help with boots / bindings

[mtnSurf]

hi, i need some help on determining on the proper sizing of a boot into a binding. i wear a size 8.5 - 9 boot which seems to fit either M or L bindings of many binding brands. my main question is if the boot is centered on the binding, how much should the heel and toe of the boot overhang over the binding's base plate? also, to be clear, i'm _not_ talking about board overhang (that's a whole other issue), but strictly overhang over the binding's base plate. i'm thinking the bigger size because you'd get more contact with the boot and binding's surface, but since i'm just a beginner, i wasn't sure.

thanks in advance!

[MARK]

hi, i need some help on determining on the proper sizing of a boot into a binding. i wear a size 8.5 - 9 boot which seems to fit either M or L bindings of many binding brands. my main question is if the boot is centered on the binding, how much should the heel and toe of the boot overhang over the binding's base plate? also, to be clear, i'm _not_ talking about board overhang (that's a whole other issue), but strictly overhang over the binding's base plate. i'm thinking the bigger size because you'd get more contact with the boot and binding's surface, but since i'm just a beginner, i wasn't sure.

thanks in advance!
Great question. Normally a medium binding will work for you, but there are exceptions. There are two things to consider when being close to in-between binding sizes.
The first is how the boot fits into the binding. Is it snug in the heel cup? Are the straps long enough to be properly positioned over the boot? Is there a lot of space on the sides of the boot?
The second and equally important issue is where the binding actually sits on the board. In a perfect world you want the ends of the baseplate to come to where the board's sidewalls begin to acheive maximum edge pressure. Place the large size bindings on the board where they are to be mounted. If they do not overhang past the board's sidewalls AND the boot fits snug in it then large is the way to go. Assuming you have an appropriate board width for your boot size, the real quesion will simply be how well the boot fits in the large as most large bindings will generally fit on most adult boards of around 153cm and greater.