.
Vans Old Skool
Vans Slip-ons
Vans Sk8 High
A longboard is a skateboard with a longer and sometimes wider shape. Longboards are most commonly used for either downhill racing, slalom, or transportation. The longboard shape provides added stability, safety, and comfort. Their greater weight and bulkiness makes them less suitable for many skateboarding tricks but contributes to a fluid motion by providing more momentum. Thus, a longboard will roll further with a single push of the foot. Longboarding is often compared to surfing on concrete, and the design allows big turns or quick short carves similar to a surfboard. Longboarding became popular alongside emerging surfing culture through the mid. 1950's. Longboarding originated in California where the streets gave ground to many longboarders due to the rolling hills. For more info see Wikipedia.
With a custom setup, you can determine which trucks, wheels, and bearings you want on your deck. You will have to add them to your order. Included in the price of a custom is the assembly, hardware, spacers and (if needed) the gripping of the deck.
This can be a tough question at first because of the large variety available. Let's briefly talk about the thermology to get a better understanding of how to choose the right wheels for each discipline.
Durometer (a). Specifies the hardness of a wheel. A typical hard skateboard wheel is 100a and a typical soft longboard wheel is 78a. Softer wheels are more comfortable and are better for controlling your speed when sliding. Harder wheels are more forgiving when landing tricks and will be faster on smooth surfaces.
Diameter (mm). Specifies the size in millimeters. = A typical skateboard wheel is between 52-58mm. a typical longboard wheel is 65-76mm. It is crucial not to take unnecessarily big wheels for your riding style for the sake of saving weight.
Contact patch (cp). Specifies the width in millimeters. It can be seen as the surface which makes contact to the ground. Wider wheels are more grippy on a dry surface. Smaller wheels are lighter in weight and are easier to slide.
Core types:
- Hub: Hard plastic ring, just enough to connect the urethane and hold the bearings in place. It's the most common type of core.
- Closed-core: Hard plastic part between the bearings and the urethane. Saves weight in comparison to a hub core wheel and reduces friction during slides.
- Open-core: Hard plastic spokes between the bearings and the urethane to save even more weight in comparison to a closed core. Most common with the bigger 75mm+ wheels.
Edge types:
- Round lip: best for sliding
- Square lip: best for grip in fast corners.
- Beveled edge: a diagonal edge to decreases the contact patch. this makes it easier to slide compared to a square-lipped wheel.
Core positions:
- Centerset: the core is exactly in the middle. It allows for the wheels to be flipped. This is the most common type of skateboard wheel.
- Sideset: the core is at the far inner side of the wheel.
- Offset: a defined offset between center-set and side-set. This is the most common type of longboard wheel.
Generic guidelines for choosing the right wheels per discipline:
| Allround (popsicle skateboard) | 52-58mm | 90-100a |
| Pool/ditch | 54-66mm | 80-100a |
| Slalom: Split durometer; hard in front soft in the back | 66-75mm | 75-85a |
| Cruising | 60-85mm | 78-83a |
| Dancing | 65-75mm | 78-83a |
| Freestyle | 55-70mm | 78-90a |
| Freeride | 60-72mm | 78-85a |
| Downhill | 70-85mm | 75-85a |
| LDP | 70-100mm | 75-85a |
| Electric Longboard | 85-107mm | 75-85a |
Ideally, your trucks are no wider than your deck. this to prevent you from hitting the back wheel with your heel while stepping. If the main purpose of the board is downhill skating we advise a low and stable truck like the Caliber 44, Paris 43 or Precision Trucks. If you prefer cruising or carving we advise any of these trucks: Paris, Holey, Bear 852, Randal RII. Or if you prefer extreme carving/slalom: Seismics or Tracker RTX/S
Guideline sizes:
90mm - 110mm for Boards with a length of 65 - 80cm
110mm - 150mm for Boards with a length of 80 - 100cm
Wider than 150mm for Boards longer than 100cm
If you are a beginner and you want to build up your speed gradually you can take bearings like BullsEye, MiniLogo, Gravity. If you want less friction (more speed) you can take the Bones, Oust, SKF longboard bearings, Pleasure Tools or the Bears. If you want the fastest and smoothest rolling bearings you should go for ceramic bearings.
30mm: If you have a 7-ply board and use 1/8" risers
40mm: If you have a 7-ply board and use 1/4" or 1/2" risers
50mm: If you have a 9-ply+ board and use 1/2" risers
A spacer is a metal cylinder placed between the bearings. This allows you to tighten the axle nut a bit harder without the risk of pushing in the inner bearing ring inwards which takes away slop on your bearings and wheels.
Bushings are the rubber (actually polyurethane) bits around the kingpin. They provide the rebound of the truck, the harder the bushing, the harder it is to turn the truck. If you are lightweight you should have a softer bushing. And if you are a bit larger or want to go downhill you should have a harder bushing. Nowadays there are so many different types of bushings that it's hard to say which ones are best for you, our advice is to start with the stock bushings and start experimenting from there. Unless you are really light or heavy then a lighter / heavier bushing is advisable from the start. Just like wheels, the hardness of bushings is measured in durometer (a) and they come in various different shapes. The most common types are listed below:
Wheel bite occurs when you make a sharp turn (max turning rate) and the wheels touch the board. If this happens chances are that the board will stop immediately and makes you take a possible nasty fall. You can check it when you are standing still and put maximum pressure on one edge of the board, if there is enough room between your wheel and the board, you should be ok. If your wheel touches the board there are 3 things you can do:
- Put a (bigger) riser between your truck and your board.
- Mount smaller wheels
- Create wheel wells / make cut-outs in your board (final resort).
Sliding is going sideways with your board, either for fun or to reduce speed. Harder wheels with a limited amount of grip will make sliding easier, Abec11 Freerides or Cult Chronicles are known to be very good to learn to slide. Of course, sliding works best on a smooth surface.
Yes, we do. If you have a skate/fun sports shop and you would like to carry any of the brands we have, please contact us and we can tell you the possibilities.
