Best Longboard for Beginners

Longboard Cruising, Drop Through Longboards, Longboard Dancing, and More

Longboarding was first introduced in Hawaii in the 1950s.  Developed by surfers who wanted to bring the thrill of carving waves to land. Today, longboarding still carries a strong surfing influence that can be observed in the lingo and various styles of longboarding.

 

After increasing in global popularity over the past 70 years, there are now so many types of longboards that it can be tough to choose one–especially when trying to find the best longboard for beginners.  At Magneto, we specialize in beginner longboards and are here to shed a light on the best and most affordable longboards.

The first step in choosing your board is to consider what style(s) of longboarding you are most interested in learning.  Cruising, downhill, carving and dancing/freestyle are the four core styles for longboard skateboards.

Cruising

Cruiser boards are among the most popular longboards for all skill levels.  It’s the most laid back style and is all about leisurely enjoying yourself outside while feeling the wind in your hair.  You’ll want a board with a wider wheelbase for stability (the wider the better) and soft flexibility for comfort.  When considering how to choose the best longboard for cruising: look at deckshape and size.

Cruiser longboards come in two general sizes:  longboard cruisers (for smooth rides with the occasional carve), and mini cruisers(for spicing up a bit with sharper turns and carves and added portability).

For a standard longboard cruiser, we recommend either a pintail longboard deck, or a cutout shape.  Our best pintail longboards for beginners are the bamboo Hana Pintail Longboard and the Pintail Series.  This board is 42 inches in length and features an 8 layer deck with a hard maple core and a beautifully stained bamboo top and bottom.  The Hana Pintail comes with an additional set of holes in case you want to learn how to modify your trucks.  Bonus:  this board includes a free skate tool.  This bamboo pintail longboard has over 100 extremely good reviews on Magnetoboards.com.

Separate from pintail longboards, our other best selling longboard is (their “cutout” shape).  The Bamboo Cruiser Longboard is 42 inches in length, has dropped-through truck mounts and sits low to the ground, this makes it a breeze to push.  The clean design, stellar reviews and free skate tool have made this one of the most popular longboards on the market.

Looking for something smaller (or perhaps a beginner skateboard for children)?  The Magneto Mini Cruiser is just 27.5 inches in length, making it super portable and a perfect choice for the everyday skater of all ages (including adults up to 275 lbs).  The double kick tails make skateboard tricks easy; mannies, ollies, flip tricks and general tick-tacking are skateboard tricks for beginners to master on this board. The large, soft wheels make it an excellent cruiser. Best of all: this mini cruiser is under $100 USD.

Downhill

Downhill longboard is a style meant for thrill seekers, and should only be attempted by skaters with some level of experience.  Riders often position themselves in an aerodynamic tuck to reduce drag, achieving crazy speeds down steep hills.  Note that riding at high speeds comes with a lot of risk.  Stability is the name of the game in downhill longboards, so you’ll require a deck that is wide and stable, with stiff flexibility.

The best downhill longboards we recommend are our Carbon Fiber Downhill Board, the Tesla Maple Downhill Board, or the Hana Twin Drop-Through Longboard.  These boards range from 35 to 42 inches in length, and each feature their own durable materials and unique shapes. All of these boards come with a free skate tool and free shipping.

Carving

This style of riding is all about those smooth, zig-zag movements back and forth across a street’s width making turns that look like the shape of an S. It is one of the easiest and most practical styles to learn but you’ll need the right type of board to do it. You want a carving longboard to have a low concave, you see this looking down the width, long side of the board and a high camber, you see this looking from the side of the board, where the middle of the board is higher than the 2 ends. The camber gives the board a bit of bounce allowing you to push and direct more freely.  

The best longboards for carving are the Bamboo Carver Longboard, the Slot Machine Longboard, and the Hana Twin Longboard.  

The Bamboo Drop-Through Carver is similar in shape to the aforementioned Bamboo Cruiser Longboard, however it’s three and a half inches shorter, about 20 bucks cheaper, and is made of fiberglass and bamboo.  

The Slot Machine Longboard is a unique option in that it features a patent-pending slot that is half-an-inch wide and runs the entire length of the board. We spent months of R&D on this new technology to perfect the dimensions of the slot.  At 40 inches long with medium flex, this is one of the most fun and overall best longboards for carving.  

Dancing and Freestyle

Freestyle longboarding and longboard dancing are for those with an artistic and creative soul.  The styles are similar in their creativity yet different in their execution.  Dancing literally means that the rider is dancing along the deck, typically over flat and open ground. Moves are typically very fluid and smooth. Freestyle longboarding incorporates more speed and tricks; wheel slides, flip tricks and grabs are all very common.

Dancers are typically larger with room for your feet to move about the deck. The best dancing longboards are between 44 and 48 inches in length, with medium flexibility.  We recommend our Bamboo Dancing Longboard, which is literally designed to be the perfect longboard dancer deck. The wider fiberglass and bamboo deck (9.5 inches wide) paired with gravity cast aluminum trucks make this long board an excellent, durable, spacious tool for relaxed boarding and/or creative longboard dancing tricks.

Two other fantastic choices (especially for longboard freestyling) are the Magneto Bamboo Cruiser and the Hana Twin Longboard.  Both boards are drop-through and 42 inches in length, however the Hana Twin is a half-inch wider, has medium flexibility and is made with bamboo and maple, whereas the Bamboo Cruiser is made with bamboo and fiberglass, offering softer flexibility.  

Learning how to longboard is a fun and exciting journey that adds an entirely new dimension to one’s life.  If you’re a day 1 beginner we recommend starting with the Kicktail Cruiser or the Bamboo Cruiser Longboard.  Both of these boards enable you to truly master basic longboarding and allow for the exploration of beginner skateboarding tricks. The Bamboo Cruiser is also popular for longboard dancing, so it’s an excellent board that is appropriate for all skill levels as you evolve as a skater.

For those who truly embrace skateboarding and longboarding as a favorite hobby or form of commuting, we highly recommend building your quiver, or small collection of boards.  The fact of the matter is that some days you’ll prefer a portable board that fits into a backpack or under the table at your favorite cafe, while other days you’ll be in the mood for a full-size longboard enjoy longboard dancing.  No matter your skate preference, Magneto has fantastic boards that are high-quality at low-prices.

With Love, From California