# Lib Tech C3



## Scalpelman (Dec 5, 2017)

I’m looking to add a C3 camber board to the quiver. I demo’d a darker series board a few years back and was blown away by the handling of this board when charging. So I’m looking at the Lib website and trying to sort out some decks. 

I have my eye on three that will fit the bill as an all mountain charger that can handle occasional off piste, side hits but no park. 

Swiss knife 
Ejack knife 
Hot knife 

They seem very similar by specs. If anyone has experience with one or more would appreciate input. 

Also have Gnu Billygoat on the short list.


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## SteezyRidah303 (Oct 5, 2010)

Scalpelman said:


> I’m looking to add a C3 camber board to the quiver. I demo’d a darker series board a few years back and was blown away by the handling of this board when charging. So I’m looking at the Lib website and trying to sort out some decks.
> 
> I have my eye on three that will fit the bill as an all mountain charger that can handle occasional off piste, side hits but no park.
> 
> ...



c3 is barely full camber...if you truly want to experience full camber id stay away from mervin completely (gnu/lib)


That being said, c3 is not bad its a nice middle ground if rockers are your thing. I am Not a fan of hybrid shapes in general. Rockers should be reserved for street/jibbing, learning and some powder applications...pretty much everywhere else I just dont see why you wouldn't want full camber..

Bataleon and lobster are some of my favorites, they are straight camber but have slightly lifted contact points to allow a little "forgiveness" when not landing straight on edge, eliminates edge bite a bit without being a rocker in any way shape or form.


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## SEWiShred (Jan 19, 2019)

I have a 2018 Hot Knife. It is a really fun board, charges good, holds an edge in some really bad stuff, extremely responsive. My only complaints are the lack of full metal edge and the TNT base sucks, but they switched to sintered base in 2019. 

It's a really fun board, it encouraged me to start going snowboarding a lot more. I came from a 2010 Flow Quantum (pop cam 3) and the difference is night and day. I paired it with Flow NX2s and in the midwest it's an extremely good combination for riding on smaller hills that can end up icy or hard packed. Seems a little more forgiving than the cam flat cam on the Quantum but it's more aggressive. 

I can't say I'm super impressed with the quality though. I know Lib Tech and Mervin have a good reputation, but from the factory there is a small gap between the metal edge and the base in one area, and it seems like it really shows nicks in the edge very well. Feels like it doesn't hold up to abuse from chair lift bouncing off of skis and stuff as well as my Flow did. Could be because it's a black board with a white border, and it shows any sort of nick on the side of the top deck extremely well. I got it on sale at end of season though, so it was probably a return someone had because of the edge issue and they were hoping to pass it off on someone who wouldn't complain. Thanks big online retailer!

I would recommend the Hot Knife though, I can't emphasize how much fun I've been having on it the last year.

EDIT: I agree with Steezy too, it's not a full camber and you shouldn't expect it to be. Lib Tech has done everything they can to make a hybrid profile handle like a full camber. And for that it's good. But if you want full camber the C3 isn't going to do it.


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

I've demo'd C3 a couple of times (JL phoenix and billygoat) imho its meh. Its meh because its a gimmick compared to camber and c2. It sits between the c2 and camber...and doesn't do much, you are better off on a c2 or traditional camber. C3 is less lively and it either scrapes on its contact points/wavy edge when its too transverse/perpendicular to the fall line...and it digs in and slows down when doing in-fall line carves. Verses traditional camber...being transverse/perpendicular, it holds an edge better (but you might have to dig in more which is more of a skills/technique matter) and when doing in-fall line carving...it is faster and quicker...because there is no wavy edge to dig in and slow you down. Imho on packed, ice and boilerplate straight up traditional straight up camber rules > c3. 

As for a billy goat, to which I have an old c2btx billy. The billy is torsionally loose, so it really likes to charge the fall line and this looseiness also gives it the ability to eat up or absorb natural terrain...it gives it a surefooted feeling. Another way to look at this, is the torsionally loosiness verses a torsionally stiff board...with a torsionally stiff board, you tend to get bucked or thrown around on the terrain...where as the billy will absorb and ride over the natty terrain. Also, it does not like to get too transverse; which means, if you like to keep the nose within 45 degrees of the fall line...it charges...so hold on to the animal and yer arse. It pretty much demands that you ride it aggressively...all the time. Also the cambered sections on the c2 are longitudinally STIFF...which is a good thing because you can be on the nose or tail and it will not give-in or crumble/fold. I'm a fan of the c2btx billy and it excels in natural terrain with about 6-12" of pow.


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## Nivek (Jan 24, 2008)

I like C3. The micro rocker between the feet really just creates a flat zone between the feet and that means you dont have to load through the center of you board as much to engage that part of the sidecut. Is it better than old fashioned camber? No. Is it worse? Also no. 

Swiss Knife is the Arbys of the mervin line. It has the beef. You want to crank it to 11 then yes. Anything below 11 and it's a chore. The EJack is the more average rider friendly board, but dont upsize on it. At 155lbs I rode the 57 and it was a lot of work to get anything out of it below like 20mph. Rode the 54 and it came alive. Fun board to charge resort on, dont upsize. The Hot Knife is a fun charger twin.


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## Scalpelman (Dec 5, 2017)

SteezyRidah303 said:


> c3 is barely full camber...if you truly want to experience full camber id stay away from mervin completely (gnu/lib)
> 
> 
> That being said, c3 is not bad its a nice middle ground if rockers are your thing. I am Not a fan of hybrid shapes in general. Rockers should be reserved for street/jibbing, learning and some powder applications...pretty much everywhere else I just dont see why you wouldn't want full camber..
> ...




