I've been board shopping and I run into this weight range issue.
I'm 5'6" so a board that is 157 comes up to my nose and that's good for me
as a carver but I thought rail and halfpipe riders like a shorter snowboard.
I've been riding 155 boards for the last 2 years and as I go to stores now to buy a new
board I have a sales clerk ask me how much I weigh and they check the chart on the
snowboards and its got these weight ranges:
157 125-175
161 140-190
165 150-200
which raises questions.

Will I break a 157 board because I weigh 225 pounds when dressed for snow because I
weigh 50 pounds more than the board was designed to carry?

Will the board perform extremely bad because I weigh 50 pounds more than the board
was designed to carry?
Will my extra 50 pounds make the board flex wildly and cause loss of control?


Does Burton expect me to buy their 165 because its designed to carry an adult?
A 165 would be taller than me!
I'm not a big fat man.
I'm a little old guy and most of the kids on the hill are taller than me so I just
can't figure how Burton ranges their boards.

R2, weight is the most important factor. Length becomes a bigger factor when you are concerned with float, fitting in trees, or spinning the board. If you are just carving, match the board to your weight so it flexes properly. Modern snowboard construction is such, if you are just carving it would be pretty unlikely for you to break whatever board you get on.

Wait so you're 225 and 5'6??? I would think that a stiff really solid board would be best for you..not a soft board for buttering..and

So does that mean since all I do is carve I should be on a 165?
I thought the 165 would be too long for me.... leg and body size wise...not weight wise.

You should really demo boards...what length are your other 3 snowboards??

so r2 i guess that $200 burton that "you bought " you really didn't?

So what Burton board is a really stiff board?
All I keep hearing from sales people is flex flex flex...got good flex.

this makes me smile.

Why does the board have to be a Burton?? Robert do you know Rajeev??

my exact thought

2 boards I rode the last two years are both SILENCE MRI 155.

I also have a LIQUID RANGE 156. Sort of a backup and loner board.
I never rode the Liquid.
My kids came last year for Boulder Midnight Madness and I lent them gear.
You can never have enough boards in the house when you have 3 kids with spouses who
all snowboard.
Back to me....
so this year I figured I'd buy Burton. My first board many years ago was a Burton hollow core
that cost $500 for just the deck and I rode that board for 5 years when I was an instructor.

So I figured buying this Burton Air 157 was good for me on length but raises these questions
about what is Burtons logic in making the weight range 125-175 for this board.
I'll ride it just to see what its like but I still want to know what the ranging really means.

No... the board does not have to be a Burton.
Whats Rajeev? Person, place or thing?


I picked Burton only because its a trusted name brand.
I've been in stores selling 5 names I've never heard of and boards that
had bling graphics to match bling boots and bling bindings and bling jackets and had sales people tell me they are hot sellers....the kids love them....
and it all means dick if they now sell snowboards to gapers wannabees that will never do
more than sit in the snow like potted plants looking good in their bling but never really
do any snowboarding.
Snowboarding is not a team sport. I just go out and ride.
I'll never understand these kids sitting in the snow just watching.
I sit on the lift and never sit in snow, not even to strap in.

So then when I say I want a board for carving on ice, not a rail grinder I get blank stares
from sales clerks that only sell to park riders now.
Then they try to sell me a stiff ARBOR board for $800.
I just figured Burton would have some documentation somewhere for training purposes that
says to store owners that here is THE board for hardpack alpine riding, here is THE board for
powder, here is THE board for PARK rail grinders, here is THE board for HALF PIPE.
No?

thats why you dont look for a board and service at Army Navy.

Dude is all over the place.

