How To Start And Stop Longboard?

So you have got a new longboard as a birthday present and want to be a pro as soon as possible. You definitely want to show off everything you saw in that amazing YouTube video. But none of that is ever going to happen if you do not know how to start and stop on your longboard. So just read and practice and you will be ready in virtually no time.

How To Start And Stop Longboard

Before we go anywhere, make sure you have these in store for your first session:

• Helmet
• Knee Caps
• Elbow Caps
• Flat shoes

How should I Start!

Start in an open and big, flat place. Also try and make sure that it is not a busy road with regular vehicles plying around. You do not want to knock a car off the road, do you?

• Decide which foot is your primary one. If it is right, you are a goofy rider. If not, you are a regular.
• Whichever foot is behind, use it to give yourself on the board a push. You will need several if you want to be in control and safe.
• Once you can do this comfortably, go to the end of your track. Return in a similar manner. Practice until you are familiar with how a longboard feels under your feet.
• To get better at understanding how your board feels, go to a moderate hill and walk up a quarter of its stretch and then do the same from there.

How to turn on your skateboard

How to turn on your skateboard

Alright, you got a hang of how to push with your feet and go from point A to point B on your best longboard. What if you want to turn on your board to get more from your ride? This is where you should know how to turn your longboard.

Keep your speed low while learning how to turn so that you are not a mess while you learn to maneuver your longboard. There should be enough room around you so that you don’t turn yourself into a wall.

• To turn to your left, you should put pressure with your heels on the edge.
• To turn to your right put pressure on the edge with your toes.

It is important to lean and squat a bit to gain some balance before you turn.

How to stop

Alright, you can go from point A to B via points X, Y, and Z. However, you still need to know how to stop when you have reached the final point. There are a number of ways to stop. Some are simple, some become simple with practice. You should know that this is perhaps the most difficult of the three.

• Wear flat shoes and simply use one of them to drag yourself from higher speeds to manageable ones.
• Never put your heels or toes alone on the ground. You would hurt yourself relative to the speed. Put all of your foot in one uniform drag.
• To simply reduce speed, stand up and stretch your arms wide. This increases resistance and reduces your speed.
• Use gloves with rubber or plastic cushions to stop. Aided by your hands obviously.
• In downhill, you can sit on the deck and use both your hands and feet for a power brake. You might need to do this to avoid an accident.
• The last and most useful method is to stop with a slide. Methods include Powerslide, Pendulum slides and 360 slides among others. These merit a guide of their own.

Start learning in a safe place where you will get medical attention if you need it. Chances are you won’t need it if you have the safety gear and the sense to be safe. Good Luck!

When Should You Assemble A Longboard Yourself And When You Shouldn’t

There are a lot of people who advocate the case for making a longboard right in your own garage. You know, by assembling all the components together after diligently purchasing them separately. They have a point and you might already be convinced about it.

assembling a longboard

However, we will make it easier for you to decide by telling you the pros and cons of making a longboard all by yourself. Also, we will put forward the case of completely built longboards as well.

MAKING IT YOURSELF

PROS:

• You get to make the board of your dreams.
• You can customize everything from the wheels down under, the trucks in between and the deck on top.
• You can adjust your budget in accordance with the price of components. You can set aside more money for the parts you deem important and save some on other less important components.
• You get to make the board that suits the style of longboarding you want to pursue. This is the best thing with the choices you get to make.

CONS:

• You can give no manufacturer warranties to yourself, unlike when you buy the best longboard for beginner that’s ready to ride. It’s every man for himself, as the saying goes.
• You are going to spend a lot of time looking for the best parts that fit your criteria. While buying a longboard off the shelf involves confusion, you have just multiplied it many times over here. Factor in the number of shops you have to visit to make informed choices on every component and the whole thought of it becomes baffling.
• When a brand, say Atom or Sector Nine makes the longboards on a large scale, they achieve economies of scale. This makes the business profitable for them. On the other hand, your one off project might end up costing you much higher than a comparable completely built product.
• In case of buying a completely built longboard, all you ever need is a skate tool. In making one yourself, on the other hand, you might end up buying things that don’t work well with each other, thereby wasting even more money.

