# What's the smallest you ride for big and tall?



## fazy (Feb 3, 2017)

I was just wondering what other big and tall people ride? I'm 6'4 around 220 and Pretty much ride small for my height and weight. I have ridden a 165 before and felt it was too big and heavy. Now my quiver is made up of 3 boards 159w 160 and 161. Honestly I felt I could have went 156 for the park? Is that too small? 

Just curious to others thoughts and opinions in general on what's too small.


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## robotfood99 (Mar 19, 2016)

fazy said:


> I'm 6'4 around 220... I have ridden a 165 before and felt it was too big and heavy.



Sorry, I’m not big or tall so haven’t got an answer for you, but you gotta talk to @Anais!


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## dfitz364 (Jan 10, 2014)

Please,

I am 250lbs, 6'3", and ride a 158 Lago DB, and before that rode a 158w Artifact Rocker like I stole it. You can ride whatever, but understand the trade offs. For the park, 156 for you could be a ball for spins, S/M jumps, jibs and butters. 

Thinking of tossing off of a 40 foot booter? Good luck. 

Land wrong off a rail? Hope you don't care the board tail snaps. 

It's all about trade offs. I like riding small, but realize when I want to bomb, I am going to feel uneasy and unstable. I have broken 2 boards in as many years from sheerly the board being too small. I understand the consequences and still rock small boards. Biggest board I have ridden in the past 10 years is a 159 Insta/Gator. That's supposed to ride 5-10cm smaller, but still was a 159. Also have a 156 old Capita Stairmaster that I still will ride on occasion at my local hill.

IMO, rip whatever is fun for you!

:2cents:


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## Rip154 (Sep 23, 2017)

Consider how much board is left after your stance width. If it's a couple inches of noodles in each end it won't be fun, but a stiffer board with stance around ref, you should be fine even on a 150.


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## Toby (Mar 8, 2017)

I'm 6'7 ~200 lbs and ride a 164W (although height isn't a factor in boardlenght)- can't really go shorter since then most boards are to narrow, cause I got big feet. I could go for a short fat one, but I like my Explorer as a one-board.quiver.


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## taco tuesday (Jul 26, 2014)

200lbs, my shortest board is a 158 Burton Cloudsplitter. Longest is a 171 Fullbag Hammerhead. The boards I've been riding the most this year are a 162w Jones Flagship and 165 Gnu Billy Goat. Could go smaller but I like to ride fast and like my edge to hold when pushed hard through a turn.


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## CRW (Oct 29, 2014)

6'5, 240, 12 boots. I ride a 162 Whiteout everywhere in the resort except the park, because I don't know how yet.
I started on a 165W, and ponder how it might suit backcountry if I still owned it.


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## fazy (Feb 3, 2017)

dfitz364 said:


> Please,
> 
> I am 250lbs, 6'3", and ride a 158 Lago DB, and before that rode a 158w Artifact Rocker like I stole it. You can ride whatever, but understand the trade offs. For the park, 156 for you could be a ball for spins, S/M jumps, jibs and butters.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the input, im still not at the 40 footer level yet so lucky don't have to worry about that yet but totally understand that. When you snapped the tails were they really hard landings?

I haven't ridden anything bigger than 161 for a while so I can't remember how much more stable they can be when bombing. If i get the chance to borrow one for a run or two I surely will.

ok Cool ill keep ripping what I got.


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## fazy (Feb 3, 2017)

taco tuesday said:


> 200lbs, my shortest board is a 158 Burton Cloudsplitter. Longest is a 171 Fullbag Hammerhead. The boards I've been riding the most this year are a 162w Jones Flagship and 165 Gnu Billy Goat. Could go smaller but I like to ride fast and like my edge to hold when pushed hard through a turn.


Wouldn't the edge hold say if it was a more aggressive board/stiff board? The 159 I have is a Hot Knife , so far that one holds the best of my 3 boards for edge and hard carves


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## dfitz364 (Jan 10, 2014)

fazy said:


> Thanks for the input, im still not at the 40 footer level yet so lucky don't have to worry about that yet but totally understand that. When you snapped the tails were they really hard landings?
> 
> I haven't ridden anything bigger than 161 for a while so I can't remember how much more stable they can be when bombing. If i get the chance to borrow one for a run or two I surely will.
> 
> ok Cool ill keep ripping what I got.


