Price: $600 ListPros: Well-made, rails turns at high speeds, good grip on hard pack, USA made Cons: On the heavier side, not as playful as others, challenging to ride on firm snow, tricky to size Manufacturer: Lib Tech
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Lib Tech has been known to produce high-quality boards. The Lib Tech Travis Rice Pro Pointy stays consistent with that theme. Built for Travis Rice, this board is stiff and strong. Its stiff flex, long sidecut, and camber tip and tail to promote maximum stability in steep terrain. This charge oriented character is reinforced with Magne Traction thrives in a wide array of conditions. The stiff flex made this board struggle in the playfulness metric. As to be expected of long, stiff boards. Overall this is a sturdy board made for riders looking to go fast and big. It will be able to handle whatever you throw at it.
Updated Graphics
This year's graphics for the Travis Rice Pro (shown above) are designed by artist Mike Parillo.
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Our Analysis and Test Results
Lib Tech a subsidiary of Mervin Manufacturing has been producing bomber snowboards in the USA for 26 years. The company strives to employ sustainable practices in every step of construction. Examples of this include their biodiesel heated factory and Soy-based sidewalls. The environment is at the forefront of their business model with no compromise to durability. This particular model has to put up with the thrashing that Travis Rice places on it. The Travis Rice Pointy Pro remains largely unchanged from last year's model.
Performance Comparison
The intricate detail found on the graphic of the Travis Rice Pointy Pro.
Credit: Isaac Laredo
Edging
The Travis Rice Pro is a top performer in edge hold and security. Because of its stiff flex and wide waist width, this board can handle a lot of turn before it buckles out on you. It won't easily be overwhelmed by your legs or turn generated force. Although there is a speed threshold before you get to railing turns. Due to the stiffness and Magne-Traction, the board is a little more work to roll and edge and can feel catchy at slow speeds. In the end, this board isn't made to be ridden slow, and when you play toward its strengths, this thing is radical.
Magne-Traction provides additional edge hold when conditions are firm but can be catchy at slower speeds.
Credit: Isaac Laredo
Float in Powder
Similar to its edging limitation, it requires a higher speed to begin to plane and float. The speed threshold is based on the cambered contact points and a stiffer flex pattern. In high snow densities, we were fighting the camber and flex of this model for two primary reasons: The camber wanted to dive, and the speed threshold was hard to obtain. Once it's up to speed, the wide waist width and length provide comfortable flotation in especially in good quality snow.
Stability at Speed
The Travis Rice Pro is a relatively nimble tank at speed. The cambered tip and tail engage to provide a camber like experience that offsets the stability threat from the rocker.
Hard to decide whether to look at Lake Tahoe or focus on the high speed long turns that the Travis Rice Pointy Pro was made for.
Credit: Isaac Laredo
Playfulness
The Travis Rice Pro did not excel in this category, It's difficult to obtain such high scores in the other metrics without sacrificing in others. The board is wider and stiffer than the others in our lineup. Not only that, but it's pretty darn heavy and has a longer sidecut. All these things were great for the other metrics above but penalize the board here.
Pop and Jumping
As with the other rockered, or hybrid-camber/rocker boards, it has a little less merit in its vertical achievements. It is a stiffer board, which helps it keep some of its pop. The rocker section does make the pop more obtainable to harvest by lowering the amount of resistance throughout your ollie.
Value
This is a well-made board and if it fits your riding style and goals it's worth the price tag. But might not be if you're a sub-150-pound casual rider.
Conclusion
The Travis Rice Pro Pointy is a solid ride if you have powerful legs, and you like to go fast and push it to the max. This board could be tough to handle if you're on the smaller side. Our lead tester is 5'9" and weighs 162 pounds and found that he had to ride the board powerfully. We estimate that if you' re under 5'8" and sub 150 pounds, it might not be the board for you.
The board commanding graphic of this model complements the aggressive ride of this model.
"C2-banana rocker.. what?". It's easy to get overwhelmed...
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