Google.com

r2 a half pipe board should be a descent carving board, but if you want to get a board that actually shreds you are gonna have to blow some doe. i would suggest looking in to the Salomon burner

Rajeev lives in Mumbai but he visits the Poconos every ski season and stays with his cousins who run a Dunkin Donuts. You need to get a Bling Bling jacket..and it you are into carving..get a carving board..which is gonna be stiffer than a jib board..

terrible suggestion.... its not a Burton! haha.

btw:

- the burton website has an e-catalog. it has every spec you could want on every model board for 2009.
find it here:
http://www.burton.com/RiderServices/eCatalog.aspx

-if that is hard to read you can request a catalog be sent to your home here:
http://www.burton.com/RiderServices/Contact.aspx

-if the catalog is taking to long i'd be willing to bet they'd answer all your questions here:
http://www.burton.com/Community/CommunityHome.aspx

-if you are turned off by message boards because of us then try this:
info@burton.com

-and if you no longer are interested in burton, i'd be willing to bet most other big companies offer their own versions of what i listed above. start here:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=s...mp;aq=f&oq=

The first burton link won't fly for me.
I get 404

The page cannot be found
The page you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.

Please try the following:

* Make sure that the Web site address displayed in the address bar of your browser is spelled and formatted correctly.
* If you reached this page by clicking a link, contact the Web site administrator to alert them that the link is incorrectly formatted.
* Click the Back button to try another link.

HTTP Error 404 - File or directory not found.
Internet Information Services (IIS)

Technical Information (for support personnel)

* Go to Microsoft Product Support Services and perform a title search for the words HTTP and 404.
* Open IIS Help, which is accessible in IIS Manager (inetmgr), and search for topics titled Web Site Setup, Common Administrative Tasks, and About Custom Error Messages.


















How did you get to that first Burton link?
Perhaps I have to navigate into it from another page and set cookies and shit.

I DONT look for boards and service at the ARMY NAVY store.
I look for boards in the small ski shops and get information about boards THEN
go to ARMY NAVY LAST to see if they have what I learned about.
I did not expect to ever find ANY Burton board for $200. It just turned out that way this time.

And just what service do you EVER get for a snowboard at any ski shop?
I give my boards to ski techs at Frost once a week for a wax job and edge sharpening
and I oil it every day before I ride with Zardoz NotWAX teflon fluropolymer oil.

yup. block list it is.

unless you are carving over a flat bastard file i doubt that you need your edges sharpened ever week, and oiling your board is great for the first 50 feet you ride on it. as for your question about what services you could get a t a ski shop for a snowboard i think that any real ski shop will stone grind your base which is nice every couple seasons, and they sell things like P-Tex to file your base when you hit rocks. I hear they even have spare parts for bindings sometimes so you can fix them for 5 bucks rather than buy brand new ones for 100+. personally i would never trust an employee at a ski resort to tune my gear most of them are kids out of high school who i would bet really don't know what they are doing. are they sharpening your base edge every week?

You ever used Zardoz? It lasts 2 hours. Or maybe I just think it lasts 2 hours.
But hey, what do I know. Probably much less about snowboarding than any of you all
because I don't ride rails or half pipe or jumps.
I just ride the hardpack every day for 14 weeks.

The ski techs at Jack Frost for the last 2 years that worked on my board were older than 50
years old and once or twice a new kid would wax my board.
They clean up the edges with a sander like a dremel mototool drum sander.

Well.... enough banter. I have to leave now to go kayaking. Have a nice day.

http://www.burton.com/RiderServices/eCatalog.aspx

not sure why it stopped working. if that does not work for you. it is in the top right corner above the product search on all the pages of the site.

HAHAHAHAH once a week sharpening? Is there any steel left on that thing?

so you assume that i ride rails and jumps and half pipes well you are obviously rather discriminatory. i cant wait to hear what you think all skiers do, and i guess all ski patrol are professional skiers

You obviously didn't watch "Ski Patrol" last night. Those guys have one of the toughest and most dangerous jobs in the country and we should all be proud of them.

After reading all this, I think I need a drink. In fact, I know I need a drink.

The board only feels your weight, not your height. The height between the nose and the eyebrow is a quick rule of them for day rentals when it doesn't matter, but for buying a board, follow the design specs.

