not, but I sure will! :) I could of course just order my board a little longer than they say, trusting my own feeling and instinct, but I'm a bit worried that if it is actually made to be ridden short it will not behave the way it was intended and is reviewed, being stiffer than intended for example
(I'm clearly the daily driver/quiver killer/ allmountain guy at this point of my livfe, a couple of weeks or so on snow per season. Want to be able to ride everything (except maybe the park, unless the easy line counts. Rather jumping sidehits and wind lips) on one board. I find that has it's charm, so I'm not sad about not having the money or time for a quiver.
@@JejjeP I have a friend who is very sensitive to board length, because he move fore-aft a lot when turning. Expert rider, Level 4 CASI instructor, one of the best snowboarders I know. He's got your dimensions, kinda to the T... He hates most things under 158 and prefers 160+. He rides a Stranda Shorty in a 164, because the 159 felt too short... His appreciation of length wouldn't ever be recommended anywhere. Not in any shop, not by any manufacturer. I can only say congrats to realizing the stability you get from more length!! Not many people dare to even think that way... So forget about it! Buy whatever you want in the length you want, you'll likely be fine.
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel hehe.. thanks for giving me the guts to go with my gut (eeh) feeling! I guess part of the problem with chosing one board for me is that i REALLY want everything in one board - and that might actually BE impossible 😀 I believe my friend think of me as one who turns, makes round carves, a lot - and does that pretty well. But I'm also a party board rider, so to speak, I love playing around with slashes, pretending to be surfing, or sidehitting something (Nothing massive, just playing around). For the turning I could go for a slightly longer board that holds an edge in enthusiastic all in carves. But I have also had a lot of fun on my old wide rocker (directional) twin.
There's a brand here in the UK called Death Label. There super noodly and sell their boards with the promise of bamboo within the boards. Quite where within the board it is, god knows. I think it's a Chinese brand, not quite sure. But for me personally their bloody awful things to ride.
Too soft is a thing…. No stability! Material choice is not that important in that regard, but material thickness is! Bamboo is a great wood to be used in boards.
@@mooncat.787 never heard that name before. Chinese and made in China is also irrelevant. All K2, Ride, Stranda, lots of Nidecker and Burton (etc.) and most Gentemstick boards are made in China. All great products. It depends on the factory!! There are excellent ones and mediocre ones… like with everything in every country. Stranda/Gentem come from GP87, and the quality is better incredible. Also, of course a dissatisfying board can be super good quality and vice versa… Not sure about your brand there.
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel It's a strange one with the Death Label brand. Off season I ride at an indoor slope here in Manchester. I don't want to mention/name the shop that sells the brand within the complex because I have a serious bone of contention with a particular board they are selling. The top sheet of the contentious board has an appalling image on it that I'm personally taking up with the owner. Anyways that's not the issue here. This particular shop "claim" they are the sole supplier of the brand in the UK. Maybe this is why you or nobody else has heard of the brand ? Whether this is true or not I personally don't know. All I know is their super soft, look and feel of very low quality with an equally low quality ride. PS. Sorry for the small rant there Lars. I'll try my best to stay with the narrative in future. I'll buy you a coffee. How's that ?
@@mooncat.787 love a coffee! :-) Thank you so much! Yeah, frustration of that kind is no fun. Luckily there's enough great product out there to change to! :-)
As we've all come to expect from you, this was an incredibly thoughtful and unique take in the world of (mostly bland) snowboard videos. Great work as usual!
Hi Josh!! 🙂 And thank you very much! Glad to see the Justaride veterans back at the table! ✌️🤙 Looks like we sorted out your Cheater order, too!! 👍😎
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel Thank you, Mats and Warren for the help! Looking forward to giving it a go soon!
Dear Lars. I am Brazilian, 43 years old, and I started snowboarding 4 years ago. It is a platonic passion, I can't think of anything else. I am learning a lot from your instructions, and like you, I think there is no better feeling than carving (but I still have a lot to learn). I happened to find a channel by a gentleman called MIRATORI channel. A Japanese man who advocates carving in duck stance. And it is impressive what he can do, a little different from Ryan Knapton. What is wonderful to see, are the different versions of you professionals, using your mastery to promote this wonderful carves to the world, especially to me who lives in a tropical country. I would like (if possible) your opinion on this Japanese gentleman's riding style, showing the advantages and disadvantages of the way he approaches it (I think I am asking too much, right?! 😊) Keep up the excellent work. Cheers.
