Edge Angles

[zaldon]

just wondering what base and side angles you guys have on your skis and snowboards?

[Johnny Style]

1 degree base and 3 degree side, keeps me secured to the ice at Blue Mt.

[AngryHugo]

1 degree base and 3 degree side, keeps me secured to the ice at Blue Mt.

 

pretty much the same on my freeride board. on my jib board, I run about 2 degrees between my feet, and the rest is left to the rails.

[sibhusky]

Depends on the ski. For most everything, since it's the Rockies and ice is rarely an issue, I have 1 and 1. For my "spring" skis, I have 1 and 2 and a wet structure on the base. The sharper your edge (2 or 3), the more it will need sharpening, that's why I leave it at 1 since I don't have ice to contend with.

[method9455]

On my jib board I would estimate 45. I took an angle grinder, put it on the side and took basically the edge off in the middle.

 

On my other freeride boards I'm basically 1/1. Honestly I never felt like the edge angle made a difference free riding. You feel a lot of difference based on base finish and waxes and how sharp your edge is, but aside from catching on rails i never felt like a degree or two could make a difference.

[zaldon]

On my jib board I would estimate 45. I took an angle grinder, put it on the side and took basically the edge off in the middle.

 

On my other freeride boards I'm basically 1/1. Honestly I never felt like the edge angle made a difference free riding. You feel a lot of difference based on base finish and waxes and how sharp your edge is, but aside from catching on rails i never felt like a degree or two could make a difference.

i am guessing you don't notice a difference in edge angles because you aren't carving, you aren't carving on steep trails, or you aren't carving on hard snow...

[method9455]

i am guessing you don't notice a difference in edge angles because you aren't carving, you aren't carving on steep trails, or you aren't carving on hard snow...

 

Likely, I only get out 35 days a year for the last 7 years on a super stiff carving board and worked in a shop tuning boards for 5 years. I'm still doing the falling leaf though.

[zaldon]

Likely, I only get out 35 days a year for the last 7 years on a super stiff carving board and worked in a shop tuning boards for 5 years. I'm still doing the falling leaf though.

well i figured you would be using the falling leaf, but really i think their is a huge difference in how much bite an edge has between 6 and 3 degrees...

[method9455]

well i figured you would be using the falling leaf, but really i think their is a huge difference in how much bite an edge has between 6 and 3 degrees...

 

But how can you feel it? Are you saying you have ever gone out with the same board, on the same day, wearing the same boots, with the same bindings, one with one edge angle and one with the other. For me when I do a tune I pull the bindings off to get a good stone grind and I'm going to be waxing with some flouro wax and have really sharp edges. So even if I were to change edge angles I'm going to go in with one angle, and come out with wax, a stone grind, really sharp edges, and the new angle, and probably some small tweak in binding angles. In my mind I'm going to be thinking, this new angle is sweet, but in reality it is just the tune. Are you saying you could take the pepsi challenge with two boards and feel the difference between edge angles? I really don't think anyone could just carving.

[zaldon]

but you don't have to do all of it on the same day you take your average carving ability with one edge angle versus another over several days or weeks. you have to notice trends in your riding while you have different setups

[Justin]

The edges on my jib skis are almost round under my feet, haha

[method9455]

but you don't have to do all of it on the same day you take your average carving ability with one edge angle versus another over several days or weeks. you have to notice trends in your riding while you have different setups

 

I'm not saying you don't feel the difference between gear or tunes. I made my living off that fact for a long time. I'm saying the difference between 0 or 1 edge angle is so slight its not even worth worrying about. I feel a difference between gear, and I feel a major difference in stance angles or stance setback, high back angle, and wax. But after all 5 years tuning, I can only remember a dozen people actually specifying their edge angle when they came in for a tune. I know a lot of guys who rip, and no one would ever point to their edge angle as the secret sauce. When you have unlimited access to all the tuning gear you want and the wax you want, you start dicking around with lots of little details. We'd be matching the temperature range of the wax to the weather for the next time out and recutting the stone to get the right base texture depending on snow conditions, but no one was ever doing adjustments on edge angle. You can feel a big difference with both of those, so if your not already doing that I'd start with that because it is easy. At most you would do one angle per board and stick with it. My park board has a bigger angle than my freeride board so it doesn't catch on rails, thats about it for edge angle.

[zaldon]

kevin i could be wrong here but after reading your post it sounds to me like you feel that edge angles are actually less important than other parts of tuning.