How to buy a Longboard
It can be difficult to buy your first longboard. It's especially difficult for people who have never even skated on a longboard before. You will learn everything there is to learn about buying a longboard in the following paragraphs.
You will want to think about the type of longboarding you're going to be doing before you just go out and buy a longboard. If you want to go downhill as fast as possible,
you'll need a high tech board, like something from sector nine or loaded longboards. If you just want to cruise the streets and do things at low speeds, then most any other board will work just fine.
You may just want to go out and buy a longboard that's already setup for you. This is called a complete longboard. The best advice that this guide can give you if you take the route of buying a complete longboard is this: don't waste your money on a cheap board. Your experience will be infinitely better if you spend a good chunk of money on a good longboard. If you'd rather put a deck together, you will need to buy all the parts. We'll explain wheels first.
Longboard wheels vary in size and hardness. Longboard wheels are typically very soft. Softer wheels grip the road more easily and give the rider a smoother riding experience. Softer wheels also work better when a person slides - they act more like a brake than harder wheels do. This is at the cost of the wheels, though. Softer wheels tend to not last as long as harder ones.
Next you need to purchase a longboard deck. For downhill skating, you will want to buy something from loaded longboards. There aren't really many other companies to buy a longboard deck from anyway. Unless you want to buy a blank deck or something. Loaded longboards are great decks anyway; they've been specially designed to assist the user in doing various maneuvers at fast speeds and will usually last a long time
Finally, you'll need a pair of longboarding trucks. It's hard to advise you what the best types of trucks are, but anything that is made for a longboard will do nicely. Don't just buy a long pair of skateboarding trucks, they act differently (believe it or not). If you find that you're really having a tough time with this, as one of the people working at the store. They will probably share their opinion on what's best for you.
That's about it for putting together a longboard. You'll find as you go through everything that the best way to piece a skateboard together is to go to a shop and look at all the components. Find parts that suit you and your riding style, then put everything together. You shouldn't be too disappointed if you've taken the time to find quality parts.
