What is a snowboard setback stance? And what’s the best position for you?
The answer to this question depends mostly on the snowboard you have and the style of snowboarding you want to do.
What is a setback stance?
Snowboards are designed to have the rider’s feet either centered on the snowboard (lengthways) or setback.
Setback basically means that your back binding will be set up closer to the tail (back) of your snowboard than your front binding is from the nose (front). Your front binding will be closer the centre of your snowboard (the waist) than your back binding.
See the examples of centered and setback stances below.
Centered
Setback
There are varying degrees of setback that can range from as little as 5mm to as much as 70mm or even more in some cases.
So how do you know what stance is best for you?
The Best Setback Stance for You
The setback stance you go with will depend on a few main things:
- How the snowboard was designed
- Your Style of Snowboarding
- What feels the best for You
How the Snowboard Was Designed
Snowboards are usually designed with a particular setback stance in mind. And often this means that the camber profile is set in a certain way, the shape is a certain way etc.
All snowboards have the setback stance published so you know what setback you should be riding on that board.
For me this is the most important one. The board is designed to have a certain setback and if you ride with a different setback then it could feel odd or not perform the way it should.
You can try a different setback but if it feels weird or you don’t get the same out of the board then you might need to change boards if you want to change your setback stance.
The Style of Snowboarding You do
If you don’t yet have a snowboard or you are thinking of getting a new one then this becomes the most important consideration.
Freestyle
If you like to ride freestyle then you are going to want to have a centered stance.
A centered stance allows you to ride switch more comfortably, perform tricks more easily and have a better feel on rails and other obstacles.
Below are the stats for over 60 freestyle and jib boards that I researched. As you can see every single one of them had a centered stance!
| Setback | % |
|---|---|
| Centred | 100% |
| Between 5mm and 10mm | 0% |
| Between 10mm and 15mm | 0% |
| Between 15mm and 20mm | 0% |
| Greater than 20mm | 0% |
Related: How to Choose the Best Freestyle Snowboard for You
All-Mountain-Freestyle
Naturally all-mountain-freestyle snowboards tend to have some characteristics of freestyle snowboards and some of all-mountain boards. When it comes to setback they take from the freestyle snowboard. A large majority have a centered stance.
And this makes a lot of sense. If you are riding freestyle anywhere on the mountain you still want a centered stance for riding switch, and doing tricks off natural hits.
Below are the setbacks of all of the all-mountain-freestyle boards I researched. Again the centered stance is the most preferred.
| Setback | % |
|---|---|
| Centred | 98% |
| Between 5mm and 10mm | 2% |
| Between 10mm and 15mm | 0% |
| Between 15mm and 20mm | 0% |
| Greater than 20mm | 0% |
All-Mountain
The all-mountain rider needs to be able to do a bit of everything. In order to be able to do a bit of everything their snowboard needs to strike a balance.
In terms of setback stance there is usually some amount of setback but there usually isn’t that much.
The reason for this is that you don’t want too much setback because you still want to be able to ride switch o.k. and might still want to do some freestyle riding but you also need the benefits of a setback stance.
The benefit of having a setback stance is that it helps to keep the nose out of your snowboard up – so if you’re in deep snow you don’t have to think too much about keeping the nose of your board above the snow.
Naturally the all-mountain snowboard tries to strike a balance, so the setback is almost never centered but is also seldom more than 20mm (3/4”) setback.
| Setback | % |
|---|---|
| Centred | 0% |
| Between 5mm and 10mm | 16% |
| Between 10mm and 15mm | 32% |
| Between 15mm and 20mm | 47% |
| Greater than 20mm | 5% |
Related: How to Choose the Best All-Mountain Snowboard for You
Freeride
Freeride snowboards don’t typically need the benefits of riding switch or the ease of doing tricks, hitting rails etc.
But they do need to be good at floating in powder.
Freeriders often venture into the backcountry in search of powder and you don’t want to be physically working hard to keep your nose afloat. A decent setback stance makes it more effortless to keep your nose afloat so that you can concentrate on the best lines to take.
