Carve
Longboards designed to make carving down a hill fun. This is all about deep turns that allow the rider to navigate steep and long hills by regulating your speed via deep turns, This often taken on a surf style of skating. The best decks for carving are usually in the 36" to 42" range with the longer deck a little easier to carve on. It is often better to have a little flex in your deck and some smooth reverse kingpin trucks. Good carving wheels will be between 70mm and 75mm (Diameter size)and between 75a and 83a durometre (hardness) and have a straight cut lip or edge allowing the wheels to grip and rail in deep, tight or fast turns.

Cruise
It is all about the push and the style. Nothing better than an easy skate along the boardwalk or bike track. Decks are big, some are lower to the ground to make pushing easier, decks are generally stiffer with little flex – this makes it easier to walk the deck, swap push feet, get on and off the deck. A great cruising deck can have a single, double, or no kick at all, it just comes down to rider choice. Wheels will still tend to be big and soft.

Downhill
These are the thoroughbred racing machines. Fast, stable and built to impress or to strike fear in your rival. Downhill decks are most commonly very stiff to allow for immediate response in turns. While there are different types of downhill decks there are a few common attributes that tie these together. They are usually completely stiff or with a little bit of give but generally no flex, which allows for immediate response in cornering. They will be between 38" and 42", giving the board a long and stable wheel base. They will not have any sort of tail kick as the most stable place to ride them is over the front foot making the use of a tail kick negligible. They will almost exclusively be setup with a reverse kingpin truck with a minimum width of 180mm with baseplate angles ranging from 35-52 degrees. There are 3 main types of downhill decks including: 

Freeride
Freeriding is non competitive downhill skating. It can be sessioning a local corner, initiating a full on urban assault, or finding a long deserted road and china bombing with your friends. It is not about who is fastest, it about the rush of adrenaline anticipating a pre-drift, or 180 stand up slide, learning to skate switch, having fun skating a road that was not designed to be skated. These decks have different types of concave to help lock your feet., they are usually shorter and more maneuverable than a downhill board, although topmount and dropthrough downhill boards make great freeride decks particularly if they are in the 38" to 40" length. The best freeride wheels are usually a little harder around 83a, can be between 65mm and 75mm, and with rounded or beveled edges that allow grip when needed for railing corners but still have a very predictable and easy slide.

Mini-cruiser
Everyone’s favorite longboard – the mini. Minis are shorter decks between 24" and 34", often have a single kicktail but sometimes also use a small front kick to give your feet a nice reference point. Minis use longboard running gear under the deck giving the rider a smooth cruising feel and great roll. You can use reverse kingpin trucks but this is not necessary, a simple set of conventional trucks with softer bushings and 58mm to 65mm softish wheels between 78a and 86a will work best. These are great for cruising around campus, are the perfect urban transport weapon, and are generally just a very fun way to get around. The bigger minis can also be great in the skatepark for drilling sweet lines and banging out nice kickturns. Looking to rebuild your first 70’s skateboard or need something to go in the backpack or hide in the cupboard, look no further than this category.

Slalom
The ancient art of cone avoidance. Yes, it never really went away, the popular sport of the 70’s is making a huge comeback. Slalom is a course of cones placed on a hill or path to test a skaters skill. There is only one path through the cones, fast time wins. Time penalties for hitting cones. It does not even have to be timed. Set up a mind bending cone course for your friends and test their skills. Decks range in size depending on the type of slalom: Tight, Hybrid, Giant. Usually the decks are not much smaller or larger than a standard skateboard. The wheel bases are large. Trucks are designed to create turn and pump power. Wheels have large surface are and a sharp edge for grip. Is there a slalom crew in your area? If not start one.

How to choose a longboard?

This is the question we get asked a lot. There is no simple answer. You should ask yourself what type of skating you want to do? How much money do I have to spend?

The skating you do is usually a reflection of the area you skate and who you skate with. So where do you skate?

If your local area has big hills, look at the Downhill, Freeride and Carve categories. If your local area is flat then look at the Cruise, Carve and slalom categories. Live in the city where it is crowded? Look at Mini, Slalom and Carve. If your local roads are rough, then a bigger softer wheel will make a smoother ride. Wheel should be 70mm or larger and 75a to 80a (smaller the number the softer the wheel). Not the largest, Just the best.

Whats the deal with trucks?

While there are many types of longboard truck they basically fall into 2 categories - Conventional or reverse kingpin.

