Electric Skateboard Freedom

Longboarding and all its disciplines comes from the human need to break boundaries and seek freedom in places that are humanly impossible- to test the limits of speed and danger that humankind can persevere and strive in. Every discipline of longboarding incorporates some sort of monumental freedom that isn’t attainable without the help of a 4-wheeled moving companion- whether it’s carving all over the sidewalk or dropping a curb, longboarding helps to free you from walking on two legs.

More and more, people are beginning to embrace speed and efficiency in their daily lives- it helps free up their time so they can use it on more productive things, such as working, or spending it doing something else that they like. Naturally, since most people spend most of their waking hours commuting to work or school or some other kind of routine commitment, they would want to cut down on commuting times. However, where they find that walking is too slow, their only other option of cycling is much too bulky and inconvenient for them- rather, they show up to their destination sweaty and smelly, and the extra hassle of showering at work again isn’t always a possibility or a desire for most normal people. You’d have to be incredibly productive and diligent to do that, which most people aren’t. Plus, there’s the whole problem of storing your bike, buying a lock, removing tires and whatnot, and that could waste a ton of time. The modern solution is the electric longboard. Wheels, effortless commuting in a small package? Sign me up! Some of these electric boards are small enough to fit under a desk or in the breakroom- all you have to do is carry it into your office and set it down. It frees up so much time and effort for you to spend on other things! That sounds like freedom to me.

More than that, with an electric longboard, you have a new, fun pastime to explore. Under your feet, you have a fast, nimble vehicle that can carry you into the mid 20s (miles per hour) where you can flow and breeze past others on your favorite cruising paths. You will get to see four times as much scenery in the same time! You can carve around, use all of the path- the road under your feet is yours. Imagine living on an escalator that takes you anywhere you want- that’s longboarding. Personally, I’ve found that after starting longboarding, my life has moved faster than it previously did- travel times were shorter, and I started to want things that were faster and more quickly paced. I didn’t like sitting around, waiting for things to be done; I wanted things now and that was the only way I could have it without becoming extremely impatient with the things around me, and it really upped by productivity. The freedom and motivation to do things quicker with a longboard was astounding.

Aside from electric longboarding, traditional longboarding has much in stock in terms of freedom- seeking adrenaline and breaking personal boundaries. The prime example is downhill longboarding- monumentally dangerous-looking sport where people on longboards race down steep hills at speeds in excess of 40 miles per hour, doing gnarly-looking slides with nothing but a shirt and shorts on. To put it poetically, downhill longboarding is a symbol for human’s need to fly- to go faster and do things that are impossible for the normal, unequipped human- we like the idea of soaring through the skies and breaking records and reading car speeds on a plank of wood with wheels on it. It’s the achievement of unrealistic, romanticized dreams. Personally, this is the sport that I indulge in. The sense of freedom when I get as the wind roars through my helmet, and the breeze I feel breathing through my shirt is incredible. Some of the most incredible friendships and professional relationships I have ever gained were through downhill longboarding, and year after year, I find myself reveling in its glory. I recommend the sport to anyone who loves adrenaline and also appreciates a nicely sized friend group full of people who appreciate similar things.

I loved the feeling of being uninhibited by my humanly features- my legs are slow, my endurance is horrible, and I don’t think I could possibly run for more than an hour. But on a longboard, the 3-minute-long, fast downhill cruises I was able to have freed me from my responsibilities and left me feeling refreshed after a day of hard work. Going home sweaty every time, I’ve never felt an ounce of regret for the road rash and bruises that I had accumulated over the day. Once you get used to having such an awesome release of stress and freedom, you never go back- getting injured after a fall and not being able to skateboard for a few weeks is like suffocating in a box for a few hours. It’s like mental torture!

Longboard dancing is also incredibly freedom-inspiring when you think about it- the gracefulness of riders on boards, moving at constant speeds while treating their platforms as stages to exhibit their mastery of balance and smooth moves is a freeing experience like none other- and it’s not easy. Longboard dancing takes years of practice, and the end result is many times, jaw-dropping when you show it off on the boardwalk. Personally, I was never good at it and I really wish I had practiced more before I gave up on it. Also, the many beautiful designs that dancing board companies offer these days are seductive and attractive, which gives you the freedom of choosing what you want your board style to be.

All in all, longboarding is one great way to introduce freedom into your daily life- it’s one of the best ways to push yourself out of your comfort zone, and when your comfort zone is really widened, that’s when the fun in life begins. Start now- get yourself a longboard and experience what I have! Always wear a helmet too! 

Magneto Longboards

5 things they don’t tell you when you start longboarding!

 

One: Longboarding is a great way to get around!

Longboarding has always been seen as a sport or hobby- it’s a way for people to have fun and enjoy themselves, get an adrenaline rush or improve their skills in their free time. In that sense, it’s never really been seen as something that’s practical for general day to day living. Usually, when someone picks up a longboard, their entire purpose is to push themselves out of their comfort zone and start a new hobby while getting some exercise; for many, it’s the next step in introducing excitement and adrenaline to their potentially boring lives.

However, what many have come to discover is that longboarding is a prime way to commute around town in an efficient, comfortable way with the right setup. To start, longboarding is, with practice, surprisingly quick. As an efficient pusher, one can travel at running speeds, comfortably rivaling the cycles on the road and sharing cycle lanes. Longboards are also incredibly maneuverable, even more so than bikes and rollerblades- because they can be so small, they’re able to stop in breakneck times and accelerate back even faster. They can make tight corners, jump curbs, weave in and out of people and ride more uneven pavements and sidewalks than bikes can.

Personal anecdote- most of my longboard riding has been done while commuting. It’s a great routine to have on the daily; getting ready in the morning, hopping on my favorite commuter setup and beginning my morning with a ride down my local hill. The rest of the push is easy, energizing and motivating for my day. It’s a great way to get your daily exercise, and forcing yourself to ride and push in the morning wakes you up better than any cup of coffee.

Two: Longboarding exists beyond just cruising.

Like I said before, many people begin longboarding to give themselves a challenge. Most people get good at cruising around boardwalks and skating their city sidewalks and neighborhoods and stagnate their skills there- they don’t feel that there’s any further to progress, both skill-wise and setup wise. Most new longboarders also buy simple, untuned completes for their first setups, not knowing that in the future, there’s much playing around to be done with new parts, Longboard wheels, and whole new Longboard decks. Board setups may start at 200 dollars, but prices have no ceiling, and the more skilled you get, the more expensive and awesome your setup will be. Longboarding beyond cruising splits into two categories: freestyle/dancing, and downhill/freeride.

Freestyle and dancing involves longer, more nimble boards with kicktails. You use these kicktails to bust out flip tricks- tricks where you make the board fly into the air, do a variety of flips, and then land back on it in another variety of ways. As general as this sounds, people have made hundreds of longboard trick combinations that you can learn and chain together for impressive, flashy skill points.