Truthfully the "adult" boards are not designed for adults, they are designed for teenage-20 somethings because that is 90% of the snowboard market.

I'm 20, I am 5' 11" at 180 lbs. My freeride board is a 159cm and my park board is a 153.
My brother is more your weight, at around 220 lbs and he rides a 163 cm.

That kind of exemplifies how much of a range is possible, 6 cm range is perfectly fine for me between the two boards. A 151 would probably do me fine for the park and I've ridden my brothers board and I can ride that too.

I don't think you have to worry about "breaking" any of them, the boards are really durable. Me landing a jump wrong at 180 lbs is going to put many more times of force than even a 400 pound person on my board, and it survives me casing jumps all the time.

What you really want is to get an ideal weight for the flex of the board. Based on you saying that you like to carve fast and stay on the ground, bigger is better. The only time bigger isn't better is for spinning and jumping. On the ground, length gives you stabilty, edge hold, and speed. Stiffness reduces chatter so it is easier on your knees and you skid out less often.

Especially if you are in fact riding the Burton Air, which is a generally soft board, I would say the max size is the right one for you.

The really good news is that the largest sized boards are the ones least likely to sell during the season. Everyone picks up the small boards for park, and then there are just so many kids running around we clean out 151-157cm, but large boards like 159,161,163,165 are hard to sell. Both my 159 and my brothers 165 came out of my store at our tent sale. Mine was list $750 and I paid $200, his was list $650 and he paid $200, so large sizes are much better for deals and will fit you much better overall.

I Don't want to sound like an idiot here and i know i probably will but hey, If you want a good all mountain board wouldn't you just want like a freeride board? not freestyle? as for length, its a piece of wood, composites and whatever else, its made to take stresses of rails, falls, all that stuf, your not gonna break it, i've had 6 boards in my short life and never broke one, de-laming, de-edging yeah. but thats from hitting shit.

As for BURTON, corporate bullshit, I will never buy burton, Ronnin, Red, whatever, because there are a TON of innovative companies out there that are completely revolutionizing the industry while burton is gonna say hey, were gonna use 3 bolts instead of 4 because... (WHY!!!) ohh now were gonna use some kind of rail system because hey, our bindings suck so were gonna make our decks so they can only use our bindings? and people will buy into it just because its expensive and they tell us its really good and some douche bag named Sean says so. (i'f you've ever seen the terrain park safety video with him in it you know what i mean, and having to show the video to hundreds of kids over 2 months, believe me, you would HATE him too.)

all in all, IN MY OPINION burton is way over priced, and when you think your getting a huge sale its really not, you think a $750 for $200 is a good deal, (And don't tell me it was proform, thats bullshit too, factory B line, didn't pass quality!) well how much did that board cost to make? whats the whole sale price? its so obvious that there marked up so incredibly high. it makes me sick, Last year I bought a ride DH i think MSRP is like $480 and I looked and looked and the lowest price i could find was like around $400 on ebay. Its like buying a prius, even though it costs $28,000 and you save a little money on gas, your paying an extremely high cost to save a little money on gas, (Image) basically what i'm saying is... I don't even know anymore... but just try something else! and support any board company other than burton...

here we go again.

Hahahahaha go fuck yourself.

c'mon man, thats a bit harsh. but yeah, i agree.

yeah thats right, nick, why don't you explain to me why burton is so great and why a $750 board can go on sale for $200? why 3 bolts are better than 4 and why a rail down your board is such a great idea other than making sure people have to buy your bindings too?

has anyone else seen the video i was talking about?

As for service from ski shops? yeah I can't see any benefit from buying from the store other than getting it now and trying it on and seeing it in person but you can get some good advice, but it may not always be that good and may be just to sell whatever makes the salesman the most money, my 32 TM 2's broke a week after I bought them, Ski corner almost made me pay to send them back.