Conventional or 'Indy' style trucks are most commonly seen on shorter double or single kick skateboards. Reverse kingpin trucks are the most common longboard truck used. Reverse kingpin trucks are usually but not always wider than conventional trucks and tend to have a smoother more stable turn which makes them ideally suited to longboards.

The two major differences to consider when picking a longboard truck are pivot angle and hanger width. To a certain extent, the board and what it’s going to be used for decide which width and angle is right for your needs. Most of this advice works in reverse too, so it can help you pick a board to suit a given truck.

 

Which Width?

 

The number one question to help you decide which width to pick is: How wide is the board? You should usually try to match the outside of the bearings with the edge of the board where your front foot is. This will provide you with good leverage over the hanger. However it's usually better to have a hanger that's a little too wide, than too thin. Significantly too thin can cause the outer wheels to lift when turning.

People often describe a thin hanger as being quicker turning. This is because the board usually has more leverage over the hanger, the wheels travel a shorter distance to get to an angle, and less board-lean is lost to bushing compression. It's not uncommon for people to deliberately choose to increase their board's leverage by choosing a thinner hanger than would usually be advised.

People often describe a wide hanger as being more stable. This is because the board often has less leverage over the hanger, the wheels travel a longer distance to get to an angle, and more board-lean is lost to bushing compression. Plus your feet usually have less leverage when compared to the board, and the wheels create less steering when they go over bumps. It's not uncommon for people to deliberately choose to lower their board's leverage by choosing a wider hanger than would usually be advised.

 

When the axle angle is the same, the board turns on the same axis, regardless of hanger

As stated above the width of the hanger doesn't affect the turn radius when the hanger is at the same angle. But if the bushings are the same it takes more force to get a wide hanger to that angle, which is good for stability, but bad for responsiveness.

A wider hanger is often compensated for with a softer bushing, this can lead to some board angle not being converted to axle angle or "lost to squish", and to corner forces shifting the hanger left or right on the kingpin.

A wide hanger can potentially be more prone to wheel-bite, as the wheels get closer to the board at the same lean. A wide hanger can also sometimes put the wheels far enough clear of the board to make wheel-bite impossible. The shape and core of the wheels can also have some effect on what hanger width is optimal as the bearing set and contact patch of the wheel can have an apparent effect of hanger width.

Which Angle ?

At the same wheelbase, a higher angle pivot-axis will create more steering per board-lean than a lower one. This generally makes the high angles more suited to turning, the low angles more suited to speed.

However high angled trucks are still exceptionally stable for how well they turn. Low angled trucks are also a great way to keep board length down, without sacrificing stability.

 

How is the angle measured?

 

Most reverse kingpin trucks can be accurately described by either the kingpin angle or the pivot-axis angle, because the pivot-axis and kingpin are at 90° to one-another. You just have to measure them from different places.

The wheels of high angle trucks move in-and-out more than low angle trucks, which have a more up-and-down motion. This difference can affect the correct position of wheel-wells. And along with wheel-size and hanger width affect the size and shape of cutouts.

I want more turn!

This is a pretty common desire. It can be achieved by five methods.

1. Loosen the kingpins. This is easy, but it does have limits.

2. Install softer bushings. This is a small expense with sometimes amazing results. Some people like different hardnesses, top and bottom, too.

3. Insert risers. This increases the board’s leverage over the bushings.

4. Insert angled risers/wedges. These change the pivot-axis of the truck. Thin side out results in more turn per board lean, see wedge diagram below.

5. Run a shorter wheelbase. This may involve drilling extra holes. This decreases the turn radius of the board, and often decreases board flex.

6. Run higher angle baseplates. This can be done to both ends, or the nose only.

 

I want more stability!

This is also a common desire. It too can be achieved a few ways.

1. Tighten the kingpins. Don't over do it though. You still need to be able to steer around sudden obstacles and it can reduce traction.

2. Install harder bushings. Same advice as 1. What is too hard depends on rider weight, hanger width, board-width and pivot-axis.

3. Remove any risers, this lowers the board’s leverage over the bushings.

A thin riser is still advised to help reduce vibration. Check for wheel-bite before riding.

4. Insert angled risers/wedges. These change the pivot-axis of the truck. Thin side in results in less turn per board lean. This option usually also increases the board’s leverage over the bushings, using a lower angle baseplate is sometimes preferable for this reason. See wedge diagram below.

5. Flip your hangers.

6. Lengthen the wheelbase. This may involve drilling extra holes. This isn't always a good idea as the boards flex will likely increase.

7. Run lower angle baseplates. This can be done to both ends, or the tail only.

8. Lower the board.

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