Downhill and freeride are the gnarlier sides of longboarding- traveling at speeds higher than 60 kilometers an hour, speeding down a downhill track busting out sideways slides and drifting corners. This style of riding takes a massive amount of certainly draining practice, along with a large serving of guts and a hunger for adrenaline. It isn’t for everyone, but it’s definitely one of the most respectable things to do.

 

Three: Longboarding can be competitive!

 

Longboarding has been seen as a loved pastime for a very long time, but little did you know, there are large-scale competitions that happen in both freestyle/dancing and downhill/freeride! If you get really into either discipline of riding, there are both local and international events for you to go to and exhibit your developed skills. You might win anything from small to large prize pots to wheels and extra parts for your longboards. Events are usually sponsored by companies and attended by many of the bigger names in the community. Even if you can’t skate very well, it’s always a great experience to go, as you are able to do some networking, meet interesting people and see some awesome skateboarding!

In terms of freestyle and dancing, there are a few international competitions around the world, such as So You Think You Can Longboard Dance, and the Paris Annual Dock Session. In these events, you bust out cool lines and tricks, and judges from all different skate teams judge you based on style, consistency and creativity.

For downhill and freeride, there are a variety of races and slide events. The easiest to host and probably most common are slide jams, where many skaters gather with their slidey wheels and try to do the most stylish trick, or slide the longest. You should have a very large and versatile quiver of slides if you wish to do well in these events. Other events are races, where you race down fast hills to beat all the others in a heat system. These may take slides or not, but rider skill is definitely something to have. There are other things, like freerides and product demonstrations, which are run by companies to celebrate the launch of a new product.

Four: Longboarding is an enjoyable niche to earn money in.

 

Longboarding and skateboarding are some of the two most customer to business friendly niches there are. With every step of the way, both workers in the industry and riders socialize and are friendly in their exchanges. Because of this, finding a job in the industry, whether it be at a skate shop or at a board manufacturer, is one of the greatest decisions you could make in your young life (if you are a teenager). Starting a board company is also a viable option for older folks, as the longboarding scene is still fast growing and it is far from stalling.

At a job in the industry, you will find good wages and friendly interactions with customers. With your large base in knowledge, you will help someone who wants to get into the sport, daily. They may ask for help about a setup, and you will have an answer- and let me tell you, it’s an extremely satisfying feeling, and thus it’s something I urge all longboarders to look into.

Five: The Longboarding scene is one of the friendliest communities around.

It’s been a rumor that the skateboard community is a very unfriendly neighborhood to hang around- how everyone drinks a lot and every skateboarder you see is bound to be a degenerate. And you know what? That is all lies- and I will prove it with a personal anecdote.

When I first started skating, I started learning alone- on a local neighborhood street with a very slight incline, and I’ll be honest, it was a lonely but enjoyable time. However, I didn’t improve much, seeing that I can’t teach myself if I have virtually no knowledge on something- so I joined my city’s longboarding club group on social platforms, and I met some people who invited me to a night skate on a Saturday. I was intimidated; I thought I needed to have some kind of basic skill in order to impress those who had invited me- but they insisted that they don’t need to see anything, that they just want me to follow along and have some fun. That ended up being one of the greatest nights of my life- socializing and talking to fellow skaters who were in it with me to get me to be a better skateboarder.

And the truth is, the rest of the longboarding community is the same. If you skate alone, don’t. Find a community near you and it will become part of who you are.

Ryan, Magneto Longboards 

Amazing London at Christmas Electric Skateboard ride!

Last Friday myself and a You-Tuber called Ollie headed out for a skate on our Magneto electric skateboards.

 

What an awesome way to see London at such an amazing time of year, although the day did not start well! 

Poor Ollies board got run over by a car at the very start of the day! 

See the video below: 

 

 

Literally at the very start of the day! So it kind of made the day less fun for Ollie! We’re sending him new parts to get his Magneto Electric Longboard V1 repaired! 

Having said that, the sun was out, the weather relatively warm and just riding around London or any city on an electric skateboard is a liberating experience. Such an amazing way to take in the sights, the smells, the sounds. Of course, the main benefit being you can just pull up anytime and walk into any shop or Cafe’ with your board in tow. 

We took an Amazing route for anyone who is interested. 

We rode from the Tate gallery area, up past Big Ben then cut into St James Park to Hyde Park corner then through Hyde Park and finally finishing off around Covent Gardens! 

Stunning route! 

electric skateboard

 

Ollie was on great form and recorded the entire Skate albeit I’m sure he was tired pushing! Check out the video below.

 

That’s about it! But here at Magneto, we would Love to hear your favorite skate routes and rides! Post below and share if liked this! 

Peace and Love to all and of course, MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

 

 

 

Free Electric Skateboard when you buy an Audi!

At Beijing’s car show the other week Audi unveiled a new mobility concept – and I’m sure the fact being that you’re on an electric skateboard website, you know what that concept is. 

Of course, it’s an electric skateboard included in the car. Pretty cool the way it sits in a dedicated space under the bumper! Check out more details from the: VERGE 

electric skateboard with audi

You might be wondering why the hell we are covering this. After all, it’s got nothing to do with our brand and what we’re doing.

Well if you did think that, you missed a trick.

For us, this means the electric skateboard is going out to the mainstream, no longer is it an esoteric gadgety  toy and what brand could be more mainstream than Audi after all.

At the end of the day, there’s a very simple reason why electric skateboards or electric longboards are going mainstream. (of course, the original appeal is either the gadget guy or the ex-longboarder who’s now too long in the tooth to push). 

The reason is this. Are you ready? 

Electric Skateboards are USEFUL

Despite being cool and currently maybe only appealing to esoteric groups, they actually solve a very, very obvious problem. A problem we all face, not just the cool ex-longboarder, or gadget guy has this problem. 

They solve the problem of short journeys too far to walk and too close to call a cab. ‘The last mile solution’ But let me just edit that sentence slightly: Electric Skateboards are a damn COOL way to get around. 

Audi jumping on the bandwagon and what does/could it mean. 

Finally, electric skateboards will be looked at as the legitimate solution they are, I think it won’t be long before we see BMW and other brands jump on the trend because electric skateboards aren’t going anywhere for the foreseeable future. 

I also thinking this mainstream light will serve in another way. The LAW. 

Currently, in many countries, it’s a gray area, most laws are out of date in regards to electric travel. Soon we may see an overhaul of electric vehicle laws or lack of, or gray areas being amended, as the benefits are blindingly obvious. 

1.) 100% portability. 

2.) SUPER Eco-friendly. 

3.) Solves the last mile solution.

4.) F****** Cool (excuse my French) as opposed to other ways to travel via motor driven electric device, eg the hover board or electric scooter, which to be quite frank, well I better stop there as I realized this post is becoming biased and opinionated! 