One was an impact on the sidewall to a tree root. Not directly from my weight, but it was a landing in the trees and may have had a chance if I wasn't much more than the recommended weight. Didn't mean both broken boards were from overbearing the board.

The other was a snapped tail from a hard landing from a rail, and definitely made worse from being over the weight amount. 

My thoughts, if it's a park board, it has a limited shelf life to begin with. I am going to be chucking it, bonking it, wrecking, and probably breaking it. Boards aren't an investment, they are a purchase to ride hard and put away wet until it finally gives. I still take care of my boards, but I appreciate that park boards aren't going to last me 10 years. I could be in the minority with this mentality, but that's how I am

I ride a small hill here in Ohio, so smaller boards are much more fun. I will say though, I have ridden bigger hills on smaller boards and have never had a problem keeping up. Could be I'm used to it, could be my friends suck :embarrased1:>

My thoughts, borrow or demo a smaller board, see if it's for you. You could even rent a board for a day and rent a smaller board. Flex is going to be much softer, you will have less swing weight, and it will feel like you can turn on a dime. Conversely, you will overpower it through the apex of hard carves, will get a little washy if you aren't dialed on jumps, and will will sketch around at full bomb speeds.

I like it, others don't. Only way to know is to try!!


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## drblast (Feb 28, 2017)

6'3" and 195 lbs. Minimum waist width for me tends to be around 25.5 which limits how short of a normal board I can ride. The smallest I have are 159's, one of which is wide, and my largest board is a 164 wide.

I ride switch a lot and love to spin around while riding, and I hardly do jibs. 159 is a sweet spot for that. But if I'm doing more freeride or at Crystal Mountain or Whistler where longer fast runs are the norm that typically means 160+. For splitboard/powder it's 164+.

I've ridden non-wide 156 boards before and felt like they're mostly too small unless they were purely a park/jib board. Going fast I don't feel like boards that small are stable enough or have enough stopping power; for those instances where a kid turns in front of me and I need to slam on the brakes I need to feel like I'm not going to overpower the board I'm on.

I don't have that problem on the stiffer short and fat boards, so I love those. Shortest board I've ridden fast and confidently is the Libtech Mayhem Rocket.


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## fazy (Feb 3, 2017)

OH ok gottcha I have been mostly using the Box knife as my main park board its a 160 its not classified as a Wide board per lib but per the specs it is. Im still pretty basic in the park but im gaining more confidence as I go. Seems like this board really works for the park. I wanted to grab this at 156w strictly for the park but found a great deal on the 160. Just torn that could I have gotten away with the 156w For my little hill of a local mountain. I guess at least at the 160 size it might be a bit more versatile for when I travel.

I always see the weight recommendations on manufacturers sites and say 130+ for example. I think it would be helpful if they put a suggested maximum as well.


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## taco tuesday (Jul 26, 2014)

fazy said:


> taco tuesday said:
> 
> 
> > 200lbs, my shortest board is a 158 Burton Cloudsplitter. Longest is a 171 Fullbag Hammerhead. The boards I've been riding the most this year are a 162w Jones Flagship and 165 Gnu Billy Goat. Could go smaller but I like to ride fast and like my edge to hold when pushed hard through a turn.
> ...


Yes there are factors other than effective edge that contribute to a boards performance/ edge hold. Just the same, I prefer a relatively long effective edge for most of my riding and the conditions we often have on the east coast. It's not like the boards I'm riding are overly long to compensate for being noodles. They are medium to stiff for the most part. My Smokin Jetson and Awesym are the softest boards I own and both are considered medium stiffness.


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## Phedder (Sep 13, 2014)

dfitz364 said:


> It's all about trade offs.
> 
> IMO, rip whatever is fun for you!


This. 

I'm 6'1, 200lb. My park board is a 156W Endeavor Cobain but I'll still ride that literally anywhere, spent all day on it today and I'd guess 20% of that was actually in the park, though there were a lot of side hits as well. Lapped the jump line a few times today and it handled the 30 footers just fine, as well as a few 6-8 ft drops I like to lap too. I also know the trade offs, and have to be more precise with landing. It won't save me if I land back-seat heavy, whereas my stiffer or longer boards will. 

Where you ride is also very important, I can carve pretty aggressively on it because I'm blessed with good snow conditions, it's easy to sink an edge in an get a firm hold. Same with my Warpig which has even less effective edge. I'd take 1150mm of EE on perfect chalky groomers over 1300mm of EE on ice any day. 

