How to Measure the Width of Snowboard Bindings

The width of your snowboarding bindings, known as stance width, is an important measurement to get correct. Too wide will strain your muscles and make the board difficult to turn. Too narrow will limit your control and stability on the board. Measuring the width of your bindings is therefore an important part of mounting them. While snowboard stance width is more about what's comfortable than precise scientific measurement, there are some guidelines that can put you in the ballpark.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Step 1

Measure from the top of your knee to the floor with your shoes off. Remember this measurement.

Step 2

Place your bindings on the snowboard and spread them so that the centers of the front and rear bindings are at the measurement taken in Step 1. For instance, if you measured 20 inches, the bindings should be placed on the board 20 inches from center to center.

Step 3

Line the bindings up according to your stance width and set-back. Find the inserts (screw holes) on the board that correspond to your binding placement and use those inserts to mount your bindings.

Step 4

Remember that stance width needs to be comfortable. Stand behind the board and get into stance based upon the width of the bindings. Determine if this feels comfortable for you. If you're still not sure, try it out on the hill and adjust as needed. Adjustment is simply a matter of unscrewing your mounting discs and reattaching them to a different set of inserts.

Tips & Warnings

Another guideline is that your stance should be roughly shoulder-width (outside of left to outside of right shoulder) or slightly wider. Use measurements as a starting point, but not as a hard-and-fast rule. In the end, it's about how your settings enable you to perform. Adjust based on your own needs, comfort and experience. Do what's right for you. Wider stances can help in freestyle riding while narrower stances can make for faster, more aggressive turns.

Another guideline is that your stance should be roughly shoulder-width (outside of left to outside of right shoulder) or slightly wider.

Use measurements as a starting point, but not as a hard-and-fast rule. In the end, it's about how your settings enable you to perform. Adjust based on your own needs, comfort and experience. Do what's right for you.

Wider stances can help in freestyle riding while narrower stances can make for faster, more aggressive turns.

Article Written By Joe Fletcher

Joe Fletcher has been a writer since 2002, starting his career in politics and legislation. He has written travel and outdoor recreation articles for a variety of print and online publications, including "Rocky Mountain Magazine" and "Bomb Snow." He received a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Rutgers College.

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