To summarize. 

We at Magneto welcome Audi into the electric Longboard/electric skateboard scene with open arms and look forward to other major brands doing the same. 

Make sure you share & like! 

Peace & Love, 

Magneto Team

Longboard Wheels

Everything to know about Longboard wheels.

A longboard has tons of parts. 4 of them are longboard wheels. They let you roll, slide, commute and dance. They are the most basic building block of your traveling stick, and as expected, there’s a lot to know about them.

Being educated about your wheels is important, as there’s a purpose for every wheel, but there’s no wheel for every purpose. It’s an extremely diverse market, and in your journey to become a skilled longboarder, you will need comprehensive knowledge of:

  • The anatomy and physics of a wheel
  • Durometers and formulas
  • Wheels for every purpose.
    • Freeride wheels
    • Downhill wheels
    • Dancing wheels
    • Street/hard wheels
  • Troubleshooting

Longboard wheels

The Longboard Wheel: Anatomy and Physics

The wheel is one of the world’s most primitive designs, and they dictate several things about how your longboard performs on the road- such as speed, grip and the smoothness of your ride.

The anatomy of a longboard wheel is as such (from inside to out):

  • Core + Bearing Seat
  • Body
  • Lip
  • Skin

The Core

The core is arguably the most important part of a wheel. It supports the wheel from the inside, attaching it strongly to the bearing, which is attached to and rotates on the axle. Cores have a large part in dictating the grip, speed and durability of a wheel. There are 3 factors to a core:

  • Is it encapsulated or exposed?

Whether the core is showing or hidden is a big deal when it comes to the top speed and acceleration. If the core of a wheel (see figure above) is hidden, it amounts to faster acceleration but lower top speeds, generally. For example, if you had two 70mm wheels where one core was encapsulated and one was exposed, the encapsulated wheel would speed up faster, but the exposed wheel would reach top speed later than the other.

  • Is it small or big?

The size of a core dictates where the meat of the wheel is. A bigger core will displace more urethane to the outside of the wheel, resulting in a faster wheel that grips harder; a smaller core allows the wheel to have a lot of meat, so while the wheel may be slower, it’s better for sliding and lasts longer (there’s more polyurethane to slide away).

  • Is it wide?

This is mostly a concern for grippy downhill wheels that require support in the lip. A wide core is usually a big one, and you’ll see them in fast racing wheels. A more supported lip means a longer lasting edge to the lip, and thus creates a better, faster racing Longboard wheel.

The Body

The body of the wheel is where two major factors come in: Size and width. These are two incredibly important factors regarding the speed and grip of a wheel.

Generally, people say, the bigger the wheel, the faster it is; they are mostly correct. However, keep in mind that the bigger a wheel gets, the slower it accelerates. Most people find 75-ish mm to be a good downhill size.

Smaller sizes matter too. The smaller a wheel is, the faster the wheel is rotating. So smaller wheels are inherently easier to slide than larger wheels. You’ll find that many freeride wheels are based around 69-ish mm because that’s a size that just works really well.

The width of the wheel contributes the most out of any part to how hard the wheel grips the ground, and how defined the line is between grip and slip. A large contact patch will hold onto pavement harder. A smaller contact patch will release much quicker. You’ll find that downhill wheels have larger contact patches and downhill wheels have larger ones, which is only logical.

Again though, it’s very important that you find a good balance between width and size to fit your every need. More on that later.

The Lip

The lip is a key part in defining the grippiness of a wheel. The lip is the primary part of the wheel that deforms when put under pressure, flowing into and holding onto features on the asphalt.

Different lip shapes make a wheel grip and ungrip in different ways. There are 3 different types of lip profiles:

  • Round

This is mostly for freeride and sliding; the round lips allow pavement to glide under them without much resistance at all. The only thing providing grip for a round-lipped slide wheel is the contact patch. Some manufacturers make round lips that round over more gradually than others. This creates a wheel that stays less grippy for longer.

Magneto Slide wheels Below:

longboard wheels, slide wheels

Round lips create a slide See Magneto Slide wheels profile that can be described as an easy kick-out and an easy slide. Un-gripping the wheel normally doesn’t take more than a twist and a nudge, and holding out this slide is much easier than on a grippy square or sharp lip wheel.

Round lips are also beneficial for freestyle wheels as they don’t catch on the ground- because they are typically skinnier than square or sharp lipped downhill wheels, their low profile allows for a larger margin of error when it comes to flip tricks and grab tricks.

  • Square

This is a grippy lip that stays grippy for a long time, regardless of how much sliding it goes through. Because the lip is perpendicular to the ground through the first 5 or so millimeters of the wheel, a few drifts here and there won’t be enough to wear down a wheel enough that the lips fall off. Square lips are common on big race wheels with huge contact patches.

  • Sharp

Sharp lips are the grippiest of the lip profiles. The lips are like knives- they dig into the pavement when sideways force is applied, and it allows the whole wheel to stay secured in the pavement as long as it isn’t worn down. Sharp-lipped wheels are meant to stay unscrubbed and should usually not be slid unless absolutely necessary. If you have a lot of money or sponsors of course though, slide these wheels like you mean it. It’s a lot of fun. A guilty pleasure.

The Skin

The skin is a pretty important part in defining how much a wheel grips out of the package. The skin is a product of the wheel curing process, where after they are poured, wheels are stored outside of a mold in a warm, highly oxygenated room. The outside few millimeters of the wheel “cures” or “ripens” before being shipped out to stores or the consumer. Some companies over-ripen their wheels because it gives their wheels a unique slide characteristic. There are two types of skin profiles:

  • Stone-ground

Stone ground skins are usually present on an out-of-the-package slidable wheel. Stone grinding makes the skin rougher and thus exponentially reduces the size of the contact patch, as instead of a flat, smooth surface touching the ground, it’s just a really bumpy surface. You can expect slide profiles to stay more or less similar during the life of the wheel if you have this type of grinding on your skin.

  • Race-fresh

A race-fresh skin is the mirror-finish you see on more large, square/sharp lipped wheels. They are the grippiest skin and look the best. A race-fresh skin is usually the sign of a pretty fast wheel, with some exceptions. These skins should be kept pristine for a race, hence the name. Wasting them on your neighborhood streets is a no-go. Wheels with fresh skins are usually pretty expensive as well, so don’t go around flatspotting them either!

  • Scrubbed

These are “used” skins. Usually when race wheels come out of the race course after a day of riding, the first few layers of the wheels are gone, but the shape and lips are perfectly fine. These are called “scrubbies”. They’re great first race wheels as there are tons of “scrubbies” on buy/sell/trade communities on Facebook. Usually go for 15-20 dollars for a set of wheels. These won’t feel like stone-ground wheels, but rather super snappy freeride wheels.

Durometers and Formulas.

