Beginning Your Skateboarding Journey for the Young-At-Heart

This article is a companion guide to the article written by Grace Yeoh from Channel News Asia on middle-aged skateboarders who defy age and expectations to pursue their passion. This guide is meant for anyone who is looking to pickup skateboarding using the longboards featured in the article.

Visualize a skateboard being used and many of us would have a mental of image of something like the following

skateboarder skating at a skatepark

But for many of us, who are little bit more weary about picking up tricks in our later years, such boards will be rather challenging to start your skateboarding journey with. Considering these skateboards are mounted high off the ground, are narrower in deck width, runs smaller and narrower wheels and are meant to be used at the skatepark to perform tricks, getting one will require more time and effort in learning the foundation and basics of skateboarding. These basics consist of

1) Being able to balance on a board when moving
2) Being able to push yourself while on a board
3) Safely stopping when you are rolling on a board

As such, getting the right equipment to start will ensure you don't spend too much time and effort building the foundation and even getting hurt in the process.

With that in mind, we think the best equipment to start with are purpose built longboards. Essentially, longboards and skateboards uses the same components and we often use longboards interchangeably with skateboards since most people are more familiar with skateboarding.

So what exactly is the characteristic of a good longboard that you can start with in our sport? Here are some of the key features you should consider when getting a new longboard:

1) A purpose build cruiser deck so you have more foot space and know where your feet placement is without constantly looking down

On the left, Pantheon Pranayama 2022 cruiser deck vs a normal trick skateboard on the right.

2) A deck that is lower to the ground so you don't spend too much effort bending your knees when pushing off, stopping your board or stepping off it.

On the left, the Pantheon Pranayama longboard is 5.5cm off the ground vs a normal trick skateboard sitting at 9cm off the ground.

3) Large wheels both in diameter and width that will provide better stability and allow you to roll over pebbles, seeds and pavement cracks effortlessly.

On the left, a normal trick skateboard with a smaller wheel size vs the Pantheon Pranayama running a 85mm Speed Vent wheel

As you can see from the above images, the Pantheon complete longboards has features that will fit the criteria to start your longboarding journey. No wonder most of the interviewees in the CNA article and video chose these boards as their first starting board and continue to use them for their longboarding activity.

Finally, you can find a list of Pantheon complete longboards to start your journey here.

We hope you find the above article informative and feel free to drop by our shop to view the longboards in this article or speak with us on how to start your journey. See you then.