Summary
The Lib Tech Box Scratcher offers up a very forgiving and easy jib ride for all conditions you choose to ride in. It's the kind of ride that inspires confidence in jibbers of all levels and that's why we like how this board treats average riders like us.Where To Buy
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The House
BlueTomato Belgium
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Riding Style | Freestyle |
Riding Level | Beginner - Expert |
Fits Boot size (US) | 8-10, 10-12 |
Manufactured in | USA by Mervin |
Shape | True Twin |
Camber Profile | Continuous Rocker |
Stance | Centered |
Approx. Weight | Feels Normal |
Split | No |
On Snow Feel | |
Turn Initiation | |
Skidded Turns |
Flex | |
Buttering | |
Edge Hold |
Where To Buy
No obligation, but these links support the site.
evo
Snowboards.com
The House
BlueTomato Belgium
BlueTomato France
BlueTomato Sweden
BlueTomato Denmark
BlueTomato Finland
BlueTomato Italy
BlueTomato UK
BlueTomato Netherlands
BlueTomato Austria
BlueTomato Spain
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Lib Tech Box Scratcher 2019 - 2011 Review by The Good Ride
Other than a few minor tweaks not much has changed to the overall ride of the Lib Tech Box Scratcher so this older review still stands.
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 147 & 151
Days:2
Conditions: One day in hard Colorado snow and another day in good Sierra snow.
Riders: James, Kyle, and Peter
Boots: Burton Imperial, Burton Ambush, Nike Kaiju
Bindings: Burton Genesis, Union Contact Pro,
Set Up: 23″ wide 15 front -15 back and centered.
It seems like the MTX was mellowed out but we didn’t really feel a difference between this and the 2014 model. Also, it says on the site for the 2015 Box Scratcher that it has normal MTX instead of .5 MTX. So I’m not 100% sure as to whether it’s .5 or the same MTX. Or maybe they just mellowed it out near the tip and tail. Either way, we still are big fans of the board.
On Snow Feel: The Lib-Tech Box Scratcher 2014 has a little more going on in the stability department than a lot of continuous rocker boards. The slightly refined BTX profile makes it a little closer to some of the looser C2 BTX boards out there. To get into real detail it’s on the bottom end of semi-stable or top end of loose where many C2 profiles are getting really close to being stable. Still, l it’s a nice improvement that doesn’t sacrifice pop or ride feel.
Powder: These boards are smaller and aren’t the best for the thicker or deeper snow out there. At least the BTX fights to stay up.
Turn Initiation and Carving: It’s a quick and zippy edge to edge kind of feel that is very easy. Short to mellow turns are fun and playful but it starts to lose its charm on a harder carve or even a wider turn. Who really cares though because this is a jib board but if you want a little fun in your turns this is one of the better jib boards to make a few turns with.
Speed: Nothing to write home about. It’s chattery at moderate mountain speeds but better than we thought it would be. Peter will straight line anything but I’m a little more tentative when boards start chattering.
Uneven Terrain: Really good in bumpy crappy snow on the way from the park to the park.
Edge Hold: Most people don’t like extra edge hold for a jib board but to most of us at The Good Ride we liked it. It was confidence inspiring and fun to have a little more grip in harder parks. It also didn’t feel hooky or catchy like I’ve heard others complain about.
Flex: Soft playful and buttery. It feels medium soft in the beginning but after a few weeks on it the board just becomes soft. It is super easy to butter and the general flex feels just a little bit better than last year.
Switch: Perfect either way with this true twin.
Jibbing: Peter loves to jib and is pretty good at it where I like it but I’m not that good at it. Both of us felt like we could do more with the Lib Tech Box Scratcher.
Pipe: Jib boards usually truly suck in the pipe but the Box Scratcher isn’t bad at all. It’s no board for lapping the pipe day in day out but you can stop in there without it being sketchy.
Jumps: Nice happy springy poppy little board that makes it fun to hit kickers rather well. The 2014 model feels a little bit more poppy and playful. It’s not bad hitting a kicker either. We prefer C2 better for lapping the park but the flat to mild camber makes off landings a little bit better.
All in all, we love the Box Scratcher because it’s easy and fun in the jib park but it also has a lively tour around the park or butter the mountain kind of feel as well.
Lib Tech Box Scratcher Past Reviews
2014 Lib Tech Box Scratcher
Here is a video of Peter gabbing about it at the end of the day.
The Lib Tech Box Scratcher 2013-2012 is probably our favorite jib/street specialist mainly because it’s loose and playful but still pretty grippy and can play in more places than just the jib park. It’s a confidence inspiring springy continuous rocker ride that makes you feel any jib is doable. It inspired in us to want to do more than what we normally do in the park and get creative.
Size 151
Days: 30+
Conditions: Hard snow with a little light powder patches, soft snow and
Riders: James, Peter, Kyle, Jimbo and a few others not on the site
Boots: Burton Ion, Burton SLX, Burton Imperial, Nike Kaiju, DC Judge, Burton Ambush, Burton Hail,
Bindings: Burton Cartel, Burton Cartel Limited, Burton Malavita, Flux DS30, Union Contact Pro
Set Up: 22.5 and 23″ wide. 15 front -15 back and centered.
