Some boards have sidewalls (sidewall construction) and some have caps (capped construction).  There is not much difference between them.  There used to be only a sidewall construction, where the different layers of material that make the snowboard were like a sandwitch and a sidewall was glued onto the sides to fill in that space.  Then a few years back, they came out with capped, where the topsheet wrapped over the side down to the edge, thus eliminating the need for the sidewall material.  At this time, some manufacturers claimed increased performance from their capped construction models and that may have been true but it really depended on the model and the preference of the rider.  All-in-all though it really doesnt matter as far as performance or anything; in fact, it is mainly cosmetic.

Seems like many of todays baords are incorporating a "slantwall" construction except it is shaped more like a "_/" than a "_|".  Some even have a hybrid sidewall which is like a straight side and a slant in one.  No biggie.  Just like all other industries, the evil marketing people need to find excuses to charge more and more $$ for newer models.


Ride on,
Frosty R

Thanks for sharing that pdx82, but how can you be sure that the sidewall construction is the one and only thing that makes your newer board a better board for you?  Is it not possible to be by chance that you like the newer baord more?

Good observations.  For me, it depends on the board.  Sometimes I like sandwitches and sometimes I like burritos