Originally Posted by
wipekitty
My SO used to skate...we always joke that longboards are for people who can't handle riding real skateboards.
It's probably not safe, but longboards are a bit more stable than regular skateboards. What really scares me is when the guys go down the big local hill on them at 25+ MPH.
I started skating at age 6 to throughout my teenage years. IMO longboards are for people who want to want to identify as "skaters" but don't want to do hard stuff like tricks! I will admit that bombing a hill on a longboard where they hit 50mph-60mph or more is totally legit, but trendy hipsters who get a longboard as a fashion accessory are posers in my book. Half the kids I see with these things are CARRYING them most of the time I see them.
Whenever I see a kid on a real board I try to stop to talk and bust out a quick pressure flip or something to see if I can still do it 25 years later. I've learned that skateboard tricks are not like "riding a bike" for me and it doesn't come as naturally as it did when I was a skinny little rubber person. I also can't just ollie off of stairs even a few feet tall without fear of crashing and bailing at the last minute. My first real crash on a bike happened just 2 years ago and it put me out for over 2 weeks; I fell like that 20 times a day skating in the 90s! I feel like Ben Stiller in Walter Mitty!
I'm pretty sure skateboard wheel technology hasn't advanced much in the last couple decades, so just know that one tiny pebble can stop all forward movement of a board regardless of the durometer of the wheels. Therefore the person keeps moving forward and at high speeds it can be a brutal fall. I'd hate to slam from a pebble at 25 mph or more!