WHY WE DON’T WANT YOU TO MAKE IT YOURSELF

Apart from all the reasons listed above, we want to make sure that you don’t waste your time on making something that is already available in the market.

• All of the longboards in our catalogue are of the highest quality. They are tried and tested products. You will know that thousands of people have purchased, experienced and trusted the longboards that we encourage you to buy.
• Many of these longboard come with a warranty against manufacturing defects. It’s like insurance that you don’t have to pay for.
• There is absolutely no advantage in making a longboard yourself. Apart from the pride and satisfaction that you may or may not get, there is no USP.
• Any longboard that you buy through us is completely customizable. You want harder wheels to go faster? Sure. You want ceramic bearings for the best performance? You will get it. Want new grip tape for the deck? Hell Yeah! You see, everything can be changed without much effort. Save yourself some time and go for a branded longboard with lots of good reviews, you will barely go wrong.
• The choice in completely built longboards is enormous. Whether it’s the wheels, the decks, the bearings or the price point as well.

Conclusion

Now you know the pros and cons of making a longboard by yourself. Unless you plan to start a company, which would be cool, you know what we suggest. We are strongly on the band that supports completely built longboards and you already know why.

Just have a look at some of the best longboards we have reviewed and choose the one that suits your needs.

Which Types Of Longboard Wheels Should You Use?

Long boards are associated with the wheels on which they roll on when you ride. Obviously, wheels are there for good reason and they must be soft to roll faster while riding the board.

Also, the riding experience must be smooth and seamless offering better grip on the board and this is all because of good quality wheels. Soft wheels give more control over the board and in this guide; you will get to know the types of wheels that are to be considered.

Which Types Of Longboard Wheels Should You Use

The shape, size, urethane properties, durometer and the core placement plays a major role to find the best type of long board wheels. Let’s start with study these factors in detail:

Size

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The very first thing that comes in mind while choosing the best longboards wheels is the size that you want. Almost all the wheels are around 64-80mm in diameter where 70mm is common. The basic thing behind the larger wheels is that they accelerate slower as compared to smaller ones.

But they have higher top speeds with easy roll over on cracks and garbage etc. On the other hand, smaller wheels do fit on more long boards but they have slower top speed.

You have to check whether the wheels cause wheelbite and they fit perfectly. Reverse kingpin trucks offer more wheel clearance so go for these. Having cut outs on the board is good as any wheel size fits on such boards. And if there are no cut outs, you have to add a ¼ inch riser pad so that the wheels can accommodate wheels larger than 70mm.

Lips

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It is the outer part of the wheel that means the edges of the contact patch. Shape of the lips tells you much more about the way a board rides. The wheels offer more grip if the lips are thick or sharp whereas if the lips are rounded, they break down easily offering smoother transitions from grip to slip.

For free riding, rounded lips are fine and for downhill riding, sharper wheels are preferred.

But if your purpose is to use your board for transport purpose, then lip style is not that important. In fact, if you are not going to slide the wheels, lipped wheels are perfect especially when you have to carve deeper. Also, lipped wheels don’t make you lose traction at all.

Durometer

Durometer rating is associated with the hardness of the wheels. Having a durometer of 75-88aa means that the long boards are very soft as compared to those wheels that have a rating of 90-101a. Basically, lower durometer wheels are grippier and also roll slower whereas higher durometer wheels offer lesser grip and also roll faster.

Hard wheels slide faster than typical wheels and also have a tendency to slow you down less thus making you glide across the road surface easily. Soft wheels slide slow and also slow down faster and these wheels are often referred to as buttery wheels that are quite easy to control.

For all types of long boarding, 78a and 80a are the most common types of durometers. It is because they have a nice blend of perfect grip, slide ability and rolling speed.

Urethane Attributes

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No doubt, durometer makes it very easy for you to narrow down your choice regarding wheels, but let me tell you that not all 78a wheels perform equal. Urethane formula of the wheels explains the performance of the wheels on which the longboard rides.

