Binding Angles

Posted by: @kagurasnowsurfer

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Some websites recommend

Careful with that...  Some websites recommend lots of other garbage too.

30/18 and 27/18 have been my stance choices for clean groom this season.  27/12 for all mountain carving.

I’ll put myself in the advanced category, below the masters…

I think Jasey-Jay’s splay limit is common with old school racers.  I never raced, but my all-mountain-freeride was +18/+15 for the longest time (like 20 yrs). There’s something to be said about your knees working together… but I think this also depends on your natural biomechanics.  If you’re duck-footed (walking in shoes), that’s not going to be comfortable.

As boards got wider I backed off the rear angle a bit for more leverage.  Pow camber & taper also drive a bit more off the back foot.

After tearing a perineal tendon on my lead foot, I increased that angle to 21, but go further for carving.

Right now I like 24/12 for carving. 27 does open the hips for up-unweighted turns (when I try my best to ride like Cherry), but I feel like I loose some ankle steering for down-unweighted transitions and slower speeds.

My all-mountain is 21/9, with wide pow boards at 21/6.

I set up my Korua Trenchdigger at 27/15 to play with K-carving, but I haven’t got it out yet.

I made this table from Nidecker’s video:

They say Natural Stance is the height of the centre of your kneecap.  Mine’s only 49cm, but I usually ride 53-55cm… and no freestyle/park!

Note that “stance width” is at the binding centre, and as you play with angles you should really think about the distance between your heels.

Now that I look at that, I guess I typically now ride with a 12 deg splay, but sometimes go 15 deg.

I’ve heard that duck stances shouldn’t go beyond 30 deg (like +15/-15).  That sounds awfully uncomfortable to me.

Posted by: @wild-cherry

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Posted by: @kagurasnowsurfer

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Some websites recommend

Careful with that...  Some websites recommend lots of other garbage too.

30/18 and 27/18 have been my stance choices for clean groom this season.  27/12 for all mountain carving.

 

Thank you for your responses thus far...

If you do not have much experience carving, it is hard to know where to start which is why I have looked at "some sites" on the internet. Just switching to possy-possy late season was a big leap for me...I know that I was late to the party on that one. Anyway, that is the reason for starting this thread.

I have read that Jeremy Jones rides front foot between from +21 to +35 and back foot +6 to +18. However that is huge range and I am NOT Jeremy Jones (the only thing that we have in common is our height). I am currently riding +21/+6 but wondering if moving my back foot more poossy will help with tucking my back knee in. I do have two issues: bow legs and tight hips. (Duck stance was very comfortable for these physical limitations). I wonder how far I push my performance before I risk damage my knees.

Would love to know JJA's stance for clean corduroy...he seemed really cagey about that.

For me the board width dictates my front foot angle.  With big boats (11.5) I would be at 36-39 on a Trench Digger.  From there, I go 3 clicks less on the disc (9 degrees) for all day riding, 2 clicks less (6 degrees) for pure carving on groomers.  On my 27.0 Coiler, I am at either 33/24 or 36/27.  The natural stance thing never works for me.  I'm 5' 10" with really long legs and a very short torso- Mom forgot to give me another vertebrae I guess.  According to NS, I should be at 50-52 cm, but that feels incredibly narrow, so I'm typically at 55-56 cm.  Here is the secret truth- there is no single perfect stance.  What works for you may not work for others, and I have seen some pretty ugly set-ups on folks who were ripping it, and then lots of the opposite as well.  

Remember that a board is just a tool, much like a hammer.  You can swing a hammer from your wrist, elbow, shoulder or a combination.  The board only needs the right amount of pressure in order to carve, neither too much nor too little.  And much like hammers, there are different boards for different jobs, but they all tell you what you are doing wrong if its not working, you just have to be in tune with what they are saying.

Posted by: @kagurasnowsurfer

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I am currently riding +21/+6 but wondering if moving my back foot more poossy will help with tucking my back knee in.

That was my all mountain stance for a few years… but last year I moved the rear to +9 because it was simply easier to hold a heelside carve without chatter.  I’ll still ride switch, but not much.

I think going beyond 21/6 definitely diminishes ankle steering, and becomes more dependent on the hip shift and proper weight stacking.

As for my anatomy, I gave up running when I was 25 due to my knees.  In my late 20’s I volunteered for a study on knees and had imaging done.  I wasn’t knock-kneed, but I was definitely going in that direction (more than 2 std dev from the norm) and excluded from the study.  I do wonder if years of skateboarding & snowboarding did that.

Here’s a little bit on hip flex that I had never considered:

View this post on Instagram

I have WAY more internal rotation (like sitting cross-legged) than external. I can‘t even imagine having greater external rotation.  Could be why I don’t like a lot of splay.

I wrote that backwards, but can’t edit…

Posted by: @board-doctor

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I have WAY more internal rotation (like sitting cross-legged) than external.

Should be:
I have WAY more external rotation (like sitting cross-legged) than internal.  I can‘t even imagine having greater internal rotation.

I think for carving you want to start at +9 in the rear. I ride +27 +9 as my all-mountain stance but it still carves well. I would just start experimenting what stance feels good and lets you move your body the most. I sat in my living room for an hour changing my stance and angles to see what allowed me to get into good forum comfortably in a carve.  

My experience, I ve started this season in November with plus 27 plus 12, after 1 month I go to 27 15.I am currently thinking to go further with 30 15. 

Riding faki is still possible but limited to 10 20 sec. Quite uncomfortable to stay twisted longer. 

In overall going posi posi was a great plus for my. If some people are considering it, my recommendation it worths it. 

ever since I went posi posi I had pretty much set on 30/15. had tried 27/12 on the C4 only because I find I needed more leverage over that waist width. going 30/15 helps with the hip rotation for sure. still need to work on getting more flexibility out of my hip and leg joints tho.

Well, I went 27/12 on my powder board just to see how it felt. Heelside turns saw a great improvement but somehow I did not feel as confident on some of my frontside turns. I wanted to spend the day carving but there was no corduroy around. Just JPow...ankle to knee deep.