Just like the surfboards, snowboards usually come in different variety of shapes depending on their specific uses. These shapes include directional boards, a directional twin board, true twin boards, and asymmetrical board. The directional boards typically have a longer pointed nose with a setback stance towards the tail making them suitable for forward riding; they carve very well on-piste and plough through the powder.
With the True Twin Boards, the nose, as well as the tail, have a mirror image that is are the same regarding the shape while the stance is centred and the flex is the same in the two directions.
The Directional Twin, on the other hand, contains the same exact shape at the tail and the nose but the default stance is set back slightly, and the Flex is not symmetrical hence much stiffer in the tail. Men's snowboards and women's snowboards also have various differences. However, the most common snowboard gear featuring amazing specs is the asymmetrical snowboard.
Asymmetrical Snowboards
With asymmetrical snowboards, they tend to provide performance improvement on the carving through the incorporation of a sharper side cut at the edge of the heel. The heel side usually turns much hard to execute because of the human body natural mechanics hence the side cuts are tightened on this edge, which tightens the turning circles providing a counterbalance action.
Why Choose Asymmetry on Your Snowboard?
Most snowboards designers have realised that while people are symmetrical for the most part mainly from left to right, they are not at all asymmetrical from the front to the back. Hence the reason why the asymmetrical snowboards have become very common since turning heel side is much harder than turning toe side. Hence this snowboard helps you to the natural overcome the physiological asymmetry in mainly two ways which include:
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Asymmetrical Side cuts
The sidecuts of snowboard can also be tweaked for asymmetry. All the boards containing the asymmetric sidecuts have a shorter and a deeper heel sidecuts that are more pronounced. This is essential in tightening the heel side turns and improving maneuverability. The sidecuts not only provide balance but also give you more intuitive and natural body control while engaging on the snowboard’s heel side edges.
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Heel Side
This is another great way the human body can be accounted for to toe-to-heel the differences due to the make-up of the asymmetrical snowboard. Due to the typical precision of toe side turns and the tightness of the radius, manufacturers came up with snowboards that have softer cores underneath the heels, to allow the rider to be able to flex the board more using the heel side to get a tighter, precise, natural turn feeling. This simply means that the heel side of this snowboard responds more like the turns of a toe side.
How the Asymmetric Snowboard Rides
Asymmetric snow board mainly engages very quickly on the side turns of your heel making riding perfectly as you ride on your toe side turns. You will be able to get more snowboard control as you ride down the slope. This snowboard mainly compensates for the difference you feel in the movement between your toes and the heels. It's also worth considering whether a rocker or camber profile is better suited for the snow conditions you will be facing. See our Rocker vs. Camber Guide for all the details.
The asymmetric snowboards eliminate any chances of your board shuddering and sliding out from underneath you as you try to do a sudden heel side stop. Hence a great creation that you will appreciate in your ride. Check out Snowcentral's range of snowboards on our site here.