@@edmondlecampion7693thank you kindly!! Watch my video about positive angles. That explains all I have to say about it. The duck guys are awesome. But they aren’t carving well because of the stance - but despite of the stance!! There’s no bio mechanical advantage. The advantage lies in the ability to carve switch!! 👍 Snowboard Stances Part #3/3: Double posi & snowboard carving technique
th-cam.com/video/htKNZS-3CBw/w-d-xo.html
Heeeey! I'm a Brazilian snowboarder too! Started at 36yo and also obsessed with it
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel thank you very much.
@@fetokun3718 Nice man. There is no better Sport.
@@edmondlecampion7693Also, changing stance angles once you can ride at a decent level is just a matter of getting used to it for a bit, it is not that you had to relearn. So learn carving with something that is easier than symmetric duck (or switch and freestyle stuff with symmetric duck or close to that) or even just both with whatever (non-extreme) stance feels best for you and once you feel you nail more carves or tricks than not you can try and see what some other stance makes easier and harder to do.
As always we really enjoy your videos and talks; one of the best parts is that you always bring in the variables which have everything to do with expectations and outcomes! This is also something we try to stress when putting topics out subscribers and every new person thinking about shedding, this is outstanding since many channels are only marketing and talk in generalities We would like to meet up one day in the future and chat with you?
All the best Jim & Ted the OLD GUYS
You two!! :-) Thanks for the comment!! I really appreciate this coming from people with many more decades of life experience!! 🙂Yes, meeting you in person would be fantastic. Where do you live? I'm in Fernie, BC, Canada - close to Montana.
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel We are living and riding here in North Idaho about 65 west of the Montana line. So whitefish Mountain in Kalispell is roughly 3 hours away. We have both been to Fernie before so that’s a possibility also. We’ll talk it over and come up with a possible plan and see if works for you? Looking forward to it!
Yayyyyyy!
The carving master is back 🤩
Thank you for another valuable class, Lars! 👍🤙🤙🤙
Lars is BACK , baby! Bring on the stooooooooke.
Best comment!! :-) Hahaha.... Thank you!
Once again you nailed it Lars ! I had to get another board for this season because my board last season had a nose too stiff for me and the shape did not engage fast enough for my taste and the nature of the runs of my resorts. Another priceless video ! Thank you !
Thanks, Martin! Always appreciate your stoke! :-)
Lars, the wealth of information you've collected on your channel should be required for every snowboard shop employee. I learn SO much from every vid and appreciate when you come back and correct or clarify yourself. Thank you for sharing!
Also, there are no snowboard shops in the PNW USA or even Western BC that I know of that carry Stranda boards and I really like to try before I buy. Really, a pretty disappointing selection of surf carver shapes to demo on the market in general. Any chance you'd do a sales trip out here? I'd buy you more than a coffee!
@@polyglottenforpain wow! Big words!! Thank you so very much!!
Hopefully I’ll eventually be able to spread the brand into that region. Shops don’t want to put in the work… they all want a strong marketing machine behind a brand with mega star pro riders, so that can sell the boards for them. They don’t want to and can’t rely on the mostly young and less educated staff to sell a small
brand based on ride and manufacturing quality. It’s disappointing and makes it very difficult for brands like Stranda. We’ll see… 😎🙌
enjoy video...great info...this chanel brings me lots of clearty and open new world of snowboarding. keep going. lots of love and support
Might be your best material yet
Thanks boss! 😎
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel I’m now gonna go sweat my ass off and get out of breath flexing all my boards.
Also if you ride a true twin and want more flex in the front you can set your bindings back. This gives more leverage over the front making it essentially softer than the back. This also allows you to ride one board for freestyle and carving depending on how you set your bindings. Also riding a ++ stance will align your weight more towards the back. In this case you really want a softer front.
Very interesting and informative as always 😁
Thanks man!!
Lars welcome back! Thanks again for the new video, and yet again as with all great videos you make, the more points you raise, the more questions you provoke!
With the idea that a soft nose allows release of pressure for edge change, how much does a taper shape affect the board? More specifically im considering getting a Capita Megadeath which has crazy hype for a free ride board, but yet only has 1mm taper between nose and tail. How should one read into its behaviour in a carve? Is there anything you can divulge or infer from this?
