There are 19 different types of boards in the sport of longboard. There are 5 generally accepted styles. We will examine the types of longboards according to the styles.
1. Style ( Downhill / Freeride ) – For this video Click
You've always seen skateboarders with big boards descending mountain tops at high speeds on television. Here are those skateboarders who are actually engaged in Longboard Downhill, these athletes who experience their passion for speed on longboards by going through the bends with slide movements by accelerating at very high speed, the protection equipment comes first. Longboards are generally heavier than other boards, they generally prefer ceramic bearings. There are also very wide wheels, there are athletes with 70mm wheels for slide purposes, when it comes to trucks, it has to be at least 50 degrees in this regard, I've seen it lowered to 43 degrees. Most importantly, sandpaper uses the thickest sandpaper in this sense, it can shatter your t-shirt while carrying it, so when carrying the downhillboard, do not carry the board sander facing you. Do not be one of your t-shirts. They can accelerate to 80-90 km at high speeds, even 155 km 89.41 mph/143.89 km/h – we saw KyleWester reach record speeds. Think about it, at a speed of 80km, the board runs out from under your feet and you drift on the ground. It's crazy, but I guess the passion for speed is something like this? It will definitely be a style that will never happen to me, I don't want this sport that I do for pleasure to turn into a disaster, I still have a lot of things to do in this sport! Unfortunately, this style is not given much importance in Turkey, and those who do do not give as much importance to protection equipment as those abroad. It's normal that they don't, because it's really expensive, think of it like motorcycle users, I look at them the same way you look at a person who buys a very good motorcycle for 50-60 thousand TL and buys a 300-400 TL helmet with him. Although it may seem like a terrible style, you can actually experience the excitement of downhill / freeride, even if you go to places like Adalar in Istanbul and go at very high speeds. This is one of the activities we usually do at the Turkish Longboard Burgazada summer camps. Equipped and controlled!
2.Taz (Dance) - For this video Click
There is one of the dance moves, you turn around in an instant. The movement is called pirouette. You can do the same movement in the Longboard dance style. The reason for saying dance style is that you can dance on it and take the board without stepping on the ground. Aesthetically beautiful images of this style emerge from the outside. The boards of the riders involved in this style are very long. 52 inches are average dance board sizes. Their wheels start with an average of 65mm and they usually use 50 degrees truck, but this can be changed on request, their bearings can be abec 7 or abec 5. They usually remove the middle of their sandpaper so that they can perform their dance moves more easily. In this style, wearing only a helmet may be sufficient.
When you wear knee or elbow pads, your dance movements may be limited. If you know how to fall, obviously, falling in this style is not as dangerous as it seems, follow the fall techniques of freerunning people, these techniques will be useful when you fall on the longboard. There are contests about this style in the world such as So You Can Longboard Dance, of course, you can see a lot of people mixing them with styles like freestlye here. 3 years in Istanbul in Turkey under the roof Sportfest Freestyle / Dance contests are organized.
3. Style ( Freestyle ) – For this video Click
Skateboard movements lie at the heart of the Freestyle style, which is one of the most popular styles of creativity on the street. It would not be wrong if you call people who do many movements on longboard as Freestyle longboard riders because movements such as 'shove it', 'nocomply', 'kickflip' are at their origin. One of the best longboard riders in this style can be said to be Carl Foster in Spain. I first learned the 'hippiejump' movement by watching it. Skateboarding is actually called Freestyle skater in legends like Rodney Mullen. Because some movements have been discovered by them. The boards used in this style are usually dance style boards because there are so many riders who combine the 2 styles. Of course, there are riders who use it on short boards like Cruiser style, but trying to freestyle with a downhill board will be very difficult for you. Their sanders can be just like normal skateboard sanders. The bearings can be chosen as abec 7 or abec 5. Choosing 50 degrees for the tricycle will make your job easier. It may be difficult for you to go above 65mm as a wheel.
4. Style ( Cruiser ) – For this video Click
The event that you enjoy on the beach from point A to point B is actually called cruising. It is better to choose bamboo for the boards and its light weight will not tire you. You have to be careful when choosing the wheels here. I recommend the 78a, the hard wheel will make you feel the place more. There are 2 types of cruising people in the selection of wheels, one with plenty of slalom, they usually choose smaller wheels, the advantage of which is that you can make slalons more comfortable and provide sharper turns. The other is they use wide wheels. Their turning tribes are limited, but since their wheels are wide, you can travel longer with one step. 50 degrees is ideal for trucks. You should definitely buy abec 5 bearings, abec 5 are more durable than others, as a result, you will make long roads, the most important equipment that should be durable is your helmet, then your bearing. I suggest you wear all of the protection equipment, you may be a good longboard riders, but the oncoming bike or car may not be as careful as you. Do not pass by saying that it is the coastal road, I even saw a truck on the Caddebostan coastal roads. Generally speaking, any style can be made with a boarduylacruiser, but this style-specific boards will always be one step ahead.
5. Style ( Slalom, Pumping, Carve ) – For this video Click
These 3 names are actually very close to each other and can be named in the same category. You can even think of it as a sub-category of cruiser. For slalom, there are cruising boards sold as surf simulation, and there are special boards for this event. I've seen very different trucks, even the bushing lineup. You will feel like you are on land as if there is a wave under you. Think of it like Waves on Land, the motto of our Turk Longboard Community? Athletes who are interested in this style usually deal with surfing, it is like a training tool for them. The bearings of this type of board are usually abec 5 (abec 5 has a longer life than other bearings) and you can use these boards without sanding. Because we see a lot of athletes using bare feet on the coastal roads in this style. You should pay more attention to protection equipment such as helmets here than others, because you are both cruising and your speed can increase due to the acceleration of the slalom, your control is more difficult than normal cruising when you are constantly doing slaloms.
