Best longboards for beginners | Buying Guide

Taking out time out of your busy routine to learn longboarding is indeed worth it because it means you are spending your time preciously. Including this activity in your daily routine will boost up your mood and will provide you plenty of physical and mental health benefits. Its an exciting and healthy sport activity as it requires a good skillset in terms of balance and control, visual coordination and a reflex action for a safe ride and these factors make you more focused, active and smarter in life. Same are the things you need to look for in a good longboard as you cant gain the above mentioned benefits if you don’t have a good longboard. Buying a best longboard for a beginner isn’t an easy task especially when the market is filled with a huge variety of longboards. In this article I am going to give you all the necessary information about longboards and the factors you need to consider while buying a longboard.

What to look inside a Longboard:

Following are few of the factors and things you need to know about before you buy a longboard

  1. Decks
  2. Deck styles
  3. Deck shapes
  4. Deck material
  5. Wheels
  6. Wheel size
  7. Wheel durometer
  8. Truck
  9. Safety measures

But before you jump into knowing about all these components first ensure your ability level because there are longboards specially designed based on the ability level for each of the ride.

Are you taking your longboard for the Free ride, cursing and craving, downhill ride or the Freestyle? Confirm the riding style first.

Decks:

While looking for the best longboard have a keen look at the decks because decks are the fundamental component of the longboard as it supports the rider which means it has an important role in determining the stability of the board

Deck styles:

Decks comes in three main shapes based on the way truck is mounted on them

1: Drop-through:

It has trunks mounted on the top of the deck. They are considered as best for the beginners because truck mounted on the top means deck is nearer to the ground which makes it easy to push your legs and also ensures a safe ride

They are the all-rounders, can be used for any kind of ride

2: Top Mount:

In it the deck is mounted on the top of trunks

3: Drop Down:

It is the special one. They are designed in such a way that they drop down nearer to the ground which is why they have gained popularity among the former types but is comparatively expensive

Deck Shape and width:

The width of the deck doesn’t has a major role in ride but the wider one does provide more stability.

Deck comes in the following shapes

  • Concave
  • Flat
  • Camber
  • Kicktail
  • W-concave

All of which showcase a different kind of ride experiences

Deck Material:

  • Maple and Bamboo Wood

Maple is hard and stiff, provides more stability and is best suited for downhill surfing and free ride while bamboo is light and more flexible in terms of carving and cruising

Wheels:

The all the longboarding moves master is the wheel that plays a critical role in making your ride pleasurable, safer and stable. Choosing the best wheel size depends on knowing the wheel durometer which refers to the softness of the wheels. The softer the wheel, more grip and control during the movement on board is guaranteed.

Wheels with durometer in range 78a to 82a are best Longboards for the beginner to start with.

Wheel size:

Try to choose a large size wheel because though they take time to accelerate but once on ground they master their speed steadily and after gaining momentum have faster top speeds than smaller wheels.

As the large wheels are more in contact with the ground than the smaller ones, they provide you more stability

Trunks:

Trunks in the longboard determines the stability as wheels are attached to the trunks which means they are the vital components. Tightened trunks ensures more stability and a safe downhill and freeride while the loose one ensures more freedom in turns. Do not tighten the trunks more as they may provide difficulty in turns.

Safety Measurements:

While going on the ride you must take the following safety measurements

  • Wear helmet to avoid head injuries
  • Slide gloves will help protect your hands from road rash while applying brakes
  • Knee pads are recommended to be worn while on downhill ride

Check out the Best Knee Pads to buy on our website.

Above was the information you must know about a best longboard for the beginner, we hope the information was up to the mark and if you are confused between Best inline skate and best longboards then let me clear your confusion. Longboards are long skateboards and showcase different features than the skateboards

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