Santa Cruz Snowboard Snowboarding
Burton Snowboards and which one to choose…?
I’ve been snowboarding for about 5 years now, and I still dont have a snowboard of my own. the snowboards that i have been renting have been from brands all over the spectrum: sims, santa cruz and a lot more. i requested the Burton 2006 catalog and received it in the mail. as i was looking through it, i saw one that i liked (Burton Feelgood), but did not understand any of the stats.
i would like to find a snowboard that is sturdy but still gives a little, and would be able to go down the mountain or through the terrain park (including jumps, the pipe, rails, etc).
what things should i consider when i go shopping for a board, and if you have any suggestions please tell me. thanks! 
Burton boards are great, I’ve been riding for 20 years and have ridden about everything out there and I have been very impressed with Burton gear. I’m sure you will see a ton of people here bad mouthing them but when it comes down to it, you just can’t go wrong with them.
When buying a new board you should always ask yourself a few questions, like: How good am I? How much do I ride? Where do I ride? What kind of rider am I? What conditions do I ride in most? The most common stats of a snowboard are it’s length, tip width, waist width, tail width, contact length, sidecut and flex.
Length is a personal preference. A shorter board is usually a little easier to manuver but not as stable at higher speeds and a longer board is more stable but a little more difficult to manuver. Most park riders like short boards and freeriders like longer boards.
The width of a board is important in that you don’t want your toes or heels hanging over the edges of your board. Also, it is just as important that your board isn’t too wide as this makes it harder to turn (I’ve actually torn the arch of my foot riding a too wide board, ouch!).
Sidecut is how much the sides of the board are cut in. If you use your imagination when looking at a board you can see that the “cut” of the board draws out the path of a circle. The more cut, the smaller the circle and the less cut the bigger the circle. Some boards have progressive sidecuts but I won’t get into that, it isn’t important. Again, park and pipe riders generally like a board with a bit more cut as they need the added manuverabilty to hit the features in the terrain parks more smoothly. A board with a lot of cut can feel a little twitchy (I call it nervous) at higher speeds and they get hooky in deep snow. A freeride board will have less cut as it is more often ridden at higher speeds with bigger turns.
Now we come to flex. Here is where people differ the most in their opinions. When I sell boards, this is how I explain it. When You Are riding you are “telling” your board what to do to carve. For the most part, a softer board is easier to ride as you don’t have to be as exact when you are “telling” it what to do. Soft boards offer a very comfortable ride and great performance at slower speeds. Jibbers love them bcause they are less likely to hang up on a rail with a soft board. However, at higher speeds or in more aggressive situations a soft board will get bounced around more and not be as responsive. Now, a stiffer board needs exact instructions for you to get the most out of it. They aren’t as comfortable to ride because they transmit more of what is going on to you instead of absorbing it for you. But, they perform very well, especially at higher speeds. Also, the stability of a stiffer board offers a great deal of forgiveness when you land in the back seat or too far forward because the stiffness wants to keep you centered on the board.
The Burton Feelgood is a great, women’s specific board. It has been consistently my best seller for the past three years. Looking at the ‘07 stats, it is definately an intermediate to advanced board and it rates highest in groomers, halfpipe and park. It’s flex is just above medium as is its sidecut. So, after what I said above you can imagine that it rates lowest for powder and rails (too much cut to be a great powder board and too stiff to be a great jibber). All in all, I’d say it’s a great board for all conditions, If you wanted something stiffer, go with the Feelgood ES, something more park/jib get the Gtwin and if you wanted a more powder specific the slightly tapered Feather would be awesome.
Hope that helped…also, when buying go to a snowboard shop not a big box store. The folks at the snowboard shop will have a much better idea what they are talking about than the dude at Big 5.
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