Lib Tech Rasman Snowboard Review

Board: Lib Tech Rasman 2023

Price: $629 (USD recommended retail)

Style: Aggressive All-Mountain

Flex Rating: Medium-Stiff

Flex Feel: Medium-Stiff (7.5/10)

Rating Score: 81.9/100

Compared to other Men’s Aggressive All-Mountain Boards

Out of the 19 aggressive all-mountain snowboards that I rated:

Overview of the Rasman’s Specs

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

Specs

Who is the Rasman Most Suited To?

The Rasman is best suited to anyone who's looking for a stiffer, more aggressive, mildly tapered directional board that can handle their advanced riding level. Specifically excelling at bombing hills, crud/chunder, and carving.

While it excels at those things the most, the Rasman is quite capable of taking on deeper powder and larger jumps as well, making it a well rounded option for someone who want's a one-board-quiver style board.

I would certainly not recommend this board to beginners or even intermediates. The Rasman is best suited for advanced to expert riders.

THE Rasman IN MORE DETAIL

Bindings angles: +12/-9

Stance Setback: Setback 3/4" (20mm) 

Tester: Fraser

Rider Height: 6'1"

Rider Weight: 180lbs

Rider Boot Size: US9.5 Adidas Tactical Lexicon ADV

Bindings Used: Fix Yale: M 

Powder

Unfortunately there was no powder to test in on the day but after getting a feel for the board and looking at the specs we get a pretty good idea on how it would perform in powder. The Rocker under the feet will help give the board some float, while the 4mm of taper and 20mm setback stance help sink your tail, allowing your nose to stay above snow with less effort. Overall the Rasman should be fairly capable in powder.

Carving

Instead of traditional camber the Rasman has nose and tail camber, which gives it a different feel compared to traditional camber when carving. I preferred it for longer more drawn out carves with some speed vs shorter deeper carves. 

Turning

Due to the stiffness and weight, I found the Rasman turned best at higher speeds as that was when it felt easiest to release the tails and initiate a turn, compared to to moderate speeds, where it could feel much slower. 

Ease of Turns/Slashing: No matter what speed you are going the Rasman requires you to be on top of your edges which will require effort, especially on the heelside. It could get catchy when releasing the tails for turns/slashes. 

Maneuverability at slow speeds (nimbleness): The Rasman was more nimble than I anticipated, given it's profile/stiffness. I wouldn't call it fast edge-to-edge but not super sluggish either. I also found the magna-traction noticeable at slower speeds,  helping you stay on a edge with less effort.

Skidded Turns: Handled them pretty well but like I mentioned above the heelside could be a bit catchy at times and was noticeable when in a skidded turn, but otherwise felt stable. 

Speed

The Rasman excelled best at speed as the camber in the nose and tail mixed with the stiffer flex really allowed you to to get going pretty quick when desired. Felt stable at speed too. 

Uneven Terrain

Crud: Effortlessly smashed through crud whenever required, allowing you to maneuver through it without the feeling of being bucked around whatsoever.  

Trees/Bumps: As stated above, it isn't the fastest from edge-to-edge, which means maneuvering around bumps/trees required some extra effort. But going through ditches and over bumps felt pretty manageable. 

Jumps

Overall a bit stiff but otherwise pretty good 

Pop: Pretty average amount of pop and its not the easiest to access. You really need to load up to extract it all from the board. 

Approach: Definitely preferred approaches where some speed was required, as this is when it felt the most maneuverable but otherwise it felt stable on the approach. Just need to make sure your on top of your edge. 

Landing: This is where I personally found it too stiff at times. It wasn't the most forgiving, unless you landed tail heavy. But otherwise it didn't feel catchy or washy on landings.

Side-hits: I really enjoyed it sidehits that required speed on approach and the stiffness felt more warranted for those faster/bigger sidehits. Only thing I wish it had more of is pop. 

Small jumps/Big jumps: Capable on any size jump but I enjoyed it the most on larger jumps. Didn't like slower approaches as much. 

Switch

Considering its setback and taper, the Rasman performed switch pretty well. It could be a bit catchy when transitioning but otherwise felt alright.

Butters

The Rasman doesn't butter/press without a solid amount of effort, due to its weight and stiffness. You really have to shift your body weight and lean into them. But once you do, they stay locked in pretty well.

Overall the Rasman is a powerful board and demands to be ridden. As such, try to get more casual on it and you will quickly realize it doesn't perform as well. 

While it does lack playfulness and pop, it makes up for it in other aspects like having great edge-hold and smashing through crud/chunder and even taking on larger jumps pretty nicely. Realistically it is capable of taking on whatever you throw at it but you have to be up for it too as it demands you to put everything you have into it.