Postby Guest » Thu Feb 13, 2003 5:16 am
Check out Donek.com They make custom snowboards with any sidecut radius you want (you can customize flex, dampening, length, width, etc). Unless you have small feet, a custom width is very important to eliminate boot out. This is only necessary if you like to do deep carves or if you kitesnowboard on hard snow. For example, I have size US 9.5 feet and I use a 26cm wide board board with my freestyle stance (0 and 15), but the typical width you can buy is around 24 to 24.5 - not wide enough for my taste. Prices start at about US $330 for a freeride, if you buy a stock one. His excellent reputation is based primarily on his race boards and carving boards, but he makes an excellent freeride board also. Most freeride/freestyle boards out there have a sidecut radius around 8.5 meters. With Donek, you can get a stock one with a radius of 11 meters to 15 meters. This would be more appropriate if you are on hard snow or ice. On soft snow or powder, or at very slow speeds, it doesn't matter as much. Some people say that skis have an advantage over a board when on ice. This is partly due to too deep of a side cut radius. Its not just about edge pressure, its also edge angle. The more edge angle you create, the tighter the turn radius which at speed, you won't be able to hold your carve, and you will skid out. Less side cut is better. I wish I could tell you the perfect radius, but I don't know. I suspect it will vary depending on conditions, but you could certainly get something better than a standard board. By the way, an 8.5 meter radius is deeper than a 15 meter radius. Picture a rope with one end affixed to the ground. As you move the other end around in a circle, this arc is the sidecut radius.
Alan