Goofy foot snowboard setup

If you don't do any other board sports, don't worry, generally your more dominant leg will be your back foot as it will provide the most balance. We're going to go over a couple tests you can do that will help you decide whether you should start riding regular or goofy. Think of the way you used to kick a soccer ball, better yet, actually go and kick a ball or some snow! If you kicked with your right foot, you might be regular.

If you kicked with your left foot, perhaps goofy. The next test is done by standing straight with your eyes closed. Have a friend gently push you forward. Take note of which foot you put forward to keep balance. Chances are, that will be your front foot. The final test can be done a couple different ways.

If you are starting out, you might have an idea about the style you want to progress in, but a slight duck stance setup should be a good start that is comfortable and helps your progression.

Finding your comfortable position within this range should be a good starting point for beginners. If you find yourself in a terrain park, most often, an aggressive, mirrored duck stance can be useful, especially for riding switch. Your stance width is also an important factor that you will need to consider. Generally speaking, your stance should be a little wider than the width of your shoulders. A wider stance is more suited to freestyle snowboarders as it offers a more stable position and makes hard turn transitions easier, whereas a narrow stance is not as stable a position and is more commonly used by freeride snowboarders.

Now you know a bit more about stance and binding setups, you might want to find out a little more about the bindings themselves. Strap-in bindings are the most commonly used due to how easy they are. You simply slide your foot in and adjust the straps. They offer a secure and responsive hold, making them a popular choice. These have a high back that pops open, allowing you to slide your foot in before closing around your boot.

They also have a single strap at the toe for adjustments. Compatible with Burton Step On boots, Burton Step On bindings are quick and easy to use - just step on, and click your heel into place. As far as sizing goes, you will find that bindings come in general sizes from small to medium, medium to large, and large to XL. You should be able to check the manufacturer's size chart to make sure you get the right size. You can check your boot in a binding by placing it in and adjusting the straps to secure it without being painful or having any slack.

Your boots should not hang over the bindings to any great extent. Make sure the heel snuggly fits and the strap ladder reaches the ratchet. If it does not, you should be able to adjust this from both sides so you can center the strap on your boot. You will find that most patterns will be compatible with one another, and most brands also have universal discs. Universal discs are more common now than ever before, making it easier to match bindings with snowboards, but it is always worth checking first.

When finding the best snowboard bindings for you, you will have to consider a few things first. Another thing to play around with when testing out your perfect stance is the width of your stance.

The width of your stance is measured from the center of the back binding disk to the center of the front binding disk. The width of the reference stance depends on the length of your snowboard and the type of snowboard you are riding and you can usually find this information on the deck of your board close to your bindings.

A wider stance makes the rider feel more stable on their board when riding the slopes or the snow park. Rail tricks and big kicker jumps can feel better with a wider stance because of the added stability.

To change your bindings to a wider stance, you should move each of your bindings by one screw hole to the nose and to the tail of your snowboard. There are very few people who prefer to ride with a stance that is narrower than their preference stance. It can be mainly seen on snowboard racers and some street rail snowboarders, who take advantage of the faster turning that a narrower stance will allow them.

Last but not least, we come to one of the most important questions when setting up your snowboard: What is the best angle for my snowboard bindings? The answer like with so many things in snowboarding depends a lot on the style of your riding.

The neutral stance is best for beginners, as you will go forward most of the time and focus on turning your board. The forward stance is great for racing and carving as you will want to go fast and have more pressure on your front foot. And last but not least the duck stance: The duck stance is great for playful all-mountain riders and park fans.

With the duck stance you can easily ride backwards switch as well and rotating will be a lot easier due to the equal weigh distribution on your board. Changing the angle of your bindings is quite easy. Most boards have the holes for the bindings offset by the recommended amount for the board, but you can still change where you put them.

Someone looking to concentrate strongly on freestyle with a suitable freestyle snowboard, will put the bindings in the middle of the board, as it makes spinning the board, and riding switch easier. Whereas someone who is looking to do a lot of off-piste snowboarding with a more freeride orientated snowboard, will put the bindings further towards the back of the board, as it helps the snowboard to float in the powder.

Whatever you do the bindings should not be closer to the front of the board than the back. Most snowboarders are all-mountain riders who do a bit of everything, and will have the bindings set back just a bit, as it is a good position for piste riding and will handle freestyle and powder fairly well too.

The next thing to work out is the angle each binding should be set to. The splines on the mounting discs normally let you set the angle of each binding in 3 degree intervals, which can be adjusted while the mounting screws are loose. For different types of snowboarding there are different general binding setups, although these all change with the personal preference of the rider. For general snowboarding, carving and off-piste snowboarding, a forward stance is good.

This stance is a comfortable stance, it lets you see where you are going well, and is also good for beginners. One place where it struggles though is riding switch , as it is harder to see where you are going, and puts your body in an uncomfortable position.

This is why for freestylers a forward stance is generally not the stance of choice. For freestyle the duck stance is very popular, this is where the front foot is angled forwards and the back foot is angled backwards.

Although this might not be the most comfortable stance for some, it is good at allowing you to snowboard in either direction along the board, which is very handy for freestyle where snowboarding backwards switch, fakie is very important. When both feet are at the same angle i.

The duck stance can also be used for beginners on a freestyle board with a centred stance, this makes the board the same to ride in either direction, which is good for anyone who initially can't decide if they are regular or goofy and needs to experiment.