One of the hardest things about choosing your wheels is obscenely vast amount of durometers and formulas available to choose from. A wheel company might have anywhere from 3-12 wheels, and each of those wheels are a different formula from the next, and then there are 4 different durometers for each wheel. How does one choose?! Well, it’s not too hard, actually.

You want to decide on your formula. Now, each company has a different set of formulas under different names and brandings, but usually, a company will have a slide formula, a grip formula, and a midsy (low-price) formula. Popular companies have up to 7 or more formulas, but even those are just variations on this 3-item list. Some are just super-slidey wheels, some are less-slidey, some are drifty and downhill-ey, and some are just flat out the most grippy wheels you may ever roll on. Do your research through their homepage websites and online forums to see which formula you’d like to ride on the most. This is important. This decides how your wheel feels, not your durometer.

Durometers should be used to compare between variations of the exact same wheel. For example, Wheel A in 78a will be different to Wheel A in 80a. But in no way whatsoever is Wheel A in 78a remotely similar to Wheel B in 78a, and the difference between Wheel A in 78a and Wheel C in 90a could be negligible. Only use this to compare within a set of wheels.

Durometer is the measure of the hardness of the urethane which makes up a wheel. Most longboard wheels will range from 78a-86a, with the higher numbers being harder. Some wheel companies offer as low as 73a and most skateboard wheels are around 101a. As a general rule:

Lower durometers wear more quickly, leave thicker urethane lines, grip harder (to an extent) and dampen your ride more.

Harder durometers wear slowly, leave lesser lines, ice out easier, and let you feel the ground more.

  • If you have a slide wheel, adjusting durometer is a good way to change how slidey it is. If you really like the slide characteristics of a wheel, yet want it to slide less or more, changing the durometer is a great way to do that!
  • If you’re downhilling and want to drift and slide too, get a harder durometer of a downhill wheel. It’ll make sliding it easier, and still be just as fast!

Wheels for Every Purpose

As you can probably tell, there’s a wheel for every style of riding. And it’s important that you choose the right tool for the right job, so that you can do everything associated with that style. You don’t want to be stuck with sluggish street wheels when everybody is racing! Here’s what you should look for in a wheel for each style:

Freeride

You should look for the following in a freeride wheel:

  • Round Lips
  • Smaller contact patch (35-50mm)
  • Smaller size (<69mm)
  • Encapsulated core
  • Stone grinding (or not)
  • Slide formula

In a freeride wheel, you want everything that allows you to glide over the pavement. The round lips will allow you to surf over cracks and obstacles while the smaller size will rotate faster than a larger wheel so that your wheels don’t gain traction for a long while. The smaller contact patch allows for less grip on the road, and the encapsulated core allows for quick acceleration. Stone grinding is optional; if you want to go through a lot of wheels in a day, definitely get stone-ground wheels. If not, breaking through the fresh skin won’t take very long. You’ll definitely want a slide formula as well. Most companies will make this obvious in their descriptions of the wheels.

Downhill

You should look for the following in a downhill wheel:

  • Sharp/Square Lips
  • Larger contact patch (51-7x mm)
  • Larger size (70-82mm)
  • Encapsulated/Exposed Core
  • Fresh skin (always)

In a downhill wheel, you want characteristics that stick you to the pavement and not let go unless you’re really trying to make it ungrip. The sharper lip profiles allow your wheel to really dig into the ground when it comes to sideways force (and there’s a lot of that), and that really locks you into the road you’re skating. The larger contact patch also allows more of the road to grip your wheel. The larger wheel raises top speeds and allows for a faster ride. The choice of core exposure is up to the rider- do you want to accelerate quickly or do you want a higher top speed? For straight courses, an exposed core is good. For curvier courses where there’s drifting and lots of turning involved, an encapsulated core will suit you well. Also, make sure to choose a downhill formula or you may find yourself spinning out when you go to drift. Again, this will be made obvious by the seller.

Dancing

Yes, we know, wheels don’t dance. Jokes aside, longboard dancing does indeed involve choosing the right wheels. You should look for the following in a dancing wheel:

  • Round lips
  • Narrow width
  • Medium size (~65-70mm)
  • Encapsulated core
  • Any skin

In a dancing wheel, you really want to have something that’s low profile and dynamic in shape. The round lips are less obtrusive when it comes to doing flip tricks, as they tend to hide under the deck because of their width. Also, sharp lips tend to bounce when they hit the ground- that could seriously ruin someone’s dancing line. Narrow width and size matters for low-profile purposes. The size is also important as it allows the dancer to run looser setups. The encapsulated core allows riders to accelerate quickly.

 

Hopefully this guide has helped you choose wheels. Always wear a helmet.

-Ryan

The Ultimate Downhill Longboarding Guide

You’ll learn about everything Downhill here from Downhill Longboards, technique to safety gear. 

Are you tired of cruising? Did you bomb that neighborhood hill and fall in love with speed? Many of us have, and that’s why we do downhill. Downhill longboarding is at the core of what makes the longboarding community exciting and adrenaline-pumping. It’s at the core of hardcore sports and definitely, absolutely makes you a much more exciting person than who you might have been before.

But sometimes, you need some help to get started. And this is what that’s for; to get you, the common, everyday cruiser, into going fast and mingling with the rest of the longboarding community. Here are 10 steps to becoming a downhill longboarder.

 

  • Have your safety gear.

 

I know, I know. Everyone keeps telling you to get a helmet but you don’t think you need one because you’ve never fallen. Bull! You absolutely need a helmet and some other very important accessories if you are going to learn and embrace downhill longboarding as a sport. You’ll need the following:

  • A helmet.

Make sure that your helmet is dual-certified, and from a trustworthy manufacturer. For now, you’ll need a half-shell. Skateboarding half-shells have padding all around your head, especially in the back and front, unlike bike helmets which protect the top more than anywhere else.

  • Slide gloves.

Slide gloves are available from most longboard manufacturers and skate shops. These are absolutely necessary for sliding and will protect your hands in case of a fall. To increase their durability, tape the fingertips with duct tape before skating. They will last 3 to 4 times as long.

  • Pads (Optional)

Strongly recommended. Get hard caps so you can fall onto them and slide to a stop if necessary. Knees are more important than elbows. Impact shorts are also nice if you’re planning to push yourself very hard.

Making slide gloves:

Some people would rather not shell out 30-50 bucks for quality slide gloves; not to worry, there is a solution! Slide pucks are right around 10-15 dollars, and all you need is some well-fitting, durable gloves, and some fuzzy-side velcro adhesive tape. Assemble according to a picture of slide gloves. Make sure it is high-quality velcro tape; if not, the slide pucks may get ripped off mid-slide, ending with a bad case of oh boy, where’s my puck?

 

  • Have the basics.

 

As with progressing in any sport, you must be able to walk before you run. Longboarding proficiently requires more skills than just the average cruiser might have. You should be able to push reliably (meaning that you don’t trip over your wheels or feet anymore), be able to stop on a dime (using foot braking or further means), and have supreme control over your board.

