The Lib Tech Rad Ripper won't be for everyone. It's the kind of board that demands good technique and a high energy input. You want to be on your game with this one and you want to have your game already honed, rather than trying to hone it on this.
In this review, I will take a look at the Rad Ripper as an aggressive all-mountain-freestyle snowboard.
As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Rad Ripper a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and see how it compares with other aggressive all-mountain-freestyle snowboards.
Overall Rating
Board: Lib Tech Mayhem Rad Ripper
Price: $699
Style: Aggressive All-Mountain-Freestyle
Flex Rating: Medium (6/10)
Flex Feel on Snow: Mid-Stiff (7/10)
Rating Score: 76.7/100
Compared to other Men’s Aggressive All-Mountain-Freestyle Boards
Of the 14 current model aggressive all-mtn freestyle snowboards that we tested:
❄️ The Rad Ripper ranked 13th out of 14
Overview of the Rad Ripper’s Specs
Check out the tables for the Rad Ripper’s specs and available sizes.
Specs
STYLE:
AGGRESSIVE ALL-MOUNTAIN-FREESTYLE
PRICE:
$699 - BUYING OPTIONS
Ability Level:
flex:
feel:
DAMPNESS:
SMOOTH /SNAPPY:
Playful /aggressive:
Edge-hold:
camber profile:
Traditional Camber
SHAPE:
setback stance:
Centered
BASE:
Sintered | Lib Tech's "Sintered Knife Cut base" .
weight:
FELT normal
Camber Height:
6mm
Sizing
LENGTH (cm) | Waist Width (mm) | Rec Rider Weight (lb)* | Rec Rider Weight (kg)* |
|---|---|---|---|
153 | 254 | 95+ | 45+ |
156 | 257 | 110+ | 50+ |
159 | 261 | 130+ | 60+ |
* weight recommendations from Lib Tech's website and not what Snowboarding Profiles' would necessarily recommend.
Who is the Rad Ripper Most Suited To?
The Rad Ripper is best suited to an advanced to expert park or all-mountain freestyle rider who likes to rip aggressively around the park and getting freestyle on the groomers. A younger demographic is probably best suited to, who won't mind the chatter and someone with good physical strength/fitness too.
Not for powder and I would highly recommend getting a separate powder if you plan to ride powder and get this board.
Not for beginners, IMO, at all. And I wouldn't recommend this to intermediate riders either, unless you're particularly confident, strong and like to have an aggressive high energy approach to snowboarding.
The Rad Ripper in More Detail
O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Rad Ripper is capable of.
Demo Info
Board: Lib Tech Rad Ripper 2025, 156cm (257mm waist width)
Date: March 14, 2024
Flex
There's a relative amount of stiffness in the tip and tail, but it's nothing super stiff. But where it is a little stiffer is with it's torsional flex. Again, still not ultra stiff in its torsional flex, but was definitely noticeable from the first turn.
Turning
Ease of Turning/Slashing: Not too bad but did require more physical effort than the average board (probably because of its torsional stiffness) and have to be on your technique or it can catch and punish you.
Maneuverability at slow speeds: I could get it going relatively quickly edge-to-edge at slow speeds, but it took a fair bit of effort. And it feels at its most catchy at slow speeds, so not super enjoyable to try to do short/sharp turns at slow speeds on.
Catchiness: As eluded to already, it was pretty catchy feeling. One of the more catchier boards I've ridden lately. If you're dialed in and focus on good technique, it's fine, but it's not one you can be la de da about. I also found it to be a little grabby in softer snow.
Carving
Typically when I find a board hard work at slow speeds and making regular turns, it ends up being pretty darn good for carves. That stiffer torsional flex helps and that catchiness is less of an issue, when you're high on that edge.
But I didn't find the Rad Ripper was able to redeem itself to the extent that I would have hoped for.
It was really good for long radius carves and held on well at high speeds. So, if that's the mainstay of your carving, then you'll likely enjoy it more than I did. But for me I surprisingly enjoyed the Orca and GNU Hyper (which I also tested on the day) for carving for all but those straighter line, high speed carves.
Speed
The other thing that typically happens when a board doesn't feel great at slow speeds is that it really changes its personality and comes into its own at higher speeds. Unfortunately, again, the Rad Ripper failed to impress, for me, in this area.
Don't get me wrong, it certainly wasn't bad at speed. It felt better with speed under it, than it did at slower speeds, but it wasn't great either. It had a smaller limit for speed before becoming too wobbly and chattery than I would of expected for a board of this stiffness and for how it rode slow.
