The setup of your bindings can make a real difference to your riding performance and comfort levels.
This article will discuss the best binding angles for freeriders. Check out the links at the bottom of this post if you are looking for bindings angles for beginners, freestyle or all-mountain riding.
What is a Freerider?
Before I get into the best angles I wanted to define what I consider a freerider. This is because the term isn’t necessarily used in the same way by everyone.
My definition of a freerider is someone who likes to ride steep, varied terrain, often in the backcountry. They like their riding fast, with hard carves and like to take aggressive lines.
For more on what freeriding is (in my books) check out this post on what is freeriding?
The Best Binding Angles for Freeriding
O.k. with that out of the way let’s take a look at the best angles for a freerider.
This is definitely something you should experiment with because everyone is different, both biomechanically and in terms of their riding style.
But if you’re not sure where to start these are some good starting points.
Can I Use a Duck Stance for Freeriding?
I never like to say to say never for anything and you can try whatever you like – but generally speaking a duck stance won’t be well suited to freeriding.
A duck stance means that there is a negative angle on the back binding.
This is uncommon for freeriders. Although in saying that I have heard people say they prefer duck stance in the backcountry because they feel they can crouch lower which helps them when riding through trees. But this would be the exception to the rule.
Related: What Snowboard Binding Angles Should I Use
Which Forward Stance Should I Start With?
Like I said it’s always a good idea to experiment to find that sweet spot that suits you the best – but to narrow down that starting point here are some binding angles to start with.
Forward Stance +18/+3
Forward Stance +18/+6
Forward Stance +21/+3
Forward Stance +21/+6
Experiment
Because everyone is different one of these may not work for you so it’s really important to experiment.
For example you could start of +18/+3 and then try +21/+3 and then try +18/+6 (if you preferred the +18/+3) and then and so on….if you prefferred +21/+3 then you could try +21/+6 or even +24/+3 etc etc.
Move further into the direction that feels better and when it feels worse again then go back to the one before (if that makes sense?!). So if you were to start with +18 on your front foot and then went to +21 and that felt better it is a good idea to then try +24 – if that didn’t feel as good as +21 then go back to +21. And then try out what feels best on your back foot.
You may find that no forward stances feel good to you, in which case you should experiment with a duck stance (negative angle on the back foot). Everyone is anatomically different so experimenting is important.
Over to You
Thanks for reading and I hope this has been helpful for you. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them in the comments section below.
Related: Binding Angles for All-Mountain Riders
Related: Binding Angles for Freestylers
Related: Binding Angles for Beginners
Nate,
Thanks a bunch for the helpful article! I just bought a 155cm morrow radium board, and I needed some help on the binding angles.
It’s all set up now! Again, thanks so much for the article. SP is a lifesaver!!!
Sincerely,
Snowboardsam 🙂
Hi Snowboardsam
Thanks for your message and glad you found it helpful. Hope you have an awesome season!
Hi Nate great review and comments.
I’m a self educated rider sadly so Im prone to take advices from other riders without asking. I like to ride aggressively and fast and I got myself a Burton custom X last year. I keep myself on the slopes and I don’t jump, just can’t afford any more injuries at 38. Yet, I like to ride fast and take hard curves. Duck stance has been really bad and Im prone to fall at high speeds since some guy set my bindings like that. It really hurts my back leg. Besides changing probably the stance to a more freeride-friendly one, would you recommend also changing the position of the bindings related to the center of the board? More to the back or to the front, considering what I have described as my “type” of ride? Thank you so much in advance for your thoughts!
PS. For the moment Im using-9/+9 goofy evenly distributed bindings from the center with a 53 cms wide stance. Im 174 cms high and 85 kilos (5’9 and 187 lb). The board is 154 cms long.
Hi Ignacio
Thanks for your message.
I think switching to a more freeride angles will certainly help. You don’t necessarily have to go with a super forward stance, but I would go with at least a moderately forward stance for your style of riding. But yeah, I would experiment. Try something like +18/-6 and compare it to something like +24/+3 and see which you prefer. And work around from there.
In terms of your setback, I think going with a bit of setback is a good idea for the style of riding you describe. If you’re not riding much powder, then I wouldn’t setback too much, but I like a bit of setback for speed/carving if that’s what I’m going to be doing predominantly. The Custom X is already naturally setback 12.5mm at its reference stance, so you do already have a naturally setback stance on the board. But you could try more of a setback to see if you like the feel. I would try up to 40mm and to see how that feels. If you’re looking to keep the same stance width, move the back binding (left in your case) 20mm back towards the tail and the front binding (right in your case) 20mm towards the center of the board. This should give you an extra 20mm of setback on top of the 12.5mm (total setback 32.5mm). To get closer to a total of 40mm setback you could move both by 25mm. Note that this is referring to setback on effective edge, which doesn’t take into account differences in nose and tail lengths.
You could also experiment with your stance width.
Hope this helps
Is +30+3 to much? I’ve tried several types and I feel I keep coming back to this. My front knee seems to want to be more pointed forward.
I can still ride switch relatively well.
But I know it’s seems like a uncommon stance.
Hi Seth
If that feels most comfortable to you, then I think it should absolutely fine. I’ve never setup with that much of a forward stance, but I’ve ridden with people with a 27 degree front foot angle. And racers/slalom snowboarders have even more extreme angles than that – like often around 45 degrees. And Sometimes even as much as 60-70! So, if 30 feels good to you, it should be all good.
Nate,
This article is fantastic. I just got my first directional board and I plan on testing out +18/+6. I hope to eventually ride +21/+6, and even more positive as I progress. Just picked up a T. Rice Orca today so here we go… Thanks for your truly informative articles that you’ve posted.
Hi Abe
Thanks for your message – and you’re very welcome. Hope you have a blast on your new deck! Let me know how you get on with your angles.
Hi Nate,
What is about a more forward stance that helps freeriders?
-Ryan
Hi Ryan
Thanks for your message.
Not sure about the physics of it, but having that more directional stance can help with carving, and I reckon even riding powder. But some people still freeride with a duck stance, if they find that more comfortable. If you’re not going to be riding switch at all though, I think most like to have that more forward stance for freeriding. If you’re not going to be really riding switch, I would experiment and see how you feel with a forward stance to see if you like it.
Hey Nate,
love your site and read a lot during the last weeks.
Your site helped me a lot deciding what I wanna have…
Just purchased 12.0 Burton Concord Boa and 11.5 Burton Imperial, Union Force L/XL and the Rossi XV 167.
I am worried that my boot size is too much for the xv. That’s why I picked the burtons. I could try to be OK with the size 11.5… I bought the whole equipment for a very reduced price and could not get hold of the wide version of the xv. Loved your review of the board and sounds like the board I always wanted to have. Since I love to carve, I am very worried…. Do I have to? Should I look for an alternative (wider) board? My budget is somehow restricted due to wife and kids ;-)…
Would really appreciate a response 😉
Thomas
Hi Thomas
The only way to truly know is to try the board. However, based on the details you’ve given me I think you should be fine on the Rossi Magtek XV 167.
The XV has a 255mm waist width. Now that would normally be too narrow for a size 12. But the Burton Concord and Burton Imperial both have great reduced footprint. Because of that reduced footprint I think you’ll be absolutely fine on that board. If the size 11.5 Imperial boots fit fine then they would be your best bet out of those two.
Just to confirm – I am assuming you are referring to US boot sizes. Is this correct?