Best downhill longboard setup

The reverse-kingpin, degree Paris trucks have a loose turning radius to remain stable at ultrahigh speeds. The Arbor Summit wheels — 71mm, 70a — are offset and have a mid-angle lip with a soft side wall that acts as a leaf spring, adding rebound. The Summits power through fast turns, and they grip when you need them to, but they slide easily and smoothly on command. The ABEC-5 bearings are adequate, but faster options exist.

As a unit, the Highground may be the best downhill complete for riders who like to switch disciplines on the fly.

The best downhill completes start with a great deck. Stiffness is key — flex equals instability, and instability causes speed wobbles. Manufacturers typically use eight or more layers of maple, or various exotic materials, to achieve the required stiffness for high-speed stability.

For very high speeds, shorter, directional boards reign because there is never a need for riding switch. Any slides are usually for braking purposes. The most street-oriented freeriders often opt for more of a twin-kick deck, while downhill freeriders often choose longer, drop-deck or drop-through boards for their ease of sliding.

The amount of concave a downhill longboard deck should have is subjective. It should be present, though, as it locks the feet in for more control around fast corners and for pre-drifting. A mellow, W-concave is a common feature, but the taco shape is as well. Rocker profiles are another common feature, as they lower the rider and provide rigidity. For the fastest setups, stability dictates everything in the best downhill trucks. Baseplate angles get as low as 40 degrees to loosen turning radii, and the reverse-kingpin is the norm.

Most modern racers are drifting toward top-mount decks because they apply downward pressure on the wheels for more traction. Drop-decks and drop-throughs lower the rider for a more stable ride, but the sideward pressure on the wheels makes them slide easier. The best downhill longboard wheels all have a few things in common as well.

They are usually taller — necessitating large cutouts in top-mounts decks — and have wider contact patches for traction. The lip profile is usually sharp, and soft durometers 78a to 80a increase exit speeds.

Center-set cores offer more grip. For freeride, the opposite of all of that is true — harder compounds, rounded lips, thinner contact patches — all in the name of sliding. For these riders, offset cores provide more stability when breaking traction, and make hooking back up easier.

Most riders who seek out hills evade marketing boxes and the labels manufacturers put on them. The majority will want a board that is stable when hitting blazing speeds, but that can also kick into a heelside slide when freeriding is in order.

Some of the longboards on this list can please most everyone, others are either race or freeride boards. The more a longboarder veers toward one extreme or the other, the more likely it is that two distinct setups will be required to switch disciplines. In which case read our guide about the best longboard brands on the market.

As to this site my goal is to help beginner riders to find the right equipment. Everything that I write here is my own opinion…. Quick recap:. Loaded Tesseract is the best board on my list.

Table of Contents. Super stiff deck design Technologically advanced concave locks feet into place All-quality construction. Decade-long track record of high-speed and quality Quality components require no upgrades to take to the hills. Not all downhill riders want a drop-deck this severe feet below the trucks. So, how do we know what to choose? Among those components are 3 things you should focus on the deck, the wheels, and the trucks. These are the main parts of a longboard and also a distinguishable feature with the unique color and design.

Also, pay attention to the flexibility, durability, the material of each part, and prices, too! And remember to list them down! Skateboard Cast. There are 3 core components you can find on a longboard deck, trucks, and wheels , along with some important supplements to join them together bearings, grip tape, axel, etc.

The signature features of a longboard are its deck and design. The deck is way much longer than usual. Some have concave designs to enhance the stability when sliding and create foot space to stand in, allowing you to control the board easier in complex techniques. Because these longboards are used for sliding downhill or free riding at higher speeds, their components must acquire stability, durability to achieve the desired speed.

The wheels are usually placed nearer to the edges of the tip and tail, while trucks are moderated to bear and reduce the whole weight and pressure on the wheels.

So, do you want to know more about how to choose the best sliding longboard setup? Take a closer look at the next 3 parts! The deck is the biggest part of any longboard. Choosing a high-quality and weight-resistant deck is the first requirement since you directly step right on this part.

These decks are normally plywood, bamboo, or oak wood-made with two to eleven layers 2mm thick. There are different designs of decks for different kinds of purposes you use a longboard for:.

Lowrider: this deck is great for those who love downhill cruising; it helps a lot in balancing and increasing your speed while riding. Drop Down: its shape is lower and closer to the ground than the Lowrider. The concave design enables you to do more complex techniques with impressive speed and balance.

Thus, beginners will benefit from its stability. 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. However, it should be comfortable. 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. 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:. 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. Downhill longboarding is a gravity sport. However, it is our responsibility as the rider to help gravity gain us our most valuable currency: velocity.

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. It is the line that puts the least amount of g-force into your board and body, and conserves the most momentum.

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. 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:. 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. To you know, save your life maybe. There is a progression of slides, at least generally. It goes like this:.