Sliding axle isolation plates - what softbooters need to know

RiotSupercarver · 2024-03-21T22:18:35Z

One of the JJA protypes James shows in his video is fitted with a sliding axle plate. What is that supposed to achieve? The plate is attached to the board at both ends with a mechanism including an axle that allows the board to rotate relative to the plate as the board flexes. One end, conventionally the front, allows the axle to slide inwards as the board flexes and the distance between the two axles shortens. The amount of slide required is typically less than 1.5cm. Sliding axle isolation plate designs have been on the racing scene since around 2008. The current racers plate of choice, the AllFlex, is a development of this technology. A sliding axle isolation plate achieves a number of things. a) it isolates the rider from the longitudinal flex of the board. The board can flex freely underneath the rider and the rider/racer is less aware of the bumps and ruts. Rider fatigue is less, and the "feel" of the surface beneath is reduced. But, the snow remains carveable for longer in the day, even after the corduroy has been skidded to shreds. b) there are no flat/extra stiff areas in the board where the bindings are mounted. Typically the attachment points of these plates are more across the board than along the board. c) the plate is torsionally very stiff so that twisting of the board between the plate attachment points is minimised while the board can freely flex along its length. This improved torsion control generally results in better edge hold and a narrower track. (NB: The current AllFlex plates come in jointed variants to allow racers some control over torsion, and have limits on how much the board can flex along its length. They are designed for use with slalom and giant slalom race boards, and the boards are designed to utilise the design features of the AllFlex plate) d) the plate attachment points to the board are significantly further apart than the riders stance width. This has the effect of reducing the apparent rider mass the board experiences when a carved turn is made. The board doesn't flex as much as if the same rider was riding an unplated board, the board feels "stiffer" to the rider. e) Downsides: Extra weight on the chairlift dragging on your leg, plus snow build up between plate and board adding to that weight. Extra cost and complexity, more screws to come loose and parts to fail. There are a number of different plate attachment insert patterns. Insert pattern and plate must match. The extra inserts are further away from the centre of the board, in thinner parts of the core, and every extra insert creates a weak spot in the board increasing the chance of failure. ----------- I have designed, built and ridden my own sliding axle plate design. I have ridden the Bomber Boiler Plate sliding axle plate. I have a broken Coiler Giant Slalom race board on my wall that failed at a plate insert point after a collision. There are tradeoffs in riding with a plate. There are definite performance gains. If you regularly ride on marginal snow conditions for carving they may be worth it for you. If you regularly ride well groomed, uncrowded snow, that never thaws and refreezes, you lucky bastard and I'm envious! But you don't need an isolation plate.

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Jasey-Jay Anderson C4 Carving Board

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Felix

(@superfelix)

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Joined: 11 months ago

Posts: 74

13/06/2025 12:33 pm

Speaking of sliding plates… I think facebook really has figured out I’m a snowboarder from Europe because I got an ad for this board that only comes with a (heavily cambered) sliding isolation plate

https://doubledecksnowboards.com

From the marketing it seems a lot more freestyle oriented compared to anything you’ve talked about here, but it also seems like an interesting concept with the plate being cambered…

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Board Doctor

(@board-doctor)

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Joined: 1 year ago

Posts: 345

14/06/2025 7:15 am

Yeah I’ve been getting spammed with that again as well. They actually started some advertising a couple years ago with Terje. Unfortunately it didn’t really seem like the marketing team really understood it, so it came off as more of a school project. It’ll be interesting to see how it works out.

Big White, BC, Canada

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