Nope. If this guy is for real I've read more than enough bullshit in the two threads he's started to know that he's King Douchebag who knows nothing and is severely offended when you call him on it. Anyone who willingly wastes shop employee's time only to take their newfound knowledge to an ARMY NAVY so they can think they're saving money is a douche. The best part about this whole debacle is that if this guy would actually take time out to talk to a decent salesperson they'd probably end up with a better board for less money. Oh well.

P.S. Santa doesn't know what he's talking about

Yeah, your probably right...

but seriously, i really don't like burton.

i'm not going to have this battle, everyone has their preferences. i agree that there is a HUGE mark up. that is a given. all i was getting at was that somebody (not me) is going to come in here and defend Burton to the teeth and in a week all we are going to come to is "Well we can agree to disagree". I happen to ride a Burton, and I've been very happy with it that is all I have to say on the subject.

Burton makes some great stuff. I'm still riding on an 8 year old Burton. I've since gotten non burton boards, but this old girl is still kicking the few times a year i pull her out. On the same token, the worst pair of bindings I've ever owned were Burton's.

Lets not worry what each other is sliding down the hill on. As long as we all start at the top and get to the bottom we should all be friends

Vote Dharrisburg 08

hey, I was simply voicing my opinion, I'm passionate when it comes to my ideals. i'll sum up all my ranting to this, burton is a name, big one, uses tactics like the rail system binding thing, 3 bolt binding to suck you in to buy there other stuf, personally, i'm against tactics like in any industry, i don't care what you buy, but i see some people that literally look like a burton bill board, everything they rock is from burton, that kind of close mindedness, thinking there the best, buying all there shit, go ahead, keep feeding the fire and buy over priced items... whatever i really don't feel like typn anymore

im still not quit sure why you hate Burton maybe if you say it again ill get it

couple days late on that one friend. maybe '12 though! i mean i'd vote for him, but only on the condition that his platform is based around putting a law in affect that all must grow mustaches. imagine the campaign sign potential there, i mean seriously!

Hey be kind..quit harrassing people!!!!

Yea we just went through this in another thread. I agree with you on some stuff, but just as a side note, you will never find a Burton board marked off $200 for a $750 board, those boards are always brands people don't know. Burton stuff you throw on Ebay in april and people snap it up for 25% off like a bunch of suckers, while the good boards get 50% off stickers.

Yea... I'm king Douchebag because my local shop owner has 12 boards in his shop so when I walk in
he must sell me one of the 2 boards he has in my size...and they are only his $500 and $700 boards...
... and those boards have graphics shit on them I would never display to the public.
I'm a grandparent and I have bought thousands of dollars of bikes, kayaks, rock climbing
harnesses, snowboards, boots, bindings, skis...... all from my local sports shops and last month I paid more for 3 shirts...padagonia base layers , capilene 4, $255 at this local shop then I paid for the snowboard so don't think you can ever accuse me of dicking a local store out of a snowboard sale when I support my local shops big time.
Yea... I'm the king Doughebag because I take a bus 30 miles away to "the big town with the malls"
to see what they have to offer in their ski shops and the last place I look is the ARMY NAVY store
that sold me 2 kayaks for the price I would have paid for one kayak at Cabellos.
So yea... I have a history of finding deals at the ARMY NAVY store after shopping around all the others. Whats wrong with that?

I'd still like to find out what board, by any manufacturer, is designed for 220 pound adults
riding hardpack.

Why do you think we come here? To get input about gear so whats with all the bullshit?
I can't believe a damn thing I hear from sales people if a year later they can sell a $400 board for $200.
90 percent of the kids and parents who buy snowboards would easily have paid the $400 price tag and never have known dick about it being last years board without the store setting those boards at half price. How can they do that if the boards didn't cost them less than $200 wholesale?
They didn't lose any money on me buying this board for $200.

If you're into just cruising/carving hard pack check out an alpine board.

OK... can you be just a little more specific?
WHO's alpine board would you recommend?

Burton, of course.

Oh.

Oh and if you spend $225 on base layers then you need to stop worrying about how much money you're going to save by going to Army Navy.