 Poster: A snowHead
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In the interests of truthiness...
| romeowner wrote: |
| Shallimus, ........ sorry not convinced i would rather spend my money on rome, burton or never summer lookin good too rather than trust a surfboard company like quicksilver |
It is true that Lib Tech are owned by Quicksilver via the latter's 1997 acquisition of Mervin Manufacturing, which owns the Lib Tech brand. However, Mervin still operate as an independent unit in terms of design and manufacturing. All Lib Tech boards are made at the Mervin Manufacturing factory, which is located in deepest darkest Washington State near the border with Canada. They have been building snowboards for over a quarter of a century, and although they do also make skateboards I don't believe they've ever crafted surfboards. Lib Tech boards are made by named craftsman. If I still had the sticker which came with it, I could still find the exact people who made my particular Skunk Ape.
Having said that, what's wrong with surfing? Borrowing your logic, I'd rather have a surfboard company make my snowboard than a trainer company (Nike, who own Burton). Rome SDS are made in a factory shared by many, many other brands. In the end, it's less important who owns a board brand than how it rides, and as a result I doubt you'll find many people who ride Lib Tech and subsequently abandon them (yes of course there will be examples of this, but...)
I know a lot of people swear by Rome and I have no doubt that that's because the boards are well-designed.
| bar shaker wrote: |
| I think I would prefer to have a rail all the way round rather than keep having to get the G clamps and epoxy out, every time the board touched something other than powder. There are a lot of Lib Tech owners complaining about delam so maybe its as good as you say but perhaps its a technology to far for us mere users. |
After most of a winter of getting out whenever I can (best part of 20 days) on Ontario's ice hills, with mostly crap conditions (ice, slush, rocks, dirt etc.) my Skunk Ape is still looking pretty good, and I haven't maintained it at all other than regular waxing (it does need edge sharpening). I have some cosmetic damage from sk**rs running over the back of the board in our interminably long lift lines, but no delamination. If you treat a Lib Tech like a rock board, it will show signs of mistreatment just like any other board, but you have a much better chance of fixing a nose/tail delam on a board without a rail as I mentioned above.
| stab wrote: |
| quiksilver don't make their own boards. I forget who does |
Unless you're talking about some other snowboard brand owned by Quiksilver which I don't know about, the answer is that Mervin do (see above).
Lib Tech, GNU and (I believe) also Roxy boards are all made at the Mervin plant. Quiksilver aren't really involved. I heard a rumour that the skis which Mervin put out (NAS, or Narrow-Ass Snowboards) were put on the market as much to stop people stealing their ideas re: camber, magnetraction etc. etc. as because they actually wanted to make sk*s...
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Now I've finished my speech, are there any questions? Yes, you at the back 
Q: If you love Lib Tech so much why don't you marry them?
A: Fair point. I guess my only answer is that I have no affiliation with them in any way other than that I ride Lib Tech boards (badly, I might add) purely for the fun of it.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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snorkyvandyke,
Where you with the other two guys who bought Bananas, from the Edge of the World? Seemed to remember one of the three came from Cornwall.
John
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Ok, bit of an update.
Just had another couple of weeks on it solid and just as impressed as earlier posts. Floats like a dream even on very fine pow and laughs at boilerplate. Fast too, glides well and good at spotting jumps (lost just one, terrain park, right under the lift, how they laughed.............).
As regards the durability questions raised, it's been into several trees and sliced more rocks than any other board I've ridden. Apart from needing P Tex, base grind and edging, no signs of delam or anything else, despite riding at sub forty plus and shattering two toe straps and the plastic sleeve on my chain lock.
However one patrol guy asked how it rode while catching a chair, as he'd been promised a ride on his mates, but said mate had managed to snap his Banana in two second day out..................
Still recommended.
John.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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BCjohnny, ditto - just done another 7 days at VT.
Ace in powder. hit some rocks and still no major damage to report.
Got a couple of uneven spots on the nose, but only cosmetic.
We had all types of weather in that week and the only weakness I can remember was a bit of sketchiness on rock hard icy flat bits. The reverse camber was noticable!
It's so easy to ride, I doubt I would have been able to survive on 3 hours sleep a night without it!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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A bit late to this one, but I've just ordered a couple of Rocker/Magne boards for next winter. Got a good deal by ordering early off the importer. Smokin' snowboards - they licence the magne-traction tech from Mervin, and have their own version of C2 rocker. Sounds like a pretty cool company as well, hand made boards, low key operation etc.
Having abused and killed a Bataleon last season, and being really impressed with the TBT thing, I thought it would be worth a go at trying out all the new tech. The guy who imports them was frothing about how well they ride. Just got to wait 6 months to try them out 
I got one of these for myself, 162W
http://smokinsnowboards.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12&Itemid=13
And one of these for the wife, 153
http://smokinsnowboards.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14&Itemid=15
Might need some sunnies to deal with the graphics.....
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Out of interest when all you guys talk about longevity and your board lasting a season or more without any delam how much are you actually riding?
E.g. My old old Wild Duck board which I use as a rock board but have ridden quite a bit this season due to a now resolved issue with my main board has began to delam in a couple of places. That said it's over 10 years old.
My HS Empire which I ride normally shows no damage other than cosmetic top sheet chips and multiple repaired core shots, given I treat rocks with little difference to snow at times, is in it's third season, last season I put around 120 days on it mainly off piste.
I'd expect any board to be able to handle over 200 days hard riding before it begins to give up and even then a delam isn't necessarily terminal, so forgive me for not being impressed by a board lasting 20 days. Obviously you could do something really bad on the first day and rip out an edge but that doesn't really come under general wear and tear.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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60 days on my Bataleon, then my roof racks disintegrated at 110 km/h, and the board didn't survuve
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Emporers New Clothes.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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FAQ
