Should I Get a Pintail Longboard or Cruiser (What Is The Difference)?

Choosing between a pintail longboard or a cruiser depends highly on your skill level, riding style, and riding goals. Pintails are known for more relaxed cruising while cruisers are better for street riding.
Should I Get a Pintail Longboard or Cruiser

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Pintail and cruiser longboards are different in a lot of ways which makes it hard to choose between the two. They both have their charms and drawbacks. Ultimately, you have to decide on which one will serve you best.

Are Longboards Good for Cruising?

Longboards, with their stable, longer decks, are great for cruising. Some people even start longboarding for this purpose alone.

Cruising (which often means riding in a relaxed and fluid way or roaming around for pleasure) is one of the main longboard disciplines. It also refers to all riding activities which are not focused on downhill, speed, freestyle, or trick rides.

There are four common cruising styles including boardwalk riding, long-distance cruising, urban cruising, and flat ground carving.

People of all ages and skill level can easily get into longboard cruising because it is more relaxed and easy going compared to other disciplines.

What Is the Difference between Cruiser and Pintail Longboards?

There’s been an ongoing debate on which one is better between cruiser and pintail longboards. If you are having a hard time choosing between the two, here are their differences to help you make up your mind.

Cruiser Pintail
  • Measures between 28 to 46 inches in length (comes in small, mid-size, large)
  • Comes in surfboard-type shape with varying rear and nose shape and width
  • Wheelbase in the 14 to 20-inch range
  • The wheel wells or wheel flares are above the front and rear wheels
  • Has a stiffer deck
  • Better for commuting in crowded areas or sidewalk riding
  • Better for sliding, switch riding, and fast speed riding
  • Measures between 38 to 46 inches in length
  • Shaped in such a way that the nose is wider than the tail
  • Wheelbase in the 26 to 28-inch range
  • The wheel wells or wheel flares are only in the front
  • Has more flex which makes it great for carving and pumping
  • More comfortable for cruising due to its bigger platform and wheelbase
  • Easier to push due to the added flex
  • Better for dancing

How Do You Ride a Cruiser Longboard?

If you decided to get a cruiser longboard but are unsure of how to ride it, here are some pointers to remember to get you rollin’.

  • Learn the Proper Stance: Your stance is one of the fundamental things to master when riding any kind of longboard. This will help you in balancing and riding your board with success. For cruiser longboards, there are two stances that you can learn. You can pick one that feels more comfortable and natural to you.
    • Regular Stance: In this stance, you should place your left foot on the front of the board. You should then place your right foot on the narrower tail.
    • Goofy Stance: The goofy stance is basically the opposite of the regular stance. Instead of placing your left foot on the front, you should put your right foot. Let your left foot rest on the tail of the board.
  • Learn the Push: Learning how to push is one of the most basic things that you should learn on your longboard. Unless you learn how to do this properly, it would be impossible for you to literally go places. To start, stand on your board in your natural stance with your lead foot completely straight. Start pushing off the ground with your other foot. Continue pushing until you pick up enough speed, then place your back foot on the rear of your board. Make sure that your feet are positioned parallel to each other.
  • Learn the Turn: Learning how to turn and control your board is something that you should definitely master because this would mean fewer accidents. Remember to check and adjust your trucks because if your board is too easy to turn, that means the trucks are too loose and this might post a greater risk for losing control of your board.
    • How to turn with the regular stance: First off, make sure that your feet should be parallel. Shifting your weight is the key to turning. Turning right would require you to shift your weight towards that toe-side edge while turning left would mean you have to lean towards the heel-side edge.
    • How to turn with the goofy stance: Turning right would require you to shift your weight towards the heel-side edge while turning left would mean you have to lean towards the toe-side edge.
  • Learn the Stop: While there are several ways on how to stop your cruiser board, foot braking is probably the easiest way to do it. Here’s how to do it: while riding, stick out your back foot and lean with your heel. Drag the toes of your back foot on the ground until the board slows down and stops.

Can You Longboard Dance on a Cruiser?

While you can pretty much dance on any kind of longboard, this may be a little harder to do on a cruiser board. This is because cruiser boards are usually way shorter than your regular dancing boards.

Longboard dancing involves walking and often cross stepping, atop a rolling longboard. Since you would be performing on top of your board, dancing needs a board to have ample platform space to move around, something that most cruiser boards, unfortunately, don’t have.

Can You Do Tricks on a Cruiser Longboard?

Doing tricks is possible on your cruiser longboard. Often, if you want to do tricks you should opt for longboards with stiffer rockered decks and cuddly concaves.

You can do several tricks on your cruiser longboard including kicks, flips, and ollies among others.

Are Pintail Longboards Good for Cruising?

A pintail longboard is another great way to go cruise. This is especially true if you use pintail longboards for boardwalk cruising.

