HOW BEGINNERS CAN MAINTAIN THEIR LONGBOARDS

If you have ever heard about longboarding, you would know that this skating style does not have many hard tricks and riders tend to concentrate on cruising or traveling over a far distance. Although longboarders do not abuse their skateboards like other skaters who prefer doing tricks, they still need regular maintenance.

As SkateAdvisors talked about the steps to maintain a longboard, your skateboard suffers a lot from the vibration as well as the impact while riding on different terrains during a single skating session. To extend the longboard’s lifespan, I think taking some minutes to clean and maintain it is not a bad idea.

The following tips are taken from my experience and I try to explain them in the most intuitive way such that even a completely new skater can still understand the guide. Hopefully, after reading this post, every reader can grab some knowledge about longboard maintenance tips.

Before learning to clean a longboard, you should be able to tell the difference between a longboard and a normal skateboard. Due to the infrequent use for extreme tricks, longboards are a bit bulky as compared to other types of skateboards.

They typically have larger decks, bigger wheels, and wider trucks than a traditional skateboard. Similar to other kinds of skateboards, longboards are also vulnerable to water since they can damage the internal structure of the deck or the trucks. Therefore, the more effort you make on maintaining the board, the longer it can stay with you.

As suggested by SkateAdvisors on line6, soapy water is good for cleaning a longboard, and skaters had better use a nylon brush to avoid damaging the cover of the board by accidents. Brushing in a circle is a good technique in order to get the dust off your grip tape. I suggest that you finish with a side before moving to the remaining.

No matter what kind of water you use for cleaning, you need to swap water off the board immediately after cleaning and make sure that the board is dried up in the right method. I often used a towel to get the water off and let the board dry naturally.

Some skaters even put their longboards under direct sunlight; however, the heat from the sun can easily damage the board and destroy the connection among layers. I think the best way to dry it up is your garage or anywhere dry and cool around your house.

Adding lubricant is a crucial step in order to keep the longboard in the best conditions. After cleaning, your bearings, wheels, and other movable parts can rotate with difficulty due to the increase of friction.

With some proper types of lubricants as suggested by SkateAdvisors on physicsgre, you can ensure the working condition of all these rotational components that I just mentioned above. After all, the key thing is to keep your skateboard dry and clean after each ride. Sometimes, adding a little lubricant is necessary to keep every part running smoothly.