Keep in mind that stopping is the most important skill to know, whether you are doing downhill or not. It keeps you safe, it keeps others safe and most of all, it’s convenient. Some drills to help you out in case you don’t know how to practice quite yet:

  • For carving, take a straight road, push to a decent speed, and make long, spaghetti noodle turns from curb to curb. As you get better at this, make your carves sharper and narrower, until you find a good rhythm and width. This will become almost second-nature once you get good at it.
  • For stopping, decent a hill while foot braking. Do this once a day for a week, and you’ll have all the muscles you need to keep a footbrake out for a while. It’s important that you’re able to stick a footbrake out at will, as it may at some point be a life-saver.

 

  • Know the anatomy of your board.

 

Half of downhill longboarding is actually what you do outside of actually skateboarding with your feet on the board. In fact, a very large, major portion of downhill is tweaking your gear so that it’s the best it can be. And to do that, you need to have an extremely good grasp on the anatomy of your longboard, how the parts work, and where to source the parts you need to upgrade your board. You should know in-depth about the role of parts on your longboard including:

  • The deck
  • The trucks,
  • The wheels,
  • The bearings,
  • The bushings,
  • Footstops, grip tape, and other miscellaneous items.

Generally speaking, a cruising setup isn’t well-tuned. At walking or running speeds, there can be a large margin of error. However, at higher speeds, such as the speeds at which people usually downhill at, the tiniest inconsistencies in gear will affect the quality of your ride; as an extreme example, it may even end in injuries.

 

  • Know how to upgrade your Longboard 

 

As said in the step before, a cruising setup isn’t well-tuned. In order to make a competitive-enough setup out of a cruising setup, you must do a few crucial things:

  • Make sure your deck is speed-stiff,
  • Make sure your deck has downhill concave,
  • Make sure your trucks are from a trusted name-brand company,
  • Tune those trucks to your weight with bushings.

These four things are excruciatingly important because they are basically what allows you to do the maneuvers and shenanigans that downhill requires you to do, like sliding, going fast and staying stable.

The stiffness of your board is important because flex amplifies bumps and wobbles in your ride. This can be deadly, so we try to keep things as stiff and responsive as possible. A downhill concave is usually a steeper concave than a cruising board’s concave. It’s enough that it is efficient in helping you grip the board and also push against it in times of sliding. However, it should be comfortable. There are over 7 or 8 types of concave; your choice in concave is preferential and don’t let anyone tell you that one is better than another.

Trucks are incredibly important as well. Trucks are the steering hub of your setup, and thus you should upgrade and tune them to your weight and liking. Make sure that you know how bushings work, and match them to your weight either by using a chart or using an internet application like bushingpicker.com.

 

  • Know your Longboard.

 

Downhill is a very fast, intense sport in which you must make split-second decisions. These split-second decisions are what allow you to either make the corner and walk off feeling like the king of the world, or half stuck inside a guardrail, board nowhere to be seen as it just skipped off a cliff. To make these split-second decisions with a clear conscience, you need to absolutely know your board and your setup. You need to know:

  • How much it turns,
  • How it turns,
  • How it slides,
  • How stable it is,
  • When it gets wobbles,
  • How hard you can turn without sliding,
  • How big it is,
  • And tons more.

The bottom line is, you absolutely need to know everything there is to know about your board. This will require you to be on the same board sometimes for months in order to be familiar with it. Of course, when you get experienced with downhill longboarding, you will at some point be able to adapt your skills to other decks quite easily. However, for your first downhill experience, make sure you are comfortable and familiar with your board.

 

  • Learn to turn, lean, carve, and apex.

 

Downhill longboarding is a gravity sport. That means that if you lose speed, it’s all up to gravity to make that speed back up again. However, it is our responsibility as the rider to help gravity gain us our most valuable currency: velocity.

Unfortunately, the roads involved in downhill longboarding aren’t simple straight lines. They’re filled with curves, squigglies, and corners that you need to traverse carefully and expertly in order to keep all your speed. This art of turning, leaning, and carving with purpose and reason is a huge component of this sport and is thus extremely important to master.

The art of taking a good line through a course is a learned skill. The best way to learn the best way through a certain course is to skate with more advanced riders, or watch videos of people skating the course. However, if this isn’t a possibility for you, know this: The best line through a course is the straightest line. It is the line that puts the least amount of g-force into your board and body, and conserves the most momentum.

Learn to slide on your Longboard.

This is most likely, the hardest and most dragged out part of your career as a downhill longboarder. Not only will you need to learn the few preliminary slides, but throughout your journey as a downhill longboarder, learning slides will be one of your primary focuses. There is an end-game; once you have built up your huge arsenal of slides, you will be able to skate any and every road in the world, theoretically.

But first, you will need to learn how to stop. Sure, it sounds trivial. I mean, you know how to footbrake, you know how to carve down to a near-stop from 20 kilometers an hour, but with downhill, we’re talking about speeds in excess of 50 kilometers an hour. And keep in mind, downhill longboarding IS an extreme sport. You will come across instances in your journey (assuming you do push yourself and try new, adrenaline-pumping things), where you will be faced with either hitting a wall or a car, or stopping using a slide.

The most basic stopping slide is called a Coleman, or a shutdown slide. A Coleman is where you grab over your back leg, grab the board, lean back and bust into a low, compact slide to shave off speed. You can find a good tutorial here: 

 

It’s incredibly important that you not only can do this slide, but you can do it at any speed that you are downhilling at. That may be 40 kilometers an hour, or it may be 70 kilometers an hour. Also, always practice this slide. Keep it fresh in your brain so that you can use it whenever.

At this point, you are able to do grip runs, courses where sliding is optional and you can realistically “bomb” the hill all the way to the bottom. The reason why the Coleman came before doing grip runs is because, in the case of an oncoming car or collision, it’s important to be able to stop on a dime. To you know, save your life maybe.

There is a progression of slides, at least generally. It goes like this:

  1. Coleman Slide (Hands-down, grabbed, heelside slide)
    1. Coleman 180s (switch slide)
    2. Switch Coleman 180s (180 back from switch)
  2. Heelside Pendulum (Hands-down, grabbed/ungrabbed, undulating slide)
    1. Pendulum Shutdown (stopping slide)
    2. Pendulum Drift (speed-shaving slide)
  3. Toeside Slides (Hands-down, grabbed/ungrabbed)
    1. Toeside Pendulum Shutdown (undulating stopping slide)
  4. Both pre-drifts (Hands-down, grabbed/ungrabbed, speed-shaving slide)
    1. Drifts around corners (speed-shaving slide around a hairpin)
    2. Straight drifts (speed-shaving slide before a corner)
  5. Squat/Sit-down slides (No-hands, grabbed/ungrabbed slide)
    1. Squat drifts (squatted speed-shaving slide)
    2. Big Squats (long, fast, slide-jam style)
  1. Stand-up slides (no-hands, standing slide)
    1. 180s (switch slide)
    2. Stand-up drifts (speed-shaving slide)
    3. Big Standies (long, fast, slide-jam style)

Some tips for sliding:

  • If a slide isn’t working out for you, go faster. The faster you are traveling, the easier it will be to unhook all of your wheels. It will also give you a longer slide so you can feel it out and learn better.
  • When you are doing your first slides, exaggerate your movements, learn to unhook first. You can learn to get things under control later. Commit to your movements and smash those slides out.

