Hello and welcome to my Lib Tech Lib Rig review.
In this review I will take a look at the Lib Rig as a Freeride snowboard.
As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Lib Rig a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and also see how it compares with other Freeride snowboards.
Overall Rating
Board: Lib Tech Lib Rig 2024
Price: $659 (USD recommended retail)
Style: Freeride
Flex Rating: Mid-Stiff (7/10)
Flex Feel: Mid-Stiff (7/10)
Rating Score: 83.2/100
Compared to other Men’s Freeride Boards
Out of the 40 Men’s Freeride snowboards that I rated:
Overview of the Lib Rig’s Specs
Check out the tables for the Lib Rig’s specs and available sizes.
Specs
STYLE:
FREERIDE
PRICE:
$659
Ability Level:
flex:
feel:
DAMPNESS:
SMOOTH /SNAPPY:
Playful /aggressive:
Edge-hold:
camber profile:
HYBRID ROCKER
HYBRID ROCKer - Technically Hybrid Rocker, but looked and behaved more like traditional camber. Lib Tech's "C3 Camber"
SHAPE:
setback stance:
SETBACK 1.5" (38mm)
BASE:
Sintered | Lib Tech's "Sintered Knife Cut"
weight:
Felt normal
Camber Height:
6.5mm
Sizing
LENGTH (cm) | Waist Width (mm) | Rec Rider Weight (lb) | Rec Rider Weight (kg) |
|---|---|---|---|
153 | 251 | 115+ | 55+ |
156 | 253 | 130+ | 60+ |
159 | 255 | 140+ | 65+ |
160W | 265 | 150+ | 70+ |
Who is the Lib Rig Most Suited To?
The Lib Rig is best suited to someone looking for a smooth, surfy, damp feeling freeride board to cruise and bomb the mountain with.
It's not the kind of board that has a lot of snap/energy, but is super consistent and predictable and the kind of board that won't let you down anywhere.
Could be a one-board-quiver for someone who doesn't really do park/side hits and is on the more advanced side of riding. It's not super aggressive but is at it's best when you lean pretty heavily into carves/turns. As in, it responds better to a heavier more aggressive input from its rider, than a lighter, more casual input.
Not for beginners and even intermediates might find it a little too much board. But intermediates who are bigger or strong/athletic shouldn't have any issues with it.
THE Lib Rig IN MORE DETAIL
O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Lib Rig is capable of.
Demo Info
Board: Lib Tech Lib Rig 2024, 159cm (255mm waist width)
Date: March 22, 2023
Conditions
Literally not a cloud in the sky. Sunny and, of course, perfect visibility.
Temperature was around 4°C (39°F) - and 3°C (37°F) with wind chill in morning and 5°C (41°F) (and 4°C (39°F) with wind) in the afternoon. So super warm.
SW winds morning and afternoon at 5kph (3 mph) morning and 10kph (6 mph) in the afternoon.
24 hour snow: 0" (0cm)
48 hour snow: 0" (0cm)
7 day snow: 0" (0cm)
On groomer: Hard and borderline icy in spots but soft borderline slushy in others. Got softer and more slushy as the day went on. But to start with had some icy patches.
Off groomer: Crunchy and icy in spots. Soft patches, which increased as the day went on.
Set Up
Bindings angles: +15/-15
Stance width: 22″ (560mm)
Stance Setback: Setback 1.5" (38mm)
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: 6lbs 8oz (2940grams)
Weight per cm: 18.49 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 Lib Rig is a touch lighter than average and felt normal on snow.
Powder
We didn't have a lot to test in on the day, but the Lib Rig is pretty well setup for powder. There's some taper - not heaps, but 5mm, and a 1.5" (38mm setback) as well as a longer tail vs nose. There's not a lot of rocker to speak of, which reduces how well it will float, but otherwise, pretty well setup for powder.
Carving
I found I could lay down a good carve on the Lib Rig. It was definitely a smoother feeling style of carve, rather than anything explosive/springy. But could dig an edge in and rely on it to hold at higher speeds.
Turning
Ease of Turns/Slashing: Was decently easy to initiate a turn and slash on the Lib Rig. Wasn't effortless but also not something you had to throw everything into just to get it to turn.
Maneuverability at slow speeds (nimbleness): Not lightning quick edge to edge, but not slow either. Average. Not a dragonfly but also not an ocean liner.
Catchiness: Whilst it wasn't catch free, it wasn't super easy to catch an edge either. If you got off your game it did feel like it could catch, but it wasn't something super easy to catch an edge on or anything.
Speed
Was decently fast. And when up to speed felt nice and stable.
Uneven Terrain
Crud: Handled crud/chunder like a boss. Smashed through it and was nice and damp.
Trees/Bumps: Not epic in the trees, but decent enough and would be good with powder in trees too.
Jumps
Nothing really bad about it with jumps, but not terribly exciting either. Has a smooth, surfy, damp feel when riding, but not a lot of snap, so not super exciting for jumps or side hits.
Pop: Averagely easy to access the pop. Didn't have to put everything into it to extract it, but had to put a bit of effort in. Total pop was decent too, but just somehow felt like it came slow. Not sure how that makes sense, but felt like it popped a good height, but it wasn't an energetic or explosive pop.
Approach: Stable on approach, and not too bad for making adjustments, when necessary.
Landing: Decently solid, but not to the point I'd quite call it a stomper. Tail heavy landings weren't ideal, but not too bad. Somewhat forgiving of errors.
Side-hits: Decent enough for side hits, but nothing too exciting.
Small jumps/Big jumps: Best suited to medium jumps but fine for small and large too.
