Long boards and/or boards equipped with soft wheels are most often assimilated to the longboards category. Longboarding brings together a wide variety of disciplines: carving, dancing, downhill, surfskate, pumptrack, tech slide, LDP, slalom... resulting in a huge spectrum of board types. Before choosing your board, you will first need to define what it will be used for.

If your ambition is more skatepark, bowl, ramp, and freestyle in general. In this case we advise you to go for a skateboard rather than a longboard. Go to our skateboard guide.

For more details about surfskates, viste our surfskate buyer's guide

 

Longboard Dancing

longboard dancing

Dancing is a freestyle discipline related to longboarding. It consists of doing tricks on flat ground by creating an aesthetic and rhythmic harmony between the rider and his board.

Two movements constitute the dancing

_Board walking:The rider moves along his board playing with foot movements, crossings,...

For board walking, a long board (110cm+) with little concave and kicks will leave all the space necessary for freedom of movement.

_The Freestyle flat mixes foot movements and tricks with a lifted and/or carried board.

The board can be drop through(lowered) or top mount(standard). Its length varies between 95 and 110cm. Most often the board will be symmetrical with slight kicks at the ends.

For the wheels, we will choose a diameter between 60 and 70mm with a round lip profile and a hardness varying between 80A(+soft=+comfort and grip) and 86A(+hard=+glide)

Our selection of Dancing equipments:

_Longboard dancing Complete Boards

_Longboard dancing Decks

_longboard dancing Wheels

 

Longboard Downhill/Freeride

longboard dowhill

Downhill and freeride consist of skateboarding down mountain roads on a longboard in the spirit of seeking speed for DH, or seeking drift sensations for Freeride.

In both cases, the board must be rigid to avoid the phenomenon of wobble (uncontrolled vibrations) and of a length varying between 85 and 105cm.

A deep concave will help keep feet in good posture.

For the trucks, we will opt for the reverted geometry and a width of 180mm or 10" for an angle ranging from 43°(+stable) to 50°(+handy). Experienced riders can opt for narrower widths, in order to to gain grip in hairpin bends, and increase responsiveness.

In downhill, wide and soft wheels (75A to 80A) with square lips will allow you to keep maximum grip.

In freeride, we will choose wheels with a smaller contact patch and rounded lips, which will facilitate the glide and make it more fluid.

In both cases the wheel diameter will be between 65 and 75mm.

The hardness of the wheels will depend on individual preferences. In general (but not exclusively) soft wheels (low index) grip more than hard ones (high index).

Downhill disciplines are a sport that can be very dangerous if the safety rules are not strictly observed. Wearing a helmet (preferably full face) and gloves are a vital necessity. Also the choice of the road must be meticulous. Choose wide roads with lots of visibility and little traffic, stay in your lane at all times, don't ride alone, and don't exceed your limits. It is imperative to master the braking before embarking on a descent. Many associations around the world set up events on closed and secure roads. Find out and enjoy!

 

Longboard Carving

longboard carving

Carving lies in the pleasure of curves and gliding sensations without seeking raw performance. Bike path, slight slope,... Everything is good for getting out your longboard and carving!

A carving board measures between 100 and 115cm and generally has a little flex which brings rebound between the curves and increases the sensations tenfold. For a manageable board, it is advisable to adopt trucks with reverted geometry, with an angle of 50° and 180mm wide.

70mm wheels will make it possible to pass small bitumen deformations without surprise, while presenting a good Inertia/Speed/weight ratio.

Cruising & mini cuisers

mini cruiser skateboard

Cruising consists of using your skateboard as a means of transport. Few rules define the typical equipment, but for practicality, we will choose a rather short board for less bulk, more lightness and more ability.

We call "Mini Cruiser" the skateboards of this category measuring less than 32''.

Regarding the wheels, their size varies between 60 and 70mm for a versatile cruising/carving board, and 55 to 63mm for a mini cruiser. For comfort reasons, it is preferable to opt for soft wheels (75A to 82A)

Long Distance Pushing(LDP)

longboard ldp

The LDP is an endurance discipline that consists of covering long distances on a longboard, by challenge or by adventure.

For this practice, it is preferable to have a board with a very low ground clearance, which will make the effort less violent. Drop down and/or drop through boards are the best option.

On the wheel side, a large diameter (+75mm) will increase inertia while being less bothered by terrain malformations.

Surfskate

For more details about how to choose a surfskate, visite our surfskate buyer's guide

Surfskate

Driven by the Carver and YOW brands, surfskating aims to recreate the feeling one might have when surfing a wave. The articulated front truck makes the board very agile, which leads to the possibility of carving very deep, and even moving forward while "pumping".

The surfskate can be practiced in a bowl (operated like a wave), a pumptrack,  or in the street.

A surfskate board generally measures between 29" to 36", for a width varying between 9" and 10.5". The concave is shallow to medium. The presence of kick(s) is common and allows strong support for the back foot.

The length of the board (and even more so that of the wheelbase) will directly impact the frequency of the undulation produced by pumping.

If the surfskate is mainly dedicated to cruise, a board of 34"* or more will be more efficient.

For bow riding or making the most of the surfing aspect, boards under 34"* will be more playful.

*Recommended sizes for Yow surfskates. For other brands, remove 2" to have an equivalence (the distance between the axles varies between truck brands, with identical wheelbase holes)

Pumptrack

pumptrack

This new discipline is spreading very quickly, as is the construction of pumptracks all over the world. The practice is done on a bumpy loop road. Pumptrack is to skateboarding what BMX is to cycling. The rider exploits the bumps and other banked turns to pump and gain speed.

On the equipment side, skateboards and longboards find their happiness there. We will still make sure to stay on a fairly short (less than a meter) and rigid board. The lowered boards are to be banned, because they will have the nasty defect of rubbing when going over slightly steep bumps. Medium to small size wheels (60 to 65mm) will balance acceleration and inertia.

For more detail, vist you blog post: Witch skateboard to use in a pumptrack

Tech Slide

Skateboard tech slide

The tech slide consists of sliding your skateboard with style and technicality.

Tech slide boards look like shortskates, but with larger dimensions (around 35'' long and +9'' wide). The double kicks allow both to powerfully wedge the feet, and to leverage on the figures slides 2 wheels.

The choice of wheels is very important. Diameter +/- 60mm, narrow tread, high durometer (83A to 100A) represent the winning trio.

You now know almost everything about the diversity of Skateboarding. Choose your path, mix styles, and most importantly, make yourself happy!