So freeride snowboards usually have a setback stance of at least 20mm (3/4”) and sometimes as much as 65mm (2.5 inches).
| Setback | % |
|---|---|
| Centred | 0% |
| Between 5mm and 10mm | 0% |
| Between 10mm and 15mm | 8% |
| Between 15mm and 20mm | 31% |
| Greater than 20mm | 62% |
Related: How to Choose the Best Freeride Snowboard for You
Over to You
Thanks for reading and I hope this has helped you to find the right snowboard setback stance for you.
If you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them in the comments section below.
Related: Choosing the Best Snowboard Stance Setup (angles, width, setback, high-back lean)
I currently ride a K2 Turbo Dream, and I find to to ride a little too “loose” and I think this may be due to the 3/4 setback on the board? I think the Rocker/Flat/Rocker shape of the board may play into this as well. I am looking to get something new, but I am not sure if I should be staying away from the setback, or if I should go back to Camber. I rode a Forum Destroyer 154 for years, and I recently switched to the K2 Turbo Dream 156. I am not a park rider at all, but I do enjoy an occasional butter or side booter off of a run or cat walk. What are your thoughts on this? Is the 3/4 setback the problem or the Rocker/Flat/Rocker shape? OR should I stay away from both?
Hi Chris
The setback isn’t likely to be the issue for a loose feel. But the camber profile will certainly effect how loose the board feels.
The Forum Destroyer has a Traditional Camber profile as far as I know. If that’s what you are used to then the Flat to Rocker shape of the Turbo Dream will feel looser in comparison.
So I wouldn’t worry about the setback (at least not for the purposes of looseness, the setback does affect other things though) but if you want something that doesn’t feel as loose, then I would go back to something with a Traditional Camber profile (All Camber) or a Hybrid Camber profile (Rocker/Camber/Rocker).
For something that you can still butter but that has that more camber dominant profile I would suggest something like an aggressive-all-mountain-freestyle snowboard. You can check out my list of what I think are the top 5 of that type of board at the link below. Check out the tables to see if the specs will suit your style of riding.
~ My Top 5 Aggressive All-Mountain-Freestyle Snowboards
Hope this helps
Hi Nate, I have a Jones mountain twin and an setting up my bindings. I know it has a reference stance set back 20mm. At that stance it seems kinda wide. Should I leave it here like the manufacturer reccomends or adjust it? And how would I adjust it? Should I center it? Thank you
Hi Nick
Thanks for your message.
If you feel like the stance is too wide for you, one option would be to center it, by moving the back binding towards the center. But if you want to still have a setback stance (which there are advantages to doing so, like float in powder) then you could bring the front binding back towards the center. This would of course increase your setback stance – but it would also narrow your stance.
If you let me know your height, which length MT you have I could see if the stance width seems appropriate for you – although a lot of stance width does come down to personal preference.
The other thing is, that it’s always good to experiment. So you could try it at he reference stance and see how it feels and if it feels to wide adjust it and see what you like better.
Hope this helps
Hi Nate,
I have a Burton Custom Twin and I want to try setback stance a notch to see if it will help with carving. What you say? Do you think it may help carving or make it odd as it is a twin.
Hi Ahmet
You can setback on a twin – depending on positioning of the camber profile it can sometimes feel a little weird – but with the Custom Twin being all camber (assuming you don’t mean the flying V version) it shouldn’t feel too weird in terms of the camber profile.
The Custom Twin is also a little bit asymmetrical – which can make them feel weirder setback than other twins – but in the case of the Custom Twin, the asymmetry is just to do with the flex and not the sidecut. However, the positioning of the way that flex works and the positioning of the frost bite edges, might make it not optimum with too much of a setback stance – but I think it’s worth a try, if it feels too weird, then you can always just center it back up and you’ve learnt something – and it might feel ok. Typically setting back, in my experience, makes for better carving but you can still get good carves going centered. I would say there’s no harm giving it a try and seeing how it feels.
Hope this helps
Hi Nate! Thanks for a good article!
I just bought a Salomon Sickstick 151 (2018) and wondering what stance would be best suited for me. I’m 178 cm (5.8f) and looking for a good all round feeling for both powder and park.
Cheers!
Hi Karl
Thanks for your message.
