Selecting a Longboard Deck

Longboard skateboards differ from shortboard skateboards for obvious reasons - shortboards measure about 24"-32" while longboards measure usually longer than that. However, other skateboard professionals would argue and say that longboard skateboards actually differ from shortboards not only by its sizes, but mostly with its components. Since longboards are designed to go further and faster, these skateboards have been produced with larger wheels. Depending on the brand of your longboard, it may also have a different combination or set of components compared to classic shortboards.

The term longboards and skateboards are now used interchangeably while the same goes for miniboards and shortboards. Choosing between shortboard skateboards or longboards skateboards can be quite hard, specially if you're a newbie. Most female longboarders prefer shortboards due to a variety of reasons. The opposite applies to men, who prefer longboards skateboards due to several reasons as well.

When choosing which longboards skateboards to choose from, it may help if you based it on certain characteristics which are shown below:

Concave. Concave boards are those that are slightly shaped like a letter "U" when you look at it on eye level. Depending on the type of cruising you want to do with your longboard, it could be concave or flat. However, more and more boarders now prefer the use of concave boards to flats. It's because generally concave boards keeps your feet on the board and gives you a better "grip" especially when doing downhill, slides and other complex tricks. It's rare not to see concave boards in a board shop. Most brands of skateboards in America also produce concave boards so it will not be that hard for you to find one. Having said that, you may now think more about the other characteristics of skateboards.

Deck. When it comes to decks, you may want to choose between recommended brands like Earthwing, Cosmic and Sector 9. Because most decks can now be purchased alone, you may be able to choose a variety of decks from the 3 brands mentioned which is, in all honesty, great because from personal experience, these brands are not much useful in other components. Their decks, however, are topnotch!

Flexibility. If you want to pump around town real good and do lots of tricks with less effort, you better go for boards which are most flexible. Boards I recommend are Loaded Dervish, Kalai Carve and Vanguard. However, if you're a boarder who prefers riding downhill, you may need a stiffer board. Excellent stiff boards are S9 Bomb Hills and Landyachtz Evo.