More reader question and answer, hooray!
Today’s question:
How big should my snowboard bag be? I know it has to fit my snowboard, but what else?
Okay, this is a simple enough question, so here are a few areas you need to look at when buying bags:
1) Size of the snowboard (obviously!)
The size of a snowboard bag tells you how big a snowboard will fit into the bag. A 181 sized bag will fit snowboards up to 181 cm. Likewise a 161 snowboard bag will not fit a 166 cm board.
2) How many sets of snowboard gear will you be carrying?
A smaller sized bag will usually fit about one set of snowboard gear plus your outerwear. However, if you have multiple sets of snowboards, you’ll need a bigger bag. Similarly, if you want to carry lots of clothes inside your snowboard bag, you’ll also be wanting a bigger bag.
One solution if you don’t want to size up your bag but still carry multiple sets of gear is to take off the bindings from your snowboard in order to stack the snowboards together. This works, however be warned that it’s a very, very tight fit for carrying up to 2 sets of gear max.
3) How much extra clothing/outerwear will you be packing with the gear?
Do you want to carry tons of other non snowboard gear in your snowboard bag? If so you’ll want something huge like a Burton Wheelie Locker. Be warned that larger bags can be more hassle than they are worth. You may find yourself paying overweight fees, plus most airlines won’t allow bags over 32 kg to be checked in.
Only go for the largest sized bags if you’re absolutely sure you can keep your weight under 32 kg. Biggest isn’t always better. Bigger bag means more weight allowance taken up by just the bag. You want a bag that’s just a little bigger than what you need, not a humongous bag that will take up half your weight allowance.
Hope this helps!
– Jed