Lib Tech Kook Sticks???

[el hefe]

They look interesting and fun for a resort ski. I had some earlier lib skis and loved them and the magnetraction.

Anyone got some on snow beta on these? https://www.lib-tech.com/kook-stick-97

[TahoeJ]

They look like those Salomon BBR's from several years back...

[kid-kapow]

I have not tried Kooks, but the good folks over at Lib have not impressed me as of late. I've gone through 10 pairs of their skis, and quite a few boards over the past ten years - so some experince with their products.

Not to be a broken record here, but my experience is that their build quality is variable as of late (both wrt skis, boards and splitboards) and seem optimized for volume and lower weight. Their attention to detail is at time not good enough imho (board -> symmetrical boards trimmed crookedly in the nose, splitboard with hardware screws recessed too far into the base providing insufficient support for the screws so they work their way into the bases/core).

Their manufacturing processes are also seemingly optimized for building single unit products - aka not products that come in pairs. According to their warrenty department they have no quality assurance steps to ensure that the individual skis within a pair are similar wrt weight and flex other than "they are built at the same time, so they must be the same".

My most recent pair of Libs (wunder118s in 186) had a stated weight / design of 2177gr, but the two skis came in at 2000 and 2125. Yes, there was a very noticeable difference in how they skied, even for me being a smaller/lighter guy. They were quickly moved on. Too bad as they skied rather well. I would be very interested to try a pair at 2177 +/- 25gr (or hell, a pair where both skis were within 50gr and pretty symmetrical wrt flex).

Luckily, I still have my trusted old Pow 181s. Their construction is fairly bomber, being significantly heavier than what they sell nowadays.

I kinda want to try their newest UFO skis too, especially the 115s. Their first take of that ski was fun, if not very versatile outside of untracked soft snow and borderline terrifying at speed on (harder) groomers. The original UFO100s and Wunder106s are good skis though, so I would assume their current narrower offerings in those two ranges are pretty decent. And yes, I quite like their graphics for the most part, and they really pop on snow.

[el hefe]

Yes they do look like the BBR's a bit, not a great thing imo.

Too bad to hear about the build quality. My old ones certainly held up extremely well. Will need to see some in person I guess.

[kid-kapow]

I am kinda curious how much interest there is for their skis and how many skis they sell.

I kinda lol'ed at Evo's 2021 preview where they included pics of Lib's 2021 range, but couldn't be bothered to write anything about them (which kinda makes me unsure if it was somebody at Evo not doing their job, or a sales rep not providing the info - or both).

Don't get me wrong though - I still like Lib, in spite of some mixed experiences. My favorite ski is def Pows. I've had three generations of them, aka the ski that since morphed into the wreckcreate115 (then 110, then discontinued). One could really tell the change in construction from bomber and heavy, to lighter - though to be fair, all generations were good skis. It is a really fun ski that absolutely slays groomers for how wide they are and are very versatile across most conditions - especially mounted at -1 (6.5 back). Too bad they were discontinued / did not sell enough to be kept in production.

To be fair - given their price point their current construction makes sense, even if anything but good build quality is unacceptable. Their pricing level is actually very affordable.

[ZomblibulaX]

Zero experience with that model, but "kook skis" is exactly what I thought the first time I talked to the guys at Lib about skis. The snowboard shop next to us ended up with a pair of Narrow Ass Snowboards after they debuted them at SIA, and the owner asked me to mount them up. I dug up some demo binders and noticed there wasn't a midsole mark on the skis, so I called Mervin Mfg and asked them what it was. They were like, "Mid-what, man?" I say, "boot midsole mark, it seems to me like it should be about XXX from the tail..." and the guy just goes, "yeah...sounds great, dude." I remember thinking, fucking kooks...making fucking kook skis...

[el hefe]

^^^ hey the first NAS skis were pretty amazing. I had the pows and some narrower park style ones. They ripped!

[XavierD]

The Wreckreate 110s I skied a couple years ago were super fun in a very PNW type of day skiing all sorts of shitty conditions but every pair I have mounted felt I was drilling into sawdust.

[gregL]

. . . sawdust.

Albeit sustainably grown sawdust . . .

[mr_pretzel]

The Wreckreate 110s I skied a couple years ago were super fun in a very PNW type of day skiing all sorts of shitty conditions but every pair I have mounted felt I was drilling into sawdust.

This makes me sad the wunderstick 118 looks fun and there is a pair on sale locally. Guess I’ll pass

[t.odd]

I've got 2 days on some new Wunderstick 118's I picked up on closeout, loving them so far, coming from a lot of years on POW NAS. Liking the overall lighter weight and less sidecut, still carve nicely and hold a good edge with the mellower magne-traction. Also have a season on some wunderstick 106's that I have mounted up for touring and they've been great too, fwiw.