2019 Lib Tech Snowboards Overview

Comments

1. karim says

   October 31, 2019 at 10:40 am

   Hello, hesitating between the E-jack knife 162W and the Skunk Ape 161W. I am 6.3 and 190, size 12. I dont ride in the park anymore, but do everything else. Deep pow, groomers, in woods, good pop, etc…

   Reply

   • Nate says

     November 1, 2019 at 2:23 pm

     Hi Karim

     Thanks for your message.

     I think those sizes sound right to me for your specs, and how you describe your riding.

     Between the E-Jack Knife and Skunk Ape:

     I haven’t ridden the Skunk Ape (I don’t work well with wide boards and it only comes in wide sizes), so I can’t compare them from personal experience, but from what I’ve heard of the Skunk Ape I would say that E-Jack Knife would outdo it for powder, carving and speed. The Skunk Ape is probably a little better for riding switch though I would say. In terms of pop, it’s hard to say having not ridden the Skunk Ape, but the E-Jack Knife has really decent pop, so I don’t think that would be an issue.

     For more on what I thought of the E Jack Knife check out my review on it:

     >>Lib Tech E-Jack Knife Review

     Hope this helps

     Reply

2. Pat Pospisil says

   August 20, 2019 at 9:22 am

   Hey Nate,

   Do you think the 153 Orca would work for me? (5’9 , 165lbs, size 9 Imperial.) All mountain/groomers. Also Genesis Reflex or Genesis X reflex on this board? Thank you in advance.

   Reply

   • Nate says

     August 20, 2019 at 10:20 am

     Hi Pat

     Thanks for your message.

     The Orca isn’t a board I’ve ridden, but based on the type of board, specs and what others say:

     Will this be your daily driver or part of your quiver? The reason I ask is that in previous messages, you talk about feeling the lack of effective edge on the 155 Mercury. The 153 Orca will have significantly less in terms of effective edge. If you were going to be using it as part of a quiver – as your short/wide powder kind of a board then it could work. However, if you were going to do that, then I might consider the 147 for your specs. I think the 147, for you, could work well as a short/wide powder/trees board. It’s supposed to still work well on groomers and in hard spots. But as a daily driver for groomers, I’m not sure it would be ideal – particularly re the effective edge comments from previously.

     In terms of bindings, I would say probably Genesis X, since it’s supposed to be relatively stiff. Whilst a lot of lib tech boards (I’ve found) tend to be softer than their rating, from what I can tell this isn’t one of them – so with that extra stiffness, I would go Genesis X to be able to drive it harder. Though if you did go 147, then the Genesis would become an option too. Could still get the Genesis X on there but the Genesis would become an option. For the 153 I’d be less inclined to go with the Genesis for you, for that board.

     Hope this gives you more to go off for your decision

     Reply

3. Mike says

   March 12, 2019 at 11:05 pm

   Hello, I was curious about your thoughts on the Jamie Lynn titty fish? I’m looking to pick up a camber dominate all moutain board for primarily cruising around carving up groomers at high speed and taking the occasional run in the backcountry powder and maybe hitting a jump or two. Iv been considering the mullair and the Jones flagship but I rode an old Jamie Lynn for a lot of years so the titty fish caught my interest. I’m 6’2 around 230 with a size 13 boot.

   Reply

   • Nate says

     March 14, 2019 at 2:45 pm

     Hi Mike

     Thanks for your message.

     Unfortunately, I haven’t ridden the Titty Fish, so I can’t really say too much about it. But it looks like it would be suitable for what you’re describing. Kind of similar to the Mullair, with subtly more taper, more setback and some other differences in sidecut and overall width.

     With the 13 boots, I would say the 166W would be the only one wide enough, but I think that length would suit your specs and riding style anyway – so that would work, IMO. For the Mullair the 164W is what I would go with for you – and the 165W if you were to go flagship.

     Hope this helps somewhat

     Reply

4. Artie says

   September 26, 2018 at 1:34 pm

   size 13 boot, was is the smallest width snowboard I should have? I have a 26.04 wasit width now but hangover on both toe & heel.

   Reply

   • Nate says

     September 27, 2018 at 10:06 am

     Hi Artie

     Thanks for your message.

     Roughly speaking, I would say the smallest waist width you should look at is 267mm, if you have binding angles like +15/-15 (i.e. a decent angle on the back foot). If you have a completely straight back foot, then a minimum of 275mm would be safer. Add a couple of mms if you like to carve deep.

     But it also depends on your boots. If you have low profile boots (e.g. recent Adidas, Burton, Ride and Vans) then you can go a little narrower than that.

     Also, note that this is a rough estimate because the width at the inserts of different boards differ relative to the waist width. i.e some boards are only 5-6mm wider at the inserts compared to the waist width and others can be up to 15mm wider.

     Of the Lib Tech boards I’ve measured they tend to be between 5-7mm wider at the inserts compared to the waist. But that’s only from a small amount of boards measured.

     It’s a good thing to have overhang on both heel and toe. Having a little bit of overhang is great for leverage. But we don’t want too much overhang to a point that it causes drag. I would imagine that size 13s on a 26.04 waisted board would be too much overhang to be ideal. I mean, if you’re board is one that has a big difference between waist and inserts, you have low profile boots and you ride with a good angle on your back binding, then you might be OK but that’s a lot of “ifs”.

     Ideally you want to have about 1-2cm of overhang on both toe and heel (for a total of 3-4cm overhang). Note that this is measured from the edge no the base of the board. But you could get away with up to 5cm of total overhang, depending on how aggressive you ride. Check out the following for more details on width sizing:

     >>Snowboard Width Sizing

     Hope this makes sense. Anyway, long story short, it’s highly likely that a 26.04cm waisted board will be too narrow for size 13 boots.

     Reply