Switch
Didn't feel too weird riding switch. But not ideal either for obvious reasons, being pretty directional.
Butters
Took a bit of effort to get the nose and tail to press but with effort was able to press and lock in the nose and tail. Nose felt a bit different to tail to press but they weren't worlds apart.
Score Breakdown and Final Verdict
Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.
RATING | SCORE WEIGHTING | |
|---|---|---|
POWDER | 4.0 | 20/25 |
SPEED | 4.0 | 16/20 |
CARVING | 4.0 | 12/15 |
TURNS/SLASHING | 3.5 | 7/10 |
CRUD/CHUNDER | 4.5 | 9/10 |
TREES/BUMPS | 3.5 | 7/10 |
JUMPS | 3.0 | 3/5 |
SWITCH | 2.5 | 2.5/5 |
TOTAL after normalizing | 83.2/100 |
The Lib Rig is a smooth, surfy ride that handles a variety of conditions well from icy snow to powder and everything in between. It's really good at tackling crud/chunder too.
It's not as at home for anything super energetic/snappy and whilst it's capable in trees and on jumps, it's not where it excels. Carving up or cruising the groomers or finding powder are the most well suited expeditions for this board.
More Info, Current Prices and Where to Buy Online
Check out the links below for more info on the Lib Rig, where to buy or if you are researching prices or available sizes.
If your keen to check out some other Freeride options or to see how the Lib Rig compares to other freeride decks check out the link below.
Thanks Nate for the quick response-helpful information.
My boot size is a 10US, apologies for not mentioning that.
I was on a Sims Nub 58.5 that has a 26.7 waist which was an awesome deck but way too wide for me, moved over to a Capita Mercury 58W (26.3). The Merc was not my type of ride-the glide was excellent… and I’ll leave it at that.
So, 59 or 60W?
Hi JF
I would go with the 159, if I was you. With 10s, I’d personally be confident on it at pretty much any binding angles. I don’t eurocarve or anything like that, but I do try to get relatively deep with carves and haven’t ever had any issues with 10s with that kind of width at inserts. I do ride with +15/-15 binding angles most of the time, so that helps. But even with a straighter back binding angle, I’d be confident on the 159 Lib Rig in 10s, personally.
For reference:
158W Mercury: 269mm front insert, 271mm at back insert (estimated based on measuring the 157)
159 Lib Rig: 267mm at front insert, 265mm at back insert (not the back insert is narrower than the front in this case – this is often the case when there is taper in the board).
So, you’re looking at around 6mm narrower at the back insert vs the 58W Mercury, assuming the same stance width.
Also for reference:
Assuming your boot is around 31.5cm in length (taking into account it’s a longer profile boot – I didn’t get a chance to measure the TM-3XD when I had them, unfortunately), you’d be looking at around 5cm of total overhang (or 2.5cm per edge, assuming perfect boot centering) with a zero degree binding angle (on the back insert). A 3 degree binding angle doesn’t make much difference, but the more angle you add, the less overhang you’ll have. Roughly 1cm less overhang at a 15 degree angle, depending on different factors.
Personally I’m typically comfortable with 2.5cm of overhang on any one edge, but it depends on how deep you like to carve.
Hi Nate,
I wish this was offered in a 26-26.3 waist, but it is not. That being said, I’m 6’1, weigh 190lbs, and am boot’ed with 32 TM-3XD.
Personally, I feel like I loose the drive off a board if I go wider than 26.3 on the waist width. However, given that the 59 Rig is a 25.5 waist (seems really narrow?) and the 60 is a 26.5 I am at a loss on which way to go. The last thing I want to do is get on a deck with gross over hang (as I’ll be using this for 85-100 days for the upcoming season). And the 32’s don’t have the smallest footprint, like a Salomon boot… Do you think the 60W would work or be too wide underfoot?
Any advice on which Rig to lean towards? Or, should I look at something else (no Capita, please).
Thanks,
JF
Hi JF
Thanks for your message.
Can you let me know your boot size? The 159 is around 265mm at the back insert and 267mm at the front insert. I would be pretty confident with that width in 10.5s or under, but if you have 11s or longer, would be pushing it, particularly if your boots have a longer profile and also depending on binding angles, but in most cases I wouldn’t recommend it for 11s.
In terms of the 160W being too wide or not, would depend on your boot size. One thing to note is that the Lib Rig is wider at the inserts vs the waist compared to most Lib Tech/GNU boards – most have a less than average difference. To clarify what I mean by that. The average difference between inserts and waist is around 10mm (e.g. with a 255mm waist the width at inserts would be around 265mm). But with Mervin boards, that difference tends to be more like 5mm-8mm, difference. The main reason is that typically there is quite a big magnetraction bump right at the waist, making it seem wider at the waist. In the case of the Lib Rig though, the magnetraction is pretty subtle from what I could tell, so either the bump at the waist isn’t as pronounced or the waist sits slightly off a magnetraction bump (I don’t usually measure the waist width as it’s something that every brand publishes).
So given that the Lig Rig has a typical difference between waist and inserts, if you typically don’t like anything over 263mm at the waist, then my instinct is that the 160W may feel a little wide for you.
But yeah, if you could let me know your boots size and can look at it again.
Apologies on the very late reply. I am a size ten on 32 Grenier’s.
Hey JF. No worries. Yeah, long story short, I think you’d be fine on the 159 and that’s what I would go with if you think it’s not going to be too narrow. In most cases, I’d be comfortable with a 10 on the Lib Rig. I mean, if you ride with a zero degree back binding angle and like to euro carve, that kind of thing, then you might be pushing it, but otherwise I’d be comfortable with that, even with longer profile boots.