Thanks. So I’m NOT a rocker fan. I have a mid flex camber board and stiff RCR freeride in the quiver. I demo’d that C3 after coming off a relatively flat profile intermediate board. I was wowed by the chunder plowing properties. Maybe I need to give a stiff full camber board a try.


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

Scalpelman said:


> Thanks. So I’m NOT a rocker fan. I have a mid flex camber board and stiff RCR freeride in the quiver. I demo’d that C3 after coming off a relatively flat profile intermediate board. I was wowed by the chunder plowing properties. *Maybe I need to give a stiff full camber board a try.*


Yes you should...last year demo'd a Winterstick "seth westcott pro"...it was very nice....and around yer neck of da woods. And he just won the Baker LBS on it.


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## MrDavey2Shoes (Mar 5, 2018)

I like c3. Its doesn't behave the same way as full camber (duh) I find it rides a little looser - on mid flexing boards its nice to have the extra grip when center flexing midway through a carve/turn


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

MrDavey2Shoes said:


> I like c3. Its doesn't behave the same way as full camber (duh) I find it rides a little looser - on mid flexing boards its nice to have the extra grip when center flexing midway through a carve/turn


Idk...if that's the case, it could mean its not the extra grip that is required...but that you relax the carve and let it draw out...meaning point it more down the fall line and let yer board run...or that you might need a larger side-cut radius.


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## MMSlasher (Mar 18, 2016)

I don't like to recommend boards, because weight and sizing can play a huge role in whether or not something works for a person. Something that works for me, could be terrible for someone 25#s heavier or lighter. 

Having said that, I have a C3-BTX Billy Goat and I have a blast on it. I think it is a 2016, it's a couple years away from the C2 version. It has pop, is fast and carves when called upon. I don't ever find it lacking when I need it to perform. But, it is pretty stiff both torsionally and length wise. Maybe Ryan Knapton could still bust all his ground tricks, but it would take him some effort. I definitely can't butter it like my Box Scratcher, but then again, I don't think that it is meant for that. I have had it in about a foot of fresh powder multiple times and it handles that really well. It even performs better in the late day, tracked out powder than the Hovercraft I have. I recently have been switching to the BG in the afternoon on those days. It has the mellow mag, which is hardly noticeable when you look at it, let alone when riding it. I don't feel that catchiness that some people feel full-mag has. I just pulled it out to measure the camber on it and it is just over 5mm. When you press down in the middle, you can still see two faint camber zones under each binding, that really don't seem to want to go flat. With my weight, I'm sure they do, but I just thought that was interesting. 

To the other poster commenting about the fully wrapped metal edge, do you really need that on the nose or tail of a board? I'm not a Mervin fanboy, but I don't miss it on these boards. Years ago, I had a Burton that hit something under the snow and blew out that edge. I ended up having to get a new board since it was expensive to repair, so had that happened with a Mervin board, I would have just sanded, cut, or just plain epoxied the gash. It wouldn't have been as big of a deal.


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## SEWiShred (Jan 19, 2019)

MMSlasher said:


> To the other poster commenting about the fully wrapped metal edge, do you really need that on the nose or tail of a board? I'm not a Mervin fanboy, but I don't miss it on these boards. Years ago, I had a Burton that hit something under the snow and blew out that edge. I ended up having to get a new board since it was expensive to repair, so had that happened with a Mervin board, I would have just sanded, cut, or just plain epoxied the gash. It wouldn't have been as big of a deal.


Maybe it's because I ride in some really bad conditions (but this board is sold as something meant to "turn ice into powder" so I don't see what's wrong), but on the edges where there's no metal it's already starting to get bumps on the edges like it's going to start falling apart and it's going to delaminate. 

Which is some serious BS, the board is just barely a year old. I usually take good care of my stuff, my Flow Quantum was my main board for 8 years and I never had problems like this. I have fun riding my Hot Knife, but I've basically accepted I'll probably get 2 or 3 years out of it and it's not going to hold up like my old Flow. I don't even jib or anything, I just jump and carve. I hit a box maybe two or three times since I had this board. Never touch rails or anything like that.

I think it happened from riding marble ice at one point. If they didn't market this board as such an ice killer board I wouldn't have a problem. But it looks to me (sorry the picture is so blurry, my phone is going on 5 years old, but like I said I'm usually one to take care of my stuff, I couldn't get it to focus on the small edge) like it's had some impacts on the edge and since it hit the soft material instead of a steel edge it did some damage. 

I would imagine that if you hit something under the snow with one of these boards that isn't fully wrapped, the damage would be a lot worse than what you experienced. It's all soft down there and there's no metal. Just thinking about it, I'd rather hit a piece of metal with a hammer than a piece of wood, the metal is going to fair a lot better. 

The board is fun, I enjoy it a lot. But unless this thing surprises me and I get more than 3 years out of it I'm just going to get a more traditional camber board with full metal edges. You can see part of it is starting to bevel where there's no metal edge and there's a sliver coming up. I've found these little slivers popping off the part with no metal edge is pretty common. 

For the record though, I go a lot. I went from 11 to 330 today and only stopped to have some Gatorade, a Cliff bar, and two pee breaks. Usually do that two or three times a week. But my Flow Quantum held up way better under my conditions. It probably won't be a problem if you only go a few times a month and you're riding on softer snow, but the lack of full metal edge is definitely going to shorten the lifespan of the board.


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## taco tuesday (Jul 26, 2014)

Forget all the other recommendations. Just get yourself a Doughboy.


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## Nivek (Jan 24, 2008)

taco tuesday said:


> Forget all the other recommendations. Just get yourself a Doughboy.


I mean, this.


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