Workshop | Which board for me? | Hank's Longboard Buyer's Guide

We have loads of boards in our line up - so choosing one can be difficult. Each of our boards is deisigned to do something different, so decide what kind of skating you want to do and get educated?

I want to?

...Skate something that feels and behaves like a snowboard

...Carve up a hill with skill and style

...Send my wheels into screeching, sideways, technical slides

...Commute to work/college/uni through the rush hour traffic

...Turn an empty car park into a soulful boardwalking play ground

...Skate something that feels and behaves like a shortboard surf board

...Bomb mountain roads in a bid to break the sound barrier

...Slash up the local skate park, bowl, ledge or rail

...Cruise the beach front promenade

?Skate something that feels and behaves like a snowboard

There can be only one board?the Lush Samba has a dropped deck and AVALANCHE freeride wheels resulting in a very loose ride. Edge control is an important part of riding this board. The AVALANCHE wheels are nice and grippy, but when you dig that rail hard into the turn, you can feel the wheels scrabble for grip as the back slides out. With a little imagination, you'll be throwing buckets of powder in every carve. If your more into your high speed carving it's all about the drop-through Kilima.

?Carve up a hill with skill and style

For mellow cruising and soulful hill carving the ideal choice is a classic 40"+ pintail shape. The Mako, Bahari, Makonga, Kuni and Kisiwa all make for awesome hill riding. Wide trucks and soft wheels keep you stable and fast over almost any surface. For the ultimate ride consider a drop through board such as the Kilima. With the trucks mounted through the board the ride height is as low and as stable as possible making it fast and very manoeuvrable.

?Send my wheels into screeching, sideways, technical slides

Sliding is a growing form of longboarding and allows for impressive tricks and progressive fun. Boards can range from the 33" globe to the 58" Kisiwa - but most folk prefer the Globe series. The shorter the wheelbase, the snappier the slide and the faster the rotation. Big boards create slow, graceful slides, which are harder to initiate but easier to control. Concave keeps you locked into the deck and kick-tails aid the more technical and impressive slides. The harder the wheel, the easier the slide. Wheel durometers around and above 90a are ideal.

?Commute to work/college/uni through the rush hour traffic

The ideal board will be small, light and manoeuvrable. A kick tail isn't necessary but it can give you something to rest your foot on and allows you to flick the board around the walkers and the talkers as you cruise down the high street. The Tula, Makonga, S-Flex and Kuni make for good commuters. Wheels should be soft (around 80a) and above 62mm to keep you rolling over the cracks.

?Turn an empty car park into a soulful boardwalking play ground

For longboard surf style manoeuvres, big, wide boards are ideal. Something like the Kisiwa is the ideal tool for practicing your hang tens, spinners and cross-stepping when the surf is flat or onshore. Even for the landlocked surfer at heart, this board can transform an empty car park to 3 foot Malibu with a little imagination. The wide design gives you plenty of room to move around and the kick-tail adds to the manoeuvrability. Wide, shallow angled trucks such as Holeys are ideal for tight turns and wheels should be big and soft to give the maximum effortless glide.

?Skate something that feels and behaves like a shortboard surf board

The ideal choice has to be the Samba. Turn your hills into long walled up waves and throw some spray with every turn. The low ride height and AVALANCHE wheels make this a very responsive board where edge control is the key. You can really throw it into carves with all your weight, sliding the back wheels out, before snapping back across the road to set up for the next cutback.

?Bomb big mountain roads in a bid to break the sound barrier

For all out downhill speedboarding and racing you need quite specialised equipment. When hitting speeds upwards of 30mph you need a board that has a low centre of gravity. This can be achieved with trucks which are mounted 'Drop-Through' or with a deck that is 'Dropped Down'. Concave helps to keep your feet locked onto the deck. Kick-tails aren't used as they may make the board unstable if used at high speed. Trucks tend to have a mellow kingpin angle such as Randal DownHill trucks as this makes them more stable. An ideal board would be the Spooky, or the Kilima for a more carvy speed board.

?Slash up the local skate park, bowl, ledge or rail

Longboards can be great fun in skate parks. Something with a kick-tail and nose allow you to control the board better and perform technical tricks on obstacles. A short board such as the Globe 33" and 35" are ideal for shortboard style riding, whereas the larger boards like the Globe 38" and 41" are ideal for mellow old school style bowls. Hard and small wheels such as the Lush Cannonball 60mm 97a are good as they are fast on the smooth surfaces and roll over coping easily.

?cruise the beach front promenade

Pretty much any longboard is good for cruising on. With some soft wheels and some turny trucks, any board can be a lot of fun. A big, long board will give a graceful and soulful ride with sweeping carves and stylish board walking. A small board with narrow trucks will allow you to pump to keep speed and nip in and out of the crowds. It really is down to personal preference.