A Newbies Guide to Choosing Your Setup.

 Brought to you with limited bias.

Choosing your setup is very important. Depending on what discipline(s) you choose (what you plan to do on the board,) from Speedboarding, Sliding, Dancing, Carving, or just cruising around, you need a board thats right for you. Some may ask, 'But I'm new, how would I know what I need?" I'm here to tell you. First we need to consider what the intended purpose for the board is, and what it needs to be good at (personal design preference comes later.)

Speedboarding:

The thrill of pushing the limits of speed have held mankind since they learned to run -they shortly thereafter learned how to crash.

Stability- You need to be able to stay on the board. Stability means a long wheelbase, wide trucks, and usually restrictive or stiff bushings.

Grip through corners- While staying on the board is important you eventually need to turn, this means a wide board, this will let you put your weight right on top of the wheels pushing them into the pavement and providing grip; also skinny trucks, the skinnier the trucks the more of that pressure you put on the edge of your board gets transfered to the wheels also giving you grip, but beware this sacrifices stability so try to find a good middle that compensates for your skills. Also if you are going to fast to take a turn you need to pre-drift, so you don`t want more grip then will let you slide a little.

Sliding:

Going sideways is fun and some times very important for downhill riders, but for a board that is built to do nothing else you need some specialization.

NO GRIP! If you want to go in a direction the cavemen never intended wheels to go, grip is your enemy. You want wheels with well rounded on the edges and very hard, the softer the urethane the more the wheel conforms to the road, we don't want that. Another thing that helps the lack of grip is wide trucks, the wider your trucks the more leverage over the bushings you have and the less of that pressure gets transfered to the wheels.

Dancing:

From the Jitter Bug to Brake dancing, you've gotta get groovy! While that may be quite hard for us white boys, it is still a ton of fun.

It's gotta be long- No not that you dirty person, your board. If your going to dance you need space, most people like boards around 36" - 42" long.

Bushing return to center. When dancing it is a very good idea to have bushings with a good return to center (bushings like Venom SHR's are an excellent example.) they makes your board go strait unless you want to turn, and with lots of fancy foot work this is a very good idea.

Carving:

Longboarding was created to imitate surfing. To really feel like surfing on pavement you need the right setup.

Turn-ability- When surfing you have little to no resistance when turning, so the less force trying to push your board to center the better, depending on your weight you want the softest bushings you can handle.

Grip- Like speedboarding good grip is a good idea when carving.

Holey Trucks

Cruising:

This one is easy. Whatever feels good under your feet no need for skills or advanced tech, it's all about personal preference!

Personal Design Preference:

After what the board is for, personal preference varies greatly. There are so many different skateboard designs, fishtails, to pintails, symmetrical, to directional boards. Your board should be an extension of you, design something that fits your personality. Don't settle. Chances are you can get a custom board for not much more.

So, no matter what you like to do on a longboard ride hard, ride safe, and have fun.