Lib Tech Travis Rice Pro Pointy 2016 - 2010 Review by The Good Ride

• User Reviews
• Past Reviews
• Product Specs
• Product Images
• Questions?

Ethics Statement: We don’t get paid by the manufacturer to write these reviews.  We do make money from the “Where To Buy” links, but this is our best attempt at an honest and objective review from an average riders’ perspective.

Size 161.5 Pointy

Days: 3
Conditions: Really good groomers that weren’t too hard but also weren’t too soft. Great for carving and speed. Another day there was a little thick sierra powder.  In some places, 1′ but most places were less than a foot. Hard to borderline icy day in the morning turning into softer good snow about midday.
Riders: James and Jimbo
Boots: Burton Ion, Burton SLX
Bindings: Burton Cartel, Burton Cartel Limited
Set Up: Centered 23″ wide 15 front -15 back

Just want to make this clear that all Travis Rice Pro Pointy or Pro Horsepower Pointy models are mid/wide size boards. It’s not ideal for normal to smaller size feet.  It’s best for a size 10.5 US to a 12 US rider.  A size 13 boot with a well reduced footprint (makes it a size 12-12.5 on the outside) can fit in this as well. I’m writing this more from Jimbo’s and a wide footers perspective because I’m a size 9 boot. I personally felt like I had stiff clown shoes on when riding this.  It’s just a little too big for my taste.  Some riders with feet my size like this wider more stable board feel but I’m more about quicker turn initiation.

On Snow Feel:  So the Travis Rice Pro Pointy is not your normal snowboard.  It’s an aggressive med/stiff flexing board thrown into a twin shape with a centered stance. It also has a pretty shallow sidecut that makes the board want to go straight more than turn. It’s got a very stable feel for a hybrid rocker and it’s getting pretty close to some hybrid camber boards.  In softer snow, it’s very stable but you can still feel it become a little loose between the feet in harder snow.  The C2 Power models are definitely the call over the C2 BTX and BTX models of the past.

Powder: So the Pointy’s are big twins with a centered stance for those that want to ride switch as much as they ride regular. This is for an aggressive freestyle approach to the mountain. The Magnetraction in the Side Cut isn’t overly grippy in thick snow but you can feel a little more grab than their more mellow side cuts. It’s also not as quick in tight tree runs but it’s doable.  It’s more of a board for picking up insane speed in the steeps or holding a line through a narrow chute.  This floats really well for a twin but let’s put it this way.  If you are a rider that likes to set back your stance on board you might not be able to set it back at all or just set it back a little. This could make you feel that the powder performance is just good and not Great.  If you like to ride powder with a centered stance you might actually find this excellent because it’s a big board with a pointy nose that floats really well for a twin.  So if you ride switch in pow you will love it but if you ride set back and mainly one direction in powder you will probably like another board. Every year floats pretty well except for when you get all the way back to the old camber models from the mid 2000s

Turn Initiation and Carving: So the shallow sidecut takes a little bit away from the quick turn initiation when you compare it to other boards. It’s got the kind of feel that likes wider turns. Short radius turns just can’t be throttled up as fast as some boards allow you to do with deeper side cuts. The Travis Rice Pro Pointy likes to go straight more than it likes to make tight radius turns. When you get into a hard carve it does very well for a hybrid rocker board.  There is a decent amount of return out of a carve but it’s still not in the same world as a board with true camber or mostly camber.

Speed:  The Travis Rice Pro Pointy is very close to being an excellent board for speed. The base is pretty fast and glides well over long flat spots.  The only thing keeping it from being excellent is the little bit of chatter you get from the hybrid rocker profile.  It could be argued as excellent though.

Uneven Terrain: Not ideal in heavy conditions. The board doesn’t turn super fast so it’s not as easy to negotiate a mandatory mogul run to a pow stash but it’s amazing at busting chunder or a tracked up section of thick powder.

Edge Hold: This could be a great board for people who ride in harder conditions more than soft. It’s got a very confidence inspiring grip in hard snow but can be a little grabby in thicker softer snow.

Flex: Pretty stiff and aggressive.  It’s not an ideal butter board.

Switch: Feels the same either way and it’s pretty fun to lay into a carve regular and then do the same switch.

Jibbing: Not really a Jib board. I didn’t even bother but Jimbo took it through a few bonks and rails.  He didn’t mind but he wasn’t into lapping the park after he finished.

Pipe: This wasn’t a great pipe board for me but if you are around a size 11 this would be an excellent pipe board. I felt like it was a lot of work around the coping to get back down and it didn’t inspire confidence. Jimbo (10.5 boot) had no problem with the pipe. For a bigger foot than mine, it would climb the wall well, carve well in the flats and be pretty forgiving on the way back down for the hybrid rocker. Still, this is just a little too long to really ride the pipe well.  If you are more about the pipe than the mountain then get the blunt.

Jumps: Great spring on this board but like the pipe the board is a little too long for lapping the roller coaster line in the park. It’s more about dropping off a cliff of ollieng off a nice natural feature at high speed.