Skateboarding and longboarding may seem identical to an untrained eye, but take a deeper look and you’ll find they are actually quite distinct.
These two styles of sidewalk-surfing are drastically different. There are even disputes going on as to which one is better and which one is more fun.
We at Hamboards couldn’t stay away from this ‘Longboard versus Skateboard’ argument and decided to weigh in on the matter and try to resolve the dispute.
If you’re in stalemate and undecided about which one to opt for, you need to grasp the primary distinctions and benefits of each. So, let’s plunge in.
Origin of Skateboards and Longboards
The history of skating originated in the 50s as the side product of surfing. A bunch of surfers decided to make the most out of the flat days, and they developed the first generation of skateboards by mounting wheels on wooden planks.
Of course, the initial skateboards were far from what they are now, but through the years, they were polished into the designs we know now.
Longboarding emerged later and it got popular in the recent decades.
Electric longboard never really managed to perfectly duplicate the surfing feeling, but that’s because their design was nothing near the genuine surfboard.
In 1990s the longboarding culture truly blossomed on the scene and this was no fad. This was the age when sea-surfers and snowboarders joined together to acquire a true sensation of the surf on land.
These folks started adding roller-skate wheels on their boards and progressively started developing the longboards as we know them today. The goal was to maintain the original design of the surfboard and add flexible, soft wheels to reproduce the sense of surfing the waves.
The 90s also witnessed a development in truck technology, boards became more stable due of reverse kingpins.
And although though the longest longboards were far shorter than the actual surfboards, they had an essentially identical design.
Longboards started becoming more and more popular precisely because they were adaptable in shape and size and could be utilised on varied terrains.
The Shape
Like I stated, longboards are generally lot longer than skateboards. They are on average 33-60 inches long and 9-10 inches broad, while skateboards are 28-32 inches long and 7-10 inches wide.
It’s precisely their size that makes longboards more stable and offers rail-to-rail balance, which is why they are so wonderful for novices.
When it comes to the actual shape, skateboards can have many various designs, but the shape stays pretty much the same. Its deck is normally bent upwards on both ends, which helps skaters accomplish the Ollie and the flip.
Longboards, on the other side, have long, thin decks and available in many various forms and sizes that give a different surfing experience.
Hamboards series contains 7 distinct versions all designed after classic surfboard types. The Fish, for example, called ‘The Longboard Porsche’, is one of the greatest high-performance street-riders on the market exactly because it was designed just like the genuine fish surfboard.
And we developed our Classic with the original longboard surfboard in mind. We came up with a sleek and smooth board that delivers great classic surf-style riding, land-paddling and noseriding.
Trucks and Wheels
Both skateboards and longboards have trucks at the bottom, but they are significantly different. Skateboards have trucks that are more stiff, which makes them great for grinds and makes the stunts simpler to accomplish.
Generally, skateboard trucks are narrower and feature a conventional kingpin (TKP) (TKP).
They come in a number of sizes and ideally, you should select the one which is the same size as the maximum width of your deck.
For example, for 6,5” – 7,25” decks you need choose 6”- 7.25” truck axles.
Longboard trucks are more flexible which contribute to the overall flexibility of the boards. They are the major reason why longboard-riding is smooth and pleasant.
