Complete Longboards

How to choose your longboard?

Choosing your longboard is above all choosing one of the many longboarding practices. Depending on the discipline, the equipment will vary completely, whether it is the size of the board, the size of the trucks (the wheel attachments on the board) or the wheels.

Longboard Carving & Cruising

Carving is the practice of taking curves with a longboard, slowing down the board on the way down, taking small turns with a little speed. Carving is suitable for riders who are looking for the same kind of sensations as snowboarding or surfing on asphalt.

Cruising is a practice of stroll, rather on the flat. For cruising, you can choose a board that is not too long.

The length of the Carving/Cruising boards is over 90 cm with a maximum width of 25 cm. The 150 or 180 mm trucks allow for easy turning thanks to the rather soft bushings (the small urethane rubbers that make up the trucks). As for the wheels, their large diameter (70 to 75 mm) will allow the speed generated by the thrust to be maintained.

For a cruising longboard, expect to pay between 150€ and 250€. Choose models from Pantheon, Arbor, Mindless or DB, although all brands offer boards suitable for cruising.

Longboard Pushing

For distance riding, there is LDP (Long Distance Pushing). This practice consists in "pumping" and moving forward a board without pushing with the foot. To get the right movement, you have to work your whole body: arms, shoulders, torso, hips, thighs, knees, calves... It's a lot of work!

Pushing boards are between 80 and 100 cm long. The width of the deck will be between 22 and 26 cm depending on the rider's foot size. Narrower trucks between 120 and 130 mm will have soft bushings for more manoeuvrability or hard bushings for more speed. Wheels with a large diameter of 75mm or more and a duro (hardness) between 78A or 80A will grip the ground well.

For a Pushing board, choose the brands Pantheon, Arbor, whose price varies between 200€ and 400€.

Longboard Downhill & Freeride

In DH (DownHill), you will try to have the fastest trajectory possible in the descent. Riders who practice this discipline can develop a speed up to 100km/h!

As for Freeride, this practice consists of slidding downhill: we take a slope and we make skids.

Downhill boards are going to be relatively short, about a metre long, very stiff. Trucks will generally be forged rather than moulded to have something quite precise with an angle that is often a little wider in front than in back for more stability and manoeuvrability.

On downhill boards, there will be a lot of concaves to keep the feet well supported, but there won't necessarily be a tail or nose.

A freeride board will have the same characteristics as a downhill board, except that the parts will be less technically developed. You will need less precision because you won't be going as fast.

DH and Downhill longboards can be found at Madrid and Loaded Boards in some cases. Expect to pay between 300€ and 400€.

Longboard Dancing

Dancing is a mixture of tricks inspired by skateboarding and old-school skateboarding (No Comply etc.), and longboard surfing steps that can be similar to dancing.

In Dancing we will have rather long boards of more than 1m10 generally, it can go up to 1m25, or 1m30-1m50 in extreme cases. We'll have trucks that are basically 180 mm wide with a 50° angle and fairly small wheels, at least smaller than for downhill (about 65 mm).

In Dancing you will have kick-tails on both sides, often symmetrical, which allow you to do tricks. And where a downhill board is rigid, a dance board is more flexible.

A Dancing longboard will cost between 300€ and 400€.

In short, there is no one board that is better than the other. The choice of a longboard will always depend on what you want to do with it! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact the Nomadeshop team through the social networks or come directly to the shop. See you soon!