Today’s reader question:
Do you need a twin shaped snowboard for riding switch? What about binding adjustments? Do you need to swap your bindings around or make any major adjustments to ride switch?
The breakdown:
1) Do you need a twin shaped snowboard for riding switch?
No. You can ride switch just fine on a directional snowboard, so don’t worry about it 🙂
The only exception is if you have something like a crazy swallowtail snowboard with a special tail designed for floating in powder… obviously those don’t do very well if you try to ride switch on them.
2) What’s the difference between a twin snowboard and a directional snowboard for riding switch?
Basically a twin snowboard has an even nose and tail and it doesn’t matter whether it’s switch or regular because it’ll be exactly the same shape either way.
A directional snowboard will have a longer nose than tail, which helps with floating in powder and riding regular. The side effect is the longer nose means it isn’t quite as good for riding switch as a twin snowboard, however, you can still ride switch just fine.
3) Do you need to make binding adjustments to ride switch on a directional snowboard?
No, not unless you have some crazy binding setup, such as having a huge amount of setback or riding with both binding facing forward (eg – +12, +9).
It does help to have a little ‘duck’ on your back foot by having a more symmetrical binding angle such as +12, -12, but again, this isn’t compulsory and I know plenty of people who ride with only a small amount of duck angle on their back foot.
It may also help to have your bindings more centered vs. having a big setback, but again, I know people who ride switch with a decent amount of setback and they do just fine (even if it’s not ideal).
So basically you should be able to ride fine on your current setup without any changes. Hope that answers your question!
– Jed