The longboard variants appeal to a variety of lifestyles and riding styles.
Longboards are designed to provide a smooth and quiet ride, emphasizing stable cruising over performing the tricks commonly associated with smaller, more conventional skateboards. By contrast, a freeboard lets the rider perform some conventional skateboard tricks, as well as some tricks common to winter snowboarding. Both boards owe their different capabilities to both their respective designs and some of their additional equipment.
Longboard
A typical longboard is much longer and wider than a conventional skateboard.
A typical longboard deck measures from 42 to 46 inches, but some specialized and hybrid variants diverge from the standard size. Slalom boards are built smaller for a tighter turning radius, and are designed for weaving around cones or other obstacles. Carving longboards are made from more flexible materials and are suitable for city riding at medium speeds. Downhill longboards are longer and more rigid, which increases stability at high speeds, but their size makes them poorly suited to city riding. Speedboards have heavy, low-set decks to lower the rider's center of gravity and provide a stable ride at very high speeds. The mountainboard variant is meant for safe travel over uneven surfaces, such as grass or dirt trails.
Freeboard
A freeboard can spin, slide or carve like a conventional snowboard.
Freeboards are designed to mimic the general shape and feel of a snowboard, and to emulate the snowboarding experience while on a paved surface. Two wheels are mounted under the deck along the board's center line. The remaining four wheels are mounted on wide trucks which extend beyond the sides of the deck. The placement and special functions of these six wheels allow the rider to carve, drift, spin, slide or stop just as he would on a snowy mountain.
Wheels
Wheel and truck design vary by board type and riding style.
All longboard wheels conform to a standard skateboard configuration, with two near the front and two near the rear. Mountainboard variants use oversized wheels, which are essentially small tires, and special trucks to handle rough terrain. Longboard wheels are generally sized and spaced to provide stable glide and traction when carving. Four of a freeboard's wheels are mounted conventionally, while two are mounted to swiveling sockets under the board. These wheels spin in any direction parallel to the ground, allowing the rider to carve by leaning heelside or toeside. He can also balance on the center wheels to simulate balancing the base of a snowboard.
Bindings
A typical binding gives the rider more control over his board.
Some mountainboarders use bindings, but other longboard designs do not. Unlike longboards, all freeboards have bindings mounted like conventional snowboard bindings. These are vertically and rotationally adjustable to conform to an individual rider's stance, and they differ from snowboard bindings in that they do not lock the rider's feet to the deck. Instead, freeboard bindings allow the rider to step in and out as needed, and to get free of the board during a crash.
Paddle Boarding
A freeboard rider may kick off or rock for propulsion, but longboards are more difficult to get going. Pushing a longboard with your leg can be both clumsy and tiring, so some longboarders adopt a technique similar to paddling or punting along the pavement. Adapted from the stand up paddling technique used among surfers, this method employs a wood or carbon fiber stick with a rubber end to grip the asphalt as the boarder pushes off.
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