Grip, slide ability and durability are all different in every urethane formula and it is you who have to decide which one to pick. The perfect way to know about urethane formula is by trying various formulas to know the preferences. Get a feel by trying various urethane formulas.

Many companies have mentioned different formulas for freeride and downhill. Basically, it is seen that freeride formulas are much easier to slide and faster too. Also, they offer less grip and durability as compared to downhill formula.

Core Size

Shape, size and composition etc. are all the factors that decide the performance of the long board wheels. If you add large diameter to the wheel, it will roll faster and it is a major benefit for downhill, transportation and freeride. It is because wider composition of the core supports the urethane that further makes the wheels more durable.

Also, it supports even wear out of the wheels. If the core is made of hard material then it will enhance the rolling speed of the longboard wheel thus making it slide faster. For downhill racing, easy and quick slow down is quite easy and this is the reason why the companies pay special attention to manufacturing the wheels with perfect size and core.

If you ask me, I would like to tell you that RAD wheels are greatly designed keeping all the factors in mind. Such wheels have durable grip, faster rolling speed, slow and even wear out. So make sure to focus on the core size and shape.

Core Placement

Core placement of the wheels are divided into three categories and I would be explaining the main category i.e. centerset. Other two categories are: offset and sideset. Each category has its own performance and sliding attributes.

Centerset category is that in which the core is placed directly in the wheel’s center. This style has the most perfect grip than other two. Grip is perfect because a large inner lip is created while riding and also the wheels offer longer life as they can be flipped inside out.

These wheels have even wear out and this is the major reason why freeriders prefer centerset placement of the wheels. Also, the centerset core performs great when paired with round lips and small contact patches.

I hope you guys understand well that which factors are important to look in the long board wheels while buying one. So whenever you plan to buy a longboard, consider these factors to make a smart purchase.

How To Build Your Own Longboard

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Building your own longboard is a fun process as you get to learn so much. All you need is woodworking tools, wood cutting ability and motivation to nail the task well. So let’s start:

Gather the Materials

• Hardwood or plywood to make the deck
• Strong adhesive or glue
• Rough sandpaper
• 8 screws to assemble the trucks. The size should be such that can fasten the trucks securely to the board
• Screws to seal the board when curving is required.
• Drill machine
• Jigsaw
• Weights
• Fiberglass resin, cloth and hardener
• Piece of paper and pencil
• Grip tape

Select the Wood

Use 2-3 ¼ inch thick plywood sheets to build the deck. To make the whole longboard, these pieces need to be joined with glue or screws. If not to build the deck, you can buy pre-pressed deck. Number of plywood sheets depends upon the flex of the board you want. Some woods like white ash, bamboo, maple and birch are there offering quality where bamboo is the strongest among all. So you can choose any. For longer board, you need 10 inches by 40 inches woodpiece and before getting to build a board, take an idea of the shape of the board you would like to ride.

Select Adhesive

Go for wood glue, resin or epoxy. Every hardware store has these adhesives that are meant to join the wood pieces tightly and keep the board layers together.

Select Trucks

These are the metal bits which are used to attach the wheels to the board. And these are important to keep the board turning when you lean. Most popular trucks are reverse kingpin trucks offering better stability and response.

Select Wheels

The harder the wheel, the more sliding ability it has whereas the softer wheels offer tight turns.

Select Bearings

Bearings are meant to fit inside the wheels to let them turn smoothly. Usually, people are seen buying ceramic bearings but they are quite expensive as well. Quality does matters!! If ceramic bearings are not in your budget, buy steel bearings.

Cut the Plywood

Cut the wood into strips according to the size mentioned above i.e. 10 inch by 40 inch. Shaping is not a concern here as you just need to cut the pieces for now. Keep the longer strips for longer board and vice versa. Shaping will be done once when the pieces will be attached together into a solid deck.

Draw the Board Shape

Draw a straight line on a paper that will be the centre of the board and then draw the shape of the board you would like to have. For your knowledge, shorter boards are more flexible and quickly turn while cruising. So if you are a beginner, keep things simple by building a short board and not the longer one. At the front, draw a slight curve.