Uneven Terrain
Crud/Chunder: It was decent enough, but not super damp and got bucked around fairly easily. And when you did get thrown off line, it wasn't the easiest to save it or recover.
Trees/Bumps: While it could get going quite quickly edge-to-edge (as mentioned above in turning section), it was hard work and felt prone to nose diving - in deep powder I'm not sure if it would make it more than a few feet before deciding it was going to be a kingfisher diving for prey!
Jumps
It has all the signs of being a good jump board - and while it wasn't terrible by any means, it wasn't what I would have hoped it to be. I think the overall ride feel of a board influences how you enjoy it in any aspect and unfortunately it negatively impacted how this felt for jumps.
If you're an experienced, confident jumper, you'll likely enjoy but I wouldn't recommend it to those who are new to getting air.
Pop: I found there was some good total pop in this board. But to extract it I had to put in a fair bit of effort into loading it up.
Approach: Decently stable on approach for sure, but not ultra stable. But at the same time, not super easy to make adjustments. So for a mid to large jump, that you have a clean approach to, it feels good, but not so good for rough approaches or if you feel you need to check off a little speed or something.
Landing: It can stomp a landing for sure. And when you get it right it does feel real good. But it can be punishing if you get it wrong. Land a little sideways and it threatens to catch that front edge and felt pretty sketchy landing nose or tail heavy too.
Side-hits: Again, a clean approach and a good landing and it was really fun. But throw in a bad landing or a tricky approach and it was much less enjoyable - for me anyway.
Switch
It was fine and naturally felt pretty much the same riding in either direction. Transitions did require concentration, for me, in order to not catch an edge, and given it's not the easiest to ride technically or physically, if you're switch game isn't high-end, it can be a pretty challenging switch ride.
Spins
It was good for the most part but more sketchy setting up and landing, with its catchiness.
Doesn't over-spin but also doesn't like completing a rotation after landing, if you under-rotate. Not that it's not doable, but I did find that I had to be careful with catching an edge, if I didn't land straight.
Also, because of how short the tip and tail felt, and how easily if felt like they could dig into the snow which affected both landings and take offs if you got too nose heavy - as I found out attempting a spin off a wall, which had some looser, fresh snow that the nose dug into.
Powder
As you'd expect from the spins comments about the nose, you won't be surprised to hear that I don't think this board would be great in powder!
Might do well as a powder submarine. Everything about this board screamed "dive, dive, dive!". At least that's the feeling I got from it.
Certainly not made to be a board for powder, so I wasn't expecting it to be good for it, so it lived up to expectations, in that sense.
And the specs back that up, with a full camber profile, twin shape and short/flat nose.
Jibbing
Not for me! I like catch-free, agile, easy to pop boards when I'm hitting rails etc. All of which this board lacked in my experience with it. Rails are certainly not my strong suit, so you may like it more if you're a strong jibber, but for me, I wouldn't be taking it down the jib line if I wasn't testing it.
Butters
A little more effort required to press the nose and tail vs the Orca and Hyper but still found I could press without too much effort. Locked in well and not something I felt I could over-flex personally. The tail and nose both felt the same to press to me.
Not great on rotations for butters though - likes to catch an edge.
Score Breakdown and Final Verdict
Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.
| FACTOR | Rating (/5) | Weighted |
|---|---|---|
| Jumps | 3.5 | 14/20 |
| Speed | 3.5 | 14/20 |
| Carving | 3.5 | 10.5/15 |
| Turns | 3 | 3/5 |
| Switch | 4 | 8/10 |
| Spins | 3.5 | 7/10 |
| Crud | 3.5 | 3.5/5 |
| Trees | 3 | 3/5 |
| Butters | 3.5 | 3.5/5 |
| Powder | 1 | 1/5 |
| TOTAL (after normalizing): | 76.7/100 |
There are seldom times I don't have a good time on a Lib Tech board. Sadly, the Rad Ripper was an exception to that.
During my first few turns I found it didn't like riding slow, so I was looking forward to getting it up to speed. And while it felt better then, it didn't do enough to be a high speed bomber. But it felt too catchy and hard work at slow speeds to be a playful, slower speed board.
It does have Lib Tech's most aggressive camber profile, but I've ridden others with the same that I really liked, so there was just something with the combination of factors on this board that just didn't seem to gel with me.
More Info, Current Prices and Where to Buy Online
If you want to learn more about the Rad Ripper, or if you are ready to buy, or if you just want to research prices and availability, check out the links below.
If you want to check out some other aggressive all-mountain-freestyle snowboard options, or if you want to compare how the Rad Ripper compares to other aggressive all-mountain-freestyle snowboards, then check out the next link.
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