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Snowboard Tuning, Repair & Maintenance
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| A large part of the existence of a rider incontestably revolves around
his Snowboard. However, frequent using of the Snowboard results to
damages at Snowboard's Base and Edges ranging from small scratches
to major cuts. To minimize this occurrence, you need to take time
to keep your board in good condition. In this section, we will provide
you with ways to Tune and Maintain your Snowboard. |
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Home Tuning vs. Board Shops
You will be surprised at all the things you can easily do yourself.
All Basic Snowboard Maintenance, Repair and Tuning can be done at
home with the right tools. However, if your board has taken serious
damage like deep gouges in your base, you're better off leaving
the repair to the professionals by bringing it to a Snowboard Shop.
Convex and Concave Base
| The base of your Snowboard should be totally flat,
not rounded. If your edges are higher than your base, then your
base is convex. On the other hand, if the edges are lower than
your base, then your base is concave. You can easily check the
rounding of your base by placing a flat surface against your
Snowboard and checking if there's light coming through the front
view of your base. |
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Convex or concave bases are not that
easy to fix. It would be better if you leave these operations to
a Snowboarding shop. If you try to do it at home with just files
and scrapers, you will probably end up with an uneven surface.
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Fixing Burred Edges & Edge Tuning
of Snowboards
A Snowboard with sharp edges will help you in turns and will improve
your general grip and edge control in the Different Snow Surfaces.
As you use your Snowboard for longer periods of time, the edges
will start to wear off, and become rounded and burred. Edge Maintenance
is easy as long as you do it on a regular basis (e.g. every after
riding), especially since small imperfections are easier to fix.
Each Snowboard has two edges:
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Deburring
Use a carborundum or diamond stone and drag it from the Snowboard's
Tip to the Tail of the edge. Repeat the movement until all nicks
and burrs are gone and the edges are smooth again. |
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Base Edge Tuning
Tuning Edges is best done with a file. Start off with the base
edge of the Snowboard. Still, take care with filing. Make sure
not to file the base of the board and only file as little as needed.
Side Edge Tuning
After filing the base, you can file the side edges. Use a small
file so you won't have a hard time filing the Sidecut of your
Snowboard. Special edge files will make it easier to determine
the angle that you are filing in. When it comes to tuning your
edges you have a couple of options: |
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Base edge angle is 0, Side Edge
angle is 90 degrees. Most boards come from the shop with these
angles leaving you with enough options to change it.
Base edge angle is 0, Side Edge angle is smaller than 90 degrees.
This gives you a sharper side edge which will increase your
grip on turns in snow. This setting is handy for icy conditions.
Base edge angle is larger than 0 degrees, Side Edge angle is
90 degrees. This dulls your side egde decreasing your grip but
increasing your boards grip. It will also make it easier to
make turns.
Base Edge angle is larger than 0 degrees, Side Edge angle smaller
than 90 degrees. By tuning both edges you can actually maintain
the 90 degree in your edge but with a repositioning. Some people
find that in this way, they can profit from both effects: more
speed and easier turns. |
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IMAGE AND CONTENT SOURCE: ABC-OF-SNOWBOARDING |
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