Trace the Board Shape

With a pencil, trace the board shape on the top wood piece and using adhesive, press the wood together. Let it dry and then carve the shape. Keep in check that you are drawing the deck the same way you want. Remove the imperfections from the board and make sure that half of the board is symmetrical.

Drill Holes

Drill holes around the board outline to clamp the wood together. Drill the holes evenly around the board shape and keep them smaller than the screws. Check which points need extra support and add more holes there. All the pieces of plywood must be stacked properly and make sure to hold them tightly so that they don’t shift while drilling. Drill the holes through the wood and ensure that you don’t drill the area that will be your deck. One inch space must be there while drilling the outline of board.

Stick the Wood Pieces Together

Use a paintbrush and apply adhesive on the inner side of each wood piece. Get them back together making sure that drilled holes are on top.

Shape the Board

Stack the plywood pieces and arrange them in a way that the ends of the board are resting on something. And the middle part is hanging free.

Put Weight on the Board

On the stack of wood, put weights so that it bends slightly upwards in the middle as when you will stand on it, it flattens out. Leave the board under the weight unless you don’t get a light curve on the wood.

Re-clamp the deck if you are happy with the curve you have got and then put screws around the board.

Carve the Board Shape

Take the good looking side of your plywood and make it the bottom of the board. Find the exact centre of the board and draw a line lengthwise down from front to back. Turn the board over and do the same thing for the other side as well. Here you go with the design of the board, take off your stencil now.

Sand the Board

Take sandpaper and smoothen the board to keep it free from scratches. Now cover the board with fibreglass resin as it will protect the paint from outside scratches. Mix the fibreglass resin with a hardener and then use a paintbrush to brush the board evenly with its layer. It hardens very fast so be quick while applying. Let it sit for 3-4 hours.

Add any Design

Add any design you like using paint or markers and sand the board down one more time. Go for painting the board with any pattern or color you like to make it look beautiful. Next, add a last layer of fibreglass resin to seal the design finally on the bottom of the board. Do it clearly so that the designing you did is visible through the coating. Cover the whole board with grip tape as it will keep your feet stick on the board while riding at higher speeds.

Attach Trucks, Wheels and Bearings

Now it is the time to put the bearings inside each wheel and attach the wheels to the trucks. The nuts must be so tight that don’t let the bearings come out and offer free spinning of the wheels.

Test the Board

Here you go!! Your board is ready. Now check it once that it holds your weight properly. Before sliding on the hills, make sure that everything is perfectly done.

How To Keep The Longboard Clean To Let It Serve You For More Years

Longboards have prolonged existence and long shelf life as the name depicts. Due to the fact that longboards were manufactured with a purpose of cruising and not for tricking, you can maintain them and keep them from getting botched. With few cleaning efforts and maintenance, your longboards will serve you for years. The longer you keep riding, the more it will serve you and the less you will have to keep it enact.

how to clean a longboard

To keep the longboard or skateboard working perfect, little maintenance every few days is good. And bearings play a major role in keeping the longboard fine. If you are a lover of riding in rainy season or have gone through some puddles, then you must regrease the bearings to stop them from gathering rust. I have seen many people keeping an old bearing set for riding and sliding in rain as it will save your new bearings from rusting that you just got. Let’s get to know how to keep the longboard bearings clean:

Take the Bearings Out

To take the bearing out, simply take the nut off and slide the wheel. It will bring the innermost bearing to the edge of the axle from where you can take it out. Just use the motion that you use to open a bottle and force the bearing out of the wheel. This way you can remove the bearings from the wheel. Use the same process for every bearing.

Take out the Bearing Shield

Now you have to get inside the cartridges and this is done once when you have taken the bearings out. Mostly the bearings have only one shield and I hope you are lucky enough in that case. Then you have to get the shield out to get your hands in the cage and balls. Getting inside the cartridge with a rubber shielded bearing is easy as you just need to get one shield off with a screwdriver and you are done. Metal shielded bearings are equipped with a “C” clip that needs to be taken off.