The Lib Tech Box Scratcher in a lot of ways is the evolution of the MC Kink BTX. The MC Kink is small in length and normal in width to allow easy spinning.
On Snow Feel: The Box Scratcher has a pretty loose but playful/fun feel between the feet but there is more contact with the snow than you would think for a continuous rocker board. It’ is all about keeping it in the park but if you venture into the mountain you can take a very spinny buttery poppy playful approach to the mountain as long as you don’t mind instability at speed. You really cant take it down a notch here because this is a jib park board. It actually goes up a notch because of it’s ability to do better than expected out of the park. It has a confidence inspiring feel in the park as well as the jib park and we all felt like better riders when we were on it.
Powder: Not that great here but at least it isn’t flat or pointing down. It’s a small board so it doesn’t float as easy as let’s say the Skate Banana.
Turn Initiation and Carving– super easy edge to edge and very fun with short radius turns. It’s very easy to get this where you want it. We should describe it as throw initiation because it’s so easy to throw this this board around. Carving sucks and it’s washy but that is expected.
Speed: It’s soft and chattery but it has a pretty good base that keeps its speed.
Uneven Terrain: Very easy to negotiate bumpy snow if you happen upon it coming or going from the park.
Edge Hold: Before the rails get mashed up and dulled out in the park it’s excellent. Even after it will still be pretty good…maybe even better than a camber board with an old school side cut. Despite it’s jib focused design it will hold an edge in almost any situation and be OK in other parts of the park like jumps and the Half pipe if the edges are sharp.
Flex: Super soft either way you flex it and we feel this and the Skate Banana are the softest boards in Mervin’s line. Very playful and even right out of the factory it’s very soft.
Switch: couldn’t tell the difference riding switch from regular like all twins should be.
Jibbing- There is a little more flat between the feet from this continuous rocker board and it also bends to conform to anything you want to tackle in the jib park. If you want a technical jib specialist this was our favorite board. After a few jibs/rails It just made us feel like “hell I’ll try that” even though you never tried it before.
Pipe: Not bad in the pipe and easy to throw around. If the pipe is your game the TRS would be better but It’s still pretty good for a jib board.
Jumps: Lot’s of spring here and really fun to ollie. The bigger the jumps get the more out of it’s element the Box Scratcher feels great hitting small to medium size jumps.
Lib Tech Box Scratcher Specs
Lib Tech Box Scratcher Images
Lib Tech Box Scratcher User Reviews
Incredibly forgiving, and easy to ride. Even riders like me who are not experts on jibbing, and ground tricks would find themselves doing tricks!For me, it is 'the' dream board for freestyle riding, but its edge holding is also good.
Loads of fun scratchin' boxes!
This board is a kick ass park if not all mountain ride. Jibs, spins, butters and bombing trails is fun and easy on the 2015 Box Scratcher 151. Lib Tech kills it as always! Never disappointed. Made in the USA. Fuck Yeah!
The Box Scratcher is a playful and versatile board
I bought the 2014 Box Scratcher in 147 cm, and I was initially worried that this would be too short for me.
Then I took this board to Whistler, all over the mountain (steeps, moguls, powder, terrain park) and was amazed at what this board could do. This was the first board that I have ever ridden on which I can carve down black diamond runs going either goofy or switch. Turn initiation is effortless, and because of the banana rocker it's easy to cheat and just muscle the board into a turn even when my technique is bad/sloppy. It can hold a light carve, and predictably slides out from a hard carve thanks to the magnetraction edges.
I really had to work hard to keep this board afloat in deep powder, but if you can keep up your speed, it works, even with a centered stance (I would not set back the stance at all on a board this short).
I'm not good enough to do presses on boxes and rails, but riding around on the snow on just the tail is so easy and fun. I could even steer the board left and right just by shifting my weight back and forth, something I could not manage on my other board (T Rice Pro HP 153).
This board is so short and playful, that it finally gave me the guts to try things on boxes other than riding straight over them. So I was able to do boardslides and tailslides, and even when I messed up, I was usually still able to slip off early and ride away safely.
Small and medium kickers were no problem for this board, although the shorter length and softer flex made it feel a little squirrelly while straight-lining to the take-off. The biggest kicker I tried was the ~15 footer at the beginning of the Nintendo Choker park (only straight-aired that one with a grab sometimes).
I hot-waxed the base, and it resulted in a pretty fast glide. However, I noticed the base was drying out (turning hazy white) near the edges after two days on the snow.
Where To Buy
No obligation, but these links support the site.
evo
Snowboards.com
The House
More stores to buy from:
evo
Snowboards.com
The House
BlueTomato Belgium
BlueTomato France
BlueTomato Sweden
BlueTomato Denmark
BlueTomato Finland
BlueTomato Belgium
BlueTomato France
BlueTomato Sweden
BlueTomato Denmark
BlueTomato Finland
BlueTomato Italy
BlueTomato UK
BlueTomato Netherlands
BlueTomato Austria
BlueTomato Spain
No Results Found
No Results Found