page_title: Longboard (skateboard)
section_title: Decks
hierarchical_section_title: Longboard (skateboard) / Components / Decks
caption_attribution_description: English: Gordon &amp; Smith Aloha Blue 44'' Pintail long deck. Madness trucks. 65x36x78A Madness wheels. Euskara: Gordon &amp; Smith Aloha Blue 44'' Pintail taula luzea. Madness ardatzak. 65x36x78A Madness gurpilak.
context_page_description: A longboard is a type of sports equipment similar to, but not the same as, a skateboard. It is often longer than a skateboard and has a wide variety of shapes. It tends to be faster because of wheel size, construction materials and more precise hardware. Longboards are commonly used for cruising, travelling and downhill racing, known as longboarding, rather than skateboarding. Longboard 'dancing' and 'freestyle' are also becoming more popular styles, in which the rider utilises skateboard-like motions and steps up and down the board, generally in a fluid manner.
context_section_description: Longboard decks are typically made from plywood: anywhere from two to eleven layers, each of usually 2 millimeters (0.079 in) in thickness, composed of birch, bamboo, maple, koa, or oak wood. Longboards are commercially available in a variety of shapes and sizes. Each variety has certain advantages and disadvantages, which come into play depending on the technique or personal preferences of the rider.
  Decks intended for riding downhill are typically stiff and have a wheelbase of around 30"-28". Designers and manufacturers aim to make these boards as stiff and light as possible. The primary three designs of downhill boards are "drop decks", "top mounts" and "drop throughs". Each design has its own advantages.
  The "drop deck" has a lowered foot platform that sits below the height of the trucks, as a result, there is a lower center of gravity which adds to stability but gives less traction and maneuverability. Wooden drop decks are concave and have foot pockets by the drops. However, some carbon fiber boards feature concavity by the drops instead of foot pockets giving more leverage while turning.
  The "drop through" design has cutouts that allow the base-plate of the truck to protrude through the board, thus lowering the deck and providing more stability. In addition to this, drop through decks decrease grip, as the deck is closer to the axle and moment arm of the wheel. There is also less leverage on the truck, which makes turning negligibly more difficult.
  "Top mount" boards are the simplest design of the three. There are no dramatic bends aside from the foot concave. The board sits on top of the trucks as it would in a street skateboard. Advantages to this design include increased grip and ease of turning; disadvantages include a high center of gravity, which could contribute to a lack of stability.
  There are many variations of the aforementioned designs, including a "double-drop" board, which incorporates both a drop through and drop down pattern. These are preferable for "freeride" as they are extremely low to the ground, which allows for ease of sliding. Footspace is important because there must be enough room on the board for the rider to form an aerodynamic "tuck". Downhill boards are made as stiff as possible to minimize the amount of energy stored in the deck in order to mitigate wobbling of the board at high speed (known as "speed wobbles").
  Some boards are designed to be flexible. Flexible boards are usually intended for lower speed riding because when going faster, a flexible board can have torsional flex which is one cause of speed wobbles. Fiberglass is used in many new flexible boards as it is light like carbon fiber but more pliable.
   Longboard decks can be shaped in such a way that they bow up or down along the length of the board. They can also have a downward bend along the width of the board. Concave boards, which bend upward on the sides, give the rider more friction for their toe and heel, thus giving them more control. A camber board is a gradual upward arch along the length of the board. This sets the center of the board above the truck mounts. This is often used on flexible boards to prevent the board from sagging when it is being ridden. A "rocker" shape is the opposite of camber, which sets the center of the board below the truck mounts when it is being ridden. This lets the rider more easily perform tricks like sliding by locking their feet into the board.
  Decks recently have been made using materials other than wood. The types and quality of woods have increased over time and now many other "superior" materials have come into use. Aluminum, carbon fiber and fiberglass are just some of the new materials. Carbon fiber and fiberglass are used to strengthen or completely replace wood in decks because of their better strength to weight ratios. Some boards are pure carbon fiber with a foam core, these can weigh much less than boards of equal size. Aluminum decks are CNC cut out of sheets of aluminum and incredible shapes can be made.
caption: A 44-inch (110 cm) pintail shaped deck
exif: {"Image Make": "CASIO COMPUTER CO.,LTD.", "Image Model": "EX-Z80", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2010:04:18 16:47:24", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "236", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "850", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3614", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/25", "EXIF FNumber": "31/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:04:18 16:41:36", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:04:18 16:41:36", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "315/121", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "33/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "63/10", "EXIF SubSecTime": "265", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1069", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2816", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "724", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0/0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "38", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}