Pintail longboards usually have longer decks which are essential for stability. Pintails also have a relatively flat deck with moderate flex which gives makes cursing more comfortable for your joints.

How Do You Ride a Pintail Longboard?

Like in riding cruiser longboards, you should first identify if you are a regular or a goofy rider.

If you skate with your right foot forward and your back foot at the tail, then you are a goofy rider. If you do the opposite and you have your left foot facing forward and your right foot at the back, then you are a regular rider.

If you are a beginner, try to practice riding on a flat surface first. Take as much time as you want until you are very comfortable in your stance.

Once you are comfortable, you should practice taking small pushes on the ground until you are comfortable enough to make big pushes which would give you more speed.

How Do You Stand on a Pintail Longboard?

Whether you are a regular or a goofy rider, the basic stance in riding a pintail requires standing on your board with your feet position between the bearings. The bearings are materials that hold the trucks or the wheels.

Place your front foot slightly forward and at a 45-degree angle. Keep your front foot this way while you make sure that your back foot is positioned sideways and perpendicular to the board’s direction.

As you get more comfortable and accustomed to your board, you can adjust your stance as well.

How Do You Stop on a Pintail Longboard?

There are several ways on how to stop your pintail longboard. Here are some of them.

  • Foot braking: This method requires sticking out one foot on the ground and dragging it along as you ride until you slow down and stop.
  • Carving: This method is often used when you are going downhill. Ride your board while leaning side to side and pushing the wheel. This will cause it to slow down.
  • Air braking: If you ever wanted to do that iconic Titanic scene where Jack has his arms out and screaming “I’m the king of the world”, then this one’s for you. To do this, slowly straighten your body on your board, stand up, and slowly put your arms up. This would increase the air resistance causing your board to gradually slow down.

Can You Dance on a Pintail Longboard?

You can definitely dance on a pintail longboard. The longer length of its platform makes dancing easier. Due to its length, it also has more room for your feet and your fancy footwork.

A pintail longboard also has a flat concave that is not a hindrance for whatever foot motion that you want to execute. It also has more flex that protects your ankles from the resistance applied from pushing.

Can You Slide on a Pintail Longboard?

Pintails are not well-suited for sliding because they are less stable than other types of longboards like drop through.

An ideal longboard for sliding is one whose deck is lower and shallower. This position lowers the center of gravity giving the board superior stability. However, pintails are higher off the ground which makes the center of gravity higher making it less stable.

Aside from that, pintails have flat concaves which means it is not great for securing your feet during slides.

Can You Do Tricks on a Pintail Longboard?

While pintail longboards are generally not well-suited in doing your ollies and kickflips, it doesn’t mean that you can’t. Often, it highly depends on your skill level because pintails don’t make doing tricks easier.

Here are some tricks that even a beginner like you can do on your pintail.

  • Pivot: This is one of the most basic tricks. Place your feet so one is in the middle of the board and another is on one end. Use your feet on one end and shift your weight to turn your board a 180-degree.
  • Cross Step: If you want to dance on your pintail, you must learn this fundamental footwork. However, this is harder at low rates, so you better learn how to pick up your speed first. Move your front foot to the rear while you slowly lift your back foot pushing your weight forward. Shift your weight on the new front foot while the new back foot swings. You must take your time in learning this technique.
  • Lookback: This would take a lot more focus because it involves several foot works. First, take your back foot and point it towards the back. Step off the board with your front foot then try to kick the board back and try to catch it with your heel. Pull the board back fast, step on the board, and continue rolling.

Is a Cruiser or Pintail Longboard Better?

The thing about longboard is that it’s not a one size fits all type of thing. There are several longboard types because they serve different purposes. The same thing is true for both cruiser and pintail longboards. Picking between the two would be very difficult.

If you are a beginner who wants to start with a steady, relaxed roll then pintail longboards are your perfect match. They are basically surfboard on wheels.

On the other hand, if you are into longboarding for its easy transportation, then you had better go for a cruiser which is perfect for street riding and quick turns to dodge both traffic and people.

Are Pintail Longboards Faster Than Cruisers?

Pintail longboards are not known for their speed and they are not known for faster riding. The cruiser takes the caked in the speed department.

This is because pintail decks have more flex. If you want to go fast on your longboard, you would need stiffer decks like that of the cruiser.

What is Better – a Pintail Longboard or Cruiser?

It is really hard to choose between the two because they are two very different longboards. They both have pros and cons which make them ideal in very different aspects.

Cruisers can be used in more riding styles while pintails allow for more relaxed riding which is often not possible in other longboards.

At the end of the day, the better one will depend on you—your skill level, riding goals, and riding style.

Are Pintail Longboards or Cruisers Better for Beginners?

Generally, top mount longboards are often the preferred beginner longboard types so being top mount, pintail longboards are better for beginners than cruisers.

Aside from being top mount, pintails are also responsive. They also offer beginners a nice and smooth roll, especially at lower speeds.

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