WHAT IS A GOOD DOWNHILL LONGBOARD FOR NEW SKATEBOARDERS

Although longboarding does not contain a lot of amazing tricks like other skating styles, more and more people are attracted to this skating style. The main reason behind that is probably the insane speed that skaters can only experience in longboarding.

However, it doesn’t mean you can only follow downhill skating when taking up longboarding. The style also has a leisure part called cruising for any skaters who want to enjoy nature or the neighborhood during skating.

If you have ever learned how to choose a longboard, you will know that this is a hard task, even for an experienced skater. Because downhill riding requires more for the perfect longboard, I would like to show you some good products based on what SkateAdvisors suggested about a good downhill longboard for beginners.

Before going into the details, let’s see how many categories are longboards classified. Based on the position that the skateboard truck is mounted, longboards are divided into top-mount, drop-through, and drop-down longboards.

The way the trucks are mounted directly affects the ability to slide or ride as well as stability. Therefore, newbies to longboarding should spend enough time learning thoroughly about longboards before choosing any products.

MOUNTING OPTIONS

Based on the definition of three types of longboards from SkateAdvisors on physicsgre, a drop-down longboard is a product whose skateboard trucks are mounted higher than the surface of the deck. On the other hand, top-mount products have the trucks mounted by the surface of the deck; therefore, it offers more leverage for skaters.

As a beginner, I think you should stick to a drop-down skateboard since the center of gravity is lowered to the ground. Hence, it offers greater stability but you can expect as much leverage as a top-mount longboard

For downhill skating, I think drop-through skateboards are good for all levels of skateboarders. Now, the trucks are mounted through the deck so stability is significantly increased; however, the leverage is reduced dramatically.

RIGHT TYPES OF WHEELS

From my experience, larger and soft wheels are perfect for downhill skating since you will need a good grip which can only be provided by a set of large contact patches. Also, you should avoid hard wheels at all costs to obtain the optimal grip.

CHOOSE THE RIGHT TRUCKS

Although you can come through several options for skateboard trucks, skaters are suggested to use a reverse kingpin truck in order to get the quickest setups and most importantly, the stability of the board.

According to SkateAdvisors on myanimelist, the perfect angle for the baseplate should be about 40 degrees in order to loosen the turning radius. If beginners want to own a drop-down longboard, professional players usually choose a top-mount longboard to ensure the right pressure on the wheels.

THE RIGHT SIZE OF SKATEBOARD

Not only in longboarding but also in any other skating style is the size of skateboards so important. Choosing the wrong size not only causes several problems when you learn to skateboard but also makes you more prone to falling and injuries.