While getting the rubber shield off, you may get it damaged but that’s fine. Some bearings give the possibility to remove the cage and balls for individual cleaning also. So it depends upon the bearings your longboard have.

Cleaning

Now grease the bearing races by using methylated spirit. Or you can simply soak them in alcohol or some sort of solvent. Or if there is some spray available to use as a de-greaser, use it to bring all the crap out of the bearings. And if you have nothing, go for lemon juice. It is a great cleaning tool though. Whatever method you choose for cleaning, soak the bearings for 2 minutes at least or put them in a jar and then shake it for 2 minutes. Lastly, rinse them with a clean solvent.

Re-grease

Now you need to dry the bearings. Hair dryers are a good choice here. After drying, use some oil or grease to lubricate the bearings but don’t go crazy with the lubrication. Bearings don’t need much of it. Try lubing the bearings thinly so get faster spin. Oil is supposed to keep the bearings fast but if any crap gets inside then it will be a mess. Plus, while spinning the board, oil gets out speedily that leaves the bearings without any lubrication and they overheat and get melted. So it is not so cool idea to use oil. All you can do is clean the bearings from time to time to keep them intact and working all fine.

Other than oil, we have medium grease i.e. white lithium stuff which can be bought from any bike shop easily. Using white lithium makes the bearings resistant to crap and serve you for longer time than ever. And if you are a rain lover, then this is a perfect option of course. The downside of this grease is that the wheels spin slower.

So I would suggest using light grease for better and proper results. Re-grease with a good lubricant indeed.

Done

Now hit the streets because you are done with the cleaning. But before that, screw the bearings back properly so that they don’t come out while spinning.

Okay guys, this was all about cleaning the bearings that are quite an essential part to keep the boards maintained. Now if you are thinking of how to clean the longboard deck, you must read further because this is a valuable part to know. You might be using your longboard since long but never felt the need to clean the deck. Let me tell you that the board deck is an important thing to offer prolonged life and keep it looking good and clean always. And to your surprise, it doesn’t take much time to clean the deck as well as not much of the cleaning gears are required. Let’s dig deep in the topic of cleaning the board deck perfectly:

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• Get some soapy water and dip a nylon brush in it. Now remove the trucks using a screwdriver. Get hold of brush and rub it over the deck in tight circles. Do this for the entire deck.
• Take a bucket of water and dip the sponge in it to rinse the soap off the deck. Rub the sponge to clean the soap and check if it gets washed off completely. If you find any soap, repeat the process.
• Now put water on it to clean the deck properly. Wipe the underside of the board using the sponge and make sure that soap doesn’t get in the trucks area. Clean the underside area gently due to the trucks.
• Now, turn the deck over and let it rest for few hours. It will be all clean once dried off. Use a towel to clean the underside and install the trucks back.

To conclude, I would like to say that these methods are quite useful to clean the board. So try them once and get a new looking longboard for sliding or cruising.

How To Choose Longboard For Cruising

So you have got your first longboard and wish to do some cruising on it. Simple enough! It is if you are willing to follow our longboard guide for cruising. The first thing to do is to choose a suitable longboard because every board is more or less specific to a certain style of longboarding. While some are made for cruising, others are built to bomb hills. It is all in the type of deck and other configuration. So let’s dive into deciding how to be a great cruiser on longboards.

How To Choose Longboard For Cruising

Deck Type

The type of deck goes a long way in deciding how a board behaves on the surface you are going to use it on.

• Choose a deck that your feet fully fit on. Since cruising is what you do when you are a beginners longboard, you do not want to lose your footing. Do you?
• The deck should be strong to withstand the occasional bump you are going to give it every now and then.
• The deck should have flex for when you want to be a bit stylish and tricky.
• Camber and curve are some other aspects to keep in mind. For simple cruising, you should keep it simple,

Trucks

• The trucks are another important part of determining your cruise quality. If they are too tight, it would be a hell lot more difficult to turn on a dime as you’d want to do.
• The trucks should have almost the same width as the deck through the axle attached so as to give the most stable platform to your feet.
• The position where trucks are attached to the deck will decide the wheelbase of your longboard. It is important to have a long wheelbase for beginners to have a stable and reliable ride.

