How To Set Up Your Snowboard, Boots and Bindings

 

There is no way to find out exactly what set up works for you until you mess around with your set up for a bit.  Even if you are dialed try changing up your stance every 15-30 days or so to see if something else might work for you.

Before you start go buy a pocket tool so you can adjust your snowboarding gear any time and not have to rely on what ever the resort lets you use. Its usually a work bench with a bunch of tools attached to chains and it sucks!!! 

Stance Width
It takes a little work to find a comfortable stance width.  When you are wide you have more control and its less likely to catch an edge.  When you have a narrow stance you have more speed and it is easier to carve.  1st try to set up what you think would be comfortable.  If you don't know then go with something just a little wider than your shoulder width.  Then on the day you go to the hill bring a pocket tool with you. If the stance feels wrong then take it more wide or narrow. After 2 or 3 runs you should know what works for your board and what you like to do.
Freestyle- centered and usually pretty wide
All Mountain Freestyle- Centered to back one insert and medium to wide.
All Mountain Freeride- Set Back one to 2 inserts and usually medium to narrow
Freeride- Back 1 to 2 inserts to as far as you can go and usually narrow.

Stance Angles
Its good to play around with your angles. When you feel comfortable try one more angle to make sure its as comfortable as it gets. Do what is comfortable to you and how you ride. These are only places to start.
Freestyle- you like to ride switch as much as you do regular then Duck is a good way to go. A good place to start is 15 for the front and 15 for the back.  Take a few runs and work out or in from there till you feel comfortable. Here is a picture of 15 for the front and -15 for the back

Freeride- A good place to start for a freeride stance would be 18 for the front and 0 for the back.  If you like to carve you can set the back to more of a carving stance like 18 for the front and 9 for the back.  Here is a picture of the board set up at 18 for the front and 3 for the back. 

All Mountain Riding can be any variance of the 2 stance angles above.

Adjusting Your High Backs
You can leave your backs the way they are or try to make them parallel to the rail of your board. Most bindings allow you to adjust the placement of your backs so if you have a -15 on the back binding you can have your back equal line up like its at 0. It makes it easier to turn but its not necessary. Here is a picture to see what it looks like.


De Tuning Your Board's Edge
Normal edges on a brand new board are usually not de-tuned for even regular riding. Even if you don't ever want to slide on boxes/rails its still important to de-tune your edges. Go to a shop and see how they de-tune your rails for normal riding. They will just take a little off the top of the nose and tail so you are less likely to catch edges when turning.  After that you can buy a file and do it yourself after that.  This really helps eliminate that catchy feeling new boards have and can prevent catching an edge.  If you ride boxes and rails then you might want to take a file to all your edges. 

Buy A Stomp Pad
Some people hate them but some love them.  It's not necessary but there is nothing worse than stepping on a slick wet board and sliding off into the splits.

Buy Foot Bed Inserts for your boots.
99% of boots have foot beds that should be replaced.  Some are good and others pure crap. Two of our favorite inserts are Sole, Montrail, and Superfeet.   We can't stress what a difference it makes to have a custom foot bed in there.  We like Sole and Montrail better because you can heat mold these to your feet.  Superfeet are all right but for the price Sole and Montrial give you a lot more. 

Wear your boots as much as possible before you actually use them.
Boots are the worst part of your set up to break in.  A way to help you get a head start on this process is to put on your snowboard socks and boots a few times around the house before you wear them on the mountain.  It helps you break them in before actually riding on the mountain.