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Snowboards
Freeride or All Mountain Board
Of the three Snowboard types, the Freeride Snowboard is the most popular. Accounting for half of all Snowboard sales, this type of board is a good all-mountain, park and Halfpipe Snowboard that is designed to float well in Powder Surface. You can enjoy carving, catching air, and basically all riding aspects with this type of Snowboard. Freeride boards have a directional shape and are meant to be ridden primarily in one direction. Having a directional shape means that the Snowboard's tip is different from its tail. In freeride, the tail is generally more narrow, shorter, and flatter than the tip of the board. With this, the stance on freeride boards is usually offset toward the tail of the board. Still, freeride boards can be ridden Fakie, despite their directional shape.
Freeride Snowboards are usually fairly soft and maneuverable enough for beginners, but tortionally stiff enough to hold a fast turn in hard snow. This type of Snowboard bridges the gap between Freestyle and Alpine carving. However, it isn't as stable as a carving board and it isn't as agile as a freestyle board.
Freestyle Snowboard
A Freestyle Snowboard is shorter, has a softer flex and is more forgiving to ride. Also these characteristics make a freestyle board very responsive to the rider. Consequently, it is the best choice for the beginner.
These boards are built mainly for performing tricks in terrain parks and halfpipes (e.g. spins, air, grabs and riding fakie). Still, Freestyle Snowboards have limited edge grip and stability, and are not as good for carving turns or cruising fast as freeride boards.
Most Freestyle Snowboards are either twin tip boards or directional-twin. Twin tip boards have a centered stance with a tip and tail that are exact copies of each other, making them symmetrical in shape. Both ends of a freestyle Snowboard have a shovel, and freestyle boards with twin tip design makes it easy for beginners to ride both forward and backward (fakie). Directional-twin Snowboards are similar to the regular twin tip Snowboard; only, its tail is stiffer than the nose.
Snowboard Construction
There are some Basic Components that go into the Construction of every Snowboard. Each Snowboard has a base, an outer edge, a core, and a topsheet. A good quality Snowboard will be constructed like a Ski - it has metal edges and a P-tex base. There are generally Two Types of Snowboard Construction: the Capped Snowboards and the Traditional Sandwich Construction.
In Capped Snowboards, the top sheet (outer skin) is pinched over the sides of the snowboard meeting the steel edge. On the other hand, the top sheet on Traditional Sandwich Construction is flat, with the armor plating on the sides provided by separate sidewalls.
Each Type of Snowboard is similarly constructed with exception to some tooling modifications. Some designers say that Cap Construction enhances edge hold on hard snow and generally improves board responsiveness. Others claim that caps are harder to repair if you damage the sidewall. Both types have their merits, keep in mind though that what really matters is the materials under the skin.
To summarize, freestyle, freeride, and alpine or carving Snowboards are the three basic types of Snowboards. It is easier to maneuver a soft-flexing, twin-tip, gradual side cut Freestyle Snowboard. On the other hand, it is harder to maneuver a stiffer-flex, directional, aggressive sidecut All-Mountain Snowboard but it will be more stable especially at speed. Always remember that the type of Snowboard you ride should correspond to the type of riding that you like to do, and that both Freestyle and Freeride boards are good Snowboard types for beginning snowboarders.
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