Longboarding is one of the best sports you can enjoy in your leisure time. It is a nice and convenient way to travel from one place to another. One great thing about the longboard is that it is a much faster way to travel than walking. You will reach your destination much faster with this boards.
Now the question is, How fast can a longboard go? It’s an essential topic to talk about. So, in today’s article, we’ll have a quick talk on this subject.
Longboards are usually faster than skateboards. The reason behind it is the wheelbase being particularly larger. The speed of a longboard ranges from 6 mph to 65 mph and specifically depends on the way you ride. So now, we will quickly discuss some of the points that can affect the factors of your longboard speed.
Following are the factors that’s defines How Fast Can A Longboard Go?
1. Tucking Techniques:
Tucking Techniques are major reasons for reducing or gaining speed on the board. The tucking position is helpful for you when you start riding. It’s one of the most crucial things to keep in mind. It helps you to make your position aerodynamically perfect.
This aerodynamic position helps you create a posture that reduces air friction as much as possible. This position will determine how fast you can go on a longboard. The best position while riding a longboard is to kneel with your front profile as shown in the image above.
The front knee and the back knee should be in line with the hand tucked at the back. This is the best and most common tucking position.You need to master your tucking position to achieve great speed on the board. For safety reasons, wear a helmet and knee and elbow pads. Helmets help you reduce air friction to some extent.
2. Weight
It is an important factor that you need to take into consideration. You might think that a lightweight rider can have great speed on a longboard, but that is not the case if you are riding a longboard on a straight track.
The rider who is on the lighter side usually buys heavier longboards to balance their weight. A rider with less weight and a longboard with heavyweight can complement each other perfectly because of the reduced air resistance while riding.
A heavy rider can achieve 10 to 12 mph more than a light rider on a straight track. The reason behind this is friction between the ground and the longboard wheels. Heavyweight riders reduce air resistance while riding. It’s the reason why they are comparatively faster.
3. Brake Application:
If you want to achieve pretty good speed on a longboard, you need to learn the proper braking techniques. It is considered a crucial aspect while riding a longboard.
The most basic one is foot braking. With this technique, you just put one of your feet on the ground while riding. You need to release your leg slowly onto the ground so that you can reduce your speed with a generous amount of friction. You need to remember that this technique is not suitable for fast rides. It can be hazardous if not done properly and can also destroy your shoes due to friction.
The second way to apply brakes on a longboard is by sliding. This is one of the best ways to apply brakes on a longboard ride. This technique is considered an advanced skill for most riders. If you master this technique, you can directly force stop the longboard any time you want. You can also have great control while taking sharp turns.
4. Speed on a Flat Track:
If you want to achieve a decent speed on a longboard while riding, you have to do it on flat tracks. The speed of a longboard depends on two things: the way you push and your pumping skills. First of all, you need to learn how to master your pushing skills. The best way to do it is to have a stable body posture.
One of your feet will help you push the ground backward, and the other will help you control the longboard. You can also try the tree yoga pose if you are too advanced. If you are done mastering your pushing skills, you will achieve great speed in less time.
The second thing is pumping on the longboard. It is an amazing technique that can help you gain speed while riding your board. It is not that difficult. In this technique, you need to shift your weight from one rail to another.You must swing your body back and forth to gain momentum and as you swing, longboard get acceleration and speed.
5. Longboard Selection:
The most important thing you need to remember while buying a longboard is to check the stability of your longboard. If you are a beginner, you need to keep this stability factor clear in mind. The quick tip is to buy a longboard whose center of gravity is closer to the ground. It is going to help you a lot. First, you have to learn the skill on a longboard with good stability. Then you can only shift to something more advanced.
The second thing you need to keep in mind is your turning ability. Once you master the stability, you also need to master the turning skills. These skills will help you get high-speed rides. One more thing you need to remember is the wheel of your longboard. Bigger wheels can achieve good speed in less time, and sharp and sleek wheels have a good grip. So It totally depends on your skills and preference what you want in your longboard.
So the longboards for downhill are the fastest longboards that can give you breathtaking speed most famous example of a downhill longboard that you can go for would be the MINORITY Downhill Maple Longboard. Its low gravity construction is ideal for any speed ride.
Wrapping it Up
We have discussed all the factors which can affect the longboard speed. These are the factors that determine how fast a longboard can go. It also depends on your abilities and practice and the level of speed you can achieve. So, First of all, learn about all the techniques given in this article and do a lot of practice. Only then can you be a master in it.
If you are also looking for informational guide on Different Types Of Longboards you can check our article on – Different Types Of Longboards.
Thank you 🙂