Hi and thank you for the kind words!
That’s not what I meant to say about softer noses, and I hope I didn’t. It’s not about edge change and pressure, it’s about entering the turn on your front foot at presumably lower speed than you carry at turn exit. At turn entry a softer nose bends into the turn easier under the lesser force applied.
Taper is its own beast…. It makes the tail looser and less ‚hooky‘, but messes with riding switch. It helps with turn entry in a way, too, since it makes that phase smoother and again, less hooky. The more taper, the more the board will want to finish the turn down the fall line rather than tracking more across the hill. So when riding steeps where you need to control your speed through turn shape, the very heavily tapered boards like some Koruas for example can feel quite fast and harder to control.
But 1mm taper??? Sorry Capita, that’s just marketing!! They likely went with 1mm to state that it’s a directional board, „but hey, don’t worry about it, it’s just 1mm, you won’t notice that!“. So why then apply it?? The market is a little directional now. Taper is a thing to people. 1mm means nothing at a functional level, but at the marketing level it does… That board to me is a directional twin. It likely carves very well, but the whole shape is not a carving board to me. I’d say 4mm taper is the very minimum of what makes any difference for turning. It’s also relative to the board‘s length: 1mm taper on a 130cm long edge is different from 1mm taper on a 1m long edge…. Generally speaking I like to believe that every board carves… it’s all just different flavours. The Megadeath is likely a great carver for a FREESTYLER. ✌️
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel Lars thanks for your patience in correcting my misinterpretation of your explanation on the softer nose. Rereading it helped a lot. I only saw this video once unlike your others, which have been on replay over the last year.
The Koruas are what I had in mind when I wrote this as I have been wanting one to replace my 2017 Jones Ultra Mountain Twin. I've tried riding posi posi on it last season and carve ok, but as I try uphill carves and try complete a full circle I find that I wash out at 270°. I've always wondered if that was from more from the spoon shape tips (since we are talking about cross section board designs) or from the twin shape/ lack of taper.
Thanks for laying out the jigsaw pieces to complete the picture I'm trying to understand!
Another really great video! How did your surfskate journey go over the summer?
Dang, I gotta make a video on that! I didn't do it as much as I wanted to, but I've become pretty efficient doing it switch!! 🙂 Thanks for asking!!
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel oh yes, please do so! Any tips on getting that thing to work better are appreciated 😊
Was a great way to pass the time until the Austrian glaciers are opening again
An interesting idea: what if you thought of the snowboard as kind of like two skis, one for the back foot and one for the front. Then you design the camber for each "ski" so that standing on it gives an equal pressure across the whole surface (instead of most of the weight under the foot). Using these cambers, you find the camber where the two "skis" overlap and take the average there to get the camber in the middle. I think this is sort of the philosophy of the V shaped flex... to get a board that when you stand on it has an evenly distributed weight on the surface of the snow (again instead of mostly under the feet with a flat board or in front of the front foot and behind the back foot with a traditional camber board). It sort of falls apart when you think of all the G's that go into a turn though, and I think this is why a traditional camber board rides much better on faster turns, but not as well on flatland freestyle stuff or at low speeds.
@@soma808 I’m not sure I can follow….
We have two legs on a board whereas skiers have only one. Traditional camber comes from skis where there is one point of pressure.
Dual camber boards treat each leg as a point so kind of like two skis on top of each other.
I wasn’t planning saying it’s sounds good until you think about where the force is directed in a high G force turn (moves towards the center).
@@soma808 the issue with dual camber boards is that the very centre of the board is also the part that somewhat dictates the point of maximum bend in a turn or better, maximum load of energy. That’s why rocker boards feel a bit dead, the centre doesn’t get compressed much in a turn, it’s already bent. So imo the centre of a board still needs to be the highest point of the arc. I think the smart way to do snowboard camber might be a profile where the peak of the arc is reached at the feet and then doesn’t rise any further towards the centre, but simply keeps that height. So much theory…. 😅😅😅
@@Justaride-Snowboard-ChannelWhat if one countered that issue of it already being bent in the center with material choice? Thus that that rocker part bends less with weight applied to the inserts resulting in a more even bending.
