Lib Tech 1986 Snow Mullett - 2011
It’s a little known fact that everybody who works at Mervin Manufacturing has a Mullet hairstyle; legend has it that Mike Olson even built Lib Tech on the principles of ‘business at the front and party at the back’. Anyway, apart from a spruced-up design no changes have been made to the Snow Mullet for 2011. Lib Tech has once-again packed their Banana & Magnetraction features into a tapered board with a progressive sidecut for added stability when cruising at high speeds. The Magnetraction grips on any ice that a freeride snowboarder might encounter while the rocker profile provides superb float in all types of powder. A cult classic like the haircut? No, it’s way cooler!
Manufacturer's Description:
The ultimate freeride, jib, powder stick that works great on hardpack and holds an edge in the steep, icy and nasty zones that sometimes get between you and your pow. Patterned after mid-eighties designs, progressive sidecut and taper angle combined with Magne-Traction and Banana between your feet ensure a floaty effortless ride in powder and positive edge-hold in all conditions… Rides more like a normal board than a flounder.
A Great board to take if you happen to get stuck in a snowstorm or heli trip.
Recommended for freeride riding.
Recommended for big mountain riding.
High cost $
Rocker Construction.
Freeride Specific.
Green or Eco Friendly Construction.
Year: 2011
Available Lengths (cm):
156, 160, 165, 172
Riding Style: Freeride
Specifications:
CORRECT SANDWICH: Low spin weight!
BANANA TECH: Control between your feet!
BEANS: Bio-Plastic top skin: strong, light, renewable!
DIRECTIONAL PROGRESSIVE MAGNE-TRACTION: Turns ice into powder! Catchfree tip, super positive tail!
UHMW SIDEWALLS: Tough!
MORNING WOOD CORE: More Pop!
POWER TRANSFER INTERNAL SIDEWALLS: Tough!
TNT BASE: Fast!
FLEX: 6.5/10
Similar boards: Capita Charlie Slasher - 2011 Nitro Slash - 2011 Burton Malolo - 2011 Atomic Banger - 2011
Snowboard Review:
Lib Tech’s designers are always messing around with new powder snowboards designs. With releases like the Banana Hammock and the insane concept board the Chewgash, in Lib Tech terms, the 1986 Snow Mullet is pretty conservative. That’s not to say it isn’t a cutting edge design, with a tapered shape, setback stance, Lib Tech’s Banana reverse camber profile and Magnetraction edges, there probably aren’t many boards with such a lengthy spec.
I took the Lib Tech Snow Mullet out on an early May powder day, the snow was fresh but heavy, unsurprisingly the Mullet didn’t have any issues with float; even with heavy front foot turn initiation, I couldn’t get the nose to sink. Landings off a12ft rock drop were solid; in-fact the reverse camber almost popped me out of the landings. One thing that adversely affected my riding pleasure from the start was the narrowness of the stance, if you’re used to a wide stance make sure the 1986 Snow Mullett is going to fit your stance, with a max width of 23.5 inches it’s not the widest.
In the powder, the taper and reverse camber worked well together to make turn initiation easy, but there was something missing from the feel of each turn. Because Lib have moved away from camber, there was no punch out of turns; add this to the 8.5m sidecut and the insanely grippy Magnetraction edges and you have a board that rules in long carves almost like it’s on train tracks, but just doesn’t want to snap out of carves into tight slashes and cut backs. On the piste this lack of punch was even more noticeable; I found it really irritating because I really wanted to like the Snow Mullet. Building a fish shaped snowboard without a surf like feel doesn’t make much sense to me, especially as we are talking about a board that is constricted to powder and groomer freeriding.
To summarise; the Snow Mullet floats like a boat, turn initiation was fast and edge hold in long carves was good even on icy pistes. What I didn’t like about the Snow Mullet was the lack of punch out of carves and the way the Snow Mullet wouldn’t shorten up carve radii or jump out of carves into slashes. In my opinion a tighter sidecut radius at the waist or at the tail and a bit of camber in the tail would liven up the ride no end. Unless you’re riding meter deep snow the taper will provide enough float, so reverse camber in the tail seems a bit un-necessary, however I don’t get to ride West Coast powder days so I might have missed the point. I love Lib Tech boards but the Snow Mullet was a bit disappointing… Mervin please put camber into next years Snow Mullett.
Posted by Rich Ewbank in • Lib Tech
User Snowboard Reviews
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on March 08, 2011 at 06:09 AM
I have the first mullet 165 with old school camber and magna traction. I love that board and the only complaint I have is the stance options. I ride with around a 23 inch stance and I could get the but felt like I wanted it more forward. I rode a newer one with banana/ rocker and not a super big fan. I’m pretty old school and love libs I wish they still made old school camber still or made it a option.
on December 21, 2011 at 08:25 PM
I have a 2009/10 172 mullet, I got it 2nd hand off ebay at an absolute steal £110, had only seen a few days use. I got it out on 2 days last year as the snow was so bad. Initially i was wary of the first turn and catching an edge on such a long stick - I had hiked alone for 2 hours to the top of a bowl and didn’t want to face plant. I needn’t have worried from the first metre the thing just popped up onto the surface then felt really loose and surfy inthe tail I was smiling immediately. It definately doesn’t feel as long as it is, that said i wouldn’t want it in a tight icy / mixed couloir as the size of the nose is a little disconcerting. I didn’t ride it on groomers at all - and wouldn’t as i have other boards for that. The only negative I felt was that it almost made the pow too easy, after years of back leg burn on so called freeride boards i felt I should be paying in pain for all the fun i was having. And if thats a bad thing - its a good board. I will keep it forever for those good days
