Past Season Reviews for Lib Tech Skate Banana Archives

Hello and welcome to my Lib tech Skate Banana review. 

In this review the Skate Banana will be judged as to well it performs as a freestyle board.

O.k. let’s get straight into it.

Note: This review hasn’t been updated since the 2024 model. While there haven’t been any changes between the last time we rode it and the 2025 model, it has been a long time since we tested it, so will do a re-test of it before updating it. The board is the same, but it was 7 years since we tested it and our processes have changed in that time. 

Overall Rating

Board: Lib Tech Skate Banana

Price: $579 (USD recommended retail)

Style: Freestyle

Flex Rating: Medium (4.5-6.5/10 depending on length)

Flex Feel: Medium-Soft (4/10)

Rating Score: 84.8/100

Compared to other Men’s Freestyle Boards

Out of 36 freestyle snowboard’s I rated:

• The average score was 82.8/100
• The highest score was 91.3/100 (see below)
• The lowest score was 70.7/100
• The average price was $489
• The Skate Banana ranked 14th out of 36.

Overview of the Skate Banana’s Specs

Check out the Skate banana’s specs and available sizes below.

Specs

Sizing

Who is the Skate Banana Most Suited to?

The skate banana is suitable for a wide range of freestyle riders.

Though the Skate Banana is said to have a medium flex I’d say it’s on the softer side than their flex rating of 4.5-6.5/10 (depending no the size) suggests. Maybe more like a 4-5.5/10. So whilst I think Lib Tech do try to market this as an all mountain freestyle board I would say it’s definitely more of an outright freestyle board (but a good one!).

You can take it out of the park for sure but you’ll probably want to still be riding freestyle on the groomers when you do. This is definitely a fun playful, loose feeling board as opposed to a hard charger.

The Skate Banana in More Detail

O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Skate Banana is capable of.

Demo Info

Board: Lib Tech Skate Banana 2018, 156cm (255mm waist width)*

*while we haven’t re-tested this board since the 2018 model, it hasn’t really changed since then.

Date: March 4^th, 2017

Conditions: Plenty of fresh powder around. Had been puking for a good few days leading up. Still bumpy and chundery in places as it was a Saturday but mostly soft good conditions on the groomers and plenty of powder off.

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Jibbing

This board is a jibbing superstar! – it’s definitely not a noodle so it can do a lot more than just hit jibs and butter, but it still manages to really excel at buttering.

It’s no surprise really given it’s continuous rocker profile (I find rocker underfoot to be great for jibbing) and medium-to-soft flex (softer flex is also great for jibbing).

I know it says medium flex above but realistically I’d say it’s medium-soft.

Jumps

This was the weakest point out of the big three freestyle factors (Jibs, Jumps & Switch) but it’s still definitely no slouch here. The main reason for scoring slightly less in jumps is probably down to it’s virtually continuous rocker profile. This profile is not ideal for landing jumps as it’s not incredibly stable underfoot.

That loose feel is awesome (for those that like it loose) but does make it trickier for stomping landings. That said, it’s fine on any small to medium jumps and for small natural jumps but gets a bit sketchy on the really big jumps.

O.k. technically it does have a Hybrid Rocker with some mild camber sections towards the tip and tail but it’s really very mild but will help somewhat with those landings.

Also with very little camber, there’s only so much pop available.

Check out this video for more details

Switch

The Skate Banana has a true twin shape and centered stance. It is pretty much the same going either way down the mountain. This is obviously pretty important for the freestyle rider who wants to ride and land tricks in either direction.

Pipe

If you’re someone who likes to ride the pipe, and has regular access to one, the Skate Banana will hold its own. It won’t be incredible in there but you can definitely take it in there. If the pipe is where you like to spend most of your time there are better pipe boards that might sacrifice something somewhere else.

Rest of the mountain

If you want to take the Skate Banana outside of the park – to either treat the rest of the mountain like a park or just to ride some trails with mates (or both) – the Skate Banana won’t disappoint.

Whilst not a great carver and not super-fast, the rocker profile helps it in powder. It has a centered stance so not amazing in powder but you can take it in there. It’s also pretty good in the bumpy stuff.

Edge-Hold

For a softer flex board the Skate Banana has great edge-hold. This is at least partly down to Lib Tech’s magne-traction technology.  So if you’re a freestyle rider who likes a loose feel and often rides in the hard and icy stuff this might well be your board of choice.

 The Score Breakdown

Check out the score breakdown for the Skate Banana in the table below.

This board is super easy to butter and is really playful and fun. It’s a great choice for the freestyle rider that mostly wants to ride the park but wants to still be able to have fun on the groomers and a particularly good choice if that’s you and you also ride in icy conditions a lot.