Longboard Shapes Explained

Types of longboard skateboards:

From mini longboards to funky guitar shaped longboards, just how many types of longboards are out there and what are the purposes for these shapes? That’s what we are about to answer.
This is our detailed descriptions about the different types of longboard skateboards the world has to offer us.

Mini longboards:
The first type of longboard is the mini skateboard or mini longboard which are the same thing. The minis come in many different sizes from 20” to about 32”. There are about a hundred different mini types including old school, fishtail, pig, hammer head, classic 70s, and cruisers. The mini is great if you’re looking for an easy portable skateboard to cruise around on or take to campus.

Traditional longboards:
The traditional longboard is the most common longboard type for a skater to get. It’s very broad to say traditional longboard types because of how many shapes are in the traditional longboard category. Traditional longboards are mainly used for cruising around the streets. They are not used for downhill skating although you still can. The types of traditional longboards are the pintail longboards which are the most popular type followed by, kicktail longboards, and splittail longboards and many other abstract shapes. The pintail longboard is shaped like a tear drop with the wide nose to the skinny pointed tail. The kicktail can also have many shapes; they named it the kicktail because the tail kicks up in the back and is sometimes used for turning the board.

Drop through longboards:
The world needed more turning ability, more speed and definitely more control and for those reasons the drop through longboard was born. The drop through gets its name because the trucks actually drop through the truck holes of the board. The board is mainly used for more advanced longboarding for uses of downhill, speed racing, carving and sliding. Because of how the trucks drop through the board it brings the deck lower to the ground for more control and less chance of speed wobbles. Speed wobbles are when the board goes back and forth uncontrollably causing you to get thrown off. Although it is most popular with down hilling a lot of skaters would rather cruise around on a drop through than a cruiser because of the sharper turning ability.

Drop down longboards:
The drops down longboards are very similar to drop through longboards in many ways. The difference is that the drop down sits even lower to the ground for more speed control. The drop down deck weighs a little more and is a little stronger. The main purpose for the drop downs are for downhill sliding although it’s getting more popular for your everyday cruiser. Another great feature about the drop down that we discovered is that the drop down is easier on your knees. The board sits extremely low to the ground causing less tension on them when pushing. The standing knee isn’t bent as much when pushing causing less tension and less strain to your knees.