What is an Asym Snowboard?

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Just like it sounds, Asym Snowboard designs are asymmetrical; the tail of the boards will have a small portion clipped off, which will improve handling and turning ability.

The design was popularized by the Burton Snowboarding company around the 1992 period when the Asym Air (X-Series) was introduced to the market.

The basic design is to account for the different distribution of weight in the human body. When you look at a person from the side, as when riding on a snowboard, the core of the body’s weight will be distributed on the back heel in most cases.

 

What is So Special About It?

The idea behind the asymmetrical design will be to give the rider better control on the slopes by making scientifically sound cuts to the board to make it work better with the rider’s natural posture and stance.

What makes them stand apart from the traditional board is the symmetrical design is the standard shape you will find for snowboards.

While the asym boards will have minor cuts made to emphasize certain turns, maybe sharpen a left turn for a race but keep the front edge cut for sweeping turns for a specific course design.

 

Why is the Shape Different?

The alternate shape is for optimizing certain aspects of a rider’s ability to turn and control their board.

During the designing stage, developers will show with math and science what cuts will emphasize a rider’s ability to use the front and back edges, even toe and heel edges.

This comes into play as far as making custom cuts to the snowboard for competition-level athletes during races, which include different features, jumps, and turns at different slopes.

That will require different designs of the racing snowboard to get the most from the racer and their board.

 

Do Asym Snowboards Have Quality?

If you consider this fact, most of the asym cut boards are designed for Olympic and X-Games level racecourses, allowing the racers to go all out as fast as possible, knowing their design team cut the board perfectly.

Thus, one can easily insinuate that each board designed for these athletes will be made of top-most-quality materials.

Not to mention, when you purchase boards from a general retail store, you will find primarily symmetrically cut boards, the asym boards a traditional custom made at a rider’s request. Therefore, it would be safe to presume the higher quality boards will come from professional design teams.

 

What are the Pros of it?

When competing in a world-class race, the pros to having a board cut into the correct design would be making the perfect turns at the right time, especially at high speed. Likewise, following a line down a course is the key to making medal-winning times down the slopes.

There are specific designs that will help heavier, taller people by making control tail cuts to their snowboards to help a rider make better turns than with a regular board.

In addition, there are going to be certain types of asym designs to help anyone find the best experience possible on the slopes.

 

What are the Cons of it?

The cons will be that sometimes, the cuts will be off in a way that causes a crash or loses a rider for a few crucial seconds. If a mistake is made with trick boards, you will find many times that a rider will come up short on a jump or when coming off a half-pipe trick attempt.

That is the gamble with having the custom designs cut into their boards, and there is the chance for slight miscalculation. NASA will have to teach some of the snowboarding engineers about precision and join a racing team.

 

Final Thoughts on an Asym Board

When concerning a race or other form of snowboarding competition, getting the right design will require consulting the professionals and having the best design and engineering teams.

Otherwise, there will be a development period filled with trial and error creations and models until the proper learning and understanding are obtained.

Otherwise, the word to the causal rider is to stick with the symmetrical boards and avoid any cuts that could result in severe injury. These designs are for the best athletes or most experienced riders who know what they need regarding customizations to their rides.