Sliding will turn into an obsession for some; this means you are a freerider, rather than a downhiller. And it’s alright to like this; there are whole competitions designed for you!

 

  • First downhill Longboarding experience.

 

You’re here! You are fully equipped to take your first downhill runs. Now, there’s not much to cover here, except some recommendations for safety and some rules about respect for your local community and city.

When you skate your first hill, make sure that you take it slow; don’t push yourself too hard, and gradually ease yourself into the downhill mindset. Downhilling is an extreme sport; it takes comprehension that is usually beyond the parameters of a normal person, and you are stretching your capabilities so that you can do this sport safely. Take precautions.

For your first downhill experiences, it’s very important that you don’t do them alone. One, the roads you’ll be skating will be better known by your local scene; they’ve been riding and skating it for years, probably. They’ll tell you where the cars jump out, where you need to drift, where you need to slow down, or where you can let go and just go as fast as possible. Also, bump-draft buddies are always welcome.

Don’t know where to find skate buddies? Facebook is your buddy here. Search some common keywords like, “CITY longboarding” or “longboarding CITY”. Chances are, your city or town has a pretty good skate scene in it, and was probably the start of something great. Other great places to look are Instagram, Meetup, and Google. Connect with people, and don’t be shy. As long as you aren’t acting out of line, skaters in this community are usually incredibly friendly and getting buddy buddy with them will only end in your self-improvement.
Another incredibly important part to this sport is respecting your local community. Your local community is what really allows you to skate your favorite roads, and so it’s important that you do your part when using those facilities. You should always pick up your trash, don’t act rowdy, be friendly to people who are passing and when there is a confrontation with police or your angry neighbors, try to explain, not confront. It’s important not only for the image of your local skate scene, but also the longboarding scene in general.

 

  • The aftergame.

 

There isn’t much to guide you on after this; rather, you’ll have enough knowledge by now to guide yourself in your endeavor to become a better longboarder. Some tips to help you on your way though:

  • Start upgrading your gear.
    • Look into other decks; form an opinion about concaves and make it your goal to find what you like most in a deck.
    • Research your ideal truck; look at higher-tiered trucks higher up in the budget ranges. These trucks will last you a long time and help you progress further.
    • Look into buying a full-face helmet to really go fast.
  • Keep working on your slides, and build a large arsenal of them. These will allow you to skate any hill from top to bottom.
  • Race. Find races to compete in and get yourself some medals. It isn’t hard!
  • Host community events and get ingrained in your local community.

The Magneto downhill Longboard. AKA The Tesla 

downhill-longboards

But always, always wear a helmet.

Ps we spend a lot of time writing awesome posts, your shares and likes make us carry on! So go on, if you liked this post share it with a friend. 

Ryan, Magneto Longboards 

Magneto Electric Skateboard Pre-ride Check List

 

 

What to check for before setting off on an electric Longboard ride.

The Magneto Electric Skateboard Pre-ride checklist.

OK guys, so this is something you should be doing most of the time before you plan a any sort of significant electric longboard ride.

1.)

Check Longboard and controller are fully charged, You’ll see 2 green lights on the controller, 1 indicates the remote is paired and status of battery in the remote, the 2nd indicates battery life in the Magneto Electric Skateboard.

2.)

Check operation, Turn the board on, pair the remote by holding A, now just lift he back wheels off the ground and accelerate using the remote. The wheels should spin, now brake using the remote by pushing down C. This just confirms the operation.

3.)

Do quick visual and run your skateboard tool around wheel nuts checking everything is how it should be. Do not over-tighten these.

4.)

Plan your journey. No electric skateboard, or pretty much any smaller motorised riding device likes rough and bumpy roads, so plan a nice clear, quiet tarmac route. This will extend your range and pro-long general longevity in the Magneto Electric Skateboard.

5.)

Weather! Always check the weather, common sense guys, who likes to ride in the rain anyway!

6.)

Safety, OK, I know you were expecting this and I know, you know! But here goes again.

The Magneto Electric Skateboard is a beast. People injure themselves on normal skateboards, please take extra pre-cautions in wearing safety gear.

7.)

Like anything mechanical failure and the un-expected is always possible. Try to ride with a plan to bail or fall safely back up at all times. Never put yourself in a situation where your life is 100% dependant on the brakes or the board performing perfectly. Even though the event of failure is extremely rare, why risk it?

Magneto Electric Skateboard

(Credit to Kilian for the images)

We hope you found this post useful, please share it 🙂

 

Your First Electric Skateboard ride.

 

 

You hear that knock on the door, it’s the postman, could it be…could the wait be over?

 

Yes the Magneto Electric Skateboard has arrived.

 

You put the box on the table and begin to gingerly unseal the box to reveal the beast within.

 

Here’s what you need to know. 

 

After opening the box you’ll find your Magneto board and all the accessories to ride.

 

These include:

 

1.) Charger for board and remote.

 

2.) Bluetooth Remote and sleeve.

 

3.) Skateboard tool.

 

4.) The Magneto electric skateboard.

 

5.) Instructions.

 

Before your first Electric board ride 

 

1.) Charge the Magneto for 5-6 hours (first charge) Also charge the controller.

 

2.) Read instructions and read our safety page

 

3.) Put on appropriate footwear and safety gear, see safety page, link above.

 

OK, now your board is charged, you’re wearing the correct gear and feeling pretty excited.

 

Awesome! I bet right now your heart rate is buzzing and you can’t wait to get outside in the fresh air and ride at 20mph..

 

Just hold on a second…

 

Our boards have a very tight braking and acceleration programme, with practice, it’s easily mastered but the first few hours there will be some spills even for experienced rider’s so don’t be a show off!

 

We tailored the acceleration and braking, it’s a very rewarding programme, however it requires patience and practice to master. The braking is aggressive and it should be, it’s important to be able to stop fast, it’s also fun! 🙂

 

So look…we all want to be Casey Neistat but you need to take it slow at the start otherwise you’ll be punished.

 

Find a large flat, dry open space take it slow, the brake is tuned to be lighter at higher speeds, at lower speeds it can be full on, the best way to use the brake initially is pull back quickly, release, pull back quickly release. A bit like ABS in a car.

