# Twin or directional?



## Snowdaddy (Feb 2, 2018)

I was curious about whether people preferred to ride twin or directional boards as their resort daily rides? Or all mountain or even freeride boards.


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

Directional preference but twins are fun for messing around.


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## Myoko (Dec 11, 2018)

If you are not interested in riding switch often, get a directional I reckon.


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## Fiddsy (Jul 12, 2015)

Switch/park - twin
Everything else - directional


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## Yeahti87 (Jan 17, 2019)

I’d say if someone is not interested in switch AND spins, they should pick a directional one. Especially if you like a back seat riding.

If I were to have only one board, it would be something twinnish. Twinnish boards allow for a comfortable progression in jumps starting from 180s off rollers, small bumps etc. 

Can’t imagine the frustration I’d get from eating shit on a directional board while learning spins and thinking to myself ‚If I was on something twinnish, I’d have landed it’ even if it wasn’t true. Having no other excuses than that you fucked it up is actually a great comfort lol


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## speedjason (May 2, 2013)

Unless you are riding a crazy tapered swallow tail pow surf board backwards, you probably will not feel the differences too much specially when riding switch already feels weird.


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## Phedder (Sep 13, 2014)

speedjason said:


> Unless you are riding a crazy tapered swallow tail pow surf board backwards, you probably will not feel the differences too much specially when riding switch already feels weird.


That. 

Unless you're a park rat or Ryan Knapton and spend a significant amount of time riding switch, most people should be on something at least somewhat directional. Preference is preference, but it's hard to deny a directional board is going to be best at riding in your natural direction.


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## Salt Shaker (Sep 13, 2017)

My daily driver is a true twin. The right twin can be really versatile depending on how much you can set back from the sidecut without it getting too funky. For me a slightly volume shifted cam rocker is what I like, and right now that is a 2017 Salomon Assassin 157w. I'm 185, 5'8, size 9US boots. 12,-12 at 21.25". Its usually centered but does just fine 0.5" set back. 

I ride switch about 20% of the time, but it's the option to ride switch in sketchy terrain that makes a twin appealing. In the trees, or tight rocky chutes, sometimes the best option is going the opposite way. It really opens up new lines in tricky spots.


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## drblast (Feb 28, 2017)

Snowdaddy said:


> I was curious about whether people preferred to ride twin or directional boards as their resort daily rides? Or all mountain or even freeride boards.


My preference is a twin for the resort but it's a little less important than other factors like flex and camber profile. I have plenty of options out of my quiver and I always bring two or three boards, but I always end up on a twin unless there's powder or slush.

For resorts especially I ride switch a lot, but I also like to flip the board around doing quick 180's down the runs especially if they're crowded. My legs get a lot less tired that way. I also like the feeling of carving on a cambered twin more than a typical directional board which has some rocker in the front. And if a board is very directional with a short tail I don't enjoy it as much except in really soft conditions or powder where that's awesome. But in resorts those runs last maybe 23 minutes before they're tracked out.

Backcountry is directional s-rocker all the way.


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## Craig64 (Jul 16, 2015)

I'm a big directional fan. Every board I have is slightly to reasonably directional plus some with taper added into the mix as well. Suits my riding style as I'm more carve focussed on piste and slashy in powder.


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## Snowdaddy (Feb 2, 2018)

I'm thinking that maybe when I talk about twin boards I also count directional twins like the Custom or the Jones Mountain twin.


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## Snowdaddy (Feb 2, 2018)

Phedder said:


> That.
> 
> Unless you're a park rat or Ryan Knapton and spend a significant amount of time riding switch, most people should be on something at least somewhat directional. Preference is preference, but it's hard to deny a directional board is going to be best at riding in your natural direction.


Not saying I disagree, but directional boards can be very different. The sidecut can be shorter or longer in the the tail and the flex can also be stiffer or softer in the tail. The stance could be centered within a twinish sidecut or set back.


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## linvillegorge (Jul 6, 2009)

I'm down to one true twin in my quiver and though I set the bindings up so that it's effectively a directional twin.


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## MrDavey2Shoes (Mar 5, 2018)

I think a directional twin with full camber (or mostly) is the most versatile snowboard you can have. From there the niche narrows. Anything but deep powder and it will excel. Soft snow, lay a trench. Hard snow/ice, grip it and rip it. Its so nice to have a big ol’ tail to load up and snap out of a turn.


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## Scalpelman (Dec 5, 2017)

No park for me. I ride a directional twin or a directional freeride 90%.


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## deagol (Mar 26, 2014)

+1 for directional. I stopped riding backwards many years ago for whatever reason.


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## Phedder (Sep 13, 2014)

Snowdaddy said:


> Not saying I disagree, but directional boards can be very different. The sidecut can be shorter or longer in the the tail and the flex can also be stiffer or softer in the tail. The stance could be centered within a twinish sidecut or set back.


Yes? Generally those changes are there to *enhance* it's performance in one direction. The centered stances within a twinish sidecut still benefit from having a longer nose for pow, slush, or any uneven snow, while feeling more like a twin when on edge and riding switch. 



MrDavey2Shoes said:


> Its so nice to have a big ol’ tail to load up and snap out of a turn.