The Sickstick is unique in that it has a centered reference stance. But setback is measured along the effective edge, rather than the overall length of the snowboard – so whilst the reference stance is centered along the effective edge, you’re still setback on the overall length of the board. This is because the nose (260mm long) is longer than the tail (195mm long). So you’re already relatively setback as far as the overall length goes – so this is good for powder. But if you wanted more setback you can certainly do that, and that would give you more of a setback feel on groomers, and even more setback for powder. But I feel like staying centered will give you that more centered feel for the park, and you’ve already got that longer, wider nose and shorter, narrower tail to help with float in powder.
In terms of stance width – the reference stance is at 560mm, which would be fine for your height. So I would start out with the reference width (whether you decide to setback or not).
With both setback and stance width, I would experiment to see what’t the best feel for you. Always a good call to start with the reference stance and then go from there. I suspect the reference might be the best setup for you on this board, to best balance powder and park. Of course if you wanted you could also setback on powder days and stay centered for park days.
Hope this helps
Hey Nate,
Just a quick question. I’m thinking of getting yes the greats but I’m a little concerned about my stance on a assym board. I ride +18 -9 and I’m wondering if the assym board is more for duck stance +15 -15 riders. Will it be weird for me to ride with my stance?
Thanks
Hi Can
Thanks for your message. Yeah it’s recommended to use a mirror duck stance on asym boards like the Greats. That’s how you get the best out of it. But I’ve ridden asym boards with different angles and it hasn’t felt overly weird. I prefer to ride them with a mirror duck though. I haven’t ridden the Greats with anything but +15/-15 but I did ride a GNU Rider’s Choice (which is also asym) a couple of years back with a +18/-6 – and it’s certainly doable.
Hi Nate,
I’ve got a Burton flight attendant 152 (2018). I’m 168cm and still curious to figure out what setback stances and angel are the best for my style. I like riding in powder and park occasionally. I would like to ask you for advices.
Thanks you so much
Stefan
Hi Stefan
Thanks for your message.
In some ways we’re talking about two opposite things here – Park and Powder. In powder you want a good setback on your board as it helps you float more effortlessly in powder, whereas in the park, it’s better (IMO) to be centered or close to centered, especially if you’re doing any tricks that involve taking off or landing in switch.
The reference stance on the Flight Attendant is 35mm setback. And that’s just along the effective edge. Since the nose is longer than the tail on that board, your setback along the overall length of the board will be significantly higher than that (at reference). But that longer nose shouldn’t matter too much when it comes to the park or groomers (just in powder) except in terms of swing weight.
So sticking with reference is what I would suggest for powder. But in the park you might want to be closer to centered, in which case, you could move your back binding up a notch if you wanted to narrow your stance or your front binding forward a notch if you wanted to widen your stance. Or move the back binding forward and the front binding forward equal amounts if you wanted to keep your stance the same. Just make sure you don’t end up going beyond centered along the effective edge. With the channel system you should have all the possibilities available to you.
I would say to either stick with reference and deal with that in the park. Or tweak your setback so that it’s closer to 15mm or 20mm to get a balance between park and powder. For the FA I think it would just be a little bit weird to have it centered. It’s certainly designed more for powder and bombing than it is for the park.
Hope this helps
Hi,
Thanks for the article! I just bought a new k2 87. I don’t see very much powder but I am definitely not focused on the park. 99% of my season consists of me charging down groomers. Will this board fit my needs?
Hi Anthony
Thanks for your message.
The 87 isn’t something that I’ve ridden, so I couldn’t say first hand, but based on specs and what I’ve heard from others, I would say that it’s biggest strength is probably powder, but it looks like it could be OK riding at speed and carving. It’s a wider board that’s designed to be ridden in a shorter length. That’s often really good for powder, particularly powder in trees, but can also lead to a reduced effective edge, which can affect stability at speed for one thing.
I don’t have a lot of experience with short/wide boards, to be honest, but I’ve heard some people who do like them on groomers as well.
Definitely not a freestyle board, but sounds like that’s not your thing anyway.
I think depending on the size you got and your specs, that it could work for you, but like I say I can’t give you any first hand experience with this particular board.