 

Stance: The Longboard deck has a concave that allows you to lock your feet in, use the W concave on the deck, it’s there for a reason! 

 

The idea is this: at low speeds you can just turn your lead foot a little forward so you feel comfortable.

 

However: At higher speeds both feet need to be locking into the concave and facing more forward. With your feet locked in like this, with practice you’ll be able to go full on the brake at top speed. It’s an awesome feeling and will take time to master.

 

In theory to be safe you should never rider faster than you can run, as bailing is an important part and of course if you need to abandon deck! If the board is under your top running speed you’ll be able jump off and run along side the board in case of an emergency or losing your balance.

 

Riding conditions Always try to ride on clean, dry, flat ground. Avoid divets and bumps like the plague. Remember the wheels aren’t bicycle wheels, they’re a lot smaller, so hitting a bump or small hole can bring the board to sudden complete stop.

 

Never ride downhill exceeding the boards top speed, this can cause a malfunction in the equipment.  

 

Common sense tip:

 

This might sound a bit contradictory but try and stay out of your head when riding, just focus on your body, the moment, feel the air, listen and pay attention. Don’t think about why Jenny hasn’t text you back or what you’re having for dinner tonight. 😛

 

Note: Continuous downhill and uphill riding especially for heavier rider’s will cause the board to wear much faster.

 

After the ride

 

After riding, give your board a quick clean with some moist wipes.

 

Never leave the board fully un-charged for a longtime, try and fully run the battery down then fully charge in order to get the most out of the battery.

 

Always wear a helmet, any Qs add them to the comments!

 

Here’s a You Tube unboxing by Ben Fox 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beginner Longboarding: Getting started

Buying your first bits of gear can be scary. You haven’t done much research; you’re lost on what works for you and what will help you progress the fastest. People are telling you, buy this, buy that, I like this, I like that, but you don’t know why or if you can trust those people; after all, they’re not you.

This is a guide that aims to help you, the common beginner, to safely make good Longboard related purchases that will aid in your quick progression and reduce wasting money on things you really don’t need.

Deciding what you want:

The first step to buying your first package of gear is finding out what you’re really looking for from longboarding as a sport. Do you want to cruise around with friends? Do you want to go fast and be a daredevil? Or maybe you want to get into some sliding stuff and wow your friends here and there! Or maybe get into a really niche sector of skating and be the only guy in your whole city that does it and get famous for it. Regardless, there’s a set of gear that’s tuned just for you, and even more, since you’re just starting out.

Before we get into specifics, there are a few things that are mandatory for any and all skating that you ever do: A helmet. This is a disclaimer of sorts that warns you to absolutely buy a helmet when you start skating. There is a huge selection of helmet companies out there, but what you need in general is a dual-certified helmet. For most applications, a regular half shell will do. The easiest way to buy a helmet is to go to your local shop and try out helmets. All helmets have different shapes and therefore will fit a bit differently based on the brand, and it is extremely important that your helmet fits snug and slightly claustrophobically in order to protect your noggin! A brain-dead skater isn’t a skater at all. Also, most people won’t skate with you unless you have a helmet on anyway.

Skating can be split into a few general categories, namely cruising, downhilling, freeriding, and freestyle/dancing.

Section one: Cruising.

Arguably the one kind of skating that every skater in the history of longboarding has done. Most of the pros started out with it, and I can guarantee you that most of the longboarders you see around town are either cruisers or downhillers who are having fun just cruising around. I can also guarantee that you, as a first time skater, are most likely going to be a prospective cruiser before you actually get into any other more “hardcore” disciplines of skating like downhill or freeride.

The Longboard.

For a cruiser longboard setup, you have a huge selection of boards to choose from. Virtually any longboard will suit your needs as a cruiser, since you don’t really have any criteria to fill in terms of the speeds you’re reaching of the foot placement, as you’re going to be doing slow, chilled-out stuff for the majority of your time. However, there are a few standard practices out there when it comes to building a cruiser setup that revolve around comfort.

A cruiser longboard setup should be low to the ground, slightly flexible, and easily manageable in terms of weight and size. Being low to the ground means that you don’t have to reach down very far to push. Being slightly flexible lets the arches of your feet rest as the board will absorb a lot of the vibrations from the road. Being manageable lets you commute to places, easily maneuver around obstacles, and when time comes to duck into a café, you can just pick it up and bring it inside without being too cumbersome. A good example is a drop through longboard.

On a cruising setup, it is in the greatest interest of your time for you to just go with the complete setup. As you start cruising around and enjoying the sport, you will very quickly find out what you want in a board and start to upgrade by yourself.

Section two: Downhill longboard/Freeride

Downhill longboarding and Freeride comprise around half of the population of more “hardcore” skaters. It involves skating long, downhill roads, pulling slides and drifts to control speed and cornering, racing, and just all-around having some adrenaline-pumping fun. Freeride generally consists of pulling long, fancy slides and innovating to come up with new slides on a very steep, fast hill. Freeriders indulge in slide jams and are very good downhillers as well.

In terms of gear, you will need:

  • Slide Gloves
    Slide gloves allow you to place your hand on the road when you are riding, allowing for slides such as colemans and predrifts. Even if you don’t slide, these are awesome for saving the skin on your hands when you fall.
  • Pads
    Knee pads and elbow pads are recommended as they will protect your knees and elbows from getting road rash. Getting pads with hard caps is the best, since you can actually get on your knees when you fall and slide to a stop on them.

See the Tesla Downhill Longboard/Freeride Longboard 

Tesla downhill longboard

The Longboard.

You can use most downhill longboards for freeride, and most freeride boards for downhill. This is because the two styles of skating share the common factor of going fast, and also sliding. Companies like Rayne offer a huge downhill/freeride selection; there are boards of every concave and size.

Downhill longboards/freeride boards are for the major part, much stiffer and in some cases, shorter than cruising boards such as pintails and dancers. The stiffness is almost mandatory as in a downhill setting, you want an extremely direct and linear influence on the turn and lean of your board. Flex is slightly non-linear and thus makes wobbles and other implications of bad downhill easier to get. A shorter board is the product of weight reduction and generally taking out surface area that isn’t needed. Downhill boards are sometimes not the prettiest in terms of shape; this is because manufacturers try to take out as much meat as possible in order to conserve on weight and utility.

The most important thing for a downhill longboard/freeride setup is to make sure that the board you choose has a concave that is comfortable for you, but also locks you in so you don’t slip out mid-ride. There are a few unique styles of concave:

For your first longboard, your best bet is to go with a simpler concave, such as radial concave or progressive concave. This will allow you to not only be comfortable while riding around, but also be able to get some good, decent locked-in sensation when you’re doing mellow downhill and freeride. In the case that you want more support for your arch (three times the surface area support), then you can opt for some W concave. If you feel that you want some intense heel and toe support, but feel that your arches hurt from flexing upwards, you can get flatcave concave.