Wheels

• The wheels decide how much grip you get. The softer the wheels, the more grip they yield. Keep in mind they burn just as fast,
• The size of the wheels is also very important as they decide how bumpy or not your longboard ride is going to be. If you live somewhere with a lot of rough patches on the road, choose a large wheel and you will be happier for it.
• The shape of wheels’ lip is important. For the purpose of cruising, you would ideally want square lips to get maximum grip and traction.

Grip Tape

• Grip Tape is applied on the deck and can be of many types. It mostly serves the purpose of keeping your feet glued to the deck.
• For showing off, you can choose to have spray on grip to give your grip tape a personalized touch.

Bearings

• If you are just a beginner who is going longboarding for the first time, the stock bearings are good enough on most boards.
• If you want to cruise at insane speeds, you should get something proper for the occasion. Reds are some of the best bearings available to put in your longboard.

Extras:

• If you are picking up an old longboard from the garage, make sure you give it a proper maintenance service. You can do this at home by following our guide.
• Don’t just go someplace and start cruising. Walk up and survey the path for anything that can cause you to fall and break something.
• Wear proper safety gear and keep your speed in check. Never choose steep slopes for cruising unless you are an expert.
• Falling on your face is part of the fun. That is how you become better at longboarding.
• The best place to begin your longboard journey should be a safe skatepark.

How To Choose The Right Type Of Longboard Of Perfect Shape And Style

God, choosing a longboard is quite a confusing task. You have a variety of styles, shapes and sizes to choose from. Being a beginner, you may feel awe-inspiring to pick a board from a pool of boards but actually it is not. With this article, I would like to enlighten you guys about the riding styles and most common shapes of boards. Once you get hold of these elements, it would be easy for you to choose the type of board you need.

How To Choose The Right Type Of Longboard Of Perfect Shape And Style

Obviously, the better you get an idea about the shapes and styles, the easiest it will be to choose the best longboards. Take a sneak-peak on the factors to be considered:

Longboard Riding Style

This one is the most common question which you need to ask yourself in order to choose the perfect board.

Cruising and Carving for Tyros

An all-purpose way of riding is cruising and carving. The board used for this purpose is designed to make you take wider turns while riding whilst you are hitting concrete surfaces.

Free Ride for Intermediate Riders

Quick sliding with technical tricks is all about free riding. In this, the rider manoeuvres the board while downhill riding. Various tricks are used one after another to control the longboard effectually.

Freestyle for All Levels

It is the regular type of riding. You can do anything like dancing, sliding, goofy riding and anything you think of doing. This style is inherited from skateboarding and slots in various technical tricks. Anyone whether a neophyte or an expert can try this style. Enjoy it, it’s a fun guys!!

Downhill for Advanced Riders

Guys, it’s all about speed, speed and speed. That’s all…

Just ride down the hills at as greater speeds as you can. Maintain full balance over the board while bombing the hills and terrains. You being a beginner should pick up slow speed at first and then move onto higher unless you don’t have tried your hands on boarding tricks.

Now, when you are aware of longboarding styles, let’s get our hands rolling with various longboard shapes.

Longboard Shapes

Depending upon the style you choose, it’s the time to focus on shapes now. All the styles get covered up in two shapes of boards i.e. Directional and Symmetrical. Both these shapes go perfect for every rider whether beginner, intermediate or expert.

Directional: Clear from its name, this board goes into one direction only and the most used directional board is pintail.

Symmetrical: Such boards are perfect for free riding and freestyle riding. These are also called bidirectional boards wherein the front and back of the board looks the same. You can stand in any direction while riding to hit the roads smartly.

Conclusion

Lastly, I would like to say that the choice is yours. Choose from any style which suits you well and the shape you feel is perfect for your body. So grab a nice board to have a wonderful riding experience. Happy riding!!