If it's going to be a dedicated park board, you could definitely get away with a 156 depending on which profile and how stiff it is. I wouldn't put you on a rocker dominant noodle, but something that size with a camber dominant profile and medium stiffness should handle just fine.


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## fazy (Feb 3, 2017)

drblast said:


> 6'3" and 195 lbs. Minimum waist width for me tends to be around 25.5 which limits how short of a normal board I can ride. The smallest I have are 159's, one of which is wide, and my largest board is a 164 wide.
> 
> I ride switch a lot and love to spin around while riding, and I hardly do jibs. 159 is a sweet spot for that. But if I'm doing more freeride or at Crystal Mountain or Whistler where longer fast runs are the norm that typically means 160+. For splitboard/powder it's 164+.
> 
> ...


What size are your boots?


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## sabatoa (Jan 18, 2011)

You've probably got your answer now. I'm 6'1" and about 230. I ride a 157w as my daily driver in the midwest. I also took it down a dub black in Colorado and it folded like a cheap suit, but it's a flexy park board so yeah- to be expected. 

If I'm looking for a board that can handle everything I like out west, then I'm looking at ~161'ish in a mid-flex or stiff flex, but at home my small park board is a ton of fun.


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## fazy (Feb 3, 2017)

@Phedder I had a burton blunt which was full rocker which I absolutely hated. Ride it 4 days and got rid of it. It felt like it was fighting me to go straight, folded in the ice and hard turns. So yeah your recommendation is correct about not sending me down that road. I don't ever think I will buy another full rocker board again


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## fazy (Feb 3, 2017)

sabatoa said:


> You've probably got your answer now. I'm 6'1" and about 230. I ride a 157w as my daily driver in the midwest. I also took it down a dub black in Colorado and it folded like a cheap suit, but it's a flexy park board so yeah- to be expected.
> 
> If I'm looking for a board that can handle everything I like out west, then I'm looking at ~161'ish in a mid-flex or stiff flex, but at home my small park board is a ton of fun.


Yeah I do. If I see a small used park wide 156 or so I'll consider purchasing it. As for now I guess the 160 will be just fine


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## dfitz364 (Jan 10, 2014)

fazy said:


> Yeah I do. If I see a small used park wide 156 or so I'll consider purchasing it. As for now I guess the 160 will be just fine


What size boot do you have?.. I may be able to hook you up with a cheap old Capita Stairmaster (soft camber, perfect for park, already a little beat, but still has lots of life in it!), but it's not a "wide" deck. 25.5 cm WW. It's the 2010 model. Let me know if you have any interest!


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## fazy (Feb 3, 2017)

dfitz364 said:


> fazy said:
> 
> 
> > Yeah I do. If I see a small used park wide 156 or so I'll consider purchasing it. As for now I guess the 160 will be just fine
> ...


Thanks so much for the offer! I wear 13 boots so that might be a bit too small. I've tried some non wide boards and get drag at times.


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## dfitz364 (Jan 10, 2014)

fazy said:


> Thanks so much for the offer! I wear 13 boots so that might be a bit too small. I've tried some non wide boards and get drag at times.


Word. Yeah, this would be a bit small for a 13. I rode it with 13s for a while when I was a beginner, but wouldn't really recommend it! Hahah


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## Special Blend (Mar 6, 2015)

6'4" 225lbs.
Been riding since 94. Smallest board I ride on a regular basis is my 151 Salomon Derby. 
Also have a 165 Salomon Mans board and a 160W twin for playing around.
Nothing is more fun in the trees on a powder dat then the Derby.


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## fazy (Feb 3, 2017)

A 151 does sound fun. How about if it's not a powder day? Still fun on the piste? I'll have to demo something small like that one day to get a good idea


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## Special Blend (Mar 6, 2015)

The Derby is still fun on groomers. Very stable and carves really well. If you are a good switch rider it is doable as well. Too bad they stopped making it.


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## htfu (Mar 18, 2015)

1.94m, 76kg (previously 119kg), 159w bataleon riot and 159 bataleon magic carpet are the 2 boards in my quiver. even when i was a lot bigger i found anything > 161 was too unwieldy and or stiff (first board was a 2010 164 bataleon the jam). also have a 156 magic carpet which i rode 2 years ago and it was fine even though i was way over the weight range for the board.


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