Equipment

Question
Hi,

I've been snowboarding for only a year, but I've gotten quite decent at it so I figured I'd buy myself some new equipment since I've been saving up money recently. Some information about me in case you needed it to help me rate/ give opinions on my equipment. I'm 110lbs @ 5ft 2inches. 18 years old, and I'm pretty sure I've stopped growing as I haven't grown an inch in about 3-4 years. I don't specifically know what style of boarding I am... but I love just riding/carving, and I do a bit of jumps off of snow ramps and some park stuff (box and rails).
I previously used a 140 SMX Furious snowboard, do you think a size difference of 2cm will be noticable when riding a new board?.

So the equipment I got recently include:

2008 Option Vega snowboard - 138
* I figured the smaller size was better for me than the larger one.. which was 142 because it'll be easier to maneouver. What do you think?

2008 Rome Strut bindings - I bought these kind of on impulse. My friend has been advising me to get toe capped bindings, saying how they are a lot more comfy and better for boarding. Even though the Strut's are a universal binding (works both ways [strap over toe and strap around toe], I don't think it'd be the same as a binding made specifically for the toe strap function). So I've been thinking of exchanging these for Burton Escapades. What are your opinions on what I should do?

And as for boots... I haven't purchased one yet, but I am a little bit interested in the Forum Aura snowboard boots with the Boa lacing system. The boot fits very comfortably, and I somewhat like the boa lacing system because it tightens up the boots real nice, but I'm a bit weary on how durable that is. Could you either rate those boots or suggest me some other boots/equipment?

Price is not too much of an issue for me, but of course I still have things to learn so I probably wouldn't be buying the BEST stuff out there. Thanks for your time and help!

Answer
Hi Linda,

The OPTION vega is a great choice as far as brand.  Option makes really good boards.  They probably made that board softer and lighter for a girl and thats good.  You probably won't feel the size difference too much, and its nothing you won't be able to get used to.  The smaller 138 is probably better for you as far as manueverablity.  A lot of people ride smaller boards these days.

The toe cap binging is a personal preference, either one will be fine, the double style is fine, just as long as you're comfortable.  Thats the most important.  Burton has made good bindings for over 15 years, Rome just started making them a few years ago and they probably don't make them, they porbably get made by someone else and have the ROME logo on them.  That's not to say they are bad bindings, its just something to consider.  Get something comfortable with your boots.

As far as boots, get whatever is the most comfortable, no matter what the cost.  This is very important.  Most companies have the boa system on a few styles and they have been using them for a few years now so they are pretty reliable.  If the boa linne breaks you have replacements that are fairly easy to do. The difference with the boa is you can't tighten the toe area more or less than the ankle area and some people want that.  Actually there might be some boots that have two boas so you can do that, but not all of them do.  I don't know about the Aura boot specifically, but I would recomend a company that speciallizes in boots.  Some good brands are Burton, 32, Salomon, Northwave.  Just remeber no matter what boots you get they will hurt your feet for at least the first couple days of riding.

Good luck.

Ben