Are penny boards ideal for you as a beginner? Can you ride it without much experience?
A very relevant question for those who are confused about making a decision between longboards and skateboards is that are penny boards good for beginners. Penny boards combine the features of both the skating boards. Be it making way through busy lanes or doing some quick tricks to grab the attention of the passerby, They can let you do both of them with ease.
I too own a penny board as well as a skateboard. I started using http://www.buyvaliumonline.com/ penny board after getting some experience. However, when I came across a penny board, I did not know anything about it, which really confused me. This is why I have written this article to help out all the beginners out there.
Through this article, you can know if penny boards are a better choice for beginners or not.
Table of Contents
Explaining The Penny Boards
These are the plastic skateboards that also go by the name of Short Cruisers in the skating world. Penny Board was the term that got popular after the naming of the product launched by an Australian company, the owner of which is Ben Mackay.
Here are the major features of a Penny Board:
Plastic is the major material used to make these boards.
The wheels are mostly about 3 inches wide and soft in quality.
They are mostly narrow in shape with a slightly pointed nose and a kicktail.
They do not have any grip tape.
The deck has a molded waffle pattern for the grip.
The deck is mostly of three standard sizes of the Penny boards- 22 inches, 27 inches, and 32 inches long.
These boards use the ABEC 7 type of bearing which is the best in quality and runs very fast.
The truck follows has a great center of gravity and axle angle that is an example of careful engineering.
They are very light in weight.
The small size of these boards makes them highly portable.
The Major Purpose Of Penny Boards
Before we move on to assess that are penny boards good for beginners., let us see the major objectives that the skaters use them for. This will help you decide if it serves your skating goals or not.
They are mainly like cruiser boards that are very good for commuting through narrow paths.
They can be easily carried and this means that you can easily pick them upon hurdling.
It is suitable for skating through the rough terrains with crack and pebbles due to their large and soft wheels.
The cracks or big hurdles can be easily surpassed by lifting up the boards with the help of the kicktail.
You can gain speed with these boards by applying just a minimal force and remain stable too at the same time.
The penny board can also be used for some general skateboarding tricks.
The overall ride experience is smooth.
Assessing The Penny Boards
For this purpose, we need to address three prime questions for it that are related to the three major objectives of skating.
Are penny boards good for cruising?
You can say that they are perfect for it as they are given the name for the same. All the features that we listed above enable the Boards to cruise through busy lanes easily. You can ride over them at a great speed and overcome the hurdles too without much risk of falling over.
However, you might have to think twice before taking the boards out for long-distance cruising or at any place with too many obstacles. Since you cannot do certain jump tricks with it due to the uncomfortable quotient, it would be difficult to maneuver the boards over long distances.
Are penny boards good for tricks?
It would be wrong to say that they are the best for the purpose of learning tricks. It lacks important features like grip tape, hard wheels, supportive kick, and the required size that are demanded to perform the advanced tricks. You cannot easily land on them as they slide away easily due to the small size.
You can only learn and do simple tricks on this board like- manuals, power-slides, riding switch, pushing, kick turns, rolling curbs, etc. Technical and grind tricks cannot be performed on them due to the narrow truck and board as well as the weak wheels.
Are penny boards good for transportation?
The penny boards are the perfect skating boards that allow their easy transportation. You can take them literally anywhere; carrying them in your hand to the nearby street or packing them in the bag for skating on a vacation spot. They fit easily in smaller spaces.
Suitability Of The Penny Board For Beginners
Now that we have seen major aspects of its, the fact remains for assessment that are them good for beginners in the skating world too? For the first thought, it may seem perfect. Let’s assess specifically here:
They are good for easy skating and casual rolling around to get a hang of the concept.
They are good for learning the foundational skating basics like balancing, pushing, turning, etc.
You can learn major tricks like cruising and tight carving over its.
They are generally cheaper as compared to the other boards.
You can only do the beginner tricks which require constant touch with the ground. Watch the video.
Riding on penny boards is difficult for steeper curves and faster speed.
They aren’t very stable in terms of maintaining a comfortable stance.
The decks are too narrow to be comfortable for wide feet.
The material of the boards is not reliable and much prone to wear and tear.
You might get tempted to go with them due to their price quotient and some of the advantages that they offer. However, we suggest that longboards will be the better option for the beginners as they have the perfect features to meet all the major skating demands.
Final words
Having explained the major aspects in detail, we would answer “Are penny boards good for beginners” by saying that they can be preferred but with the least of expectations. A longboard is any time a better option for the beginners while the ones who like to begin with trick mastering can go for skateboards. Do share your queries with us and we will try to get back to you. Good luck!