This, paired with the option of drops, microdrops, rocker and camber in boards gives you an incredibly huge selection of concave that you must experiment with as you carry on in your journey to become an outstanding downhiller/freerider! A good piece advice is to try out and stand on as many boards as you can at meets. This will allow you to not only see and touch but also feel how it is under your feet. You may think you don’t like one type of concave but find you are obsessed with it!

A few quirky tendencies of people do exist when they pick boards though. For instance, some people like kicktails on their downhill/freeride boards just because they can fool around at the top of the hill doing flip tricks with them. Some people like “quiver-killers” which are boards that are jacks-of-all-trades. They are good for flip tricks, good for freeride, and good for downhill.

Another important part of your freeride/downhill setup is the truck. You will need, in general, a low-angle truck with a low-angle baseplate such as 45 degrees for a downhill setup, and a higher-angle, 50 degree truck for freeride. As you ride, you will find your favorite truck and start to tweak it to your liking with aftermarket bushings. It is a good idea to buy a complete for your first downhill setup and go from there.

Section 3: Freestyle Longboarding

Freestyle is the fancy board-walking stuff that you see on the internet sometimes, where people twirl on top of their boards and somehow flip their board up into the air, catch it, twirl it again, throw it down and somehow step on it and keep riding. This is an increasingly popular niche of the sport, and recently, there have been whole competitions dedicated to dancing and freestyle in Europe.

For freestyle, you definitely will want pads, as it requires a lot of falling to learn flip tricks!

The Longboard.

The Longboard requirements for a freestyle board are just slight, welcoming flex, a 40+ inch length, and double kicktails.

The welcoming flex will allow you to land on a board without splintering into pieces, and it will protect you from destroying your feet when you land. The length allows you to make some nice steps up and down the board without feeling too cramped, and the double kicktails will allow you to do some stylish pivots and flip tricks!

Make sure you get high-angle trucks to get a really nice, carvy, surfy feeling to your setup, as carving is what really drives the tricks behind freestyle and carving.

Remember to ALWAYS wear a helmet. Ryan of Magneto Longboards.

Carbon Fiber Longboard by Magneto

 

The Magneto Carbon Fiber Longboard

Longboarding: 3 Reasons that make Carbon Fiber Longboards great! 

Get The Magneto Carbon 

Carbon fiber has, for many reasons, been one of the most luxurious materials out on the market, and for good reason. Not only does it look cool, it actually has a bunch of really good uses for construction too! That’s why they use it for applications like sports cars, military helicopter propellers, and even things like thousand-dollar wristwatches and pens.

Learn more about Carbon fiber

What you may not have known though, is that carbon fiber has been a big thing in the longboarding industry for a while too. You can find them in big longboard stores. What nobody knows is; who does it best? This is a hard question to answer. But a good question that can be answered pretty easily is:

“What are the things that make carbon fiber so good for longboards?”.

Reason 1: Strength.

Carbon fiber longboards are made of pure carbon and some epoxy. This makes for an extremely strong material, since both of these materials are revered to be some of the most expensive, and strong materials available to the common consumer.

Elemental carbon is extremely strong in terms of tensile strength. That means that if you took a hair-shaped piece of carbon fiber and tugged on it, it would be able to carry a lot of weight! In fact, a laboratory-manufactured carbon nanotube can actually carry more weight than ten times its amount in steel, which is pretty incredible. As we speak, scientists in labs are scurrying to find good ways to apply them into space travel, which is pretty amazing.

Because elemental carbon strands are already so strong, weaving them into a fabric makes them exponentially stronger on top of that. Think of a cloth. If you took a thread, you can just pull hard enough, and it will snap. Not very strong, and if you suspended enough weight on the end of it, at some point, it will break and the weight will fall. However, if you took many of those strands and wove them together into a tight mesh and hung the weight by the corners of the fabric, the weight most likely wouldn’t fall down. Stretch, yes, but it wouldn’t fall down. The reason that it stretches is because the strands are able to shift against each other since they’re not really held together by a solid medium. Which brings us to the epoxy. Epoxy is a sticky substance that when cured, creates a very hard, almost glassy plastic-like material. Sometimes it’s called cement, because it is so strong. Epoxy is both lightweight and usually transparent, so it’s very good to be using for carbon fiber applications. As said before, regular fabrics don’t really hold solidly; rather, they shift around because they lack a solid bond to each to stop them from shifting in position. This is what the epoxy does to the carbon fiber.

After the flexible sheets of carbon fiber are laid down in the correct configuration, engineers usually brush and saturate the fibers with a thick layer of epoxy. Not only does this keep the fibers on the surface, it also solidifies the fibers into their desired shape.

Together, carbon fiber is one of the strongest materials on the market.

carbon fiber longboard

Reason 2: Weight

Carbon fiber, for its weight, is an extremely strong material. A few layers of carbon fiber that is about as thick as a coin for example, is enough to make a flexible longboard deck completely solid. No more flex.

For this reason, longboard manufacturers use it to make incredibly stiff speed decks while keeping it extremely light.

A very popular combination in terms of building materials is bamboo and carbon fiber, or sometimes even balsa wood and honeycomb structures in extreme cases, but these extreme cases cost well over six hundred dollars. The more affordable and practical bamboo carbon fiber hybrid is extremely versatile because of how much it capitalizes on reducing weight with very affordable and accessible materials.

Bamboo by itself is a very versatile material. When it is laid down as a veneer from side to side, it’s a decently flexible material and it’s used for very uniform-feeling flex decks that people use for dancing and such. Add some carbon fibre to this, and not only is it extremely light, but it is also stiff. Sometimes, there will be a welcoming dampening flex to some of these boards, and trust me; they’re wonderful.

Sometimes, manufacturers will vertically laminate the bamboo so that the grain is going upwards and downwards. This creates a truly rock-hard board that’s good for literally everything fast and slidey.

Reason 3: Toughness.

Carbon fiber is so gosh-darn resilient that logically it barely even makes sense! Online, you see those carbon fiber street skateboards, and after doing grids and board slides, they sometimes come out and they’re barely scratched, and even less structurally damaged. This is a problem with longboards sometimes; the rocks and stones that you run over while you’re speeding down a hill sometimes ding up the bottom of your deck, and it’s true, it’s annoying sometimes. I know I had a deck at one point that I took down a run when it was brand new, and when I got to the bottom, the graphic had a huge chunk taken out of it, replaced by a streak of white stone residue.

Carbon fiber however, doesn’t really do this, since the epoxy is really the only thing getting damaged. All you need is a brush and some more epoxy, and you’ve got a brand new board. Pretty nifty.

Carbon fiber Longboards will always be up there as a superior technology longboard and a superior material. It’s even better when you can ride it.

Get the Carbon: The Magneto Carbon 

Always wear a helmet! Ryan from Magneto Longboards.