Time for some new kit
pow and first tracks should be able to help you out and have you on the mountain in no time going on previous experiences.
Old town center in Jindy is where it’s all happening.
Bindings.
K2 Cinch may be too flexi for the style of riding you want. A stiffer binding will aid rail to rail transition. I went to buy the Cinch after seeing how they performed on a mate. But ended up with K2 Auto Ever 
Just keep in mind that a boot will soften somewhat once it has been broken in, so if it feels kinda on the soft side in store it will definitely feel soft once ya on the hill!!!!
If ya foot is slightly on the wider side, then def go the 1/2 size as this is what that sizing is designated for!!!!!
Have ya tried One Track Mind in Crows Nest yet???
ESS is the store behind the new Nuggets Crossing Town Centre, and well worth a look!!!! Time 2 Ride, First Tracks and Cherri Pow, along with ESS are the stores to get into at Jindy!!!!!
Rhythm in Cooma is also a must when on the shop!!!! It’s on the left hand side as ya comin into Cooma, just before Macca’s!!!!! They are open 24/7 in winter!!!!
However the boot flexes now, it’s only going to get softer - definitely keep that in mind. To me, it doesn’t sound like you’ve found the right boots yet. Keep looking and trying on different boots. Eventually you will know which one works best for your feet.
Stores worth checking (North Sydney and on the way to the snow):
One Track Mind - Crows Next
Balmoral Boards - Narrabeen
STM - Bondi Junction
Rhythm - Cooma
First Tracks - Jindy
ESS Boardstore - Jindy
Time2Ride - Jindy
Cherri Pow - Jindy
Cheers, I’ll try and hit up One Track Mind and Rhythm and the Jindy stores. Oh and Balmoral, I’ve bought several things from them so far and they’ve always been great.
I forgot to mention: to get an idea of overhang with new boots and board, I sat the 10.5 Burton Awol’s on a Lib Tech TRS 159 (25.3cm waist), and they were hanging over about 1.5cm at the toes and heels. I’m thinking that’s too much considering I would still want to carve on it some of the time. But I don’t know what sort of overhang is normal?
So with the Neversummer boards being still at the top of my list after all the reading up I’ve done at this stage, the 160 Evo has a 25.5 waist and the 160 Revolver (a Revolver is a wide Evo) is 26.5cm in the waist. I suspect that the wider board may be the way to go… There’s also the 158 Revolver (26.4cm waist) which may be better for me (185cm/90kg) ‘cos I’m big but I’m not huge - it would be a suprise if I qualified for the biggest model of freestyle board they make. What are people’s thought’s on the ideal size for me for a freestyle board?
When ya say ya sat the boots on the board, were they at ya normal binding angles????
Did ya raise them also as if they were sitting in the binding base????
A US 10.5 should shit it in on a 159 board, even without me doin the math!!!!!
The bindings will give you significantly more clearance. You’d have to put some serious carved turns in, to have any drag with. 265mm waist width with size 10.5 boots is unnecessarily wide in my opinion.
The length really depends on the particular board (flex and camber profile mainly). Out of all the boards you listed, I would say the Evo 160 is your best bet.
265mm waist width with size 10.5 boots is unnecessarily wide in my opinion.
Hell yeah! I’m a size 11 boot (‘09 Burton SLX) and I’m perfectly fine carving on a 249ww board.
When ya say ya sat the boots on the board, were they at ya normal binding angles????
Did ya raise them also as if they were sitting in the binding base????
A US 10.5 should shit it in on a 159 board, even without me doin the math!!!!!
Yep boots in bindings, but the bindings were sat loosely on the surface of the board - not screwed in - at an approximate 15/-15 stance.
I’m interested in the overhang when viewed from above, I know with 1.5cm overhang you could get over a fair way before you touch down but you couldn’t get near vertical. Perhaps it’s that after knowing what it feels like to have your toes dig in at carving speed and cause a crash I’m uncomfortable with anything beyond “minimal” overhang…?
It also comes down to carving style. In lessons I was taught to carve turn by changing edges, edging and progressively sinking into the turn, rise for the edge change, and repeat. After having discussions about this on the ski forum I understand this to be the “American” style. I’m interested in pursuing the “European” style (I’ve also heard this called Eurocarve).
As I understand it, the idea of this sort of turn is that you’re bent low at the edge change and you RISE your body position and edge as you bring the board around to parallel with the fall line. Then you SINK low from there to the next edge change and repeat. I understand the fully laid-out carve turns are a more difficult extension of this.
I’ve been told by ski instructors I’ve shared lifts with that when skiers are doing high speed carve turns they should be low at the edge change and rising throughout the turn.
Trying this new style has been a bit wierd to get started and I’m still getting used to it. But when I’ve pulled off the rising/sinking motions best I’ve achieved tighter radius carves and better speed control than I was able to previously. I dunno if I can lay out the turns like I’ve seen in videos (not at that ability level yet and unsure whether our Aussie conditions are ever suitable for that) but I would like to be able to carve steep blues like the main face of Towers, and currently I can’t get the turns in tight or slow enough for that.
