Lib Tech - Dark Series vs. Travis Rice
Posted: 28 March 2011 03:58 AM
Just demo’d the Dark Series today and absolutlely loved it. Definitely an agressive board that wants to pop but it was a blast. I liked it better than the TRS. But I havent ridden the Travis Rice yet, but hear great things about it too.
Can someone tell me how the Travis Rice compares to the Dark Series? I am not much of a park guy - prefer free riding fast, agressive carving and hitting a kickers/ledges where possible.
In terms of board size, I am 5’10, 190. Heard that the 158 is a good size but preferred the 161 as it felt more stable. But with a 11 boot, I am wondering if I need the Wide or if the regular is fine (think i rode the regular today but not sure). Any advice on whether i need the wide 161?
Thanks
J
Posted: 28 March 2011 08:34 AM
The Dark Series is the stiffest board in the Lib Tech board range, but for what you’ve listed as your likes the T.Rice is perfect. For general all mountain freestyle and freeriding the 161.5 pointy would meet your needs, it also has a mid wide waist at 26cm which would be perfect for a US11 boot. If you want to beef up the T.Rice a little go for the Horsepower option which uses slightly different construction and basalt laminates for a damper more freeridy feel.
Posted: 29 March 2011 02:27 AM
Thanks for the advice Rich.
What do you think the downside of the Dark Series vs. the T Rice would be?
Also, what is meant by a damper feel (saw this on the Lib website too)? Does the Horsepower make the board faster / more pop?
Appreciate the help.
J
Posted: 29 March 2011 08:33 AM
Damper just means it absorbs the ruts, vibrations, bumps/inconsistencies of the snow better instead of feeling everything under your feet. I don’t know if the board will have more pop, but I don’t see how it can make the board faster.
Posted: 29 March 2011 09:07 AM
Yeah Reco is spot on.
I guess the sports car anallogy is the best. You can buy a go-cart for cheap, it’s fun, feels responsive on the throttle and is fun to mess around on. As soon as you take it on actual roads you notice that you’re all over the show, the ride is uncomfortable, all the vibrations through the steering column are being fed through your arms and you can’t drive it nearly as fast as you could on the perfect go-cart track. I guess a stiffer, damper freeride esq board would be more like a Bently Continental Flying Spur this car will happily hit 200 mph, you can drive it on all types of road at ridiculous speeds with one hand on the steering wheel while you’re tuning in your Bose soundsystem or feeding unmarked bills through the money counter on the passenger seat and lighting your Che Guevara style Cuban Cigar. This car will feel cumbersome on the go cart track but as sson as you hit some reasonable speed it’ll come alive. The damper the ride the more the board is dialled for going fast in bumpy snow but the less lively it will feel when you are just messing about.
Posted: 29 March 2011 09:09 AM
Yeap, car analogy is the best way to explain it. Btw it’s Rico not Reco, Rich haha =p
Posted: 01 April 2011 05:23 AM
Appreciate all the input. So if the Horsepower T Rice and the Dark Series are roughly the same price. What would you pick and why?
thx
Posted: 01 April 2011 05:28 AM
The Dark series is gonna be stiffer. If I’m given the choice I would probably go with HP T.Rice. A bit softer (although still stiff) and uses 100% basalt, which I’m guessing will make it lighter and damper than the Dark Series. But T.Rice is basically a mid-wide (260mm on the 161.5 and 164.5, 258mm on the 157, 253mm on the 153) so should be good for your boot size. Plus Travis Rice rides it hahah.
Posted: 04 April 2011 12:21 AM
I’ve been on both and own a TRICE.
dark - faster edge to edge due to ww, stiffer, directional flex
TRICE - more rocker, aggressive MTX, slow edge to edge due to ww, true twin
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