Post #4

     The book " The History of Longboards and Style Specifics"  shows all the types of longboard riding. It includes Slalom where riders swerve around obstacles that they find in their path. Slalom riders usually have soft grippy wheels in the back to hold them in place while turning and hard wheels in the front to increase rolling distance making it faster. Speedboards are used for riding down hills as fast as possible. These boards are usually from 95cm-110cm.  It is also commonly used for freeriding which incorporates drifting and carving.  The first example of a speed board is a Drop deck which are characterized by a riding platform that is lower than the mounting points of the truck. This allowes the rider to have more stability while doing drifts down a hill ,but constricts the rider of turning abilities. Another example of a speed board is a Drop-through deck which have holes machined between the truck of the mounted hardware so the baseplate can be mounted on top of the board. This allows the user of the board to have stability while at high speeds. They have  less traction that Drop decks, but are harder to control while drifting. Dancers is a bunch of old school tricks where it includes a number of walking and spinning moves while on the board. Most dancing decks are 50-60in long. Shlong boards are very short in size and is also referred to as shortboards. These boards are usually made at home to save money and are used to get a feel of longboarding. Sliding boards are board that tend to be wider with different concave patterns. This is personally my favorite type of board. Most sliding decks are 8in-10in in width. Hybrid decks is a recent addition in the longboard world. These decks use surfboard materials for the deck, trucks and sometimes even wheels. They have an improved downhill performance, but is slower compared to Speedboards. Long Distance Skating boards are just used to skate for long distances. Any longboard can be used to skate long distances. You just need the right types of bearings and wheels. I wonder what types of decks longboards will have in the future.

Singer Silas, S. S. (2011). The history of longboards and style specifics. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/dp/1241610061/ref=rdr_ext_tmb