Review: Long Island Surfskates

All new surfskate & trucks by Long Island. We made a try at it and here is our review...

Long Island Lean Genesis surf trucks design

With the new Lean Genesis trucks, Long Island has completely revamps its copy. We go from a system with a look close to that of a Carver CX, to something that closely look as a Yow Meraki truck.

Those new Lean Genesis trucks are now made in Europe (Spain) in the same factory as Yow (Long Island & Yow are own by the same company). Before we ever have a try at it, we would like to big up Long Island for bringing back the manufacturing to Europe while many US company are moving to China.

We naturally find the Yow inspiration with a swing system on the front truck which pivots around an axis. Unlike the Yow Meraki, the Long Island Lean Genesis do not use any spring, but 2 half-circle shaped bushings. The overall operating principle remains very similar.

How does the Long Island surfskates set with Lean Genesis trucks feel?

No surprise in action, the HLC factory touch is there, and we find the surfing and agile side that we already like on the Yow. Picking up speed by pumping is relatively simple but requires a little more energy than with the Meraki. On the other hand, when you push with your foot, the board remains more stable and less tricky for beginners.

The behavior, although less lively than that of the Yow Meraki, remains very agile, and it is very easy to ride in a loop, in 8, or to change direction suddenly,... To situate ourselves, we would say that the agility feeling is halfway path between Yow Meraki and Slide Surfskate.

We enjoy this new Long Istand surfskate system as it is smart and robust. The fact taht there is no use of any spring avoid on part of the truck witch usualy wear quick and need a regular swap. We wish taht is a near future, Long Island would offer some range of bushing durometer as spare parts, so everyone can dial the board to match his style (stock bushings are 90A). The surf feeling is there. Quality / price ratio is excellant for a board of this range and made in Europe (Deck, trucks, & wheels) Le feeling surf est au rendez vous. Le rapport qualité / prix est excellant pour des planches tot.

We would recommand the new Long Island surfskates set with Lean Genesis trucks to any riders looking for some surf feeling. As it is very easy to control the board, we would recommand the Long Island surfskate for beginners, however experienced surfers may also have a lots of fun using it.