Maybe even different near the edge than near the center, so that at slow speeds on the base the rocker is maintained providing float and easy spinning, while on edge with forces within the board being in different directions, the edge can still bend in an even arc.
I wonder if any board designer ever glues strain gauges all over his prototypes to measure and then optimize flex behaviour in a systematic way, or its all just experience built up by trial and error. I kind of feel the latter. 🤔
Thanks a lot Lars!) The most informative video, as always (but what a pain to watch vertical vid on a laptop 😆)
The question is if you choose one Stranda board that is great for both carving and powder, will it be a shorty, treesurfer or biru?
@@outsider9216 Shorty all day.
Vertical video because I’m standing and there’s nothing happening left and right….
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel Isn't the Shorty the softest Stranda board? For powder sure, but how does it feel on groomers? and what about its torsional flex?
@@outsider9216 definitely not the softest Stranda board. I'd say Treesurfer/Bowlrider are a tad softer, but not by much. Torsionally Stranda is generally more oldschool and stiffer - all of their boards! Shorty is a carving dream.... I love it for its larger radius.
If you end up ordering a Stranda, go to my link in the description, it'll help me out a bit and it's free shipping anyways. :-) Cheers!!
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel Got it! So it will be Shorty) I bought Biru 54 last year and it's an amazing fun board on groomers and slash but it's not the best choice for deep powder days with its pretty centered stance and short nose so thank you so much for your help! =)
Hello Lars, I discovered your channel last winter and you haven't stoped to amaze me with Insides into riding or board-design since...
I'm planing to buy my first "new" carving board this season, I've ridden an old used board till now. However, I'm really not sure anymore about boardsize after watching most of your vids. I'm 55kg on a good day, and I feel that is rather light for most free-ride or carving boards. My old one was 162 but very narrow, so boots where dragging quite often...
Do you have any suggestions or recommendations for where to look?
As always, great Video!
Thank you so much! How tall are you and what's your boot size?
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel
I'm about 1.70m an have a European 40 Boot-Size, not sure what that is in the US
@@joheli304 what boot are you in? There should be a US and a mondo point (cm) size written in there. Sounds like a US8, which lets you ride boards below 260mm waist easily, so you have a huge selection to choose from.
Was getting quite late yesterday and I'm not home to check what boot I have exactly. It ist some entry level Nitro, the Team TLS from two years ago, will look up boot-size as soon as I get home
Thank you so much for making this video!
Do you know the Gnu Banked County?
I do not know the flex pattern, but they talk about the magnetraction they only put in the back and that it makes for a grippy tail at the end of the turn. Do they really need the magnetraction for that? Could they instead just focus on the right stifness? They also talk about the magnetraction at the back giving the feel of a fin surfing. Is this feel edge hold or drag? A fin in a surfboard gives direction and drag, but turning you want to be on the edge with as little drag as possible. Magnetraction does look draggy to me? A smooth edge looks much more right
@@ancro2040 you’re on point. It increases grip by increasing drag….. With the banked Country that’s minimal. It’s much smarter than what they do on most other boards. Magnetraction to the degree Mervin do it is the illusion of a sharp edge for people who don’t want to spend time tuning. There are no race boards with that edge shape….. ;-) I’ll make a video about it!!
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel Thanks! That makes sence. I am really looking forward to that video.
It is so good having you back after the summer season. Winter is coming ❤️
@@ancro2040 haha, thanks for saying that!! :-)
Magnetraction does work. Unless someone builts the exact same board with and without it, it is hard to quantify exactly, but comparing similar boards that are not particularly long or stiff, in my experience the ones with magnetraction do tend to have the noticeably better grip.
Does it result in more drag? Due to the laws of physics, yes, in every situation. Can you measure it on a downhill race course similar to the difference of wearing a race suit or normal snowboard wear? Yes, most likely. Do you notice it outside a race context, especially when its the g-force you seek in your carving, not the top speed? No, not unless you flatbase over crusty snow, then it is indeed very noticeable.
To me the advantages outweigh latter disadvantage (plus the other one that sidewall cutting on especially the strong magne traction of the early years is a true PITA).
So on the one hand, even if they made the board stiffer for more edge hold, I would rather still have them add magnetraction for even more. On the other hand, higher stiffness also has disadvanteges and the highest possible stiffness is not "the right" one.