Hi Nate, great article, but one (my) category is missing. What do you think about setback for carving? Specially on symetrical camber board. Do you recommend setback or not? If yes, how much? Or better s centered?
Thanks for answer, Martin
Hi Martin
Thanks for your message.
I personally prefer a little bit of setback for carving. Not too much but I like something around 20mm in terms of setback. I still like carving centered too, but I would prefer a little bit of setback ideally. That’s not necessarily the case for everyone but that’s what I prefer.
Hope this helps
Hi Martin, Nath,
Good thread and I am in search of ideal stance for carving too. I have F2 Eliminator 166wide 2010/11 Carbon, it is quite stiff and it has 50mm setback. Another problem is that my boots are Burton DriverX 12US size and I can’t use angles less than 48 degrees om the front foot without booting out. With this angle, the front heel is quite shifted to the tail as is, and 50mm setback of the board gives the feeling of a lengthy nose that is difficult to load on the back side, and I have to lean forward and stress front foot. I’m 186cm tall so 56cm stance should be good, but again, not with my +48 /+36 minimum angles. I want to stand narrower with steep angles, but the minimum stance is 52cm. So I’m thinking of moving only front foot +4cm to the nose (giving 56cm stance but eliminating most of the setback) and may be using heel lift plate, or switching to the hard boots… Please let me know your thoughts.
Hi Igor
Thanks for your message.
I personally don’t have any experience with angles like that – but I get what you’re saying with the heel of your front foot feeling like it’s quite far back along the effective edge in that position. Certainly no harm in giving it a go and seeing how it feels like that. If I have what you’re saying correct, then that would put you at a 10mm setback on the effective edge, instead of 50mm. If it doesn’t feel right, then you could try doing the same thing but with front foot 2cm closer to the nose (so that you’re then setback 30mm instead of 50mm).
Hi Nate,
I have tried to ride with 54 and 56cm stance with the back foot in the foremost position. The board feels livelier, as we expected, but now the back foot’s achilles tendon is always stretched, and even too overstretched by bumps on front side turns, backfoot certainly wants an angle much lower than my 36deg.. So I asked a pair of hardboots and plates from my friend, and set them 51cm apart, removing 1cm from the board’s setback by the back plate, and angles like 47 / 40. With the heel lift of 3deg on the back foot my stance on the board is conformable like never before 🙂 i am yet to test this new setup on the slope, though.
Hi Igor
Thanks for the update. Let me know how that goes for you on the slope. A bit more tweaking and you’ll find your sweet spot, I’m sure!
hey man, thanks for this article.
I have burton process flying v, can I do a setback stance on it?
Hi Mazen
Thanks for your message.
The Process Flying V has a 12.5mm (0.5″) setback already, when you set up in the reference stance. But you can definitely set it back further if you want to. If you want to set it back further but still keep your same stance width, then you just need to move the front binding towards the center and the back binding towards the tail by the same amount.
Hope this helps
Hi Nate
I currently am riding a burton instigator 2019. I believe it has a one inch setback and is a rocker/flat/rocker. However I have been riding quite a bit of park and would like to try a centered stance I am 5 foot 8 inches and 120 pounds do you think a centered stance would be ok?
Thank for reading
The board size is 155
Hi Tristan
Thanks for your message.
You could center up the Instigator is you wanted. It’s still going to have a longer and wider tail – so not going to be a twin – but will feel more twinish, and be easier for riding switch, if centered.
However, be careful that you don’t end up with a “set forward” stance. The 1″ setback is the setback along the effective edge of the board. If you try to center along the overall length, you will end up “set forward” on the effective edge – as the nose (beyond the contact points) is longer than the tail (beyond the contact points).
So, when you adjust your bindings move both bindings equal distance forward – the back binding 25mm towards the center and the front binding 25mm away from the center, keeping the same stance width. When measuring from the center of the back binding to the tail and from the center of the front binding to the nose the measurement from the center of the front binding to the nose should still be longer than the measurement from the back binding to the tail, because of the longer nose. Since Burton don’t publish their nose and tail lengths I’m not sure how much that difference should be.
Hope this helps