Can fat people do freestyle riding on their snowboards?

Question

The reason I asked is because my heart was set on buying the Burton Shaun White board, but when I went to the store, the sales guy was like weight limit is 180 lbs, how much do you weigh? I was like, what? I'm 190 lbs and he was like, sorry, too heavy and I was like, Ouch. Why did Burton do that? So does that mean over 180 lbs you can't do tricks like White?

Answer 1

It's not against "fat" people, it's an issue with board sizing.

It used to be you'd just choose a board based on how tall you are but now they're engineered a bit differently so you need to take weight into account.  The Shaun White board is super soft and isn't designed for a bigger rider.  None of the Burton boards really are.

Why not look at something like a Forum Youngblood, Eddie or the Stomper.  They all have more realistic weight ranges.

Answer 2

Im not fat but im like 190 and i have never broken a board. i ride the burton twin. it is better for rails and kickers than the white as the white is a pipe board. also the twin is a mid wide and the white is pretty narrow, you will have better balance on the midwide. i think that weight limit is for people who do fifty foot cliffs and put all their weight on the tail for the landing, its just a precaution. when going sideways on rails i ride on my front foot and kick my back foot to the side so the board doesn't bend too much on top of the rail (like when centered).

And no one on earth can do tricks like white , he is a freak of nature. He could tear up the park with the crapiest board on the market. But you can definately do any trick that your local amatuers can do..

Answer 3

The salesman that told you that should be shot. You can totally ride a SW at 190. its not like your 340 or something.

Answer 4

hey just watch it at home and pretend while you have that 3rd slice of pizza..

Answer 5

Sounds like the Sales Assistant was a real bum, from what I understand, snowboarding is based on skill and fitness levels, not weight, so he had no right to judge you at all.

There may be a weight limit on the board, which is more about the design of the board itself, rather than the skill of the person using it.

If you are new to snowboaring, then hire a board, or buy a cheaper one to practice (sorry, i'm not sure of your ability level), but don't try to do fancy tricks too quickly too soon.

If you are an experienced boarder and want to learn new tricks, then you can still practice them on a cheaper board. The "Burton Shaun White" board is simply a celebrity endorsed product and while it may be "designed" for perfomance freestyle boarding, there are many OTHER boards out there for freestyle boarding as well, (Celebrety Endoresement is just a Marketing Ploy)

so, to answer your question, YES, you can do freestyle riding, but it depends on skill and ability.

Answer 6

I am heavier too so I ride a longer board.  Too often sales guys base your board on your height wich is totally wrong.  My first board was short because I am short but I just sunk in the powder.  I'm 5'4" and my current board is a 162"  Your weight is distributed over a larger area and should have no prob riding