As said in video, all design aspects of a board play together in a complex way. So all that matters in the end is whether the end result is something that works for your riding and you like or not.
@@elho001 Welcome back!
It'a a lot about how intensely the mag has been applied. Mervin's first gen Banana Traction on the Skate Banana was bananas... overkill!! On boards like that I literally feel the loss of speed as they dig too deeply with too little effort. The mag has added a feature that increases grip, which I can no longer conrol - hence it's bad - for my riding!!
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"Do you notice it outside a race context, especially when its the g-force you seek in your carving, not the top speed?"
Yes!! G-force needs speed in order to be high. Magnetraction - when over done - kills speed very noticeably.
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"On the other hand, higher stiffness also has disadvanteges and the highest possible stiffness is not "the right" one."
Exactly! increasing stiffness by no means means increasing edge grip!!! The definition of edge grip is an even distribution of pressure along THE ENTIRE edge. Any rocker in the profile messes with that - in particular rocker in the centre. Hence, companies put magnetraction on boards to make up for that..... hence: magnetraction is mechanical grip rather than grip through pressure!!! Hence, it is a solution to a problem that comes from dysfunctional design in the first place.
Small doses of it, like one bump under each foot, seem to be a nice little addition of grip that you hardly notice when not on really firm snow. And after all, you said it, whatever floats your boat!! No worries!!
Does it help people? Yes!! Would those people also be helped with more practice and learning how to tune edges? Yes! Dumbing down life has lead to unhealthy diets and an overall sick society... :-) Why not keep stuff real?!
Peace my dawg! 🙂
Great video. I agree with the feeling of some of these heavily milled out centers of some boards making the middle feel like a hinge. I dont like the turn or landing drops on boards like that. It seems making torsionally soft boards is popular right now and i dont like the feel.
It's always and only ever about making everything 'easy' and 'more accessible' for 'the majority'.... Even many top end freeride boards that are advertised as pro level don't feel like that. The rumours about pros having their very own boards built are piling up and have partially been confirmed. Of course Danny Davis never ever rode a rocker Burton Easy Living with an under 8m radius in the pipe... and he told us on the Bombhole. A great example is the Orca, too. I rode a 156, Lib Tech suggests for me the 153 or even shorter. But the 156 was already much too soft in the tail... I can't imagine Travis's 185 lbs on the 153 the way he crushes down steeps. This is of course just me assuming, which I shouldn't do... But for real, it would be so much nicer to see more honest marketing out there that explains ALL sides of a given design feature. Short/Fats being the absolute hype blows my mind! Everybody wants and needs one without ever looking at their boot size.... :-) Oh well! Here's my channel sharing some insights! Haha...
Thanks for your comment. Much appreciated!!
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel completely agree with everything you said. I know it probably helps them sell better the way they do it but more honesty would just increase the general knowledge imo. But for increasing general snowboard knowledge, we have people like you lol. Thanks for all the videos.
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel... spot on
@@Diesel0807 thanks man!!! 🙏🙏
@@Justaride-Snowboard-ChannelTBH it would be an appalling shame if the pros did not get custom special boards, that is the least a sponsor should do for his athletes.
It likewise would be a shame if only "real" pro boards would be sold, that are stiff enough to take huge drops in alaska or go in a competition level pipe, but no one with below pro level riding could butter.
Ryan Knapton does state that what he rides is wider and stiffer than the Twin sold with his name on it and yet I am convinced that that still is too wide and stiff for many of the people who buy it.
Last season you tried Freecarver, with the same flex as this Takaharu, softer between the feet and stiffer in the tips and you didn't like it that much as far as I remember 😅
@@outsider9216 correct!! The difference here is much more subtle and there’s two flex points between the feet instead of one. I’m super curious to try it….
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel We're super curious to hear your feedback 😁
Love it! So unflashy and down to earth, or snow. Need more of that. About board length.... I'm only about 168 @ around 68 kg, width a shoe size of EUR 41,5 or so. When buying a board and finally decided on what to buy and give a try I seem to end up questioning the sizing guides, nowadays(?). The board length I'm supposed to choose according to weght and height almost always feel so short. Is that a (questionable) trend or maybe a result of modern board tech? I'm mostly riding a Nitro Dropout right now, and a picked a 156, which was at the longer end of the suggestion span. It still feels a little bit small at times. The boards you show us here are waay longer than any allmountain board I've had suggested for me. Only because they are pow boards or other reasons/personal preference to?
