Longboarding Research Paper

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A mangled pair of ratty skate shoes step onto the rough grip tape of a long wooden deck that has been cut, shaped, and sanded to perfection. As the feet push off, the board rolls down smooth pavement beginning a ride on an adventurous journey. Glossy polyurethane wheels roll on the asphalt as the rider leans left and right controlling his carves on the street. The wood deck flies just a few inches above the ground with the feel of a surfboard gliding through smooth water while riding a wave. When the rider begins to descend down a hill the longboard picks up speed rapidly. Now the speed is so fast the rider’s eyes start to tear up from the wind. He must carve on the board to control his speed. The sounds of the bearings, which are hidden in the soft wheels, make a humming as they spin down the road. This sound is recognizable to any longboarder or skating enthusiast. This is a sound that I have grown up hearing. Ever since I was about 7 years old I have been carving and bombing on longboards. Longboarding has been my longest and favorite hobby throughout my childhood. I have always been interested in learning the …show more content…

During my visitation I explored my mentor, Bob Waller’s, workshop where he builds his company’s boards. He explained to me all the distinct deck shapes and the riding styles for those deck shapes. I learned from my visitation that longer decks are usually used for carving and pumping similar to the shape of ride style of a surf board. Slightly shorter boards are usually used for hill bombing and slightly shorter than those are primarily reserved for freestyle and free riding. Some decks can also be lowered or commonly known as drop down. I learned from my research that these lowered decks can provide more stability because the rider’s center of gravity would be lower. Therefore drop down decks are usually used for freestyle

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