But I know a softer freestyle board isn’t going to be ideal for this sort of thing, but I will want to carve on it at times, and the commonly held belief of “go for a standard width board if you can for quicker edge-to-edge speed” seems to be overrated to me.
Please, agree/disagree, I’m interested in hearing all opinions about the matter 
That’s all well and good but Euro-carving is completely different to what you described in your first post. Firstly, if you want to Euro-carve you shouldn’t be on a playful freestyle board. Secondly, your stance and setup needs to be completely different. The guys who Euro-carve are actually on narrower boards than the ones we’re suggesting. Generally they are on alpine boards or at least a directional freeride boards. They have a very forward (angles), narrow, and setback stance, which when combined with a good carving board, enables them to Euro-carve. You certainly won’t see them Euro-carving switch, unless they completely change their setup in the opposite direction (or their name is Terje).
I think you’re after two different things. You want a setup which will allow you to progress your freestyle skills, but you also want to do tight Euro-carves. You have to compromise somewhere. Sure, you can carve on a freestyle board. But it’s highly unlikely that you’re going to lay down carves so low that requires you to be on anything wider than 255. Especially with a playful flex, rocker, and duck stance, the board will likely slide out or skip before you even get down that low. If you’re really into carving, you shouldn’t consider anything other than a full cambered board.
I don’t think I’m telling you what you want to hear, but you need to decide what’s most important. If you want versatility, which I think you do, you need to compromise and lower your expectations. In regards to waist width, I still feel the same; size 10.5 boots shouldn’t be on a 265 waist width. You can if you want but just know it’s going to be unnecessarily sluggish from edge to edge.
Some really interesting and good comments here.
Just on the heel/toe drag point, I have never had any problems whatsoever with my current set up, which is 10.5 Burton Ions and my board has a waist width of 255mm.
I dropped into Alpsport in Ryde today and received some great service. The bloke suggested since my foot’s on the wider side that that may bump me up a size. 10.5 is probably perfect for me it seems, depending on the model. Problem there is finding a store that hasn’t sold out of these sizes, there were some gaps in their range which made it harder, though they said they were ordering more.
do you mean they want you to go a size longer to accomodate the width? i would be looking for a wider fit boot for a wider foot rather than a longer boot (bigger all around).
http://www.buoloco.com/web6/content/john-gerndt-burton-heavy-metal-mount-hood
a picture of Dave Downing doing a euro carve (likely on a Burton Nug) =)
I’ll have to buy the boots first, but what sort of overhang would people consider acceptable?
Thanks to the folks who’ve posted who are riding 10.5/11 size boots and standard boards. To those guys, how much overhang do you have on your board?
I’m not expecting a freestyle board to take to fully laid-out eurocarving stuff, nor would I want to ride it with the narrow-forwards-setback stance those guys use. What I’m thinking is that when there’s no freestyle-y stuff to hit or I’m cruising somewhere with friends I’ll get on my edges as much as possible, doing the same rising/falling motion through a turn. Doing that, the further I can get the board over the better.
Perhaps I’m asking too much of a freestyle board? The Revolver I demoed would carve reasonably well. I enjoyed the fact that the greater sidecut was pulling the board into tighter turns than what I was used to.
Ultimately I want to get the board choice *just right*. I’ve heard many times that size 10 vs size 11 is the generally accepted borderline for wide boards, so I’m right on the spot where the choice gets tricky.
do you mean they want you to go a size longer to accomodate the width? i would be looking for a wider fit boot for a wider foot rather than a longer boot (bigger all around).
Yeah he suggested fitting 11’s. I had to ask for the smaller sizes. Confusingly, 1 set of 10’s was too tight, another was ok. I’m likely to get 10’s if I can or 10.5’s, the 11’s I tried have been that little bit too roomy in places and I don’t want to make the too-big mistake again.
In regards to boots, each brand and even different models within the same brand fit differently. I’ve seen customers try on boots which were too small, yet a smaller size in a different brand actually fit. Just take each boot as it comes. Ask for boots with a small boot print, as that is one of your concerns. Also keep in mind how much the boots are going to pack out; downsize whenever possible.
Let’s clear things up. Freestyle boards are perfectly capable of carving with high performance. I consider normal high performance carving different to Euro-carving. The whole point of my argument is related to the waist width of the board. You don’t need to be on a 265mm waist with size 10.5 boots. It’s just completely unnecessary. Even if you’re carving hard, clean turns, you shouldn’t have any issues with a 255 waist.
You’re right, size 11 is borderline for when you need to start thinking about a wider board. But you don’t need to go to a full wide board. Those boards are made to accommodate up to size 14 and larger boots. Don’t worry about the terminology ‘regular’, ‘mid-wide’, ‘wide’ etc - look at the individual waist widths of each board, and get something that’s suitable for your boot size.
As I said, you can get on a 265mm waist width board if you really want to. I just feel it’s completely unnecessary to get something so wide. That’s pretty much the whole basis of my argument.