@@JejjeP thanks for the comment and welcome to the club!! Have you watched my video on board length? If not, a must for you!! I’m in the same boat. I’ve hardly ever owned a board that according to the manufacturer was appropriate for me….. They just want things to rise effortlessly for the masses and often things get a little dumbed down. Snowboard Length 101 // What's the right board length for me?
th-cam.com/video/BNOtFxPhxj4/w-d-xo.html
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel I have not, but I sure will! :) I could of course just order my board a little longer than they say, trusting my own feeling and instinct, but I'm a bit worried that if it is actually made to be ridden short it will not behave the way it was intended and is reviewed, being stiffer than intended for example
(I'm clearly the daily driver/quiver killer/ allmountain guy at this point of my livfe, a couple of weeks or so on snow per season. Want to be able to ride everything (except maybe the park, unless the easy line counts. Rather jumping sidehits and wind lips) on one board. I find that has it's charm, so I'm not sad about not having the money or time for a quiver.
@@JejjeP I have a friend who is very sensitive to board length, because he move fore-aft a lot when turning. Expert rider, Level 4 CASI instructor, one of the best snowboarders I know. He's got your dimensions, kinda to the T... He hates most things under 158 and prefers 160+. He rides a Stranda Shorty in a 164, because the 159 felt too short... His appreciation of length wouldn't ever be recommended anywhere. Not in any shop, not by any manufacturer. I can only say congrats to realizing the stability you get from more length!! Not many people dare to even think that way... So forget about it! Buy whatever you want in the length you want, you'll likely be fine.
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel hehe.. thanks for giving me the guts to go with my gut (eeh) feeling! I guess part of the problem with chosing one board for me is that i REALLY want everything in one board - and that might actually BE impossible 😀 I believe my friend think of me as one who turns, makes round carves, a lot - and does that pretty well. But I'm also a party board rider, so to speak, I love playing around with slashes, pretending to be surfing, or sidehitting something (Nothing massive, just playing around). For the turning I could go for a slightly longer board that holds an edge in enthusiastic all in carves. But I have also had a lot of fun on my old wide rocker (directional) twin.
POC is your sponsor now?
I wish!! 😅 But I love their gear and I do have pro deal access. Good stuff!!
Hey Lars where's the coffee contributions ? If anybody else knows please chime in.
It's the first link in the video description 😊
@@TomerGazit Thanking you kindly Sir.
i found it!
There's a brand here in the UK called Death Label. There super noodly and sell their boards with the promise of bamboo within the boards. Quite where within the board it is, god knows.
I think it's a Chinese brand, not quite sure. But for me personally their bloody awful things to ride.
Too soft is a thing…. No stability! Material choice is not that important in that regard, but material thickness is! Bamboo is a great wood to be used in boards.
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel Do you know of the brand Lars ? I'd love to hear what you think of them.
@@mooncat.787 never heard that name before. Chinese and made in China is also irrelevant. All K2, Ride, Stranda, lots of Nidecker and Burton (etc.) and most Gentemstick boards are made in China. All great products. It depends on the factory!! There are excellent ones and mediocre ones… like with everything in every country. Stranda/Gentem come from GP87, and the quality is better incredible.
Also, of course a dissatisfying board can be super good quality and vice versa… Not sure about your brand there.
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel It's a strange one with the Death Label brand. Off season I ride at an indoor slope here in Manchester. I don't want to mention/name the shop that sells the brand within the complex because I have a serious bone of contention with a particular board they are selling.
The top sheet of the contentious board has an appalling image on it that I'm personally taking up with the owner.
Anyways that's not the issue here. This particular shop "claim" they are the sole supplier of the brand in the UK. Maybe this is why you or nobody else has heard of the brand ?
Whether this is true or not I personally don't know. All I know is their super soft, look and feel of very low quality with an equally low quality ride.
PS. Sorry for the small rant there Lars. I'll try my best to stay with the narrative in future. I'll buy you a coffee. How's that ?
@@mooncat.787 love a coffee! :-) Thank you so much!
Yeah, frustration of that kind is no fun. Luckily there's enough great product out there to change to! :-)