There's still a lot of heavily directional boards out there that have plenty of tail to load up and snap out of a turn. Look at something like the Nitro Squash, looks incredibly directional, but it's only setback 1 inch on the effective edge, it just has a very short tail *after* the effective edge ends. Which mean's there's stiill a lot of tail gripping the snow behind your rear foot to drive from :grin:


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## drblast (Feb 28, 2017)

One other thing, if you're *learning* to ride switch it can be really helpful to be able to know for certain that any differences you feel come from you and not the board.

On a directional board if riding switch feels a little off you might be doing something wrong but on a twin if it feels off you definitely are. As I try to improve my switch riding I'm trying to "forget" which is the right direction and a twin helps me pinpoint what I'm doing wrong.

Oddly I've found that when riding my Mullair (directional, tapered) switch I feel like I'm doing better than I actually am because that short narrow tail out in front turns like a sports car. If you don't know what I'm talking about flip your bindings on your directional board and ride it with your normal stance so that only the board is backwards. On most boards that speeds up turn initiation and is like riding a much shorter board.


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## Plink01 (Dec 3, 2018)

Hey i'd love to try a directional coz really i ride no switch and have pretty much no interest in it, but my only concern is when shit gets real gnarly and steep in trees or around rocks, i find it good to be able to ride backwards a bit to get me back to where i want to be. Is this still possible on a directional board?? I dont link turns when riding switch, but i just use it to get me out of the shit. Going by that should i be riding directional??


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## MikeD_Yall (Dec 30, 2018)

It depends on how and what terrain you ride or want to want to ride. If you ride switch a semi frequently, spin airs, mess around on groomers, butter and hit park features a twin might be “more fun”. If you don’t ride switch much at all, don’t hit park features and are more into groomers, trees, powder, natural features, etc.. then a directional board is probably going to more what you will enjoy. Not that you are stuck riding specific terrain with either a twin or directional board. Flex/ response and shape is going to be as big a factor in how a board really performs and handles. It’s really all preference. I personally like to ride a medium stiff twin for my everyday do all board. I have a shorter softer board for messing around & a longer, more responsive directional board for steeps, trees and powder.


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## MikeD_Yall (Dec 30, 2018)

It’s a big misconception that you can’t ride directional boards switch. It’s just a lot different because you have the big wider nose as your tail so the board acts differently. But, 100% doable. Especially if you are just going switch to negotiate the terrain.


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## Snowdaddy (Feb 2, 2018)

Phedder said:


> Yes? Generally those changes are there to *enhance* it's performance in one direction. The centered stances within a twinish sidecut still benefit from having a longer nose for pow, slush, or any uneven snow, while feeling more like a twin when on edge and riding switch.


I was merely reflecting on that directional boards can have very different approaches to flex pattern, but that is also true for a twin board naturally. I mean some boards have a softer flex pattern in the tail and others the opposite. So what I was just thinking was that it's a bit subjektive what is better with a directional board.

But if a rider if interested in certain aspects like how it behaves in powder etc, the obviously the board needs specific characteristics. I only have two boards and they are directional. I could see that some people who aren't park riders could still maybe want a twin flex pattern in a board that mostly goes one way.

A really interesting directional board (in my opinion) is the Dupraz. Longer nose but set forward in the sidecut... plenty of tail there I suppose...


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## MrDavey2Shoes (Mar 5, 2018)

Plink01 said:


> Hey i'd love to try a directional coz really i ride no switch and have pretty much no interest in it, but my only concern is when shit gets real gnarly and steep in trees or around rocks, i find it good to be able to ride backwards a bit to get me back to where i want to be. Is this still possible on a directional board?? I dont link turns when riding switch, but i just use it to get me out of the shit. Going by that should i be riding directional??


As mentioned earlier in this thread you can definitely ride most directional shapes/sidecuts switch. If the only switch riding you'll be doing is for the sake of navigating around or out of technical terrain here and there a directional will probably be fine. Just make sure to get something with a little kick up in the tail so it doesn't dig in.


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## speedjason (May 2, 2013)

MikeD_Yall said:


> It’s a big misconception that you can’t ride directional boards switch. It’s just a lot different because you have the big wider nose as your tail so the board acts differently. But, 100% doable. Especially if you are just going switch to negotiate the terrain.


I have ridden my Capita Navigator switch a couple of times because the leg burn from riding pow. It rides just fine. Maybe a little weird but not big enough to notice. I was not riding switch in deep pow obviously.


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## speedjason (May 2, 2013)

MrDavey2Shoes said:


> As mentioned earlier in this thread you can definitely ride most directional shapes/sidecuts switch. If the only switch riding you'll be doing is for the sake of navigating around or out of technical terrain here and there a directional will probably be fine. Just make sure to get something with a little kick up in the tail so it doesn't dig in.


Do you think gimbalgod would have got out of this if his tail was not cut off? Or was it too far gone?
https://www.facebook.com/boardworld...m-when-filming-sebbe-de-buck/173441220230671/


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## MrDavey2Shoes (Mar 5, 2018)

speedjason said:


> Do you think gimbalgod would have got out of this if his tail was not cut off? Or was it too far gone?
> https://www.facebook.com/boardworld...m-when-filming-sebbe-de-buck/173441220230671/


That elicited the same noise I usually reserve for one punch knock out videos on youtube lol


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