Top Mount
* It is a board style where trucks are connected from the bottom.
* Wheelbite (Wheel Bite) risk is high, but there are riser pads for this.
Drop Through
* It is a board style that trucks pass through from inside.
* The risk of wheelbite is negligible, but here the risk of Footbite is high.
Drop Deck
* Can be mixed with top mounts, but Drop decks are generally used for downhill, although they do not have through-through trucks.
* It has a more balanced structure compared to Drop Through decks.
Double Drop
* We can call it a mixture of a Drop Through deck and a Drop deck.
* It is closer to the ground than normal drop models.
* Trucks must pass through.
* When cruising with double drop models, these boards, which are close enough to draw the bottom, are generally preferred to go faster and more stable in downhill.
What Does Longboard Shape, Flex and Concave Mean?
1- Kick Tail: It is the feature that we can kick like a skateboard in the tail part of the longboard, so that we can go through the pavements with faster turns and jumping movements like ollie if we have the talent.
2- Wheel Cut - Outs (Wheel wells): They are the grooves where the wheel and the board come into contact with your wheels to prevent wheel bite.
3 - Concave: Although longboard boards look like a flat board due to sandpaper, they actually have a concave structure towards the inside. Thanks to this structure, the edges of the board will be higher and the middle lower. It makes an incredible contribution to how we grasp this board with our feet.
4- W Concave: Consider that the board is in the shape of a W, when there is a rise again in the middle of the normal concave, this shape is called w concave.
5- Flex: It is the flexibility of the board, divided into flexes according to people's weight. Flex 1 is the most flexible, Flex 2 is the middle and Flex 3 has the least stretch structure. Flexes of each brand can vary and even many brands can produce boards in a unique structure without putting flex feature. It is not possible for a very overweight person to use a Longboard or not to have these flexes. It is up to the user's choice.
What are the Styles of Longboards?
When choosing Boards according to Longboard Styles, we need to be able to master the styles and follow the riders according to those styles. Because the best way to understand style is to watch videos of riders.
1- Downhill / Freeride
Loaded Tesseract Model
The sandpapers of Longboards produced for this style are incredibly thick and can even cut your hand because the thicker the better grip on your feet. This holding event will come in handy when you slide. In addition, there are models of boards with gas pedals. It creates an effect as if you are pressing the gas while you slide. The board you see in the picture was made for Downhill and has the features I described. The boards are usually made from Canadian maple wood. Carbon fiber inserts are used in many Downhill longboards to lighten or strengthen the boards.
It is your choice to buy Drop or Top Mount. When you buy a drop, its balance will be higher than a ball mount. Since there is no risk of wheel bite, you will be equally comfortable in your turns. Downhill boards are very heavy, so crusing will make your feet more tired than normal boards.
2- Freestyle
Loaded Overland Model
For Freestyle, boards with a wide front and back (we can call these Nose and Tail) are generally preferred. Freestyle movements are more comfortable due to the long kick distance. It can be used preferably in Bamboo wood instead of Freestyle boards, which are mostly produced from maple. For example Loaded bhangra is a dance board. However, Freestyle style riders can use the board in 2 ways by combining dance and Freestyle style. Drop models with kick distance or ball mount boards with quite wide tail are preferred. Freestyle with the Downhill board will be really difficult. Because the lighter your board is, the more comfortable you can make Freestyle movements.
3- Dance
Loaded Bhangra Dance Board
Usually long boards are used for this style. In order to make movements similar to dance movements like pirouette more easily, sandpaper is not used in the middle of the board except for the Nose and Tail parts. Dance boards can be 52 inches long on average, boards made of maple or bamboo wood can vary in length according to user preference.
4- Slalom, Pumping, Carve
Top mount Pumper and Gbomb / Longboards owner: Turk Longboard Istanbul Member: Murat Natan
Pumping boards are usually preferred by many riders involved in surfing. In fact, their trucks are sold as surf simulation because the front truck has a different spring structure. We see long models of slalom longboards, which are much shorter than other boards, in members of our Turk Longboard Community.
5- Cruiser
Loaded Dervish Model
You can cruising with any Longboard board. If you are a Downhill riders and do not have any other alternative board purchases, it is possible to make a cruiser with the Downhill board. However, if your goal is to go from point A to point B quickly and comfortably, then you should choose wide wheeled and very light boards made for Cruiser. The wide contact patch of the wheels will allow you to go longer with one step. Drop models do not wet the bottom of your board when you enter the water, Wheel does not bite and I recommend you to choose Drop models in cruiser because you will make more comfortable carve movements.
If you are starting Longboarding for the first time, definitely join the activities of the Turkish Longboard Community and try the Longboards of the members. Watch videos of riders by Styles and be a close follower of at least 2 riders before making your final decision. Waves on Land!
Technical Terms
Wheelbite: attaching the wheel to the board, locking the wheels and throwing you off the board
Footbite: By pressing your foot on the wheel, the wheels lock and throw you off the board
You can join the Turk Longboard Community for free by clicking here.
We recommend that you become a member of the Turk Longboard Community before purchasing your board.
