Lib Tech EJack Knife Review

Board: Lib Tech Ejack Knife 2024

Price: $699 (USD recommended retail)

Style: Freeride

Flex Rating: Mid-Stiff (6/10 to 7/10, depending on size)

Flex Feel: Mid-Stiff (7.5/10)

Rating Score: 85.3/100

Compared to other Men’s Freeride Boards

Overview of the Ejack Knife’s Specs

Check out the tables for the Ejack Knife’s specs and available sizes.

Specs

Who is the Ejack Knife Most Suited To?

The Ejack Knife is best suited to an advanced and preferably strong/athletic rider who wants a board that can take whatever they can throw at it, without buckling. It excels at speed and when carving over anything else. 

But it's also a good weapon to have for when storms roll in and you want a board that can handle powder, on the occasions you get it. 

Definitely not for a beginner and most intermediate riders would likely have a hard time with this board too, unless you're a particularly big and/or athletic intermediate. But you'd still want to have solid technique. 

THE Ejack Knife IN MORE DETAIL

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Stance width: 22″ (560mm)

Stance Setback: Setback 1" (25mm)

Width at Inserts: 10.5" (267mm) at front insert and 10.4" (265mm) at back insert.   

Rider Height: 6'0"

Rider Weight: 180lbs

Rider Boot Size: US9.5 Adidas Response ADV

Bindings Used: Burton Malavita, M

Weight: 7lbs 0oz (3180grams) 

Weight per cm: 20.00 grams/cm

Average Weight per cm: 18.71 grams/cm*

*based on a sample size of around 250 models that I’ve weighed in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2024 models. The Ejack Knife was noticeably heavier than average on the scales and felt noticeably heavier than normal on snow too. 

Powder

Nothing to test in on the day, but based on previous experience with an older model of it and its specs and feel, it should be really good in powder. It's got a little bit of taper, all be it quite subtle and a bit of setback with an overall directional shape/feel. 

Carving

Felt really good on a carve and held on even when ripping carves at higher speeds. Held an edge really well in the harder conditions. 

Turning

Ease of Turns/Slashing: Wasn't unenjoyable or anything to turn/slash with but turn initiations weren't super easy/effortless. You had to put some effort/muscle into turning this board. 

Maneuverability at slow speeds (nimbleness): Not super quick edge-to-edge but not a tank either. Takes effort to turn at slower speeds though. 

Catchiness: There's a little bit of catchiness to it. It's not super catchy but felt like it could punish you a bit if you got too lazy. 

Speed

Really fast. And really stable at high speeds. There was some mild chatter when opening it out, but that was just some vibrations, it didn't make it feel any less stable. 

Uneven Terrain

Crud: It smashes through everything and remains stable. Takes a lot to throw it of course. When it does get thrown off, it's not the easiest to correct though, but it takes a lot to move it. It's a damp board, but it's not ultra damp, so there is still a tiny bit of chatter, but it doesn't affect its stability through crud. It's weight helps here. 

Trees/Bumps: Not ideal but doable. Just don't expect it to be effortless. Could be fatiguing if spending a lot of time in the trees. 

Jumps

Too heavy/burly for my tastes for jumps, but it definitely has it's redeeming features for jumps, especially if you like to go big. 

Pop: It has oodles of pop, it really does. But it doesn't come easy. If you tried to pop this thing without really winding it up, you'd think it was a dead plank. It takes a lot to access the pop, but when you do really put in the effort, there is a lot of pop there. You just want to be quite strong to be able to extract it. 

Approach: Real stable but not easy to adjust. Best for experienced jumpers looking to get big air.

Landing: As solid and stompy as it gets, but not too forgiving if you don't stomp it or if you have to stop quickly after landing.

Side-hits: Not the type of board I enjoy for side-hits. I prefer something with easy-to-extract pop and easy maneuverability. 

Small jumps/Big jumps: Best for experienced jumpers looking to hit larger jumps, IMO. 

Switch

Transitions felt like they could be catchy if you weren't on your game. But once you're in switch, it does OK. 

Butters

There's some press in the tip and tail, but takes muscling. 

The Ejack Knife is a lot of board to ride. It's much more burly than it used to be and you want to have a solid technique and good strength too.

Vs its old self, I found it was more stable at speed and smashed through crud etc better but wasn't as good for slashed turns or anything slow speed and not as fun for jumps or trees as it was previously.